How's it going lurkers? Yesterday, I mentioned sharing a link to 1 of the ending theme songs
to Black Lagoon in a Metal thread on Adult Swim's forum.
"Preach Headz
Addiction" by Breath Frequency was used as the ending theme song for
Black Lagoon's series finale. Today I want to explain more about this
Seinen Action Anime.
Last week, I talked to an Adult Swim Helper about Black
Lagoon. He posted a thread in the Black Lagoon sub-forum asking:
"If
you were kidnapped and your boss didn't pay to get you back would you
join with your kidnappers rather than go home? I think the fact that
Revy was there had something to do with it. I think if it were just
Benny and Dutch, Rock would have been long gone."
I repiled to the Adult Swim Helper:
"I
would've rather gone home. Rock claims to suffer from 'Stockholm
Syndrome,' but he really wanted belong to a group. I personally can't
stand Revy. I'm Team Roberta. Watching Roberta kick her ass was
fantastic because Revy met her match."
As a Black
Lagoon fan, I can't stand Revy. I have always found Revy to be sickening.
She is that eternal victim, who had such a HARD life and overcompensates
for it by acting like a sociopathic misanthrope and begrudges everyone. Revy also loves denying her feelings for Rock.
Meanwhile, Roberta actually resonates with me a lot better than Revy. I may
not have lied, backstabbed, and killed people but I can definitely
identify with people underestimating me because of my physical
appearance, living a double life, and having physical strength.
Roberta
tries to be polite. However, she is NOT opposed to using brute force.
As I maintained a conversation with the Adult Swim Helper, I automatically
noticed his justifications for Revy acting like a misanthropic, bipolar
bitch to the protagonist, Rock.
Supposedly, he has friends EXACTLY like
her and being a rape survivor is an excuse to act like a bitch to
everyone. I explained to the Adult Swim Helper:
"Being
raped most definitely will harden anyone and make it difficult to
maintain relationships with people whether it's a friendship, or a
romantic relationship. Revy has streets smarts but at the same time, she
spends more time trying to act tough and being a bitch to everyone.
Dutch and Benny don't treat everyone the way Revy treats people. Every
rape victim doesn't treat everyone horribly because of it. She may be
physically strong, but she's emotionally weak and commitment phobic.
Revy begrudges anyone, who lives and has lived a much better life than
she did. She falls under the category of what would be considered the
stereotypical 'low class lowlife' because she doesn't come from living a
wealthy lifestyle and acts classless."
I am NOT in
the slightest trying to minimize sexual abuse. It is a horrible
experience to endure.
Sexual abuse is something extremely difficult to
recover from physically, emotionally, psychologically, and sexually.
Not knowing who to trust, after a
traumatic experience such as sexual abuse is much harder.
Although, NOT every rape victim becomes a paid criminal and believes, that he/she can
abuse others. Therefore, I believe that Adult Swim Helper's statements
are mostly B.S.
Reading his justifications
constantly made me roll my eyes behind the screen. Even though he has a right to
like whichever character(s) he wants, I refuse to validate his bullshit logic.
Since we are on the topic of
Black Lagoon, it is best to give a recap summary. Black Lagoon was
actually based on piracy cases in the East China Sea, during the mid to
late 1990's.
The Mangaka, Rei Hiroe was inspired by the works of James Ellroy, John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, and Stephen King.
Black
Lagoon opens with the protagonist, Rokuro Okajima (a.k.a. "Rock"). The protagonist
is a businessman (who would also be considered a "salary man" in Japan)
for Asahi Industries in Tokyo. Rock is sent by his
company to deliver a disk in the East China Sea.
In the process, his
boat gets hijacked by pirates/mercenaries known as the Lagoon Company,
who were hired to steal it. Revy (the only Chinese
American female mercenary in Lagoon Company) chooses to hold Rock
hostage, hoping he will be ransom worthy.
Eventually, the disk becomes
useless to them. In order to hide the smuggling operation, Rock's
department chief, Kageyama, declares Rock as "dead" and abandons him.
Because
Rock no longer works for Asahi Industries, he chooses to work for the
Lagoon Company as their negotiator/translator, while supposedly suffering from
"Stockholm Syndrome." Gotta love the smell of bullshit in the morning.
If you have never
watched Black Lagoon, you can try watching it in the following link:Black Lagoon Season 1: Episode 1 [English Dub] (2006)
Posts
