Black Lagoon Roberta’s Blood Trail Blu-ray review by Derek Storm. Check out my thoughts on Manga UK’s big anime release.
The Storm is back with another great anime to review, as Black Lagoon Roberta’s Blood Trail presents a lawless world full of people in their most depraved state. Violence and bloodshed, mostly in the form of gunfights are common in this country, and they are executed with style; just like you would expect to see in an action film from the 90s. Over the top? Most definitely, but still good to watch.
“in a city like this people have to do questionable things to get by. Be prepared for your moral compass testing.”
The Lagoon Company, our protagonists, is a band of mismatch solo artists that take on not so honest jobs. We follow their story as they take jobs and battle continuously, smoke excessively, and trade foul-mouthed wordplay. These pirates aren’t the over-the-top One Piece style pirates you may be used to, but that isn’t a bad thing. A center piece of the team is the friction between Revy and Rock, which ironically saves their asses on occasion, and their differing methods. A quote from Rock describes them best “I am the bullet, you are the gun. without the gun I’m just a piece of lead”.
Black Lagoon Roberta’s Blood Trail features flying bullets, blood splatting and stuff being blown up a lot of the time. The scenes are fast and furious with lots of bloodshed, although, sometimes this can be over the top it serves a purpose; to show just how far the city has fallen. No police are coming to save the day in this story. The city is made up of gunslingers, Mafia, triads, war veterans, government agents (Namely the USA), and Russians who are all armed with big guns’n’bad attitudes. All mentioned, for some reason, are sharing the city and working in peace (What the F**K?). Sound lovely, nothing could go wrong? Well in a city like this people have to do questionable things to get by. Be prepared for your moral compass testing.
In my opinion, Rock is easily the stand out character. Calm and collected. Another stand out character is Roberta, durr the title character, and the only way I can describe her is as a mix between the Terminator, and the energizer bunny. She cuts people down like they are nothing, and seems unstoppable, all while wearing a maids costume. Whatever your into, right? Well I wasn’t into the shower scenes, if I’m honest. Bit awkward.
Overall thoughts:
All in all Roberta’s Blood Trail is well animated, features plenty of action, and is a must buy for anyone looking for a darker variety of Anime.
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