meganbmoore | manga: Black Lagoon Vol 1

This is, as near as I can tell, about mercenaries, the Russian mob, and insane, violent women.

The series focuses on a group of mercenaries who operate out of a WW2 torpedo boat called Black Lagoon. At first there are only three members: Dutch, the boss, Benny, the mechanic, and Revy the gun(wo)man. They’re soon joined, however, by Rokuro-renamed ‘Rock’ by Dutch-a Japanese salaryman who helps them after being sold out by his employers. Their main (only?) employer is Balalaika, a Russian mobster operating out of Thailand.

Balalaika may join Rafaela in Claymore as being one of the only two women in manga (that I’ve read) that I can think of who has a large, disfiguring facial scar and is still portrayed as attractive, and Revy manages to wear a teeny Lara Croft-esque outfit without the outfit itself coming across as fanservice-y. Not that the mangaka completely escapes the lure of fanservice. So far, our POV character is Rock, who seems to be a proper businessman not cut out for mercenary life until the comes up with an insane scheme that no sane person would ever go along with. I’m not sure anyone here could be called insane.

Though the setting, art style, and characters are very different, the overall style and attitude is very reminiscent of Blade of the Immortal. So far, of the things used to lure me in, I have been given and insane woman with guns, a scarred female mob boss, and maid who is a walking weapon of destruction with possible war trauma. I’m still waiting on the warrior nuns, the female Gojyo, and the blade nut.