Black Lagoon Season 3: Premiere Date, Characters, Plot

I’m one of those few people who would any day prefer the original anime instead of an English Dub. No, I do not speak Japanese and yes, I would rather spend most of my time reading the subtitles than watching the actual show. I’ve had my own reasons for this and I know that there are many others like me out there. But every once in a while, an English Dub of an anime series comes along and proves to be so unbelievably immaculate that I am forced to defy my own so-called “principles”. ‘Black Lagoon’ is one of those few anime series that goes against the common norm and shows that even the English Dub of an anime can be a speckless piece of art. I have never really talked about the effectiveness of English Dubs in any of my anime reviews/previews before, but in this case, it just feels necessary. From the free-flowing dialogues and sharp accents to solid voice acting with nearly perfect character mannerisms, ‘Black Lagoon’ gives us one of the best English Dubbing that has ever graced the world of anime.

The studio responsible for creating ‘Black Lagoon’ is Madhouse and that name alone will get you all hyped up about the show. Studio Madhouse often lives up to its name and is responsible for creating several popular anime series like ‘Death Note’, ‘One Punch Man’, ‘Overlord‘ and many others. The action in ‘Black Lagoon’ is more or less like the love child of ‘John Wick’ and ‘The Matrix’ on steroids. Throughout its entire runtime of about 10 hours, you get to see a whole lot of gunslinging action along with some overwhelming scenes where boats fly and shoot out torpedos to destroy helicopters.

Many a time, experienced anime viewers tend to avoid anime series that are too action-oriented because these turn out to be the same shounen shows we’ve been watching since ages. But if I have to use just one word to define ‘Black Lagoon’, it would be “refreshing”. One big reason why I started watching anime was because of my obsession with Japanese culture. Nevertheless, I always appreciate if an anime decides to step out of that Japanese set up and takes a bold move towards something new. It is indeed a no-brainer that most anime come from Japan, so they’re bound to use a medium that is more convenient for their primary audience. But ‘Black Lagoon’ takes a path of its own and travels to a never-seen-before location: South China Sea.

Sure, like any other anime, ‘Black Lagoon’ is not perfect and has its own flaws, which include its sluggish animation and also the unnecessary fan service right in the middle of certain action scenes. But apart from the few minor shortcomings here and there, every anime lover should at least once give this one a shot. Action fan or not, I believe that ‘Black Lagoon’ will bring something really new to your table that no other shounen ever has.

Black Lagoon Season 3 Release Date: When will it premiere?

‘Black Lagoon’ Season 1 first aired from April 9, 2006 to June 25th of the same year, which was followed by a second season that released on Oct 3, 2006 and ended its run on Dec 19, 2006. Next in was an OVA about 4 years later in 2010 that had 5 special episodes. ‘Black Lagoon’, has since then disappeared but not forgotten and die-hard fans of the anime still look forward to another season.

I’m sure the creators would love to come up with a new season but the problem is that the source material of the anime has been on a hiatus for a very long time. There were a few new arcs of the manga in 2018 but overall, they were no good. The anime has a reputation it has to live up to and adopting a subpar manga would just downgrade the standard it has set with the first two seasons. So that just leaves the studio with two options: they can either leave the anime alone and maybe wait for a better manga arc or they can risk everything and create an original of their own. But going for an original is too big of a risk for an anime of such high caliber. It’s a shame that an anime like ‘Black Lagoon’ ended so soon when it actually had the potential to be a successful long-running series.

But don’t lose hope yet. Our best guess is that in the unlikely scenario of the new manga comes out, the anime might get renewed, ‘Black Lagoon’ Season 3 could get a release sometime in 2021.

Black Lagoon English Dub:

The English Dubbed versions of the first and second season of ‘Black Lagoon’ are available on Viz Media, Funimation, Amazon, and Netflix.

Black Lagoon Plot:

‘Black Lagoon’ is set in a fictitious city named Roanapur which located in Thailand and is on the brink of falling apart completely. The level of corruption is off the roof and does not even spare the government authorities or religious institutions. The high corruption has led to an increase in crime that now runs through the veins of the city and has become a haven for the deadliest convicts and degenerates.

We then see protagonist Rokurou Okajima who, in spite of having his own business, hates his life and despises its sheer monotony. He gets a chance to visit Southeast Asia and he sees this as an opportunity to bring forth some much-needed changes to his monotonous life. But as soon as he gets there, all of his plans go for a toss when he is kidnapped by a local mercenary group known as the “Black Lagoon”. They try using him for negotiating with his former employer, but instead, his former employer turns his back on him and he is left there with nothing.

Rokurou then decides to join the mercenary group and must now learn to adapt to this new life he has chosen to live. In the end, he does manage to get out of his boring life but the life he is living now is going to be full of troubles and conflicts he’s not prepared for. ‘Black Lagoon’ is a foray into the heart of the criminal world, exploring the mind of a criminal and the reasons that force one to lead such a highly immoral life.

Black Lagoon Characters:

Rokurou Okajima

Also known as the “Rock”, Rokurou is the protagonist of the series, who previously worked as an ordinary Japanese salaryman. He gets transferred to the South East for business and sees this as an opportunity to escape the conformities of his previous boring life. But after he gets betrayed by his own employer, he is forced to join the mercenary group that had kidnapped him in the first place. Initially, Rock is shown as a very well mannered kind of person but slowly as the show proceeds, he becomes more accustomed to the criminal activities around and starts transforming into a different person. He is mostly responsible for activities like account management, negotiations, and interpretation in the Black Lagoon due to his past experience as a businessman.

Dutch

Dutch is a black character who leads the ‘Black Lagoon’. He is an ex-American Naval Officer who used to be the captain of a boat that had the same name as his present mercenary group. Dutch is a Christian and he avoids being a part of the fighting involved in their business. He instead manages relationships with clients and passes orders to the team members. He has a huge muscly frame that demands power and often he is seen sporting a pair of black sunglasses. Considering the fact that he served in the Navy during the Vietnam war, he is probably in his 50s currently.

Revy

Revy is the complete opposite of Dutch. She lacks negotiation skills and entirely relies on force to get things done. She has a short temper and kills her enemies without putting any second thoughts to it. She is brutal, merciless and  would kill anyone who provokes her even in the slightest ways without hesitation. Revy shows a lot of contempt towards Rock during his initial days with the group and almost kills him once. But later, she starts accepting him as one of them and even calls him family.

Benny

Benny has a sharp resemblance with Spike Spiegel, who is the main protagonist of ‘Cowboy Bebop‘. He is a smart kid who was once attending college at Florida University. But later, he was forced to leave after he got into trouble with the FBI because of his involvement with the mafia. Benny is Jewish and Dutch often calls him “Benny Boy”. Benny’s role in the group is to manage the research part of their business and along with that, he even has some computer and software related skills that prove to be a great asset from time to time. Every now and then, he even shows off his skills as a mechanic whenever needed. There are no obvious hints about his age in the anime, but judging by his appearance, he is probably in his late 20s or early 30s.

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