Black Lagoon – 2nd Barrage Box Set
Label: MVM.
Release date: 17th August 2009
Certificate: 18
Discs: 3. (12 episodes)
Running time: 317 minutes approx
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Sound: English 2.0, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English.
RRP: £29.99
Brief synopsis:
The Black Lagoon gang are back! A recent string of murders is the talk of the town. Not that murder is anything unusual, but the twin killers are targeting Hotel Moscow! The delicate balance of power held by the mafia leaders crumbles as the sickening slaughter escalates into a full-blown war of attrition. No quarter is given and none asked for, as Balalaika and her soldiers are forced to recall a time when their deadliest enemies were children.
Barely has the dust settled when Lagoon Company are taken on as bodyguards for counterfeiter Greenback Jane and soon find they have every bounty hunter in the city on their collective asses and these are defiantly not the kind of people who’ll take no for an answer. Hotel Moscow has plans to move onto Japanese turf and to do so they’ll be needing Rock’s translation services. After a year “dead”, how will Rock fare returning to his homeland after all this time?
As if that wasn’t enough, It’s all kicking off in the Tokyo underworld as the forces of Balalaika’s “Hotel Moscow” cut a swath through the local Yakuza with all the firepower and proficiency of the crack Russian commando unit they once were. But even with all the death and destruction that the Russian mafia reign down on their Japanese counterparts, it seems that the most destructive element in town may actually be the deadly combination of Rock’s brains and Revy’s brawn.
Comments:
Hot on the tail of the Black Lagoon – 1st Barrage Box Set (which I reviewed here) comes the second season of the Black Lagoon story. To sum up this release, just take everything I said about the first season, do a big ol’“Ben & Jerry” and add whopping big handfuls of what made it all work first time around, ie, more violence, bloodshed & gunplay, bucket-loads more high octane action and a whole shed-load more foul language, and you pretty much have the second season. If you liked this show’s first outing then you’re sure to love this triumphant return.
Extras:
Sadly if there was anything that was going to let this series down it’s the extras, or lack thereof. Basically we get some trailers and that’s it.If this show weren’t so otherwise awesome I’d be sulking about now.
Black Lagoon – 2nd Barrage Box Set is a available now on DVD from most high streets as well as most online retailers such as Amazon. and Play.
Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor Collection
Label: Manga Entertainment.
Release date: 21st September 2009
Certificate: 15
Discs: 7. (26 episodes)
Running time: 650 minutes approx
Video: 4:3
Sound: English 2.0, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English.
RRP: £59.99
Brief synopsis:
Sho Fukamachi’s a run of the mill teenager who spends his days hanging with his friends and serving on his high school’s student council. His life changes forever when he stumbles across symbiotic biomechanical life form that’s been smuggled out of the labs of the Kronos Corporation and subsequently lost during an attempt by Kronos’s private army to retrieve it. This highly prized life form, known as a “Guyver” merges with Sho’s body turning him into a virtually invulnerable super-soldier. As Kronos strives to retrieve it’s lost property, Sho must learn to utilise the power of the Guyver to protect himself, his friends and family and ultimately the entire world.
Comments:
Guyver’s one of those series that’s a bit like Evangelion, Final Fantasy or Naruto in that, if you look the other way for long enough when you turn back around again it’s suddenly multiplied and there’s a whole new batch of… something waiting to get into your wallet. You just can’t keep the thing down. Apart from the original manga, which now surpasses 26 volumes and counting, it’s also been a 12 part OAV, an animated movie, two live action movies and a 26 episode animated TV series as well as all the associated merchandise that goes with it. This incarnation of Guyver, essentially a spruced up retelling of the first dozen or so manga volumes was previously released back in 2008 and has now been re-released for 2009. While I can’t guarantee it I believe it’s available for download on Xbox live as well.
One upside of anime distributor ADV “going a bit wobbly” recently is that many of their old releases have been snapped up by rival companies, repackaged and flogged off cheap. Maybe not such great news for ADV but it’s quids in for the rest of us who can now pick up a number of whole series box sets dirt cheap. In this instance however it looks like ADV’s just tarted up the packaging from their 2008 release of this series before punting it out via Manga Entertainment for about £20 cheaper than the older version.
Dub wise you get all the ADV standard voice actors (is anyone else getting sick of chronic every-hero Chris Patten yet?) doing a fairly decent job of it. Animation quality’s probably best described as “competent”. It’s certainly not top-of-the-line stuff but ultimately there’s nothing to particularly complain about. Many of the character and mechanical designs have been updated somewhat from their original 80’s manga appearances which bring a touch more of a contemporary feel to the proceedings. There’s plenty of Guyver oriented arsekicking going on with lashings of violent action scenes and gory battle sequences which’ll secure this release a much coveted place in the collection of many a Guyver fan, of which there are many.
Extras:
Clean opening and closing animation, production sketches, commentary tracks from the staff of the English language dub track and a rather cool option called “manga / anime comparison” where scenes from each episode are shown side by side with the relevant page from the original manga. Pointless but fun which is pretty much what “cool” is all about.
Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor Collection will be available on DVD from most high streets, and online retailers such as Amazon and Play, from 21st September 2009
Reviewer: Penfold