Ory: Najica Dengeki Sakusen has my favorite action writing ever. But nobody notices this because of all the unapologetic pantyshots (which are part of the action writing). And yet, there’s _something_ about the tone and context that makes this less cheap softcore fanservice (though still fanservice at some level) and more of bodily/sexual confidence (for the good guys, at least). In fact, the dress code seems to be treated as normal in-universe so when you suspend your disbelief you also end up treating it as normal and not really caring about panties at all. It’s weird!

Rando: Skorpions do not fit in panties, good lord. Also, ang gratuitous nga ng fanservice =/

Ory: I feel like I might be crazy, but after a few episodes in, I think it’s not just “simple” fanservice. Like for one thing, I think there’s exactly one piece of “made to be erotic” panties in the entire show and it’s worn by the villain in episode 1. All other panties are plain white. Or bathing suits. But bathing suits only appear in episode 3. There’s no going around it being “male gaze fanservice”. But it’s surprising how much it makes a difference in tone that nobody comments on the panties in-universe.

For example, in a normal show the “haha I saw ur panties” and “eeeee! he saw my panties!” reaction reinforce an of exploitative and transgressive tone. But imagine a show where nobody cares and everything is (spy) business as usual even if panties are visible. It feels like how women started wearing sports bras when working out in public. Like yes, it’s showing off something at some level. But on the other hand, SPORTS TIME frames the attractiveness as a fitness thing instead of a sexy boobs thing. Potential pretentious bullshit time.

I feel like when you get desensitized to the pantyshot saturation, it shifts Najica’s attractiveness away from her basest physical attractiveness. Her panties and legs aren’t special because every goon has the same thing. So what differentiates Najica from them, what makes her attractive in a special way, is her competence and control. Her panties fly into the shot because she dove into cover there, not because she got knocked out and collapsed. It’s like, the director has control over the camera. But Najica has control over her panties.

Rando: Yeah, but it kind of makes you feel like you’re being part of the perviness. Because you’re being voyeuristic. I’m not saying that the art is erotic or anything but the fact that it isn’t really makes it feel like you’re needlessly being voyeuristic Like you’re okay with the director being a lech and sure Najica has control, etc.

Ory: Yes there’s voyeurism as a viewer. But I experience a strong separation between that and being a disbelief-suspended in-universe “viewer”.

Rando: From a personal perspective, it’s like committing a crime in the worst way possible. Like robbing a bank and only taking 1 coin. Why bother?

Ory: Wait, I don’t get your metaphor. Like, you’re saying that could’ve been showcased without being voyeuristic?

Rando: You’re consenting to being a voyeur in watching this. Yes, I believe so but the voyeur targets aren’t even… worth it

Ory: But a voyeuristic experience is fundamentally different from a GP (General Patronage) experience!

Rando: Well, it doesn’t help that I’ve only seen like action snapshots. I don’t *get* what the show is about per se. Feels like generic action + pantyshots =/ You are a trusted source of good material though but if I remove that trust

Ory: lol yes I know Rando: it sounds like a satirical review. That’s how bad it’s sounding right now. It’s like you’re trolling me into liking it.

Ory: I think it’s everyone expects the same casual eroticism that most action anime has. To review it as an action show, I’d reallly need to rewatch and spoil a whole sequence to show the cause -> effect chain as a situation changes

Rando: Sure, but what is it to you then if not an action show?

Ory: It’s an action show. It’s a character study on an independent loner forced into pseudo single motherhood. It has an overarching theme on how our children become what we are. But… yes every time I talk about it I end up defending the pantyshots. lol right I should actually discuss those non-panty non-action things, since that took up a lot of my headspace when watching it

Ory: Najica’s sidekick is a blank slate android loli who’s kind of her adopted daughter. Because she needs it for the mission and because she values competence and independence, a lot of her interaction with her sidekick is giving her tests and quizzing her on decision-making. She wants her loli sidekick to become independent and her own person. But this kind of interaction is cold and professional instead of warm and nurturing.

On the other hand, most of people she faces also have a blank slate non-loli android of their own who they’ve molded into a tool to achieve their goals. They’ve turned their children into an extension of themselves, and not without special effort because kids naturally copy their parents. With kids, it just happens. When Najica sees this, she realizes that her sidekick is not growing “independent” as in “someone with free will”. Instead, her sidekick is more “independent” as in “doing things without help”.

But Najica values the free will aspect more than the competence aspect. And this is a dilemma because it’s hard to teach a kid to become themselves, when their natural instinct is to copy you.

— Ory and Rando

So Black Lagoon is about this Japanese salaryman who gets kidnapped while on a sea voyage in South-East Asia. The guys who kidnap him do so on a whim, thinking to extract more money apart from their original job – a data disk the guy was carrying.

His company leaves him for dead, and for some reason, instead of having fun with their now-worthless hostage, he joins them instead in some weird Stockholm Syndrome shenanigans because the Black Lagoon company, despite being a group of don’t-care-really individuals (and one hothead), have some silly values of “don’t kill anyone who isn’t exactly bringing them down”.

The central story arc is the salaryman’s descent into villainhood. Mild-mannered Rokeru Okajima turns into Mild-mannered Rock the Negotiator, and then ultimately Rock the Manipulative Mastermind.
Each separate job has Rock questioning his values, because of the nature of the criminal work, the targets of the criminal work, or the situations he gets placed in – all this despite the fact that he’s never needed to act as muscle and personally kill anyone.

Similarly, Rock has a positive effect on his otherwise brutish and brutal companions. They see him as the oft-underestimated heart of the group.

But the world is a vicious place. His morals are frequently at odds with the people he works with and the missions he tries to accomplish.

The strength of the narrative is in its character design and world-building. Each character, even the flat, secondary ones, shines in all their exaggerated glory. Each named individual has some backstory caricature that somehow makes sense in this world. Each arc’s narrative weaves into the grand scheme of Rock’s descent into madness.

The weakness in the story is also what makes the show endearing – despite nearly everyone being portrayed as many-times betrayed and screwed up by the world prior to the events of Black Lagoon, all the characters seem to have some honor-amongst-theives code in play. They never seem to show the same ruthlessness the world showed them, as one would expect from people living in a city that is essentially a Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy.

Faction fights never seems to escalate past the current contract, and hatchets get buried too quickly for my tastes. For example, Black Lagoon never pays the price of being a mercenary with conflicting loyalties to whoever is paying them immediately. They get hired by faction A in one episode, then get hired by opposing faction B later on in opposition to faction A’s interests. Faction A then hires them again in a succeeding episode, and neither Black Lagoon nor the hiring factions ever think to betray their contracts despite the previous episode’s experiences. Heck, some factions even go out of their way to help out Black Lagoon, which strikes me as unusually charitable for cold-blooded killers.

I wish I had higher comments on the gun play and fights, but there’s clearly a Dragonball-esque fight structure going on here. Nobody ever seems to need to reload unless it looks cool. It’s not tactical wits that keeps people safe, it’s plot armor. Guns essentially run on plot-based accuracy. If you’re a mook, it takes great planning and effort to land a shot on a named character. Fodder get gunned down by the score by single characters who walk in the open. Heroic and villainous characters rarely got shot, and when they do get shot, they survive impossible direct hits or wounds that would have been fatal to others.

But the show is violent, and everyone critical to the plot has a healing factor that would make Wolverine blush – provided no limbs get cut off.

All the points above, good and bad, allow the show gets a lot of mileage from its two-bit players who end up as recurring characters in several arcs, both for and against the Black Lagoon company. The mercenary dynamics and general immortality of named characters allow the writers to emphasize and exaggerate memorable character traits, making each persona fun and full of personality.  Even villains presented in each story arc, who tend to have a shorter shelf life appear with pizzazz and exit with much fanfare and aplomb.

But ultimately, what keeps you watching the show is Rock’s wavering stance and perspective, especially against the backdrop of nonchalant or cruel allies, most notably the violent muscle of Black Lagoon. Rock might stick out like a sore thumb in the city of Roanapur, but slowly, for better or for worse, he manages to merge his world view with the reality he lives in.

— @rando