Rock

Origin

Rokuro Okajima was born into an average family in Japan and lived an average life. He was working as a white-collar salary man for Asahi Heavy Industries. One day, his bass gave him a disk and had his travel on a ship into the South-Asian Seas to deliver it.

Creation

Rokuro "Rock" Okajima (岡島「ロック」緑郎, Okajima 'Rokku' Rokurō) is the protagonist in the Black Lagoon series that was created by Rei Hiroe. The series first began serialization in Shogakukan's Sunday GX magazine on April 19, 2002.

His first appearance was in Black Lagoon Volume 1 CH. 0 "Black Lagoon",

Major Story Arcs

Black Lagoon Arc

While riding along his company's ship, Rokuro was abducted by some pirates of the Lagoon Company. They had already taken the disk, but Revy had the plan to ransom Rokuro to his company for added profit to their job. Though, Dutch, Revy's boss, pointed out the holes and impracticalities of such a plot. Dutch nicknamed Rokuro as "Rock", and he traveled with the Lagoon Company since he had no where to go in Roanapur. While they worked out a way to get him back to his company, they were all attached by a group of PMCs out to kill anyone who knew about the disk. They escaped the Yellow Flag bar and back back out to sea aboard the Black Lagoon.

When Rokuro finally contacted his company, Kageyama, one of the officials, told him that he would have to die along with the secrets of the nuclear technologies they had been dealing in. The PMCs were hot on their tail in an armored helicopter, and the sadistic pilot trapped them in. Rokuro came up with an insane plan to use a nearby capsized ship to launch the Black Lagoon into the air and fire the ships torpedoes into the helicopter. The plan worked, and they delivered the disk to Balalakia, leader Hotel Moscow; who in turn sold it back to Kagayama and the company. Rokuro refused to the offer to come home since he was left for dead. Instead, he was going to stay and live as Rock. Still with nowhere else to go, Revy offered Rock to join the Lagoon Company.

Rasta Blasta Arc

The Lagoon Company was hired by the local Colombian Cartel to deliver some weapons then pick up a cargo to bring back to them, but the cargo turned out to be Garcia Lovelace, son of the leader of the Lovelace Family in Venezuela. Rock was apprehensive about the job, and Garcia kept talking about how his maid Roberta would come to save him. That hope turned reality when Roberta showed up in force, and she was like the Terminator as she started shooting up the Yellow Flag in a gunfight with the Manisalera Cartel. Rock and the rest of the Lagoon Company got drawn into the battle when Roberta finally noticed Garcia was with them.

Garcia begged to go with Rock becasue he was scared of what he saw in Roberta now. Roberta still cased them down in their car till they crashed in the docks. They fight was only ended by Balalaika and her soldiers. Rock didn't want Rey and Roberta to fist fight to end their rivalry, but they only shouted for his to stay out of it. It ended in a double KO, and Roberta returned with Garcia to Venezuela

Das Wieder Erstehen Des Adlers Arc

Rock was tricked by Dutch into joining Revy on an underwater salvage job of a WWII era submarine that held a painting of some value. While searching the sub, Rock found the painting, but was applaud that Revy was robbing the medals of the dead German soldiers. He tried to talk her out of it, but she only told him that these were only objects that were worth money. Sentiment didn't mean anything to her.

In the midst of this tension between, the two, the sub was being raided by by some Neo-Nazi, who were also after the painting. Rock lost it in the gunfight and the soldiers ran off. They gave chase in the water, but nearly got shot by their ship's machine guns. They later found the Black Lagoon and made a plan to get the painting back. Revy was cold and distant to Rock, and he stayed aboard with Benny as she and Dutch killed the Neo-Nazi troops on the ship.

Calm Down, Two Men Arc

The tension between Rock and Revy had been only building since the sub. Dutch seemed to notice this and ordered Revy to join Rock as he ran errands around town for him. The meeting at the Church of Violence nearly became a gunfight between Revy and Eda, but Rock brought it to a peaceful end. He pointed out how he noticed they were the ones dealing drugs that Balalaika had been looking for, and used that as leverage to get what they came for.

Revy tried telling Rock he should go back home, and he told her he was no longer going to apologize to her anymore for what he said at the sub. The fight between the two got so heated that Revy nearly shot Rock, The bullet only crazed his forehead because he grabbed her gun in time. He finally told her what was on his mind. he was angry with Revy becasue the woman he admired was acting like the greedy bastards who sold him out to die. This seemed to be just what they needed to clear the air between them, but they still got arrested for public disturbance. In the back seat of the cop car, Rock helped Revy light his cigarette with his own. They were released after some paperwork.

Bloodsport Fairy-Tale Arc

The tension in Roanapur was on the rise as someone was killing members of Hotel Moscow. The killers were revealed to be a pair of orphan twins hired by head of the Italian Mafia to take out Balalaika. Rock was primarily uninvolved in the events, but he got a chance to meet Gretel. The Lagoon Company was hired to transport Gretel out of the city. It broke Rock's heart to learn how this child had suffered and turned into a wild, sadistic killer. Rock could only watch as she was gunned down after being dropped off by a man who was paid by Balalaika. The only positive he saw in it was that she died looking at the blue sky she never saw growing up..

Goat, Jihad, Rock' N Roll Arc

Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Arc

Greenback Jane Arc

Rock ended up getting dragged into some money making scheme of Eda and Revy as they tried to protect Janet Bhai from the mercenaries hired to kill her. With the Black Lagoon gone, they were held up inside their port warehouse office as a gang of crazy killers were after them. Rock tried to protect Janet the best he could, but he had Sawyer the Cleaner hot on their tails with her chainsaw. They all jumped aboard the Black Lagoon, but a few of the killers got aboard. Rock was hold up with Janet and Benny when she revealed she didn't have the counterfeiting plates everyone was after. The plans for them were locked online, and she couldn't break the code. Benny succeeded, and he made a new friend in Janet.

El Baile de la Muerte Arc

The Wired Red Wild Card Arc

Powers & Abilities

Rock is a human with no particular power or unique skill outside of what he learned while working in Asahi Heavy Industries. Rock has a sharp mind and excellent linguistic skills in various languages. He has even been hired as a translator by Balalaika when she traveled to Japan.

Other Media

Anime

Black Lagoon (2006)

The Black Lagoon animated series is a direct adaptation of Hiroe's original manga. It's produced by MADHouse Studios and Geneon Entertainment. The series first began airing in April 8, 2006. The series ran for twelve episodes, the last airing on June 24, 2006. It's a seinen action series that is for mature viewers

Rock's first anime appearance was in Black lagoon - Episode 1 "The Black Lagoon". His character in the Japanese series is voiced by Daisuke Namikawa, and the U.S. dub produced by Ocean Group is done by Brad Swaile.

Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage (2008)

Black Lagoon: Second Barrage is the second anime series of the Black Lagoon franchise. The series was directed and produced by the same team who created the first season. The first episode originally aired on January 18, 2008. The series ran for twelve episodes, the last airing on April 11, 2008. The story arcs covered in this season are Bloodsport Fairy-tale, Greenback Jane, and Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise.

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail (2010)

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail is the third anime series of the Black Lagoon franchise. Though this series was produced by the same teams who had created the previous two. It was never created to be aired on TV. Instead, it was sold directly to the Japanese market as OVAs. The entire story follows the El Baile de la muerte story arc from the manga that was told in Volumes 6-9. The first episode originally released on February 15, 2007 on Blu-ray and DVD. Production delays after the release of Volume 2 would result in delays of Volumes 3-5 by two to three months.

At the 2010 Anime Expo, FUNimation announced they had acquired the license for this series and were initially intending to release the series in 2011, but production delays that held back several of the Japanese episodes pushed back FUNimation's plans. They eventually released the series in the US in 2013.