About a year ago we published an article on whether or not Black Lagoon season 4 will happen. However after some new news has come to light and we’ve learned of some new developments, we would like to share our thoughts with you in this second article, so please keep reading. The anime adaption was originally released in 2006, with the latest OVA coming out in 2010.
Overview – Will Black Lagoon get a season 4?
To understand whether or not Black Lagoon will get a season 4 we need to go over some things first. Currently, Black Lagoon has been on a 10-year hiatus, with not much hint of any new season so far.
We only have vague, evidence of a new season and this has been a big problem in deicing if there will be a season 4 and predicting when it will air. I took the time to look into Netflix and the production company in charge of Black Lagoon (mad house) to better see what the anime adaptions future is.
The OVA, Roberta’s Blood Trail was an OVA as I mentioned and only featured 5 episodes, each half an hour long. The ending of Roberta’s Blood Trail was very inconclusive as well as we mentioned in our previous article.
This left fans in a waiting state while Black Lagoon took a 10-year hiatus. So will there be a Black Lagoon season 4? And why is it more likely to now than ever?
Understanding the ending of Roberta’s Blood Trail – Will Black Lagoon get a season 4?
The ending to the OVA of Black Lagoon, called Roberta’s Blood Trail left a pretty inconclusive ending regarding our main characters, particularly Rock & Revy. We saw (at the end of the episode) that both Revy and Rock were contemplating the events that had occurred. We also saw an interesting and very good (in my opinion) character arc involving Rock.
![Black Lagoon Season 4 [Potential Release Date]](https://cradleview.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Black-Lagoon-Season-4-.jpg)
Rock’s character sees an amazing transformation from how he was in Episode 1 all the way to his current state in Episode 5 of Roberta’s Blood Trail. It’s an epic character arc and one that I still praise to this day. But how does the ending of the newest season impact whether or not Black Lagoon will get a season 4? That’s one of many topics I’ll be covering in this article so keep reading.
Continuation of a previous article – Will Black Lagoon get a season 4?
Before we get into the most significant news I would like to briefly go over the reason that’s Black Lagoon was and is likely to get a season 4. You can read the original article here. We said before:
Whilst not being the most popular anime show out there, Black Lagoon is definitely one of the more memorable ones. This is mostly down to the characters in the show, if you want full in-depth character reviews please go and read about the characters of Black Lagoon here on our other blog for more information.
Anyway, getting back to the prospects of a season 3 or 4 depending on how you look at it (some people don’t count OVA’s as actual seasons) the chances are quite high.
“It’s a well known fact that certain anime series such as Full Metal Panic, Clannad and even Black Lagoon go on hiatus for long periods of time, sometimes even up to 10 years. And this is what occurred with Full Metal Panic”
So why is this important and how will it affect whether not Black Lagoon will get a season 4 or not? The reason for this is that if anime like Full Metal Panic can do this then why not Black Lagoon, which has generally the same fan base if not a bigger audience? Why is this such a stretch to fathom, considering the ending of the OVA: Black Lagoon, Roberta’s Blood Trail.
We also said:
“Black Lagoon had two main seasons and one OVA. Season 1 “Black Lagoon” which featured 12 episodes, and Season 2 “Black Lagoon, The Second Barrage”. The series later had an OVA “Roberta’s Blood Trail, which unfortunately only featured 5 episodes. After there were many more volumes of the original manga written.”
The 4 main reasons we mentioned before – Will Black Lagoon get a season 4?
So now that I’ve made my point in regards to the previous article I wrote, let’s take a look at the 4 reasons why I think a season 4 of this Anime is likely.
Reason 1
1. Firstly, the source material for any further seasons of the anime adaption of Black Lagoon has and will already be written by the time they even consider a season 3 or 4 if you count an OVA as a season. What we mean by this, is that there is nothing preventing any studio, not just Madhouse from making more seasons of Black Lagoon.
Reason 2
2. Black Lagoon is loved very much among fans and critics and is very unlikely that any studio and not just Madhouse would choose not to continue or take up the production of another season of Black Lagoon. Basically, if Madhouse doesn’t continue its production of the anime, another studio will. This is simply to do with how much it would make financially, and its popularity.
Reason 3
3. The most recent episode of Black Lagoon did not have a conclusive ending in my opinion. If you have seen the ending you will know what I’m talking about, in a way, it was sort of a cliffhanger.
What will happen next? Where will the story go? I think the producers didn’t know if they would get another season and I think this is why they chose to end it this way. If you’ve read the manga you’ll know what I mean.
Reason 4
4. The final Black Lagoon episode from the OVA Roberta’s Blood Trail was released in 2011. Some people may find this concerning as it may hinder the possibility of anime adaptation ceasing altogether. However, you should not be concerned about this at all. Full Metal Panic (which had 4 seasons) took a 10-year hiatus before being adopted by another studio which carried on from where season 3 left off. Therefore you can see that a season 3 or 4 depending on how you look at it is not only possible but likely.
Analysis of Madhouse – Will Black Lagoon get a season 4?
Looking bad for these reasons they are decent but they lack a fundamental section of info didn’t have access to before, as well as another thing I didn’t notice up till now which turned out to be very important. I also took the time to look into the production company known as Mad House which was in charge and still is in charge of the production and release of Black Lagoon. mad House was established in 1972 by ex–Mushi Production animators.
In terms of business, the studio employs approximately 70 employees, with employment levels varying depending on the number of productions currently underway. Additionally, the company has invested in the Korean animation studio DR Movie. Madhouse has a subsidiary, Madbox Co., Ltd., that mainly focuses on computer graphics.
Madhouse has founded some other companies as well as being founded 48 years ago. Therefore, I would conclude they are a successful production company. They seem to be a stable company with a long list of works to their name.
We would say they are not at risk of bankruptcy or any other financial problems. Also because they are mostly debt free they can use this money as leverage to finance other projects in the future that my be considered risky, but which also offer high rewards in the form of royalties and sales as well.
Some more info – Will Black Lagoon get a season 4?
Now it may surprise you to know but Netflix purchased the streaming rights off of Funimation a while back. Many people who watched Black Lagoon originally on Funimation might remember that it was on Funimation.
Well, it’s not there anymore. There’s a simple reason for this and I’ve already mentioned it above. Netflix bought the streaming rights off of Funimation so they could host it only. I think it may be on some other platforms but I’m not sure. Anyway, why is this significant? Well because I think Netflix did this for 2 reasons, which I will come to in the next part.
1st reason
I’m not in a position to judge Netlix’s anime library and tell you whether it’s good or not. What I can tell you is that it’s expanding a lot more and it’s not as big as it used to be. Netflix saw buying the streaming rights to Black Lagoon as a business venture, a non-risky one considering their capital, but a business venture nonetheless.
They knew this would improve their library, and it would give more people a reason to check out their streaming platform, but more importantly, their anime section. Buying the S rights for Black Lagoon would very much benefit them, however, there is another way it may benefit them and we’ll be getting below.
2nd reason
Before I begin to tell you what the second reason is I would like you to first understand what the term “Netflix Original” means as it has four meanings which are all very important to this article and on speculation whether or not Black Lagoon will get a season 4 or not. According to Netflix the term “Netflix Originals” could mean one of four things:
- Netflix commissioned and produced the show
- Netflix has exclusive international streaming rights to the show
- Netflix has co-produced the show with another Network
- It is a continuation of a previously cancelled show
So as you can see the term has four meanings. So why is this significant to whether or not Black Lagoon will get a season 4 or not? Because Netflix themselves have a history of producing or carrying on works that were for some reason ceased. Later I’ll be showing a very good example of a popular anime that was ceased due to money problems until Netflix swooped in and provided funding for another 2 seasons.
So basically what we’re getting at here is that some anime that have for some reason stopped production due to any number of reasons can be then tuned into a Netflix original, where they will then be funded and given other services as a result. This will be vital for season 4 of Black Lagoon
The example
Now the example I was referring to above is a popular anime I’m sure you’ve heard of called Kakeguiri. Kakeguiri saw a lot of success thanks to the funding it received from Netflix and as a result, it was able to really spread its wings. Now I think you may be starting to realize what I’m getting at here, before we get into that I’d like to discuss the reason Kakeguirui was given this chance in the first place.
These Netflix originals are interesting because they funded a production that had initially ceased altogether. Why is this important? it means that Netflix are no stranger to funding projects that may not even be a good ROI, (Return On Investment) yet they’re willing to do it anyway.
Explanation of example
Now the reason the example above was important is that it backs up this theory I have about Black Lagoon and Netflix. Mind, this is only a theory, however, I just want to get it off my chest. My theory is that Netflix will independently fund a 4th season of Black Lagoon.
Is it such a massive stretch at all to consider this, when we take into account everything I have discussed above? I really don’t think it is, this is why I chose to write this article, as I had new material to update the one I had written previously.
Conclusion – Will Black Lagoon get a season 4?
From the reasoning you can see above it is clear that our original article needed some additional information that we had not come across before. Therefore we thought that it was important and needed to be added. We have gone over the 2 new reasons why we think a season 4 of Black Lagoon is likely. This additional information we have added just helps to strengthen our theory about the future of the anime Black Lagoon.
This additional information we have added just helps to strengthen our theory about the future of the anime Black Lagoon. It is more likely that if any production company is going to take up the new season of Black Lagoon that Netflix will fund it. We believe this because of the reasons above. Therefore it’s more likely than ever to get a season 4 since Netflix now own the right.
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