As with every artistic medium, anime can often look overly formulaic and reliant on the same old tropes: flashy transformations, edgy rivals, yelling attack names every time they happen, et cetera. But once in a while, an anime comes along that defies all tradition, creating a truly unforgettable experience in the process.
In the past, the likes of Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Berserk have managed to exemplify the best that anime has to offer without relying on the cliches that end up weighing down other series. Another such anime that stands out as a fresh and unique work within its medium is the 2006 series Black Lagoon, based on the manga by Rei Hiroe. While Black Lagoon found major success among anime fans upon release, it’s since fallen out of relevance compared to other classic series — however, that doesn’t mean it’s aged poorly.
The story of Black Lagoon follows Rokuro Okajima, or “Rock” for short — an average Japanese businessman who is one day taken hostage by the Lagoon Company, a band of smugglers and mercenaries operating in the South China Sea. Though he’s terrified at first, Rock quickly realizes that his captors treat him better than his own employers. When upper management declares him dead to cover up the incident, Rock decides to join Lagoon Company, leaving his boring office job behind for a life of crime as a modern-day pirate.
While Rock is the viewpoint character of the series, the rest of Lagoon Company all play a key role. The leader of the crew and captain of their ship — the titular Black Lagoon — is Dutch, a stoic and pragmatic veteran of the Vietnam War. The brains of the operation is Benny, an easygoing computer hacker who’s perpetually clad in a Hawaiian shirt. And finally, the team’s muscle is Rebecca Lee, aka Revy: a hotheaded sharpshooter with a love for violence and a nihilistic worldview. Together with Rock, they take on various jobs in Roanapur, a fictional Thai city run by an uneasy alliance of multinational crime syndicates.
Though Black Lagoon has no shortage of over-the-top fight scenes — usually with Revy at the center of the action — it lacks any fantastical or supernatural elements, instead choosing to portray a dark, gritty underworld of crime and bloodshed. It’s far from a typical anime, having much more in common with John Wick or Fight Club than My Hero Academia or Jujutsu Kaisen. But there’s one Hollywood director in particular whose work Black Lagoon closely resembles: Quentin Tarantino.
Series creator Rei Hiroe has often brought up Tarantino as a major influence on his own work, along with Robert Rodriguez and John Woo. And sure enough, it’s easy to see the resemblance. Black Lagoon is similar in tone to Pulp Fiction as a story of professional criminals who find themselves in one misadventure after another, blending offbeat comedy with over-the-top violence and surprisingly potent emotional drama. The dynamic between Rock and Revy is in some ways reminiscent of Jules and Vincent — one partner is filled with doubt over whether to live as a criminal or an honest man, while the other feels resigned to a life of crime.
Black Lagoon also features no shortage of similarities to another iconic Tarantino work — namely, Kill Bill. While Revy prefers guns to swords and is more concerned with money than revenge, she’s still cut from the same cloth as Uma Thurman’s Bride character in many ways. They’re both hardened, tough-as-nails killers who mercilessly strike down anyone between them and their objective, leaving countless bodies in their wake. But at the same time, both anti-heroines long for a normal life free from all the killing, no matter how out of reach it seems.
Meanwhile, the Lagoon Company’s most frequent employer and the series’ most powerful antagonist — Balalaika, the mysterious leader of Roanapur’s Russian mafia — is an unconventional femme fatale in the vein of Daryl Hannah’s Elle Driver. She has all the manipulative prowess and seductive charm of a classic movie villainess, but backed up by a keen strategic mind and vicious combat skills. Not to mention her distinctive burn scars, which call to mind Elle Driver’s signature eye patch look.
Of course, like Kill Bill, Revy and Balalaika are far from the only deadly women in the Black Lagoon cast. From coldhearted assassins to gun-toting nuns to super-soldier maids, the series has no shortage of strong female characters — in terms of both fighting prowess and character depth. Because like Tarantino’s best work, Black Lagoon has plenty of compelling character development and fleshed-out themes beneath all the witty banter and blood splatters. In one sense, Black Lagoon is a love story. The series places much focus on the relationship between Rock and Revy as they go from belligerent rivals to something more. Rock comes to appreciate Revy’s wild and free-spirited nature, while his own compassion and selflessness remind Revy of the humanity she’s lost.
But in Roanapur, no one holds on to their morals for long and survives. Over the course of the series, Rock’s attempts to help those in need amidst the gangland struggles of Roanapur only lead to further death and suffering, causing his kind heart to harden with every loss. Ultimately, Black Lagoon is a story about how the systems that govern society — be they corporate hierarchies or underworld gangs — disregard human life, trampling innocent people to further the goals of those in power. And when changing things for the better is seemingly impossible, Rock is forced to choose between fighting to help others despite the odds, or giving in to the system and becoming just another criminal.
Black Lagoon is a classic anime that’s classic for a reason. It blends action, comedy, drama, and philosophy in a way that weaves them all seamlessly into a single narrative. This show may have fallen out of the spotlight in recent years, but it still holds up. If you’re looking for an anime with a fresh, unique style or a show with the same flavor as a Tarantino flick — and especially if you’re interested in both — then Black Lagoon is definitely worth a shot.