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91-449: Black Lagoon (stylized in all caps ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe . It has been published in Shogakukan 's seinen manga magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X since April 2002, with its chapters collected in 13 tankōbon volumes as of December 2023. In North America, the manga is licensed for English release by Viz Media . The series follows

182-515: A water gun replica of Revy's Beretta 92 FS " Sword Cutlass Special", five autographed illustrations and six bookmarks. Four pachinko machines based on the series have been released in 2011, 2014, 2019, and 2023. Four pachislot machines have been released in 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2022. A pachislot simulator game, Slotter Mania V: Black Lagoon , was released for the PlayStation Vita on March 15, 2012. A browser game developed by CTW for

273-451: A box-like world", Rock "breaks out of such a box", adding that breaking out is not the end for him; "[he senses that] there may yet another box that maybe be broken out of", and he is "pointed in the right direction. The fight is not with the container which encloses the world, but with one's self." Hiroe stated that he did not dislike "cute girls" or moe characters, but that the inclusion of these characters should depend on whether there

364-510: A character who would share the same point of view as the readers, so he added Rock as a businessman to the story. Hiroe commented that there was no particular reason why he is Japanese. Hiroe commented that after Rock was added to the story, "he came to life and started to build his own interesting character." Sunao Katabuchi , director of the anime adaptation , said that Rock is the character that he empathized more with, commenting that while "[w]e live our daily lives as if we are closed inside of

455-683: A commonly preferred alternative to all caps text is the use of small caps to emphasise key names or acronyms (for example, Text in Small Caps ), or the use of italics or (more rarely) bold . In addition, if all caps must be used it is customary to slightly widen the spacing between the letters, by around 10 per cent of the point height. This practice is known as tracking or letterspacing. Some digital fonts contain alternative spacing metrics for this purpose. Messages completely in capital letters are often equated on social media to shouting and other impolite or argumentative behaviors. This became

546-483: A computer program shouting at its user. Information technology journalist Lee Hutchinson described Microsoft's using the practice as "LITERALLY TERRIBLE ... [it] doesn't so much violate OS X's design conventions as it does take them out behind the shed, pour gasoline on them, and set them on fire." In programming, writing in all caps (possibly with underscores replacing spaces ) is an identifier naming convention in many programming languages that symbolizes that

637-528: A criminal context", and by mixing different cultures in the story, he wanted to see the reaction of each culture to this "thorny subject, without making any judgment." Referring to whether the manga could be perceived as a political statement, due to actual piracy issues in Africa and elsewhere, and since the manga is about pirates, Hiroe said that "as long as there are various people's opinions being voiced, it won't cease to be political", emphasizing, however, that there

728-495: A delicate scanning of characters (from a damaged image that needs further contextual text correction). Depending on the typeface , these similarities accidentally create various duplicates (even quite briefly and without realizing it when reading). E.g. H/A, F/E or I/T by adding a bar; P/R, O/Q, even C/G from similar errors; V/U, D/O, even B/S while rounding the shape; and more deformations implying mixings. Adding digits in all caps styled texts may multiply these confusions, which

819-401: A different project "to keep things from getting stale." The manga has been on hiatus several times; it went for an almost three-year hiatus from May 19, 2010, to January 19, 2013; it went on a three-year hiatus again from January 18, 2014, to May 19, 2017; it went on hiatus for a year from August 18, 2018, to September 19, 2019. Hiroe has attributed these pauses to his depression , adding that he

910-512: A five-episode original video animation (OVA) series released from July 2010 to June 2011. By December 2023, the Black Lagoon manga had over 9.5 million copies in circulation. The series has been overall well received, with critics particularly praising the action sequences. A team of pirate mercenaries known as the Lagoon Company smuggles goods in and around the seas of Southeast Asia in

1001-708: A large Vietnamese refugee population following the Vietnamese refugees exodus after the communist takeover of Vietnam in 1975. Lagoon Company transports goods for various clients in the American made 80-foot (24 m) Elco -type PT boat , Black Lagoon . It has a particularly friendly relationship with the Russian crime syndicate Hotel Moscow. The team takes on a variety of missions—which may involve violent firefights, hand-to-hand combat, and nautical battles—in various Southeast Asian locations, even going as far as Isabela, Basilan in

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1092-399: A mainstream interpretation with the advent of networked computers, from the 1980s onward. However, a similar interpretation was already evidenced by written sources that predated the computing era, in some cases by at least a century, and the textual display of shouting or emphasis was still not a settled matter by 1984. The following sources may be relevant to the history of all caps: Before

1183-464: A nail." Leroy Douresseaux of ComicBookBin compared it to The A-Team and to a " Quentin Tarantino exploitation flick ", also calling it an "extra-violent version of Cowboy Bebop " and " Bad Boys II on paper", stating that the series "will appeal to any male reader old enough to understand big guns, big boobs, and gratuitous pistol-in-crotch shots." Greg McElhatton of Read About Comics said that

1274-427: A rainbow of colors." Theron Martin of ANN commented that the series "should suit any fan of R-rated Hollywood action movies just fine", also praising the artwork and the action scenes, concluding: " Black Lagoon offers a healthy, high-octane serving of nearly non-stop violence, scheming, and graphic content. It aspires to be nothing more than a hard-core actioner, and because of that it works extremely well." Reviewing

1365-532: A slowed speed is possible – but in principle too many factors of low legibility are involved." Other critics are of the opinion that all caps letters in text are often "too tightly packed against each other". Besides the aforementioned speed of reading, all caps is can be prone to character -based ambiguities. Namely, the upper-case letters are globally simpler than their lower-case counterpart. For example, they lack ascenders and descenders . Since they are built from fewer positional and building elements (e.g.

1456-416: A smaller grid pertaining to minimalist digital fonts), they are more fragile to small changes. These variations, generally involuntary but sometimes induced on purpose, are caused by a misinterpretation (the information is transferred) or by a deterioration (the data is lost, in the analysis wording). They can occur horizontally and/or vertically, while misreading (without this extra effort or time), or during

1547-514: A smart script." A.E. Sparrow of IGN made a positive review of the series, stating that it has "[e]verything you love about a bad action movie", but stating that unlike a "bad action movie", the series has "actual character development", commenting that it "veers towards that dynamic that made Cowboy Bebop as fun as it was." Isaac Hale of PopCultureShock said that the series reminded him "intensely" of Kouta Hirano 's Hellsing , stating that both series feature "psychotic badasses", "they're all about

1638-663: A term is conspicuous, we look at more than formatting. A term that appears in capitals can still be inconspicuous if it is hidden on the back of a contract in small type. Terms that are in capitals but also appear in hard-to-read type may flunk the conspicuousness test. A sentence in capitals, buried deep within a long paragraph in capitals will probably not be deemed conspicuous...it is entirely possible for text to be conspicuous without being in capitals. Certain musicians—such as Marina , Finneas , who are both known mononymously, and MF DOOM —as well as some bands such as Haim and Kiss —have their names stylised in all caps. Additionally, it

1729-410: A world with few rules, where death is ready to take you the minute you start to think about giving up." All caps In typography , text or font in all caps (short for " all capitals ") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG. All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements , newspaper headlines , and

1820-481: Is "more like a Hollywood or Hong Kong action flick" than a series with the "pubescent girls and giant robots" formula usually associated with manga, also calling it "a fun fantasy for readers who've outgrown the high seas hi-jinks of One Piece but are still pirates at heart." Aoki added that the focus on "whip-smart, sexy and confident women" is one of the best things of the series; "[n]ot girls, but real women who can blow up enemies without blinking an eye or breaking

1911-571: Is a relevancy to use them in what he is creating. He stated that when creating the Colombian maid and former FARC guerrilla, Roberta , her design was slightly influenced from the growing interest in maids at the time, but that he dressed her as such because he imagined that an affluent family in South America "would dress maids that way", adding that her design was not a take on " moe culture" as much as it made contextual sense. Katabuchi commented that

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2002-542: Is a strong woman, good at shooting guns and fighting, but that she is not motivated by justice and that she is just an "ordinary criminal", adding that he placed her in the story because "it is rare to see such a female" and her presence would make it more interesting. Hiroe commented that the reason behind her Chinese-American heritage was because he wanted to make her a minority, adding that she does not look Caucasoid but rather Mongoloid, and that it would make it easier for Japanese readers to identify with her; "easier than if it

2093-406: Is an "active" medium, manga is like having "still frames", so for the action scenes he needs to find the "best moments in time to convey meaning and movement", adding that one of the advantages of manga is that "you're not anchored to reality", commenting that he is able to make guns bigger than their physical counterparts and make explosions "far larger and more gaudy." He said that from the start, it

2184-403: Is an "apparent consensus" that lower-case text is more legible, but that some editors continue to use all caps in text regardless. In his studies of all caps in headlines , he states that, "Editors who favor capitals claim that they give greater emphasis. Those who prefer lower case claim their preferences gives greater legibility." Wheildon, who informs us that "When a person reads a line of type,

2275-615: Is common for bands with vowelless names (a process colourfully known as " disemvoweling ") to use all caps, with prominent examples including STRFKR , MSTRKRFT , PWR BTTM , SBTRKT , JPNSGRLS (now known as Hotel Mira), BLK JKS , MNDR , and DWNTWN . Miles Tinker , renowned for his landmark work, Legibility of Print , performed scientific studies on the legibility and readability of all-capital print. His findings were as follows: All-capital print greatly retards speed of reading in comparison with lower-case type. Also, most readers judge all capitals to be less legible. Faster reading of

2366-565: Is doing his best to move forward with the series without rushing too much. Referring to the creation of the characters, Hiroe stated that he goes backward, imagining how they would think and how they lived, commenting that the process in itself "can be fun." He commented: "I sometimes first decide that this guy is from here, he's ethnically this way, he belongs to this kind of group, then look into historical facts and events. From there I try to tie all threads of those elements together, and when they can be tied organically together it's like, "Yay this

2457-421: Is fine if the readers only enjoy the series purely for the action, but commented: "[t]here are a few things hidden in there, so I'd be the happiest if on a second or third read-through, those things become apparent." Hiroe said that generally it takes him about a month to produce one chapter, adding that there are a lot of details and he puts a lot of work into it. Regarding the process, Hiroe explained that he has

2548-429: Is fun!" Hiroe said that the characters are not necessarily based on anyone in particular, but that from watching films in particular, he would arrange things which would "kind of shape the character." He commented, however, that Mr. Chang , the leader of the triads, has a resemblance to Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat . Hiroe claimed that the fact that in the story are women who take up arms, while men have more sedate roles,

2639-435: Is less legible and readable than lower-case text. In addition, switching to all caps may make text appear hectoring and obnoxious for cultural reasons, since all-capitals is often used in transcribed speech to indicate that the speaker is shouting. All-caps text is common in comic books, as well as on older teleprinter and radio transmission systems, which often do not indicate letter case at all. In professional documents,

2730-410: Is more mutual and he can do more of what he likes at the same time. Hiroe's editor, Akinobu Natsume, commented that at first, the story was very simple, but that after having introduced more characters, they had to think about their respective stories, as well as the relationships that unite them, commenting that this was in line with the complexity that Hiroe wanted, supporting him and refraining him when

2821-420: Is not just one possible way of reading it, such as "America is bad" or "Russia is bad", and that the series is written to be perceived from different perspectives. Although Hiroe noted that his series is for entertainment, he commented that he would like to make people who read it feel the backdrops, like characters with poverty backgrounds or living in the world with international conflicts. Hiroe also said that it

Black Lagoon - Misplaced Pages Continue

2912-633: Is one aim of Leet (intentional pseudo duplicates) and can provide simple means of concealing messages (often numbers). Wild 7 It has been adapted into a live action series, an OVA and a spin-off anime . A live action film adaptation premiered in Japan on December 21, 2011. In the wake of rising criminality and terrorist activities in Japan against Japanese nationals, the Japanese National Police Agency has no choice but to authorize

3003-429: Is particularly influenced by films, mentioning influence from directors John Woo , Quentin Tarantino , Robert Rodriguez , and by the 1990s Hollywood films and triad Hong Kong films from the 1980s and 1990s. Hiroe mentioned that Pulp Fiction and other films from Tarantino inspired him to balance the action and comedy in Black Lagoon . Hiroe said that although the series is much influenced by American works, he

3094-437: Is the character that requires most work from a graphic point of view, expressing that he had drawn her countless of times in very different situations and emotions, and that he must be careful to not go in another direction over time, so as to not distort the initial character. According to Hiroe, at the beginning of the project there were only "bad men," and after discussing it with the editorial staff, they decided to introduce

3185-453: Is why the character reappeared in the story. Originally, he had not planned the arc of the Hansel and Gretel twins to be more dark and serious than the rest of the series. He commented that at first he thought that it would be great if there were cute "really loopy" twin kids wielding giant guns, but that he started doing some research, reading about the history of Romania (their home country) and

3276-557: The ASCII table , so can display both alphabets, but all caps only. Mikrosha is switchable to KOI-7N1, in this mode, it can display both caps and lower-case, but in Cyrillic only. Other Soviet computers, such as BK0010 , MK 85 , Corvette and Agat-9 , use 8-bit encoding called KOI-8R, they can display both Cyrillic and Latin in caps and lower-case. Many, but not all NES games use all caps because of tile graphics, where charset and tiles share

3367-451: The Cold War / Soviet era, commenting: "[t]hings were really bad back then, so the story became much darker based on what I'd learned. It was…not exactly the happiest place on Earth." Written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe , the pilot chapter of Black Lagoon was published in Shogakukan 's seinen manga magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X on March 19, 2001. It started its serialization in

3458-439: The fanservice " and they both "shamelessly fetishize violence." Hale also said that the action is "insane, impossible, and drips with overwhelming amounts of cool", praising its artwork as well. Davey C. Jones of Active Anime praised the series for its action scenes and artwork, stating: "[t]he character designs are grade A. The guns, torpedoes, boats, ships, cars, are all detailed to spec and look fantastic!" recommending as well

3549-406: The "imposing tattoo" on the shoulder of George Clooney 's character and thought that it "would be nice" to do such a tattoo on a female body. For her personality, Hiroe first wanted that her dominant character trait was impulsiveness. To accentuate it, he decided to make her grow up in a criminal environment, so that her values were totally different from "ordinary mortals." Hiroe commented that she

3640-568: The 1990s, more than three-quarters of newspapers in the western world used lower-case letters in headline text. Discussion regarding the use of all caps for headlines centers on the greater emphasis offered by all caps versus the greater legibility offered by lower-case letters. Colin Wheildon conducted a scientific study with 224 readers who analyzed various headline styles and concluded that "Headlines set in capital letters are significantly less legible than those set in lower case." All caps typography

3731-410: The 21st century to create a "powerful event" that will alter its plot, commenting that if he manages to transcribe his ideas properly, "we will reach the culmination of my story." He affirmed that they had in mind the end of the story and that he knew the conclusion that he needs to make for each character, but that it must be staged in the right direction and in a consistent way. Hiroe said that to keep

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3822-452: The 5 and 10-minute time limits, and 13.9 percent for the whole 20-minute period". Tinker concluded that, "Obviously, all-capital printing slows reading to a marked degree in comparison with Roman lower case." Tinker provides the following explanations for why all capital printing is more difficult to read: Text in all capitals covers about 35 percent more printing surface than the same material set in lower case. This would tend to increase

3913-545: The Cleaner - Dismemberment! Gore Gore Girl") , illustrated by Tatsuhiko Ida, began in Monthly Sunday Gene-X on September 19, 2019. The first tankōbon volume was released on July 17, 2020. As of May 17, 2024, eight volumes have been released. A spin-off about Eda, titled Black Lagoon Eda: Initial Stage , illustrated by Hajime Yamamura, started in Monthly Sunday Gene-X on April 19, 2022. The first tankōbon volume

4004-544: The DNA of that sort of action genre", and mentioned influence from Akihiro Ito ( Geobreeders author) and Kenichi Sonoda ( Gunsmith Cats author). Apart from manga, Hiroe stated that, from a "purely graphic point of view", he was influenced by the Franco-Belgian comic series Soda , and commented that he liked the atmosphere and storytelling of Blacksad by Spanish authors Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido . Hiroe

4095-629: The G123 online platform, titled Black Lagoon: Heaven's Shot , was announced in September 2023 and released on December 7 of that same year. The volumes of Black Lagoon have frequently ranked as the best-selling manga volumes on Japan's weekly charts since 2007. The eighth volume was the fourteenth best-selling manga volume of 2008 in Japan. The thirteenth volume was Shogakukan 's fourth highest first print run manga volume of 2023–2024 (period from April 2023–March 2024), with 250,000 copies printed. By February 2014,

4186-426: The Lagoon Company, a four-member team of pirate mercenaries smuggling goods in and around the seas of Southeast Asia with their PT boat , the Black Lagoon . The group takes on various jobs, usually involving criminal organizations , and resulting in violent gunfights. The manga was adapted into an anime television series by Madhouse , which was broadcast for two seasons of 12 episodes each in 2006, followed by

4277-538: The OVA. It was shown in Japan from April 27 to August 31 of 2002 before airing it on Animax for Latin American viewers from September 9 to November 28 of 2006. The television series was released on DVD with Japanese audio and English subtitles by Discotek Media on July 31, 2018. A live action drama series ran on NTV from 1972 to 1973. Despite being popular with TV viewers, it was forced to end after 25 episodes due to concerns of violence being shown. A live action film

4368-506: The Philippines. When they are not working, the members of the Lagoon Company spend much of their down time at The Yellow Flag, a bar in Roanapur which is often destroyed in firefights. Manga author Rei Hiroe said that when he was approached by the publisher Shogakukan to work for a manga project, he offered them different prototype stories that he had planned, including Black Lagoon , which

4459-568: The Viz Media edition censors the references to song lyrics and brand names, including the brands of the guns. On May 9, 2023, Viz Media launched their Viz Manga digital manga service, with the series' chapters receiving simultaneous English publication in North America as they are released in Japan. A spin-off about Sawyer, titled Black Lagoon: Sōjiya Sawyer – Kaitai! Gore Gore Musume ( BLACK LAGOON 掃除屋ソーヤー 解体！ゴアゴア娘 , lit. "Black Lagoon: Sawyer

4550-413: The anime staff referred to the scene where Roberta's umbrella opens up and spins around the body and fires as "The Evil Mary Poppins ", adding that Hiroe also had the idea to use the character as a kind of "Death Poppins." Hiroe commented that at the beginning, Roberta had "a very set character background," but he wanted to see if he could go past that and break it down to see what he could do with it, which

4641-529: The collateral-damage spirit of movies like Rambo and The Wild Bunch ." Thompson said that the dialogues are well-written and "Tarantino-ishly foul-mouthed", adding that the action scenes are "more flashy than clear," criticizing the "huge sound effects and closeups of muzzle blasts" which make it "difficult to tell what's happening", but ultimately called the series "a fun ride, and at its best moments it reaches an almost Hellsing -like level of mayhem." Writing for Anime News Network (ANN), Thompson stated that

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4732-458: The development of lower-case letters in the 8th century, texts in the Latin alphabet were written in a single case, which is now considered to be capital letters. Text in all caps is not widely used in body copy . The main exception to this is the so-called fine print in legal documents. Capital letters have been widely used in printed headlines from the early days of newspapers until the 1950s. In

4823-406: The early to mid 1990s. The Lagoon Company consists of four members: Dutch, the leader; Revy, the main gunfighter; Benny, the mechanic, computer specialist, and researcher; and Rock, an ex- salaryman hijacked by the team and abandoned by his department chief, eventually becoming their negotiator and "professional" face of the group, retaining his old job skills. Their base of operations is located in

4914-534: The evidence that all-capital printing retards speed of reading to a striking degree in comparison with lower case and is not liked by readers, it would seem wise to eliminate such printing whenever rapid reading and consumer (reader) views are of importance. Examples of this would include any continuous reading material, posters, bus cards, billboards, magazine advertising copy, headings in books, business forms and records, titles of articles, books and book chapters, and newspaper headlines. Colin Wheildon stated that there

5005-534: The eye recognizes letters by the shapes of their upper halves", asserts that recognizing words in all caps "becomes a task instead of a natural process". His conclusions, based on scientific testing in 1982–1990, are: "Headlines set in capital letters are significantly less legible than those set in lower case." John Ryder , in the Case for Legibility , stated that "Printing with capital letters can be done sufficiently well to arouse interest and, with short lines, reading at

5096-748: The fictional harbor city of Roanapur in east Thailand near the border of Cambodia (somewhere in the Mueang Trat district , likely on the mainland north/northeast of the Ko Chang island or on the island itself). The city is home to the Chinese triad , the Russian Bratva , the Colombian cartel , the Italian mafia , a wide assortment of pickpockets, thugs, mercenaries, thieves, prostitutes, assassins, and gunmen. The city also has

5187-514: The first time on Sendai Television from October 3 to December 19, 2006. A five-episode original video animation (OVA), titled Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail , which covered the "El Baile de la Muerte" arc of the manga, was released from July 17, 2010, to June 22, 2011. Two light novels written by Gen Urobuchi , with illustrations by Hiroe, have been released under Shogakukan's Gagaga Bunko imprint. Black Lagoon: Sheitane Birdy ( ブラック・ラグーン シェイターネ・バーディ , Burakku Ragūn Sheitāne Bādi )

5278-425: The first volume, Carlo Santos, of the same website, said that it is "the very definition of cinematic: gunplay techniques by John Woo, explosions by Michael Bay , and a host of other visual indulgences that make it a loud, nonstop blockbuster." Santos, however, stated that the story "ripped straight from the plotbook for crime dramas and gang wars", adding that each chapter is paced according to formula, concluding that

5369-563: The given identifier represents a constant . A practice exists (most commonly in Francophone countries) of distinguishing the surname from the rest of a personal name by stylizing the surname only in all caps. This practice is also common among Japanese, when names are spelled using Roman letters. In April 2013, the U.S. Navy moved away from an all caps-based messaging system, which was begun with 1850s-era teleprinters that had only uppercase letters. The switch to mixed-case communications

5460-415: The initial thought, then the publisher would give him input as to "what’s good and what’s bad and what’s good for the audience, what they might like." They discuss it and if something might not work so well, he redoes the plot line. Hiroe commented that while there are a lot of manga artists who do not have good relationship with the publishing company, and they have to do what they are ordered, in his case, it

5551-410: The internet is difficult to find good information on them, also stating that the crew of Black Lagoon is "a bit different from what we are used to seeing." Regarding the weapons, on the other hand, Hiroe said that he was a big fan and that he had a personal collection, being well-versed on the subject, adding that he bought encyclopedias in order to benefit from more precise details. Due to the fact that

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5642-563: The lower-case print is due to the characteristic word forms furnished by this type. This permits reading by word units, while all capitals tend to be read letter by letter. Furthermore, since all-capital printing takes at least one-third more space than lower case, more fixation pauses are required for reading the same amount of material. The use of all capitals should be dispensed with in every printing situation. According to Tinker, "As early as 1914, Starch reported that material set in Roman lower case

5733-439: The manga had over 6 million copies in circulation; over 7 million copies in circulation by November 2018; over 8.5 million copies in circulation by January 2022; and over 9.5 million copies in circulation by December 2023. About.com 's Deb Aoki listed Viz Media 's English release of Black Lagoon as the best new seinen manga of 2008, along with Gantz . Aoki said that even non-manga readers would enjoy it, adding that it

5824-477: The manga interesting and exciting for both himself and the readers, he "takes a rest right in the middle. Just stop, take a step back, and relax for a bit so I’m not stuck in the grind", commenting that manga artists who write weekly manga or other long-running series, like those published in Weekly Shōnen Jump , "don’t have that luxury", and that working on a monthly series gives him the opportunity to work on

5915-400: The mobilization of a special Counter-terrorist Motorcycle unit consisting of reformed convicts , ranging from simple thugs, individuals forced into prison for simple petty trouble and former Yakuza henchmen and leaders to combat armed criminals and terrorists. The Wild 7 OVA is an adaptation of the manga, however Wild 7 Another television series is a sequel of 13 episodes set after

6006-523: The opportunity to add marginal notes emphasising key points. Legal writing expert Bryan A. Garner has described the practice as "ghastly". A 2020 study found that all-caps in legal texts is ineffective and is, in fact, harmful to older readers. In 2002, a US court spoke out against the practice, ruling that simply making text all-capitals has no bearing on whether it is clear and easily readable: Lawyers who think their caps lock keys are instant "make conspicuous" buttons are deluded. In determining whether

6097-489: The reading time. When this is combined with the difficulty in reading words in all-capital letters as units, the hindrance to rapid reading becomes marked. In the eye-movement study by Tinker and Patterson, the principal difference in oculomotor patterns between lower case and all capitals was the very large increase in number of fixation pauses for reading the all-capital print. All caps text should be eliminated from most forms of composition, according to Tinker: Considering

6188-567: The same ROM. Game designers often choose to have less characters in favor of more tiles. With the advent of the bulletin board system , or BBS, and later the Internet, typing messages in all caps commonly became closely identified with "shouting" or attention-seeking behavior, and may be considered rude. Its equivalence to shouting traces back to at least 1984 and before the Internet, back to printed typography usage of all capitals to mean shouting. For this reason, etiquette generally discourages

6279-449: The same magazine on April 19, 2002. Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on December 12, 2002. As of December 19, 2023, thirteen volumes have been released. In North America, the manga is licensed for English release by Viz Media . The first volume was released on August 12, 2008. As of August 16, 2022, twelve volumes have been released. Due to copyright-related reasons,

6370-586: The series has superficial similarities to Gunsmith Cats , including "strong female protagonists, crime/heist stories, and tons of guns", but stated that Hiroe's art style is more similar to the art of Akihiro Ito and Kouta Hirano, commenting, however, that the series does not "feel particularly influenced by manga", but "influenced by everything imaginable and wants to let you know it", mentioning its references from John Woo , The Magnificent Seven to Jean-Paul Sartre . Thompson called it "a truly "global manga," with international influences and an international cast,

6461-417: The series is "[n]ot the greatest, not the deepest, but entertaining enough if you're up for some babes with guns." Reviewing the tenth volume, Rebecca Silverman, of the same website, noted that while the series has physical fanservice, most of it is gun related, "with shots of different firearms and gun battles that rely on difficult angles", commenting that the series' appeal is its "dark, criminal fantasy about

6552-456: The series is "never boring, never wasting time for anything", adding that it is not "all action and nothing else," lauding the way Hiroe was able to bring across Revy's existentialist views of the world "without sounding preachy or bringing the story to a crashing halt", mentioning her disagreements with Rock. McElhatton said that the series is "clever, fast, and fun" and that "isn't a simple shoot-em-up, it's an action comic for people who appreciate

6643-432: The series is a "period piece of sorts," which features mafia and military themes, Hiroe commented that he did a lot of research for those subjects, watching documentaries and reading books. Hiroe also stated that he would sometimes find some interesting facts that he would like to incorporate into his work, and that he tried not to go towards current events, but use past information for the entertainment value. He said that

6734-493: The series to fans of Gunsmith Cats and Cowboy Bebop . Greg Hackmann of Mania.com wrote that Hiroe "doesn't saddle the over-the-top action with scenes of lingering seriousness or angst", noting that the point of the story is "watch our anti-heroes work together […] to rack up ridiculous body counts and generally kick serious amounts of ass. And you know what? It may sound dumb -- hell, it is dumb -- but it's also incredibly damned entertaining." David Rasmussen of Manga Life compared

6825-426: The series unfavorably to Cowboy Bebop , stating that while it "doesn't suck, it's not Cowboy Bebop memorable either." Rasmussen called it a "decent enough action drama yarn," but commented: "I never really connected with its characters to the point of saying I really want to rave about this." Writer Jason Thompson called the series "a high-energy heist manga intended, if the author's in-jokes are any indication, in

6916-441: The setting is loosely based on reality and that it would not be interesting if it were unrealistic, adding that he at least wants to maintain a semblance of realism, emphasizing, however, that the sense of realism is "very subjective", adding that a character like Roberta , a " Terminator -like maid", would not work in a novel, but she will in a comic; "she has to be over-the-top because it's a comic." Hiroe commented that while film

7007-416: The story got too difficult to follow. Hiroe declared that there are no real rules for the variable duration of the story arcs, and that he tries above all to think about the appropriate length to stage all that he had to say on the initial idea, adding that the rest of the story should stay in that direction. He said that since the series is set in the 20th century, he counts on the occasion of the transition to

7098-489: The subject. Hiroe also commented that, at first, the original idea was about medieval pirates, but he changed his mind and made the story about modern day pirates instead. Hiroe stated that he has been influenced by writers James Ellroy , whom he called his favorite novelist, and Stephen King , stating that he learned how to create the atmosphere of Black Lagoon based on his works. Hiroe also called Mikiya Mochizuki  [ ja ] 's manga series Wild 7 "almost like

7189-425: The titles on book covers. Short strings of words in capital letters appear bolder and "louder" than mixed case, and this is sometimes referred to as "screaming" or "shouting". All caps can also be used to indicate that a given word is an acronym . Studies have been conducted on the readability and legibility of all caps text. Scientific testing from the 20th century onward has generally indicated that all caps text

7280-574: The use of all caps when posting messages online. While all caps can be used as an alternative to rich-text "bolding" for a single word or phrase, to express emphasis, repeated use of all caps can be considered "shouting" or irritating. Some aspects of Microsoft's Metro design language involve the use of all caps headings and titles. This has received particular attention when menu and ribbon titles appeared in all caps in Visual Studio 2012 and Office 2013 , respectively. Critics have compared this to

7371-424: Was a white woman going ballistic." He added that it is interesting when there is a gap between the way she looks and her way of thinking, commenting that people like that "aren't really tied down to a region, like they're rootless wanderers", and that "obviously, she probably faces discrimination in her life", adding that taking all that into account, he thought the character would "stand out more." Hiroe said that Revy

7462-438: Was agreed with the publisher that the series would include action and violence, so there were never issues regarding that, adding that he would "go towards even more sensationalism if it is necessary for the plot," but Hiroe added as well that he does not want it to be confined to its violence either. Hiroe said that from the start, he wanted a story "without nationalities, without specific identities", adding that "we are still in

7553-632: Was common on teletype machines, such as those used by police departments, news, and the United States' then-called Weather Bureau , as well as early computers, such as certain early Apple II models and the ZX81 , which had a limited support for lower-case text. This changed as full support of ASCII became standard, allowing lower-case characters. Some Soviet computers , such as Radio-86RK , Vector-06C , Agat-7 , use 7-bit encoding called KOI-7N2, where capital Cyrillic letters replace lower-case Latin letters in

7644-492: Was estimated to save the Navy $ 20 million a year and is compliant with current Internet protocol. An antiquated practice that still remains in use, especially by older American lawyers who grew up before the arrival of computers, is to use all caps text for text that is legally required to be emphasised and clearly readable. The practice dates to the period of typewriters, which generally did not offer bold text, small capitals, or

7735-457: Was finally selected. Hiroe wanted to create an action and crime oriented series. For the basis of the story, he was inspired by watching news about piracy cases in the South China Sea in the 1990s, which he thought that fitted perfectly with his desire to make a "dynamic and original" series, adding that pirates "know no borders and are truly free", and that it seemed interesting to work on

7826-401: Was not a well-considered choice at the start, but that it naturally "imposed itself over the course of the adventure", noting that this is one of its strong points, expressing happiness to have met women who have enjoyed the series. Regarding Revy , Hiroe said that he had no particular model in mind, but commented that after watching Robert Rodriguez 's film From Dusk till Dawn , he noticed

7917-567: Was not worried about the references being lost on the Japanese readers, stating that it can be sensed when the American culture is coming from a Japanese person, so "there's a style in it that can be sensed by Japanese readers", adding that, conversely, if people in America read it, there is "more potential for awkwardness and weird parts." Regarding accuracy, Hiroe declared that he had not done too much research on modern day pirates, commenting that even on

8008-533: Was published on July 18, 2008. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard ( ブラック・ラグーン　2　罪深き魔術師の哀歌 , Burakku Ragūn Tsu Tsumibukaki Uizādo no Barādo ) was published on January 18, 2011. An illustration book, titled Onslaught: Black Lagoon Illustrations , was released by Shogakukan on August 19, 2021. It includes the original pilot chapter illustrated pages, key visuals of the 20th anniversary exhibition and unpublished illustrations. The limited edition included

8099-427: Was read somewhat faster than similar material printed in all capitals." Another study in 1928 showed that "all-capital text was read 11.8 percent slower than lower case, or approximately 38 words per minute slower", and that "nine-tenths of adult readers consider lower case more legible than all capitals". A 1955 study by Miles Tinker showed that "all-capital text retarded speed of reading from 9.5 to 19.0 percent for

8190-474: Was released on December 21, 2011. Tony Salvaggio of Comic Book Resources said that Wild 7 was one of the best manga/anime from the 1960s and 1970s, similar to what Golgo 13 and Speed Racer had been through as they had fueled adventure to its readers and viewers. He even pointed out that Wild 7 may have been the antithesis to the popularity of the A-Team . However, Mike Toole of Anime Jump said that

8281-405: Was released on September 16, 2022. As of September 19, 2024, five volumes have been released. The manga was adapted into an anime television series animated by Madhouse , which was broadcast for twelve episodes on Chiba TV (and on other fifteen terrestrial stations) from April 9 to June 25, 2006. A second season, Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage , consisting of twelve more episodes, ran for

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