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  • Arc Fatigue: The El Baile de la Muerte arc. It lasted three and a half years and was comprised of so many Xanatos Gambits that even fans were getting confused and frustrated at the end. Even the author admitted the arc was dragging.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Just who is Eda, really? Is she a goofy, so-called nun who only occasionally who takes her job as a CIA agent seriously? Or is she really a cold, domineering mastermind whose appearance to others is merely a convincing deception? Whatever it is, she's definitely not who she appears to be.
    • Balalaika.
  • Complete Monster:
    • In the backstory of the "Das Wieder Erstehen Des Adlers" arc, Officer Spielberger was a member of the Nazi party's SS during World War II who was secretly assigned to smuggle and hide the tableau painting 'The Twelve Knights Led by Brunhilda' so that it may signify the Nazis return to power in the future. Aboard a U-1324 headed for Japan, after hearing from Captain Wentzel H. Ahbe that the sub had gone down and everyone on board will not survive, Spielberger tells him of his mission. When Ahbe suggests that their fate might be God's punishment for all the sarifices the Nazis made in the name of such a despicable and hateful ideaology, Spielberger is infuriated and demands he retract his words, even suggesting he values Nazism more than his own wife and child and is glad to leave them behind to give his life for his Fuhrher's cause. Ahbe refuses and even expresses his disgust over having to die alongside a man like him, so Spielberger takes out his Luger and shoots Ahbe in the head. Hearing the shots, other crew members charge in to avenge Ahbe's murder, and rather than shooting himself like he was about to, Spielberger coldly fires at the men, managing to kill three of them before getting shot himself, but even as he lies bleeding internally, Spielberger continues to fire his gun and kill more of the crew, determined to take as many others with him as possible. Unlike the Neo Nazis in the present day, Spielberger's callousness, cruelty and fanatacism was played completely straight, with even Rock being unsettled at the outcome of his massacre.
    • Chaka of Washimine from the "Fujiyama Gangster Paradise" arc is possibly the biggest Jerkass in the entire series with little to no excuse for his needlessly sadistic and often idiotic behavior. A Yakuza lieutenant with a penchant for Domestic Abuse, Chaka makes his entrance beating up Rock in an effort to impress Revy. When the battle between the Yakuza and the Russian mob goes badly for the Yakuza, Chaka kidnaps and brutalizes Yukio, his boss's teenage daughter, beating her bloody, and plans to sell her to a sexual sadist as part of his plan to take control of the remnants of the Yakuza. When Revy and Ginji arrive to bail her out, Chaka shoots through his own men to try and get at them, kills another man for daring to try and run away, then runs away himself, leaving his men to be massacred. Even Sociopathic Heroes such as Revy and Ginji are disgusted by this asshole's actions, and his abuse of Yukio in particular is enough to bring out Rock's absolute worst language and drive him to violence. He gets a well-deserved comeuppance at the hands of Ginji, who uses his shirasaya blade to slice up Chaka's gun -- and then cut off his hands. Followed by forced drowning. Childish, stupid, and completely out of his depth, Chaka manages to make an impression only through his complete lack of conscience, loyalty, or human decency.
  • Creepy Awesome: Hansel and Gretel
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The title song, Red Fraction. Gratuitous English Word Salad lyrics or not, it's awesome.
    • The closing theme to Roberta's Blood Trail (OVA 1 at least, is the only one out by the time of this edit) is an awesome rendition of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," played over images of Rock, Balalaika, and Mr. Chang's early childhoods. May double as an Ear Worm.
    • Revy seems to have good taste in pump-up music, putting Peach Headz Addiction into her walkman before taking down Luac and his crew, and blasting "Guitar Wolf" on the radio while Rock is driving her and Ginji to the Bowling Alley where Chaka and his men have holed up.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Hansel and Gretel. People tend to solely focus on their horrifying Dark and Troubled Pasts, rather than the horrible actions they commit onscreen. It's even discussed in canon, in a way, via Benny and Rock's talk about Gretel herself.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Roberta.
    • Hansel and Gretel has a decent fanbase despite only appearing in three episodes.
    • Leigharch the driver completely stole the fans' hearts
  • Evil Is Sexy: Balalaika is hot. Revy is hot. Shenhua is hot. Eda is hot. All of the main female characters are, to some degree, evil (as is everybody else in this series). And they are hot.
  • Fridge Brilliance: The omakes have two:
    • After Hansel and Gretel traumatize Garcia with torture and sexual advances, Garcia is left crying about something called Marathon Man. Marathon Man has a well known torture scene in it.
    • Dutch's past isn't what it seems, which makes him running out of the omake where everyone's de-aged make more sense.
  • Genius Bonus: Black Lagoon can be said to be made of these, containing varying references to languages, firearms, music (From Rob Zombie to Creedence Clearwater Revival) and quite a few about Westerns like The Wild Bunch (one of the characters in which was called "Dutch"...). It also contains a surprising amount of philosophy; themes such as Sartre's existensialism, consequence ethics, nihilism, phenomenalism, and Kierkegaard's "knight of faith" are openly discussed by characters (if not using those exact words).
    • As an example, take the firefight in the Yellow Flag which serves as Fabiola's introduction. Halfway through the fight, she throws away her right-hand handgun and breaks out a China Lake 40mm grenade launcher, an exotic weapon which even the denizens of Roanapur don't recognize (witness Revy's reaction). A little research shows that the China Lake holds a maximum of four grenades, and Fabiola doesn't seem to have a spare mag ready to hand. Alert readers will notice that Fabiola launches all four grenades during the fight. When she cocks the launcher again to threaten Gustavo, she's bluffing - she's out of ammo. It partly explains why she needs a stiff drink, and why her knees give out a little later.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Hansel and Gretel, creepy even by this show's standards. Some of the more...creative deaths can have this effect on people as well.
  • Magnificent Bastard:
    • Balalaika. Ruthless, cool, very dignified ex-special forces commander, now the queen of the mafia. Her huge facial scars can't completely tarnish her incredible beauty, and her fighting skills and intelligence keep her on top of the crime control of Roanapur. When she heads to Japan on business, Balalaika casually manipulates a gang war simply to enjoy the excitement with no side ever coming close to even touching her. Earlier, when two of her beloved soldiers are killed by the assassin twins, Hansel and Gretel, Balalaika lures Hansel out to his death and delivers an utterly chilling Breaking Speech as Hansel bleeds to death. Frequently displaying a tactical brilliance, Balalaika shows again and again why she is one of the single most powerful and dangerous people in the world.
    • Series protagonist Rokuro "Rock" Okajima himself seems to be turning into a anti-heroic Magnificent Bastard as he becomes steadily more jaded. Proving his tactical acumen in the first few episodes by coming up with a genius plan to wipe out a pursuing anti-tank aircraft, Rock later shows his skilled manipulative side by becoming a flawless negotiator to the point that all the most powerful players in Roanpur genuinely like and respect him. During Roberta's rampage, it is Rock who manipulates Roberta and her master Garcia into a deadly confrontation to end the bloodshed, nearly getting both killed, but ending in Roberta recovering her sanity and leaving in peace. Rock continues to demonstrate his ability to use and manipulate others, even if for ostensibly desirable ends, as possibly the single most dangerous and skilled player of the criminal game in the darkness that is Roanpur.
    • Let's not forget Balalaika's biggest Rival and pretty much the only mafia leader in Roanapur who can constantly keep up with her: Mr. Chang from the Sun-Yee On Triad.
      • With the latest OVA series it is clear that Chang and Balalaika are equals. Balalaika might have her absolute lead in prowess and wit, but Chang makes it up with his great influence and far superior contacts, with CIA for example.
    • Eda, supposedly a flirty criminal nun from the so-called Church of Violence smuggling operation, is actually a skilled major player in her own right. A CIA agent who also completely dominates the Triad boss Mr. Chang, Eda is in effect the true secret ruler of Roanpur. On the field, Eda also freely manipulates the hapless Janet Bhai into a safehouse that will be invaded, with enough instructions to escape so Eda can extort her for protection, and later shows that she casually plays all sides in Roanpur while setting up an end to the insane battle maid Roberta's rampage.
    • Even Revy has had her moments in this trope's territory. Perhaps hanging around Rock and Eda a lot rubs off on her and makes this natural.
  • Memetic Mutation: Amen, hallelujah and peanut butter.
    • From the previous scene: "You got FUCKED!"
  • Moe: Young Balalaika. Hansel and Gretel. Garcia and Roberta. And Fabiola.
  • Narm: Potentially lapses into this whenever Revy decides to go on a philosophical rant.
  • The Scrappy: Chaka made number one on a poll of "worst characters" in the manga. Then again, he is a Complete Monster and just as hated In-Universe, so this is most likely intentional.
  • Selfish Evil: Most characters in the series are casually mass-murdering, torturing, heavy drugs & weaponry-smuggling, meat-slavery-running, etc, Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids JerkAsses or Straw Nihilists. It's such a thoroughly amoral Crapsack World Failure Is the Only Option Trauma Conga Line ensemble, environment, and tone to the show that there is very little whatsoever available in the way of morality, conscience, hope, idealism, or compassion. The closest approximation might be the point-of-view main male protagonist.
  • Tear Jerker: The last third of episode 15. Oh God. Also, Episode 24, though maybe not as much.
    • Hansel and Gretel's deaths are some of the most heartbreaking deaths for such fucked-up villains, ever.
  • What an Idiot!: Chaka. He KNOWS that Revy's a gunslinger, from a town reknowned for its toughness all over Asia...so, to attract her attention, he abuses and mistreats the man she's protecting, hoping to get her to draw her gun. Not to mention his treatment of Yukio, who has a badass protector of her own in Ginji Matsuzaki.
  • The Woobie: Garcia, Yukio.
    • Iron Woobie: Rock, Roberta.
      • Jerkass Woobie: Hansel & Gretel, Revy, Balalaika. Ibraha from the "Lock and Load Revolution" arc also counts.