Black Lagoon

The American adaptation? Well, that was basically supposed to be The Losers, but I didn't find that to be even close to as good as its source material.

You can watch Trigun on Netflix.

Didn't Funi grab this during the Geneon washout? I thought I heard something like that recently, and hopefully we'll see a more affordable version of this to remind someone in Hollywood that Revy and Gina Carano might be a good match so long as she can put some base in her voice.

Tom, Black Lagoon first aired in 2006 and has been stateside since 2008. After releasing seasons 1 and 2 in a single boxset in 2009, FUNimation allowed it to disappear. A new DVD/BD set is coming later this year at a good price (on RightStuf at least). We can also expect the OVA sequel, Roberta's Blood Trail, to be coming soon as well.

But I agree there should be a live-action version of this series because it plays out like an 80s action movie (especially since the series is based in the early 90s).

The sub for this series is fine but you really are missing out by not watching the dub (even though it is not available for legal viewing). I mean, come on, the guy who voiced Light Yagami in Death Note voices Rock! Another thing, the anime follows the manga very well except for swapping a couple arcs and cutting out some nice conversations between some of the characters. The manga needs to come back from hiatus.

I'm going to do some self-promotion here and say that y'all should check out my Beginner's Guide to Black Lagoon on here.

@Daroki:

Maybe. FUNi has had the series since '08 or '09 and Geneon did the dub work.

The thing you need to understand about the story of BLACK LAGOON is that this is a story about villains. There is really no real heroes in this story. Just degrees of villainy, and the story follows Rock as he is learning what kind of villain he's going to become.

People like to try and gush when MadHouse does all the western style anime (IRONMAN / X-MEN / DARK KNIGHT), but those pale in comparison to what this company can really do. BLACK LAGOON is one of the series I point people to for them to see really well produced anime action from MadHouse.

It's not that I don't like the dub cast. I really prefer the subtitles here. I like a lot of the cast. Even the voice of Benny is the actor who plays Sanji in ONE PIECE. It's also amazing when you look at the voice credits for Revy's actress. Either version gets weird when the plot goes to Japan and people are suddenly acting as if they don't speak Japanese. Rock is the only member of the cast that is Japanese. Revy is Chinese-American originally from New York.

The series was originally being released in the US by Geneon Entertainment, but they closed up their US distribution company just as the second season of this anime was due to be coming out. It had a lot of people wondering if it was ever going to be released officially. Though FUNimation bought the "distribution right". It's been hard as hell to find the DVDs. Hearing that they are planning to re-release the anime finally. It makes me wonder if they redubbed it the way they did with EVANGELION.

This series was coming out on DVD before Blu-ray was really a thing. In Japan, a few years ago they re-released the first two seasons on Blu-ray as a sort of collection.

There is a third anime season that covers the story of the manga's longest and most action packed story the"El Baile de La Muerte Arc". This series was released last year as a five part OVA. FUNimation announced they were going to release it last year, but it's been in a weird limbo. The production delay in Japan may have played a role. Though the first two seasons of BLACK LAGOON seem brutal. It's nothing compared to what happens in this OVA. The original series had to be shown on TV. Being direct to market sales meant they could be far more graphic. Anyone who knows this series understands that arc was very graphic.

The manga has been on a hiatus for a few years with no sign as to when it will return. It was in the middle of an arc, too. I follow the creator on Twitter hoping he may say something, but so far he hardly mentions the manga. He's not working on any other series that I can tell. Currently, there are as many volumes in the US as there is in Japan. I have a lot of problems with VIZ, but they did right by BLACK LAGOON.

@Nightwolf: It's not, hence why I was disappointed in it. They are not the same, but the Losers comic book on which the movie is based is just as crazy and action-packed as Black Lagoon. That is how they resemble one another.

@DocHaus:

Someone really came up with that? Sounds fun and all but I prefer the original storyline and would make some obvious casting changes (except Duncan as he is my first choice for Dutch). Really, one could take Roberta's Blood Trail and make it into a movie since the OVAs total the length of one and there is just a single arc.