The Unstoppable Chambermaid is the tenth episode of the Black Lagoon anime. It originally aired on June 10, 2006.
Summary[]
Roberta continues chasing down the Lagoon Company and gets into a firefight with Revy, so Balalaika and her troops put a stop to the battle.
Plot[]
Near the port of Roanapur, Roberta continues latching onto Benny's car when Dutch decides to shoot at her, prompting Rock to force Garcia Lovelace to take cover. Dodging his initial shots, Roberta flips herself onto the car roof and shoots downward into the vehicle. During the battle, Benny sees an oncoming truck blocking the main road, so he has no choice but to turn left toward the ocean leading to a dead end. In seconds, the car swerves and crashes into a shipping container, totaling the car and knocking down Roberta. Joking that it pays to be a religious man, Dutch asks the survivors to confirm their consciousness, with Benny and Rock confirming their own safety. To their shock, Roberta gets up and is able to continue fighting. At that point, Revy finally wakes up in a daze and wonders if the maid is dead. Delighted to hear that she is still alive, Revy gets out of the car to fight Roberta, much to Rock's hesitancy.
Surrounded by shipping crates, the two women stand across from each other and prepare their firearms. When Roberta insults Revy for pointing a gun at her master, Revy immediately starts the gunfight. The two women run through the shipping yard and try to kill each other while Dutch warns the curious Rock to watch out for stray bullets. After running out of ammunition, both women reload their pistols, with Revy being further frustrated due to being shot in the right arm. As Revy sternly asks Roberta where she came from, she sees a feather fall in front of her, reminding her of her own grim childhood. Stating that she recognizes Roberta's stench of blood and the gutter, she argues that it is all more the reason to settle their fight. Thinking about the Lovelace family, Roberta responds that she cannot go back there anymore.
Noticing that the gunfire is becoming more intense, Dutch proposes leaving the scene but retracts his decision. Stepping out of the car, Garcia yells and encourages Roberta not to lose to Revy. Getting closer to them, the two women charge and tackle each other to the ground, reciprocally expressing their desire to kill one another. In a tense standoff, the two women lay on the ground as they point their pistols at each other. Nearby, having a light shine on the two women, Balalaika fiercely orders the women to cease fighting. As several Russian men surround the women at gunpoint from a distance, she tells the women that there is nothing to gain from fighting anymore. Walking closer to them, Balalaika informs Roberta that Hotel Moscow by chance intended to start a war against the Manisarera Cartel from the beginning, showing their branch leader at gunpoint to the maid. Remarking that the cartel's headquarters in Venezuela should be in ruins by now, she also asserts that Garcia's abduction is old news.
When Revy and Roberta stubbornly disagree, Balalaika smiles and has her snipers shoot the guns from their hands, declaring that it was an order and not a request. Looking around him, Rock wonders who exactly the Russian men are, noticing their soldier uniforms. Showing himself, Garcia urges Roberta to stop fighting since he is unharmed, gloomily admitting that he does not want to see her holding a gun anymore. Stating that she agrees, Balalaika jokingly asks if the "Bloodhound" agrees too, confusing Garcia and angering Roberta. Warning the maid to keep quiet, the Russian woman smugly explains to Garcia that Roberta is Rosarita Cisneros, also known as the Bloodhound of Florencia, who is an ex-FARC guerrilla trained as an assassin in Cuba. Balalaika adds that Roberta is wanted internationally for multiple abductions and murders as well as being a suspect in the U.S. embassy bombing in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Worried, Garcia asks the maid if what she said is true.
Confirming in anger, Roberta replies that she had no intention of deceiving her young master. She recalls that she believed she was part of a revolution that would bring justice to the world and subsequently became a soldier. In the pursuit of her ideals, she killed all kinds of people, including politicians, businessmen, counterrevolutionaries, election officials, women and children. Proclaiming that all of her nights were stained with blood, Roberta remembers when she realized she was no revolutionary but rather, a guard dog for the mafia's coca fields. As the sun rises, she recalls that FARC allied with the drug cartels and justified it by saying a revolution would not occur solely by ideals. Accordingly, Roberta deserted from the group and took refuge under her deceased father's friend, Diego Lovelace. Addressing Garcia, she chastises herself for allowing his kidnapping to happen, claiming that she had to pick up her old self that she once abandoned in order to save him.
Hearing her jokingly refer to herself as a bloodhound, Garcia shouts at her not to insult herself because she is a member of his family. Pounding her shoulders in tears, he repeats his request and comments that he does not know of any bloodhound, also claiming that Rosarita must have died a long time ago because Roberta is a new person. Seeing him trying to hold in more tears, Roberta advises him that boys should not cry so much. Though Balalaika concludes that it is a happy ending, the disappointed Revy interrupts and declares that she still needs to settle things with Roberta, especially in their world. When Balalaika agrees, Dutch recommends that a fistfight will settle the matter for good. The maid asks Garcia if it is okay, so he tells her not to lose to the pirate. As the two women stand and prepare to fight, Roberta warns Revy that her shoelace is untied. As soon as Revy slightly looks down, Roberta uppercuts her, surprising Rock and making the others laugh.
As the two women exchange punches, Dutch bets on Revy winning while Benny bets on Roberta's victory, but Rock fervently disagrees with the fight in the first place, lambasting it as barbaric. Balalaika rhetorically suggests that he stop it if he truly believes the fight to be barbaric, making him nervous. Walking up to the women, Rock politely suggests that they stop, reasoning that they likely have a lot in common. Glaring at Rock, both women furiously warn him to mind his business, continuing the fistfight. Soon, the two women are exhausted but continue to fight, much to Balalaika's boredom. In a final attack, both women punch each other in the face and fall on the ground, prompting Balalaika to calmly declare a draw. Running up to Roberta, Garcia advises her to not speak and assures her that she was the last one standing and therefore the victor in his eyes. Flipping Revy onto her back, Rock notices that she is unconscious, making Benny and Dutch laugh.
Hearing Dutch jokingly ask if he needs help, Garcia retorts that he does not need to be patronized, proclaiming that he can help his maid and family member by himself. Remarking that he is a wonderful future leader of his family, Balalaika orders Boris to treat the maid's wounds and then take both of them to the airport, adding that he can dispose of any cartel members who attempt to interfere. Sitting in the backseat of the car, Roberta asks Garcia to retrieve her glasses, noting that although they are fake, she needs them to truly be Roberta, not Rosarita Cisneros. The two South Americans are then escorted out of Roanapur, and Dutch tries waking Revy up by pouring a bucket of water on her face. Standing up, Rock wonders who the Russian men were. Benny confirms that the men are ex-military who were either paratroopers or part of the Special Forces with a great amount of experience and skill from the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan, claiming that Balalaika and her soldiers are disciplined and strong enough to start a third World War and win. Thinking to himself, Rock professes that everyone's feet are covered with mutter from the gutter.
Characters and cast[]
- Rokurō "Rock" Okajima — Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Brad Swaile (English)
- Revy — Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese), Maryke Hendrikse (English)
- Dutch — Tsutomu Isobe (Japanese), Dean Redman (English)
- Benny — Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese), Brian Drummond (English)
- Balalaika — Mami Koyama (Japanese), Patricia Drake (English)
- Roberta — Michie Tomizawa (Japanese), Tabitha St. Germain (English)
- Garcia Lovelace — Kazue Ikura (Japanese), Cathy Weseluck (English)
- Boris — Taiten Kusunoki (Japanese), Mark Acheson (English)
- Abrego — Hisao Egawa (Japanese), Eli Gabay (English)
- Diego Lovelace — Non-speaking role (flashback)
Songs used[]
- Opening Theme — Red Fraction (by Mell)
- Dutch and Roberta firefight on car — Don't Stop! (guitar version)
- Roberta still lives, Revy regains consciousness — 66 Steps
- Revy and Roberta gunfight — Melting Brain
- Balalaika speaks of Roberta's past; Roberta speaks of her FARC role — The Way to Last Night
- Roberta says Diego Lovelace took her in — El Sol se Recuesta
- Roberta and Revy fistfight — Unreleased #4 (fast bassline)
- Garcia helps Roberta — Father's Chest
- Ending Theme — Don't Look Behind (ending version)
Differences from the manga[]
- The gunfight between Revy and Roberta is extended in the anime. Whereas Revy gets her shoulder injury at the Yellow Flag in the manga, in the anime she gets her shoulder wound during the first round of shooting between the two women at the seaport.
- Revy seeing a feather and having a flashback to her grim childhood is only in the anime adaptation.
- The scene of Dutch, Benny, Rock and Garcia waiting in the car during the gunfight, in addition to Garcia shouting at Roberta to win, is only in the anime.
- The flashback images of Roberta's life as a FARC soldier are exclusive to the anime.
- In the manga, a Vysotnik forces Revy to surrender her remaining Cutlass pistol. In the anime, she still keeps her second pistol in her holster even during her fistfight with Roberta.
- Benny's explanation to Rock about the background of Balalaika's ex-Soviet VDV soldiers and their ability to fight WWIII (including the wartime images) is exclusive to the anime adaptation of this arc. In the manga, this history is not explained until the later arc "Bloodsport Fairy tale."
Trivia[]
- In the English dub of this episode, Balalaika mispronounces the Russian word "остановитесь" as "oh-stah-noh-vee-tess" due to using English phonetics instead of the Russian pronunciation.