Rei Hiroe (広江 礼威, Hiroe Rei, born 5 December 1972) is a Japanese manga artist who is best known for his latest manga, Black Lagoon. When he is working on doujin comics he goes by the name Red Bear and TEX-MEX. Hiroe's manga were originally published by Kadokawa Shoten in the 1990s but none were complete. As a response Hiroe transferred to Shogakukan in the early 2000s, where all of his manga released before Black Lagoon were republished and re-released.
Basically, Black Lagoon works best when it leavens the action elements with a hefty dose of black comedy and a bit of philosophy, and works worst when it reverses those.
This was a wild ride. First we have a counterfeit operation going bad - barely surviving attack by the mafia Jane, leader of counterfeit outfit hired by the mafia finds herself seeking refuge in rip-off-church (nuns with guns) affiliated with the Revy. This was a wild ride, lots of action and lots of chase.
And when this story ends we are introduced to the bomb assault in Venezuela that will trigger return of Roberta, our beloved commando maiden. Executed by professionals bomb attack killed off her employer and she is now bent on revenge. And by revenge she means starting inter gang war in Roanapur in order to flush out the assassins.
Art is great and story is perfect action trip.
Highly recommended to fans of the series and newcomers (although I recommend you start from the beginning).
Great fight sequences but too much talking. I do like it when a manga has a story, but the story and the conversations have to be interesting. Pages after pages of politicking and/or a very detailed description of counterfeiting? That's rather boring. Also, there was very little interaction between the characters of the Black Lagoon. I love Revy and Rock's bickering of which there was a severe lack in this volume. Revy and Eda were hilarious, though. And the twist with Eda? I so didn't expect that!