Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon is one of the better anime series I've seen in quite some time. It's 24 episodes long, although episodes 13-24 are sometimes referred to as a second season, "The Second Barrage."

Black Lagoon focuses on a three-person team of mercenaries who travel the seas of Southast Asia in a speedboat. In the first episode, they meet up with a man named Rokuro Okajima (later called "Rock"), a mild-mannered Japanese businessman who doesn't like guns. After Revy decides to use Rock as a hostage, he whines to her about how he has finally graduated from college and secured a job at a good company. While loading bullets into her gun, Revy chastises him for his petulance: "Dont cry, dipshit. You've got to enjoy life, or you'll end up wasting it."

( I do enjoy the diverse cast of the series, which can be really hard to find in a mostly whitewashed anime world. )

The team bases their operations in the fictional city of Roanapur, Thailand - a city full of criminals like themselves, be they nuns or Russian mafia.

I think that the series that most reminds me of Black Lagoon is Cowboy Bebop, a favorite series of many people (myself included, and for good reason). Black Lagoon is more vulgar than Cowboy Bebop - there are f-bombs and other inventive uses of language. Also, Black Lagoon is more violent. It'd be awesome if it were ever shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, but because it'd have to be edited so much, that could also be sad.

( Notes on episodes, DVDs, etc. )

While clearly an action series, Black Lagoon is also laced with philosophical ideas (important in such a crime-laden world) and references to pop-culture, reminding the viewer that the series is very much based on reality.

I wish there was more to the anime series, and I'll definitely be checking out the manga, which is still on-going in Japan.

In Anime Club, we watched the first half in English dub, and I have to say that the English dub is very, very good. This is not true of most anime series, so I thought I'd mention it. I feel that, like Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon could be a good "gateway anime," so long as the viewer doesn't mind violence and vulgarity. I should also note that the first time I watched the first episode, I wasn't very impressed. I'd recommend sitting down and watching a few episodes before making a total judgment call. If nothing else, the nice animation should help. Also, I really love this opening sequence.

ETA: Here is a bad-ass AMV, although it comes with an explicit warning from me for extreme graphic violence.

I am a beautiful animal! I am destroyer of worlds!

Class is done, work is done, Anime Club is done. It's a weird point in the semester, where I feel ready to move on to the next thing, but I am held back by these exams that I must prepare for and take. While I do just fine at writing papers (although, as I learned this semester, not when I have to write them all in a row and have no preparation time), I am not good at taking tests. So finals week is always a battle of how much studying (and what kind) will be effective. Not to mention a battle of self-esteem.

But. Life has been good for the last couple of days. On Thursday evening, I went with Antoine and a bunch of guys to go see "Blade Runner" at a theater, for its new director's edition cut. Shockingly, the movie makes a lot more sense when a person is awake for the the whole thing.

Friday night, Antoine and I had a good dinner at Vientianne Palace with our friends Creighton and Carolyn, and then spent a good amount of time perusing Borders. I purchased a few Christmas presents, and drooled over things, like this gorgeous new edition of Gone With the Wind. Yes, it is one of my favorite books.

Holy crap, I am so excited for when finals are done. Immediately after my last final, I'll be saying goodbye to Antoine, who's leaving so that he can fly out to Florida the next morning (OMF, I could have spent Christmas in Florida with him and his family, but I decided to go home instead. I expect to regret this decision? We'll see!). After that, I'll go to Gretchen's for a holiday party....with a certain Hugo-award winning author and her Tor editor husband! Bwahahaha, I'm sorry, I just think that that's the coolest thing ever.

Plus, you know, being home and not working for 2 weeks, and then being in Madison but not having class for 2 weeks. At some point, I'll make a list of things I intend to watch (movies, anime, TV) while in GB, so that interested parties can vocalize their wishes.

I found this NY Times article hilarious. It gives sci-fi novel suggestions for all of the presidential candidates. Please note that it is hilarious even if you don't like sci-fi.

Anyway, I'm off to study for a while now. But I will keep this in mind. And it's true.

I need a Buffy icon.

So....OMG. First of all, yes, I suck at life and I need to study and not do Everything But Study. I could have done other things today! I could have gone grocery shopping! Or, you know, studied.

Anyway, I watched episode 1.08 of Angel tonight, and OMG IT WAS GOOD!

I think next time, I might want to be heinous with Buffy season 5 and Angel season 2, and alternate episodes? Because every time there are crossover events, I'm all, "OMG, I want to go back and watch those two right in a row!"

( OMF, Spoilers )