It's been a long wait for the crew of the Black Lagoon last sailed into our bookstores, but it looks like it was worth the wait. Volume ten of the violent (yet human) action series takes a little bit to get into unless you've just finished re-reading the previous book or watching the anime version of Roberta's Blood Trail – and I would recommend doing one or the other, as it will make this read much more smoothly – but once Hiroe gets going, it's hard to put down. The story picks up shortly after the events of volume nine, and Rock is still working through what happened when Roberta came to town. He's clearly still very bothered by it, and in their own ways, Revy and Benny are trying to help him through it. (Dutch is barely in this volume, which is a shame.) Everyone is distracted, however, by the return of Benny's girlfriend Jane, who is stopping by Roanapur with a plan to catch the Chinese government in its hacking activities. This necessitates the use of a young Chinese intelligence agent, Feng Yifei, who has no idea that she's strolled into a trap until it closes on her. While Jane is perfectly happy with her work, the Chinese are desperately trying to avoid an incident (or embarrassment), and they tell Feng that it's her duty to die in Roanapur.

Does this sound familiar? Essentially it is a repeat of what happened to Rock back when he was just Rokuro Okajima, everyday salaryman who waltzed into a bad situation. Feng recognizes Rock's empathy and the fact that he still has a lot of basic humanity close to the surface and goes to him for help...and much to Revy's chagrin, there really still is a lot of Rokuro in Rock. This is what keeps him defined as a character and adds a little light to Hiroe's otherwise dark story: Rock has an innocence and a sweetness to him that everyone else lacks. Benny and Dutch have turned off their moral compasses, Revy may never have had one, and characters like Jane operate based on hedonism. But Rock is still hopeful that some people can be saved, and no matter how many times he suffers because of that belief, he keeps coming back to try again. He seems a little wiser now, but that doesn't change who he is deep down. We can see that the other characters also value this kindness in him, especially Revy, who threatens several people this time whom she feels might try to take advantage of Rock. Interestingly enough, she doesn't correct either Jane or Feng when they call Rock her boyfriend, although I don't recall them ever defining their relationship as such, and they certainly don't act like it. It's hard to deny that he's special to Revy, however, and may be the one soft spot in her hard life.

Most interesting about this volume is the way that Feng's story mirrors Rock's. While Hiroe definitely gets a little too obvious about that using unnecessary flashbacks and imagery, it helps us to see that Rock may not be the only person to end up in Roanapur the way he did, and Feng's determination to come through this or to go down fighting is the rejuvenating force he needs to fully get past the Roberta incident. Feng doesn't allow herself to wallow, reminding Rock of how he had to pull it together initially and also driving home that survival is possible for those who want it, something he really needs to remember at this point.