tollie01

Right, it's confession time for me. If you have been reading my reviews than you may have noticed that I tend to rip the anime a new one. There is a reason for this though and it has to do with the fact that I can't turn my brain off when watching anime. I can't ignore the stupid shown in the anime and this is a problem as most anime are very stupid indeed.

In this case I'm not talking about a 90 pound girl catching a multi-ton cruise missile and throwing it back. Yes, it is stupid but it is a stupid that I'll allow. It's anime. Things like this are normal here and I'm pretty much fine with it. It annoys me to be sure but I will not rant about it.

So, having explained this lets rip into this anime shall we? Just a heads up: There will most probably be spoilers. The more I hate an anime the more spoilers there will be.

ART: I really like art like this as I've had it with the massive eyes from the 80's. I would say this anime style is more realistic but there is some slapstick humor in there that may put some people off. Case in point is the episode where a villain gets a torperdo to the face and you get to see his goofy expession as he dies.

SOUND: Opening song gets you right in the mood with heavy gitars and dito vocals so there is no mistaken that you are in for a ride. Closing song is very subdued in comparison and I kind of liked the contrast between the 2 songs. Voice actors did a good job overall.

CHARACTERS: Main character is Rock. He is a Japanese office worker who gets stuck in one of the shittiest places on Earth. Despite his surroundings he tries to keep his values and get along with his new co-workers.

Revi is a halve American, halve Chinese woman who has had a very bad childhood. She is called 'two hands' for her habit of dual wielding pistols which she uses with deadly effect. Her relationship with Rock is a bit of love/hate as she doesn't really agree with his viewpoint on life.

Lagoon Company is basically a 4 man crew who runs operations from an old patrol boat. Dutch is an African American who served in the Vietnam war and stuck around in Roanapur. He is the brains and the director of the company. Revi is his muscle and Benny is the information expert. Rock is the latest addition to the company.

Roberta is a former guerilla fighter who is now employed as a maid by the Lovelace family. To say that she is lethal is an understatement.

STORY: After the murder of her master, Roberta, follows the trail of his killers to Roanapur. Bent on revenge nothing will stop her from getting it. Garcia Lovelace is trying desperately trying to stop Roberta and bring her home and he wants to hire Rock to help him.

RANT: This is a 5 episode arc that takes place right after the Second Barrage series conclusion and centers around Rock. Although it says Roberta's blood trail on the cover this isn't really her story but Rock's.

Simply put: Roberta is set on a path of destruction that will likely end her and tear Roanapur apart. Rock is trying to stop this and save the main players involved. As he's had a bit of a bad track record with saving people, then you can understand that this is a big deal for him.

There is a lot going on in the series and it consists of 5 epsiodes that are 30 minutes long. On the one hand I liked it being 5 episodes as they could take their time setting things up but on the other.... It was a bit too long. The anime felt a bit stretched at times and I feel that with editing they could have easily brought it down to 4 episodes and it would have worked a bit better.

If you liked the main series then you'll like this one as well. I thought it was one of the weaker arcs due to its pacing but I enjoyed it anyway.