Black Lagoon/Heartwarming


 * Rock and Revy have some of them:
 * They massive argument which nearly ends with Revy shooting Rock, they share what's almost a tender moment in the back of a patrol car when Revy gets Rock to give her a light by leaning close together and pressing the end of her cigarette against his.
 * The way the two of them treat each other in the final story arc of season 1 to be quite heartwarming
 * Also, in the manga, when Revy asks Rock to tell her why she has to always go along with what he wants (well, with a lot more swearing) Rock gives a little speech  This troper really liked that moment, though she's not sure if it automatically qualifies as an Crowning Moment of Heartwarming...
 * And then there's the scene where Revy plays with the little Japanese kids. And her reaction when she realizes that Rock was watching the whole thing was just priceless.
 * At the end of issue 34, Rock and Revy revisit the kids and Rock gives her the nod to demonstrate her can trick with her Cutlass. After she ... impresses ... the kids she turns and gives Rock a small, almost bashful smile. After everything they've been through in Japan so far, she's willing to briefly show a little bit of simple happiness to Rock.
 * Balalaika:
 * The series' true Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, though, comes in the penultimate episode, when Rock is able to convince Balalaika, the series resident dissonantly serene, hyper-violent magnificent bitch Death Seeker to not only let him and his friends live, but to help them take down the Kosa Council, simply by reasoning with her, proving that even in an utterly bleak and morally desolate world like the one the series takes place in, it's still possible to solve your problems by talking it out.
 * Balalaika gets a second Crowning Moment of Heartwarming in the twenty-second episode, which contains a flashback to the Afghan War that has the young Balalaika looking through the scope of a sniper rifle, scanning for potential targets. She sees a young woman holding an infant standing out in the open with no cover: a perfect target. Only, she passes right over her, and takes a much more difficult shot on a man holding a gun.
 * The final battle in the last episode is a twofer:
 * The second moment comes  She cared so much for him that she tried to have him look away to keep his fragile sanity from breaking.
 * To really understand the impact of that, remember that Revy preventing people from being emotionally hurt is not something that happens. And yet she's taking care of Rock emotionally. It hits like a punch.
 * The end of the first gunslinger-maid arc, when it's being outlined to that kid Garcia what Roberta's evil past is. We're all tensed up for Garcia to cut and run in horror..., especially given the series' position on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. In fact, that position adds extra strength to all the moments like this in the series.
 * Shortly thereafter,
 * One thing that shows how twisted the morality in Black Lagoon is that one (possible) Crowning Moment of Heartwarming is an adult woman threatening to kill a child. Or, to be more precise: Revy telling Gretel: "You mess with [Rock] once more, and I'll kill you." That's the very first time she openly protected/defended him (Well, not counting the punch in Gretel's face after Rock stormed out of the room, but those two things are pretty much linked together).
 * And the reason that Rock stormed out of the room? He had just listened (with sadness and horror rather than disgust) to Gretel's coldly-delivered Hannibal Lecture, which laid bare the fact that she was so traumatized by her past of rape and torture that murder had become her and her brother's sole source of joy. He had held her in a tight embrace and wept for her, begging her to accept the possibility that there is hope, and still a possibility of a new and happy life for a little girl like her. This act of sincere kindness, so alien to Gretel, had been enough to move even a mass murderer like her to blush like a real little girl for the briefest of moments....
 * For some reason this troper was unexpectedly touched by Rotton the Wizard offering a badly wounded Shenhua a hand after the huge fight at the Lagoon warehouse, stating that he wasn't about to leave her behind to die. On the way out, they even appear to be stopping to help the traumatized Sawyer as well. Shows that even among the Roanapur Freakshow, there seems to be a bit of comradeship between ruthless bounty hunters.
 * No love for the end of "El Baile de la Muerte?" Garcia goes up against Roberta, who is in full Ax Crazy Implacable Man mode,  and basically brings her back to herself, even knowing that she's gone mad and would shoot him, too. He cares about her that much.
 * Gretel walking alone on a dark beach while 'The World of Midnight' plays...and then you see the beach brightly lit with Hansel and Gretel standing on the beach holding hands.
 * Minor, but every time Revy calls Rock "babe" or "baby" (not being snarky, but rather endearing) instead of "Rock" in the Fujiyama Gangster Paradise arc, this shipper gets a little "Squee" of happiness from this little touch of tenderness from Revy towards Rock.
 * When Caxton's troops tell him they rescued Garcia, he tells them that he would've kicked them out of the unit if they had not. Seeing that someone in the Black Lagoon world cares about innocent bystanders was surprisingly touching.


 * back to