#roberta’s blood trail

[occvltswim]

Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail (OVA) — Episode 3, “Angels in the Crosshairs”

[crass-myrtle]

Black Lagoon Ch 72

The way she deconstructs Revy's worldview more than once. Revy's shocked face and instant defensiveness.

They're such a good contrast combo

[therosecrest]

[emberwritesinsight]

Remember that bit of Roberta’s Blood Trail where Revy dials up Shenhua like “hiii :) you wanna help me hunt down a Murder Maid?”

I keep thinking about it because it tells me that they exchanged numbers at some point, which is inexplicably funny to me. Like, why did they do this? When did they do this? Was it before or after Shenhua stabbed Revy in the arms with several little knives? Which one of them suggested it?

[roanapuratnight]

rosarita

[travendraws]

Zentreya's combat maid outfit is giving me flashbacks . . .

[phantasmiafxndom]

Out of all the animes you’ve watch what ones are your favorites

...you know what, you get the serious answer. I used to track my anime watching, so out of the 450+ completed ones on my list, here are some of my top recommendations! (In terms of quality, more so than what I've spent the most time dwelling on.)

. . .

One Piece — I haven't technically watched all of this one, but after falling back into the fandom after an 8-ish year break, I really can't understate the quality. One Piece's story is amazing, and I'm consistently impressed by the author's characters/worldbuilding.

Dominion Tank Police (1988) — I have FEELINGS about the villain in this one... Overall, 80s sci-fi vibes mix with themes of ethical responsibility and societal peacekeeping, and the "don't you just want to go apeshit? :)" protagonist (who's also extremely aromantic-coded) is a hilarious, yet wonderfully earnest little menace!

Kyousougiga — I've been rewatching this one recently, and the sheer detail in every scene is STUNNING. I keep having to pause to mentally scream about the symbolism, and tbh, knowing the plot from my original watch is only improving the experience.

Tekkon Kinkreet — This one's a movie, not a series, but SKLJKHS IT HAUNTS ME. Absolutely chilling, by the time the big plot twists roll around... Beyond that, the overall aesthetic/vibe is impeccable, and the exaggerated, messy art style only adds to that.

Kemonozume — Monster/human forbidden romance with stunning art and a great soundtrack. The plot started out a bit confusing, but all of the scattered story elements came together nicely in the end!

The Tatami Galaxy — The "get your shit together and start enjoying your life" anime. It's plenty good as just a story, but I got some excellent life lessons out of it too. Solid mix of comedy, drama, and charismatic-yet-extremely-bizarre characters interacting.

Monster — Excellent slow-paced, psychological horror packed with ethical dilemmas, traumatic backstories, and so many Extremely Depressed Men. In other words, there's a very good reason why Johan Liebert used to end up on so many "best anime villains" lists.

Paranoia Agent — I have nothing but praise for Satoshi Kon's work, in general, and Paranoia Agent has been my favorite of the ones I've seen so far. Compared to his movies, it really benefits from the extra space for plot development, and the big emotional twist hits hard.

Revolutionary Girl Utena — A true classic. <3 There are enough tumblr essays about this tragic yuri masterpiece that I won't go into detail myself, but yes, it's every bit as good as you've heard.

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail — The entire Black Lagoon series is excellent, but Roberta is my special girl. Unfortunately, the OAV adaption compresses the manga's version of her arc pretty heavily (and the altered ending is kind of dumb), but I still have to recommend it. Babygirl's breakdown is a REAL mess kjshghs

Claymore — Excellent pseudo-medieval fantasy with badass female characters, lots of body horror, and top-tier monster design. The manga is MUCH better than the anime after a certain point, however.

Kuuchuu Buranko — An episodic series about an eccentric psychiatrist interacting with his troubled patients. The mixed-media animation style and bizarre characters are what sold it for me, along with the exploration of mental health through storytelling tropes.

Cannon Fodder — An artistic short movie that's twenty minutes of aesthetic experience and fascinating worldbuilding implications. I love the vibe, and the "one, long horizontal frame" style is neat.

Flowers of Evil — The art style. The VIBES. The whole thing is incredibly eerie and off-putting, with a plot that's pretty much: "congrats! two shitty teenagers are tearing each other's lives apart!".

[theowlhousefanboy]

Notable And Underrated Anime That Have Excellent English Dubs, In My Opinion - A List (With Some Extra Banter or Whatever)

The works of Shinichirō Watanabe, ranging from Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, and Carole & Tuesday (so much so that they're better off disqualified from lists likes this, due to being way too obvious choices... moving on)

FLCL (heck, would even say the same to the otherwise derivative Progressive and Alternative)

The Read or Die OVA, alongside its sequel series R.O.D the TV (so good, that even the likes of Yomiko "The Paper" Readman changing accents actually doesn't feel as jarring as I thought it would be)

Azumanga Daioh (on a side note, Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga sounds a bit like Steven Universe's Amethyst and The Owl House's Vee Noceda; can't really say why)

Lucky Star (so, which part of the Choco cornets should we eat first?)

Nichijou ('nuff said)

K-On!/K-On!! (might sound a bit jarring if one also watched Puella Magi Madoka Magica on the English dub (a bit good, but nothing compared to the Rebellion movie and maybe the compilation films; case in point, Mio Akiyama, Ritsu Tainaka, Tsumugi Kotobuki, and Azusa Nakano are Homura Akemi, Kyubey, -bloody- Hitomi Shizuki, and Madoka Kaname respectively)

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan (kinda sucks that the two compilation movies don't have dubs; would have loved seeing the extra hamminess of the characters' English voices in those)

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water - ADV (even if the occasional accents are inaccurate, the emotional delivery of the VAs is hard to deny, especially the vile Gargoyle's)

Kill la Kill (if one has witnessed it, then you know that they sure had a lot of fun playing the characters in this extremely fun gainaxy romp)

Toradora! (...basically the closest we get to seeing Madoka verbally beat down Kyubey in romance and stuff)

Ghost in the Shell, both the movie duology (1 and 2: Innocence) and Stand Alone Complex, including the Tachikomatic Days extras and the Solid State Society movie (so much so that the latter's DVDs are mostly set with the English dub on default, reportedly even in Japan)

REDLINE (can't speak enough for it so to describe its epicness)

Dead Leaves (you can actually watch it on YouTube... it might overwhelm you)

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt (telling that it's way more raunchy than even the original Japanese)

Golden Boy (you know, at least the show didn't continue on, lest it might have gotten way too weirder like the manga it's adapted from)

Black Lagoon (so good, that it resulted with the Roberta's Blood Trail OVAs having the cast reprise their roles due to fan demand)

Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemy (so madcap, the former's titular character's VA broke her voice halfway through the show)

Honorable mentions:

Neon Genesis Evangelion - particularly the ADV dub, with Manga Entertainment's efforts on The End of Evangelion and the Director's Cut versions of Episodes 21-24 (it might be correctly deemed as flawed, but nowadays, it sure has proven its worth, albeit at the cost of the Netflix dub being derided as lacking in emotion and perhaps also nuance)

The Manga Entertainment dubs for the Patlabor movie duology (a shame the OVA series preceding it doesn't share the same cast, while the Patlabor TV series dub... eludes me)

GaoGaiGar (flaw: it's unfinished, and thus never even reached the FINAL parts)

In the meantime, hopeful readers, feel free to put on personal recommendations, in case there'll be a second part, if not a commenter's edition.

[randee0]

little VHS aesthetic GIF of FARC Roberta I whipped up with Vegas Pro + Blender, clip from S01E10. feel free to use for whatever, no need to credit me

ive always been very disappointed that theres basically no fan-content of Roberta’s past as a FARC soldier at all... all of the stuff thats out there is like 80% maid outfit, 20% her Blood Trail suit. that stuff is still cool don't get me wrong, but cmon man... we could be doing so much better. so much wasted potential

(I feel the same way about Balalaika, although to a lesser extent since there is at least a tiny bit of content in her case)

[corner-stories]

grazed

Mia Dearden. Scars. Reflections. Old Friends. 1458 words. (ao3.)

Death had visited Mia Dearden many times, but never seemed to be looking for her in particular. It always seemed to seek the people around her, the ones who had finally arrived at the bitter end. 

Death arrived in her childhood home when she found her unmoving mother in the bathtub. Death arrived in the alleyway when she saw a friend succumb to the cold spell plaguing Star City. Death arrived when Albert Davis fell to the ground, trails of blood spilling out from where the arrow struck his heart. 

Death would only ever grace her, leaving reminders through the scars on her skin, the aches in the muscles, or in that diagnosis all those years ago. Death would become an echo in her brain, mocking her relentlessly for having the audacity to survive.

Why didn’t you die instead? Why did you make it out? Why do you deserve to live? 

Mia Dearden did not believe in a higher power, but sometimes she would escape a deathly scuffle or dodge a fatal blow, then look up and think. She would not give thanks, express relief, but simply wonder why — Why her? Why no one else? 

Why not her friend Roberta who froze to death in an alleyway? Why not her mother who was too depressed to realize what she was doing? Why Albert Davis in the absence of any other option?

If there was a God somewhere out there, then he was truly a sick bastard. 

Today Death had greeted Mia Dearden a lot more closely. In a mission she couldn’t even remember the objective of, she had just barely dodged a gunshot meant for her head. The sound of the firearm bellowed through the air like thunder, the bullet that grazed her face ripped through her flesh like a knife. 

And Speedy nearly screamed, falling to her knees and holding her hand at a spot just beside her right eye. When she looked to the ground she could already see droplets of red hitting the concrete. Her hand was gloved yet she could feel it getting wetter and wetter as she stemmed the wound. In seconds her eye began to sting. 

And what was she to do? Death had come so close yet she was still alive. She was bleeding, but she could still stand. The assailant was getting away, now dashing through the alleyway and getting farther from her reach. 

So taking a breath into her lungs, Mia knew what she had to do. She reached to her belt, to the scant medical supplies Speedy kept on their person, and grabbed some gauze. She affixed a bandage to her face, parts of the material covering her right eye completely, then grabbed her bow once more, her own blood staining the handle. 

And she ran, adrenaline pumping through her veins and helping her move forward. 

Death had tried to come for Mia Dearden again, but not Speedy. Mia Dearden could have died and that could have been the end of it, but Speedy still had a chance to fight. 

And as long as a glimmer of hope existed in that dark night, then she had no reason to give up. 

…

…

…

An hour later the chaos had ended. The assailant had been captured and punished for his crimes. 

Mia retreated to her home base for the night, knowing full well that her own blood was beginning to accumulate on her uniform. 

In the bathroom she put down the quiver, then reached for her bandages. When she pulled them off and removed Speedy’s mask, the wound underneath was disturbed and caused a new stream of blood to form. At least she was in a better state to handle it. 

Utilizing the first aid kit under the sink, she cleaned the wound on her face, wincing more and more as every wipe removed the dried blood and exposed a small medley of torn flesh. Judging by the trajectory of the bullet she would ultimately keep her eye, but the skin around her right temple would likely be mangled and misshapen for the rest of her life. 

Even now Mia could tell that it would be more than a scar or a blemish. It was a warning — a reminder that could tell the world of Death’s relentless pursuit of her. She had gotten much closer to meeting her end, perhaps too close. 

Yet despite it all Mia could only be filled with resolve — determination to wear the mark no matter what it said, a steadfast willingness to to look Death in the eye after their numerous scuffles and tell them to keep trying. 

In a way, Death treated her like everyone else — vowing to find her eventually and  neverending in its pursuit. For the longest time it had never been a matter of when for her, but where. So Death could keep chasing her because she would keep running. When her time would finally come then Mia could face it — perhaps sit down, take a breath, and greet Death like an old friend. 

…

…

…

A month passed since the day she had been grazed. The redness of the wound had disappeared and in its wake was uneven, misshapen, but ultimately healed skin. She was now used to feeling the rough texture whenever she touched her right temple or seeing her altered reflection. 

She was still Mia Dearden, but perhaps just one scar heavier. 

The last month had been spent predominantly in Seattle, a place where Speedy could make it on her own. But as a result she would go through long stretches of time alone, without a family member nearby or even a friend. And a part of her was dreading the reality that eventually one of her loved ones would see her like this. Ollie would certainly be terrified to see it. 

But on one certain day Mia found herself in New York, having been called to Titans Compound to assist her team with a mission. Apparently, they missed having a designated marksman on the team.

So utilizing a teleporter Mia arrived early, finding the meeting room completely empty and illuminated by fluorescent lights. If she recalled, a handful of the old San Francisco Titans now operated in the Compound, but she wasn’t sure which ones. 

Nonetheless, when she sat down in the first vacant chair and wondered what everyone else was up to lately. Last she heard, Kon was doing some kind of menial job in the Daily Planet mailroom, Bart was studying at engineering school, and Cassie was wrangling the next generation of Titans on the opposite coast.

Before Mia could delve too deeply into the reality that the only major thing to happen to her lately was the gnarly scar near her eye, she heard someone step into the room.

She spun around in her swivel chair to see Bart Allen standing in the doorway. 

It had been way too long since she last saw him, but ultimately he looked the same — boyish, adorably disheveled, and ultimately very sweet-looking. The only difference was that he was just a bit taller. 

Mia gave her old friend a smile. “Hey.”

Bart returned it with a grin of his own. “Hey- whoa.” 

Mia immediately knew what he was looking at. For a brief second she could see his brain running a million miles an hour, desperately searching for the right thing to say. At least he was actively trying to be polite about it.

“Uh… what…” he said, then sucked in a breath and avoided her gaze. “I’m sorry.” 

“No, it’s fine,” Mia insisted, shaking her head. She leaned back in her chair and pointed to the blemish on her right temple. “Handgun round, missed me by that much.”

Bart’s gaze widened slightly. “Shit.”

And somehow Mia laughed. It was the first thing she could find herself doing, letting a hearty chuckle escape her chest. She wasn’t even sure what she found so funny, just that her body’s first instinct was to react in a certain way. At this point, laughing it off felt like the only thing she could do. 

“Yeah, it’s crazy,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But I still look better than you.” 

Bart’s response was to wrinkle his nose, clearly amused. “Let’s be real, that’s not a hard hurdle to jump.”

And Mia smiled wider than she had in a long long time. 

It was odd — despite the separation between the two heroes, despite the wildly different lives they led, the second they were in the same room again they seemed to get along without a hitch. In a life as crazy as hers, Mia was just relieved to know that she didn’t just have Death to consider an old friend. 

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Yves also reminds me of balalaika from black lagoon. I could imagine that some of his body scars and previous face scars would look a lot like hers. Also the vague mafia vibe that Yves has sometimes reminds me of her too. (The video “Balalaika’s revenge” on YouTube captures this perfectly). The way they have that very lithe feminine flirtatious vibe but also the way they can become so cold and ruthless also makes me see parallels too.

Roberta from the same show also reminds me of him in some ways due to the extreme before and after in terms of their lives. Now sweet person utterly dedicated to their loved one but also carries a horrendous past that they wish to keep from their loved one. Like UGH could you imagine Yves darling somehow, by literally divine unluckiness, despite all that he has done, somehow gets sucked into the more dangerous aspects of his life/work through a series of unfortunate events? I can see him going through a similar kind of turmoil Roberta went during Roberta’s blood trail. I mean like the anger, the rage, how apologetic he’d be towards the reader, the tears, all that trauma finally boiling up to the surface that once more. It would be really bad DAMN!!

Holy fuckin shit anon yeag omg i watched balalaika's revenge and MY GOD does she have that essence, like DAMN i was like looking thru her wiki n shit

Roberta too, but like yves just isn't like full of trauma about to explode, he managed to convert it into something else that powers him and he controls it all

Thamz u 4 ur thots tho , i appreciate it anon ❤️

[otakween]

Anime Niche Masterposts - Maid anime edition

Hanaukyou Maid-tai (Ecchi, 12 episodes)

Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden (Romcom, 12 episodes)

He is My Master (Ecchi, 12 episodes)

And Yet the Town Moves (Comedy, 12 episodes)

The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious (Comedy, 11 episodes)

Akiba Maid War (Action, 12 episodes)

Emma: A Victorian Romance (Romance, 12 episodes)

Kaichou wa Maid-sama! (Romcom, 26 episodes)

UzaMaid! (Comedy, 12 episodes)

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (Slice-of-life, 13 episodes)

Shounen Maid (Slice-of-life, 12 episodes)

Honorable mentions:

Chaika - The Coffin Princess

2. Black Lagoon - Roberta's Blood Trail

3. Tokyo Mew Mew

[karkesyc]

Number 14 of my Junimation countdown: Black Lagoon

A modern pirates life for these criminals, low-lives and people scraping the barrel in this manga turned anime by Rei Hiroe. The original series with 24 episodes spread over 2 seasons ran from the 9th April 2006 until the 19th December 2006. Add 5 extra if you're counting Roberta's Blood Trail which started the 17th July 2010 and ended 22nd June 2011.

The story starts with businessman Rokuro Okajima (Rock) who gets abducted by modern day pirates calling themselves the Lagoon Company, but decides to join them after seeing how much of a scumbag his employer is. He now stays in the city of Roanapur where crime isn't uncommon and crime syndicates are in control. He slowly adjusts to this new lifestyle with the help of gunslinger "Two Hands" Revy, captain of the Lagoon Company Dutch and tech genius Benny as he finds his place in the company. But with the many criminal clients this Company does business with, this means they're regularly fighting to survive and earn their paycheck.

Though a lot is told from Rock's perspective, the most notable character with the most (visual amazing) action is Revy. As we slowly learn how she became who she's now while she mercilessly takes down/kills any opponent and regularly disagrees with Rock.

This is a series to bury the argument that animation is "for kids" with sometimes disturbing storytelling, good world building and graphic injuries/kills. This is no series for the faint of heart, but a fantastic one if you gave it a shot.

[the-stray-liger]

Man I love Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail I just love seeing a female character allowed to be completely insane

[strykingback]

@krowsselfindulgy How bad is Black lagoon? Since you compared it to RWBY I feel concerned for the formers quality.

Okay just before I begin. Black Lagoon is in no way means of bad. I was just saying that it was better than RWBY. Since on twitter someone was making some idiotic comparisons on how RWBY was better than [anime name]. But I'll happily tell you that this IS WHAT A GOOD MEAL IS LIKE IN A SHOWWW!!!

But before I go ahead. WARNING: There will be spoilers for the First Two Seasons of Black Lagoon . (I'll cover the Roberta's Blood Trail Arc another time) Also Further warning! The following triggers will contain blood, gore, violence and I mean lots of violence. N*zi's, R*pe, G*re, and some racism, including Police Brutality (Also this was done during 2006 like this was a time when things were unhinged!) ___________________

Now I think we're gonna go through a few of the characters, some favorite moments of mine from the series. Then we'll just leave everything for a second part? Perhaps? Because seriously theres a lot of memorable characters and moments from this show and its no wonder why everyone is hoping for a Season 3 one day! Okay where do we start? Well why not with the fact that any RWBY stan is gonna complain and say there are no "strong women" in Black Lagoon. Yeah you know what thats kind of true y'know I should agree with them. . . .

FUCKING DEAD FUCKING WRONG.

Lets start with someone from our main cast of characters shall we?

Enter Rebecca "Revy" Lee, an Chinese American born woman who lived in an impoverished part of New York City where he would have to suffer both Physical and Sexual abuse from both her father and THE POLICE. Which leads her to have a very nihilistic viewpoint of the world and its religion as she states herself (Mostly from the Manga) that: "God didn't do shit" for her because of all the abuse she had to suffer. Not to mention at one point when she was arrested SHE WAS LITERALLY- Um.. hold up a minute. Ahaha! Redo of Healer'd!

Oh and by the way she was also killing and getting in fights with the police all at A YOUNG AGE. Oh my god she was literally putting on Black Timberlands instead of Black Air Forces..... this was until she met Dutch who she would join him as the brawn to the ELCO PT Boat, the Black Lagoon.

However her greatest flaw is her "Whitman Fever" which can lead to her violently killing anyone who gets in her way (with a few exceptions). However, its also most possible that the reason why she shoots and kills is a way to cope with her trauma...... as anyone who treats her with genuine kindness instead of attempting to betray her and somehow... this person was none other than our Rock that we'll be talking about another time. but for now... lets show some memorable moments.

Such as.. her terrifying Speech towards our Other Main Protagonist Rock (Which we will :

Or WHEN SHE AND DUTCH GOT ON A BOAT THAT WAS HIJACKED BY NEO-N*ZI'S AND SLAUGHTERED THEM ALL.. LIKE DEAR GOD LOOK AT THIS

Then there comes our second character and dear God she is.... fucking legendary... THE FORMER SOVIET VETERAN OF WAR HERSELF.

ENTER SOFIYA PAVLOVNA AKA BALALAIKA My god this woman is the definition of "I am the Shit and I dont sit around and fuck around" unlike Salem and her dumbass sitting on a Grimm throne for the past like what oh wait.. one (Volume 4), two (Volume 5), three (Volume 6), Four (Volume 7), and FIVE (Volume 8) Goddamn times! Like holy fuckin shit Salem is one of them lazy villains. but for Balalaika, she is the true meaning of Fuck around and FIND OUT.

She was a former Soviet War Veteran who participated in the Soviet-Afghan War before being disavowed and thus, she would join Hotel Moscow and regain her soldiers who were all also former soviet paratroopers. When i say she will get shit done I MEAN SHE WILL GET IT DONE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

Such as when someone was blabbing about when they were going to assassinate the entire Lagoon Company (Which who Revy is part of) and she pulls up on him and gives off the MOST HELLA DARKEST GLARES EVER.

YOU CANNOT TELL ME SHE'S LIKE THIS IS TERRIFYING TO LOOK AT CAUSE MY GOD SHE IS THE SHIT. SALEM EAT YOUR FUCKIN' HEART OUT!

Lets not forget when Roberta the Maid (I may have to talk about that another time....) pulled up, Balalaika did her research and found out who she was and cornered her with her Vysotniki (Basically her personal army of Red Army, VDV, and Spetznaz soldiers) and still...she commands the respect of all of them. ....

Theres also the fact that she went to "war" with many gangs but when Hotel Moscows Japan branch was having trouble. She pulled up and had the Yakuza running for their life. The only thing that would be capable of saving them would be Kazama Ki- Oh yeah thats right he was still in Prison and didn't get out until 2005. Still she blitzkrieged the Yakuza quickly and made them beg for mercy!!! But no joke. Balalaika has the respect of her men has the skills of a leader, even to the point where she would happily do a favor for a dear friend. Because at one point Dutch did rescue her and she returned the favor three times.

It was no joke that Revy said that Balalaika gets off on war.... cause boy howdy she was right...but that doesnt mean shes all but a war maniac. Somewhere deep inside she has a soft spot for her men she served with as she would go as far as to avenge them by any means necessary.

Like during the Vampire Twins Arc... and I kid you not as I say this.....

BALALAIKA HAD TO SIFT THROUGH 250 SNUFF FILMS IN ORDER TO FIND THE TWO TWINS THAT KILLED HER MEN....

There was going to be no way that I would be able to get through even be able to get through the first five minutes of just ONE. Like I said before... Balalaika. DOES NOT FUCK AROUND.

Such as when Balalaika gets her vengeance on one of the killers

Or her meeting with the Kosa clan when she makes fun of the guards FLIMSY GUN AND SHOOTS THEM BOTH WITH IT!!

Okay so enough of that cause it is 7:30 PM over here... and I think I may have to save this for a part two um... so have a REALLY Funny moment from Black Lagoon that gets me rolling.

[blueinkedfrost]

Watching Black Lagoon for the first time

Revy, certified two-gun-wielding badass pirate: Roberta's a maid. What's she gonna do, throw a teacup at me?

Me *seeing that the finale episodes are called 'Roberta's Blood Trail'*: Hmm.