Bright End of Nowhere

Watching Baccano!. My anime about 1930s gangsters, bootleggers, and other thieves got Immortals and alchemy mixed in. I am not actually complaining about this. 7 of 13 episodes in, and I pretty much like the entire cast. This never happens!

Reading Black Lagoon still. My manga about pirates and smugglers operating outside Thailand got...well, they're still smugglers, the mafia, Yakuza, pirates, and otherwise unsavory mercs. I just finished the arc that introduces Sawyer the Cleaner, who everyone knows is intimidating because you take people you want to...disappear to Sawyer, who when not wearing face-and-body concealing PPE is apparently a voiceless goth girl who wields a chainsaw. Who will happily chainsaw your face off if you piss her off. And who goes into a nervous breakdown if she loses her synthetic voicebox. And since she's still breathing after getting into a fight with Revy, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume she's a recurring character. Huzzah!

I'm still very much amused that the series that's pretty much Every Action Movie Ever Turned To 11 has women responsible for the majority of the badassery and plot-driving (with the possible exception of one arc, thus far, every single plot arc has had women affecting the plot in significant ways, and not by being the MacGuffin only). Considering the premise, it's incredibly refreshing. Especially since it could so easily veer off into gratuitous fanservice, I never feel like I have to worry about one of the guys wandering in and seeing what I'm reading. This is in spite of the fact that Revy's default outfit seems to be half a tank top and unbuttoned short shorts (really, anyone who hits on her gets kicked in the face or shot). Yes, in a surprising juxtaposition for a piece of media, the Ms. Fanservice character doubles as Celibate Heroic Sociopath (thank you, TVTropes, for that description). IT'S ALMOST LIKE THE CHARACTERS ARE REAL PEOPLE.