Ask John: Where is Black Lagoon 3?

Question:
Almost a year ago it was announced that a third anime series for Black Lagoon was greenlit for production, but since then there has been no new information. Do you have any information as to when maybe an air date will be announced. You don’t think it was cancelled do you?

Answer:
Anime planned don’t always become anime produced. Typically, due to the effort and expense that go into anime production, tentative works generally aren’t announced unless they’re fairly certain to be produced. But there are numerous examples of tentatively announced anime which ended up never getting made. I’m sure that I’m not familiar with every instance, but I do recall several examples. Production of the fifth Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidoji OVA series was terminated when the first episode was nearly finished. A number of years ago AIC stated that it was developing a Megazone 23 television series. That has yet to surface. In August 2005 director Tatsuo Sato stated publicly that tentative plans for a second Uchuu no Stellvia anime series had to be canceled. Gonzo went as far as launching an official website for its Mardock Scramble OVA before canceling the production in December 2006. Kiddy Grade 2 was initially announced in 2006, and the Kiddy Grade 2 pilot anime was formally released in May 2007. In one sense, the production has been canceled. In another sense, Kiddy Grade 2 has evolved into the Kiddy Grand anime series announced last February. Just last year, production of the Tonari no 801-chan television anime was canceled shortly after it was officially announced. And the Appleseed: Genesis television anime was canceled early in its development phase.

The first two Black Lagoon anime series were produced by Madhouse. Madhouse typically doesn’t announce then cancel productions. Rather, Madhouse simply takes its time to get around to announced productions. Madhouse was initially associated with plans for an anime adaptation of Hiromoto Sin-Ichi & Yasushi Nirasawa’s Hells Angels manga series in 2005. The completed film wasn’t released until earlier this year. Madhouse producer Masao Maruyama first mentioned plans for a Trigun movie in early 2006. Three years have passed and Madhouse doesn’t appear to have even begun serious work on the project, although another confirmation of plans for the production surfaced in early 2008. Sunao Katabuchi, the director behind the existing Black Lagoon anime, is presently working on Madhouse’s theatrical feature Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Maho, which is scheduled for Japanese release in November. So perhaps he’ll return to Black Lagoon for his next project. Or maybe another director will take over handling the franchise. I can’t exclude the possibility that plans for a third Black Lagoon anime have been scrapped. But judging by precedents set by the Madhouse studio and presently known circumstances, I think it’s reasonable to presume that we will see a third Black Lagoon anime series, but probably no earlier than fall 2010.