Graphic Violence in Graphic Novels: Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon is an excellent example of extreme violence in manga. The language is as rough as the fights, and it's certainly not appropriate for kids with its allusions to and outright representation of pornography, drugs, abuse, organized crime, terrorism and a number of other dark elements. The gunfights are extreme and the art is clear about the level of violence, often showing gaping bullet wounds and piles of bodies. Beyond the graphic nature of the fights, the magnitude of the violence is often extreme. Various mafia organizations, terrorist cells, mercenary armies and bounty hunters struggle to coexist in a city where the underworld exists without any fear of the police and criminals run free. Chaos and vice proliferate: gunfights occur in the streets; buildings are burned, bombed and demolished; bystanders are killed in the crossfire without any remorse. Violence is not stigmatized - there are no apologies. The characters do what they need to to survive, and many enjoy their violent work.
The violence of the series spills over from the physical to the psychological, philosophical and spiritual, providing some brilliant insight into human nature - both comical (see left for the debate over what weapon Jesus would carry) and serious. Personally, my favorite part of the series are the gun running nuns from the Church of Violence (see clip), though crime bosses Mr. Chang of the Chinese Triad and Balalaika of the Russian Hotel Moscow mafia are close seconds, with their pragmatic nihilistic views of the world. This is a dark, violent manga set in a fictional portion of the real world. There are no demons or ghosts, futuristic machines or cyborgs - just man facing himself in a society without morals.
Though the violence is over the top, there is a strong push for realism in the design of the weapons and the language of each character. This is well represented in the english translation of the manga and through the choice of voice actors for the dubbed anime. Normally I dislike dubs, but the majority of the voice actors for Black Lagoon are excellent, and capture the strong and varried ethnic portraits of each character. With such a diverse set of characters, using voice actors with strong accents adds dimension to the carricatures. Even in anime form (I watched the series through before reading the manga - the anime adheres very closely to the manga but I still prefer the manga for the little touches and the quality of the art) the blood and gore in Black Lagoon is surprisingly managable.
One of the most interesting sequences involves several short interactions that Revy (the hired gun protagonist) has with a group of small Japanese children while on an assignment in Japan. Removed from the violence of the primary setting, Revy and Rock are both forced to act according to the rules of civilized society. Stripped of her guns, Revy is left feeling powerless. Conforming to proper behavior in a civilized city forces her to remember her youth in New York and the crimes she commited as a child, and forces Rock to re-evaluate his decision to walk away from his mundane life as a Japanese businessman to live in a lawless city as a member of the Black Lagoon's crew. The "outsider looking in" model is common in literature, but in my experience it is most commonly used as a commentary on one culture from the perspective of another - here it is two people looking in on civilization, realizing that they've crossed a threshold and cannot return to it. I found this segment of the manga and anime fascinating because it played out as the Heart of Darkness in reverse - people living in darkness and chaos forced to confront their loss of humanity when faced with civilization.
With the proliferation of vulgar and incredibly politically incorrect language and the high volume of violence, I would have anticipated disliking this series. Instead it remains one of my favorites. The vulgarity and violence of the plot and character interaction comes across honestly, as an unashamed representation of many darker human elements. Apart from often surviving gunfights and explosions without major injury, there is no happy ending for the crew of the Black Lagoon, just a never ending string of dangerous and mostly illegal work as they try to get by from day to day. When marketing Black Lagoon to friends, I usually describe it as an "R rated Firefly on the East Asian sea." I suppose that overly vague summary holds, as it is really the story of people up against themselves and an unforgiving world, trying to scrape by from day to day on the fringes of society. I suppose the very first page sets up pretty clearly what is to come (see image at right).