Black Lagoon

[Necrominion]

    Ive seen all the current episodes out, that includes the second barrage, and i must attest as i have done on previous boards i love this anime.  Although the character development from the beggining is light at best, the burgeoning development of the relationship between Rock and Revy is mature than most anime which have attempted something along the same lines.
   

[ElricJC]

What series is this? O_o

Ugh, a shallow little piece of pretty crap called Burst Angel, and the character I refer to is Jo.  This anime had the most emotionally two dimensional characters I had ever seen, I stomached about 8 episodes and then just put it down.  If Poey complained that Black Lagoon was shallow, it doesn't have anything on this piece of crap.  Again, Gonzo hitched their wagon up to another lousy anime, which is unfortunate.  At least Revy has some different emotional modes than Jo, who was usually dour, silent, and humorless and what emotion she did show was just anger.  I wanted to punch the bitch in the cowboy hat too, she looked kinda like Kaname, only she was pissy and violent all the time and completely unlikeable.  Burst Angel existed purely for fan service, explosions, big robots, and some more fan service.  That's it.  Burst Angel was a solid 4/10, with the only high score coming from animation - Characters, Character Designs, and Music were all in the toilet, it's OP is one of the worst pieces of J-Pop crap I have ever heard, just nonsensical bs.

Ok, need to stop, urge to punch rising... I really hate that anime.  Now off to watch more Black Lagoon.

[Foggle]

What series is this? O_o

Ugh, a shallow little piece of pretty crap called Burst Angel, and the character I refer to is Jo.[snip]

Oh dear god, I've seen that series.  I had to stop after 3 episodes, I just couldn't take any more of it.  I should've been able to guess that was what you were talking about. D:

    Ive seen all the current episodes out, that includes the second barrage, and i must attest as i have done on previous boards i love this anime.  Although the character development from the beggining is light at best, the burgeoning development of the relationship between Rock and Revy is mature than most anime which have attempted something along the same lines.
   

So the character development is better in The Second Barrage?  Awesome!  And I'm glad someone else on this board likes the series as much as I do.

[Poey]

Hah... thanks, now I know to avoid Burst Angel.

[Necrominion]

What series is this? O_o

Ugh, a shallow little piece of pretty crap called Burst Angel, and the character I refer to is Jo.[snip]

Oh dear god, I've seen that series.  I had to stop after 3 episodes, I just couldn't take any more of it.  I should've been able to guess that was what you were talking about. D:

    Ive seen all the current episodes out, that includes the second barrage, and i must attest as i have done on previous boards i love this anime.  Although the character development from the beggining is light at best, the burgeoning development of the relationship between Rock and Revy is mature than most anime which have attempted something along the same lines.
   

So the character development is better in The Second Barrage?  Awesome!  And I'm glad someone else on this board likes the series as much as I do.

  The action scenes get better plus there is alot more gore and violence, you also get to see the vindictive side of Balalaika.....if you haven't seen it already.

[ElricJC]

I just finished ep. 19, and so far it's been really good, some more Revy and Rock development, though I must say hearing the Japanese seiyuu speaking so much English sounded... odd.  Sometimes I couldn't understand them, but Revy actually sounded pretty funny when she started going off in English.  The actors definitely didn't have much practice with the language (Balalaika's actress I think had the most experience, while Rock's had very little, and Revy was moderate, sounded like some of the foreign students I taught at Uni). 

I'm feeling more "hooked" from ep. 13 and on, there has been more character interaction, and possibly more action, which is odd since the one tends to outweigh the other.

Edit:  I have now finished the series, and I must elevate my rating before to an 8.5/10, maybe closing in on 9 - there was a lot more development, more brush strokes that let us into the character's minds.  Particularly in respect to Balalaika and Revy + Rock, plus Gin just kicked so much ass.  I would now definitely buy the series, especially to see the English dub, I'm curious to see if they pulled it off well.  From what I've heard it's a good dub.  I'll be waiting for season 3, if it ever comes out.

[Foggle]

I'm loving The Second Barrage so far, just finished episode 20, but dear effing god, the Engrish.  Hearing several of the characters butcher the language makes me extremely unhappy, though Balalaika's voice actor actually isn't too bad at speaking English.

[ElricJC]

lol, yes, the Engrish, not a soul in the show is really capable of speaking coherent English, though as you said Balalaika's seiyuu was the best of the lot.  Sometimes Revy sounded cute when she spoke Engrish, but most of the time it was annoying.  I really want to see the dub now, and if it's good enough I'll likely stick to it.

[Foggle]

How much more Engrish is there?  It really grates on my nerves, lol.

[ElricJC]

Hehe, well if you just hit ep. 20 you have quite a bit more to wade through.  I'm trying to remember if by 20 they went to the carnival - that was probably the funniest Engrish episode when she starts cussing at the vendor, but beyond that ep. 23-24 have quite a bit of Engrish, and what little Engrish Rock uses is bad, fortunately he only has a line or two of Engrish before the conclusion, but Revy loves the Engrish, and Balalaika talks a bit more, but I can understand her more, though she can't say "atrocious" properly.

[Necrominion]

Once you get past the bowling alley episode there is practically no more Engrish in the series....I think thats around episode 22.

[ElricJC]

Oh that's right, the bowling alley, but also in ep 24 you have Balalaika and the last negotiation, but other than that, and the occasional utterance of 'Baby' fro Revy, that's about it.

Also, I rented Vol. 1 now and am watching the English dub.  So far, the main characters are well matched and voiced, with Dutch so far being the best, but Revy isn't bad, a little higher in tone than I thought she should be, but not bad.  Balalaika is indifferent, I prefer her Japanese voice, but the background characters are as lousy as usual in English dubs.  But, if it saves us from rampant Engrish, which seemed far more common in the Second barrage, then that's tolerable .

[Foggle]

Oh that's right, the bowling alley, but also in ep 24 you have Balalaika and the last negotiation, but other than that, and the occasional utterance of 'Baby' fro Revy, that's about it.

Also, I rented Vol. 1 now and am watching the English dub.  So far, the main characters are well matched and voiced, with Dutch so far being the best, but Revy isn't bad, a little higher in tone than I thought she should be, but not bad.  Balalaika is indifferent, I prefer her Japanese voice, but the background characters are as lousy as usual in English dubs.  But, if it saves us from rampant Engrish, which seemed far more common in the Second barrage, then that's tolerable .

I've learned to live with the Engrish, as well as "Levi" in the first three episodes.  If you ever find a place where I can get the released discs for a good price (original price, cheaper, or a tiny bit more) please tell me.  Volume 2 is damn near impossible to find decently priced.

[ElricJC]

Well it's hard, I ordered Vol. 1 & 2 for $25 each from my local Hastings store (their online site, gohastings.com, said they were out of 2, but the store said they could order it, but couldn't guarantee anything).  3 seems unavailable from them, but on Amazon 1 & 3 were up for $27 + shipping, and 2 was sitting at the exorbitant price of $75 (!!!) I just about shit myself when I saw that.  The Second Barrage is simply not available save maybe through ebay at some point.  I figured I better order what I can now or I will likely never seem them again.  At least I might be able to complete season 1 through Hastings and Amazon.  If I get my stimulus money soon I will aim to complete it, maybe.

[Foggle]

Yeah, I saw volume 2 on amazon.com and serioused the fuck up.

Second Barrage is licensed by Geneon but never got released.  You know what that means.