Cold as steel.

The packaging for Black Lagoon is pretty sleek. Four DVDs are stacked within a tin DVD case that features Revy on the cover as well as the interior artwork. The DVD’s menus are pretty cut and dry in terms of layout. The background for the main and sub menus all consist of the show’s logo and bullets. Each time you select a different submenu, a bullet shot is fired just before the feature loads. The animation for Black Lagoon is every bit as awesome and detailed as the manga, and it actually feels like the action is less fast-paced in the anime in comparison to the manga. It’s actually rather odd as it’s usually the other way around. The English voices are substandard at best, and Balalaika has the fakest Russian accent I’ve ever heard. The Japanese vocal track is, however, very awesome and the voices seem to fit the characters a lot better (in spite of the ethnic variation).

The purloined goods.

Every DVD of the Second Barrage set contains three Geneon previews per disc and DVD credits. However, the bulk of the extra features and content for this set all lies on the fourth bonus disc in the box. There you’ll find the original Japanese opening animation, as well as a textless version of the ending songs for episodes 15 and 24. There’s also an original Japanese promotional video for season two of Black Lagoon that will completely creep you out by how much it focuses on Hansel and Gretel.

More bang for your buck.

Black Lagoon has all action and suspense that make every dollar spent on it worth it. It’s littered with action, guns, drama, guns, comic relief, explosions, and did I mention guns? These are all common elements in the best of Hollywood action movies. And, while Rock is clearly no John McClane, viewers will find themselves glued to their TV screens just the same. Anime collectors will also find the nice tin packaging highly appealing. All in all, Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage has everything the die-hard action anime fan will ever need in life. It’s worth the price tag.