manga: Black Lagoon Vol 2-3

[meganbmoore]

I had been warned about the storyline involving the two child murderers who had been driven mad by being forced to participate in child snuff pornography, and I admit that I mostly skimmed that arc outside of the parts with Revy, Eda, and Balalaika. Though did I understand correctly that they were actually both girls? Or at least, they both looked like girls in the flashback, and in the scene where the girl was in her nightgown, the boy’s chest is kept covered and shadowed. I also find it interesting that saving Eda was a main factor in Black Lagoon’s accepting the girl’s commission, as I didn’t get the impression that they were that close. (Not that I object to saving Eda in the slightest.)

I am amused that within two volumes, Rock was abducted at least twice and needed rescuing by Revy, though I hope that isn’t too much of a trend. Then again, a large part of my objection is annoyance with how fandom usually reacts to that (Rock has…what? A couple months combat experience? And they don’t seem to be training him much with weapons yet, though they should.) and being a guy will likely save him from the worst of that.

I very much like Eda (I can see the why of the Gojyo comparison, based on the bar scene, though I’m not sure I agree with it) and Shenhua (whose moves make me think a bit of Rin in Blade o the Immortal). I suspect I could read volumes and volumes of Revy working with and bickering with one or both of them. I am also entertained by Mr. Chang, but I’m not sure the series has room for both him and Balalaika, and I doubt she’s going anywhere soon.

The most interesting bit, however, was Revy’s antagonistic attitude regarding Rock’s presence, especially since his joining was her idea in the first place. I suspect it’s a combination of territorialism and fear that a new pet will get hit by a car as soon as she gets used to it.

Comments

[inkstone]

I actually think it's left ambiguous as to what gender the twins are.

[eisen]

They never outright say which one was which gender - but they do state somewhere that one was a boy and one a girl when they were found by the slave ring, I think, and that by the time the story took place they'd both suffered enough damage, self-inflicted and otherwise, that it really didn't matter anymore and the two of them didn't really care. That's how I remember it, anyway, and the first time I read that arc seared a lot of it into my brain from the sheer horror of what I was reading.

I honestly don't know if I can reread that arc to find out, though, so I could be wrong.

(I have really bad trainwreck syndrome if it's my first time encountering a text; it gets harder to cope the more I try to reread things, though.)

[eisen]

I think Revy's reaction is borne out of a lot of things, but chiefly she doesn't trust her instincts anywhere but in a fight because of her past. Trust is not something that comes easily for Revy, and until Rock proves her choice beyond right she spends a lot of time being twitchy around him; once he does, they're pretty copacetic. (I don't consider that much of a spoiler? Er.)

Rock is not nearly as fan-hated as Raki is in CLAYMORE fandom. I don't know why! But I've never seen much Rock hate. Possibly because BLACK LAGOON is seinen, not shonen? But that distinction doesn't make a whole lot of sense, I guess, given how close CLAYMORE is to being seinen already. I don't know. It might actually have something to do with how there's still plenty of sympathetic boy-characters for fandom to latch onto in BL and there are ... fewer in CLAYMORE, so there's less reason for fandom to hate on the protagonist? But that really makes manga fandom sound so disgusting that I almost don't want to think there's any validity to it. :/

[meganbmoore]

Poor Raki. Part of me thinks he's taking one for every shounen girl ever, but that part only speaks for about 2 seconds and then I get as irritable as I do with the endless bashing on shounen girls.