Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail Premieres at Anime Expo 2010

Black Lagoon is an anime that holds a special place in my heart as it was the first anime I got to review for The Escapist. I liked the realistic setting combined with over the top gun and naval battles as a band of mercenary couriers took dangerous jobs while mafia gang wars took place in the fictional East Asian area known as Roanapur. Its second season Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage featured more action and stories, but felt like three individual movies independent of each other chopped up into thirty minute episodes instead of an actual television series. As I watched Second Barrage I thought to myself, "If Black Lagoon decided to drop the television format in favor of a movie format, I would be all for that."

Well, it seems the producers of Black Lagoon read my Second Barrage review or bugged my office the day I thought that because now the next Black Lagoon happens to be just that: A full-length feature without the episodic breaks. Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail will translate one story of the acclaimed manga into the animated medium to the delight of anime fans. Those who read this arc of the manga will already be familiar with the story. The devoted yet clumsy maid of the Lovelace family Roberta from the first season of Black Lagoon returns to avenge her assassinated master. Whoever did the deed will learn the hard way that Roberta's military past can trigger her into an unstoppable killer who vaguely resembles a certain cyborg sent from the future who later became governor of California. The bullets and body count will rise as she embarks on her tale of revenge while the Lagoon company try to make sense of the conspiracy that resulted in Lovelace's death in the first place.

Anime fans will have the chance to watch it first hand during the Fourth of July holiday at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, CA where Roberta's Blood Trail will premiere. As the largest anime convention of the West Coast and arguably the United States, this year Anime Expo seems to be making a Black Lagoon themed convention. In addition to the aforementioned Roberta's Blood Trail, Anime Expo is bragging about its guests involved with Black Lagoon including the musical artist MELL who sang the Engrish-style opening theme song of the series and even the Black Lagoon manga creator Rei Hiroe. So expect to see a lot of Black Lagoon fans and cosplayers at this year's Anime Expo. My Chang costume is already packed and ready to go.