Since it began in 2001, Rei Hiroe's Black Lagoon has been an exceptionally popular manga, having over seven million copies in print by the end of 2018 and receiving piles of positive reviews. It was so popular that it spawned an anime adaptation that was produced by Madhouse. Ever since the anime ended, fans have been excitedly waiting for news of a third season.
Here is what you need to know about Black Lagoon and its potential third season.
The Plot & Origin of Black Lagoon
Black Lagoon's manga was written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe, and began in Monthly Sunday Gene-X magazine in 2001. The story is set in the 1990s, and follows a group of pirate mercenaries called the Lagoon Company that smuggle goods and contraband in and around Southeast Asia and its surrounding seas. The group's principal tool in this smuggling ring is its boat, the Black Lagoon. The Lagoon Company takes jobs from the different criminal enterprises that operate in the area, which often involve high-speed chases, gunfights and boat battles. The series focuses on the four members of the Lagoon Company, from Rokuro Okajima, the salaryman who gets kidnapped by the Lagoon Company and decides to join them, to notorious sadist Revy, who handles most of the group's combat needs.
However, the manga's release hasn't been smooth, and the series has gone on hiatus many times. The first hiatus was in May 2010, with the series not returning until February 2013. But this revival was short-lived as the series paused again in February 2014. After nearly three years of silence, the manga resumed in May 2017, only to go back on hiatus in September 2018. Monthly Sunday Gene-X announced that the series would return in the spring of 2019. However, this was pushed back, and the manga actually restarted in September 2019, and it continues to sporadically release new chapters today.
The anime adaptation came out in 2006 and was quickly given a follow-up in the form of a second season called Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage in the latter half of the year. After this, a five-episode OVA, Roberta's Blood Trail, was released in 2010.
Will there be a Season 3 of Black Lagoon?
When talking about the Black Lagoon anime and its seasons, it's important to note that the OVA, Roberta's Blood Trail, is sometimes listed as the third season by some websites and streaming services. However, its short and limited nature means that fans don't classify it as the third season.
Currently, there are no announced plans for a fully-fledged third season of the anime, likely because of the manga's many hiatuses. The current anime and OVA have covered all but one of the currently released arcs. So if a third season was made now, it would be very short, or the anime producers would need to create an original story to fill the time. The latter option would likely be unpopular with fans as Black Lagoon has been praised for being an accurate adaptation of the source material.
However, this doesn't mean that a third season will never happen. With how successful the first two seasons were, it is unlikely that a production company will leave money on the table and not adapt them in some form. So it seems like it is just a case of waiting for Rei Hiroe to release enough chapters to cover an entire anime season.
