Black Lagoon season 1.
Wow, I'm kind of torn over this series after watching it for the first time. The last five or so episodes were exceptional in isolation, and had that represented the whole season I would be placing this somewhere near the top of any theoretical list of action shows.
I felt that the last five episodes were incongruent with the tone of the "backbone" of the show - the relationship between Rock and Revy. Their scenes together (particularly the key one in the submarine, and the scenes in episode 7 both right before they are arrested, and when they are sharing a, uh, cigarette) are laced with a sense of borderline melancholic gravitas, and add a truly human touch to Revy's spunk and aggression - two things which the series arguably plays on a little too much.
This is then compromised, if not actually totally undone, by first of all Revy's quite literally comically OTT fight with Roberta, and then the move to a couple of far more stereotypical scenes between Rock and Revy, in episode 11 when Rock walks into her bedroom to wake her up (there is something to be said here for the natural way this shows their relationship to have developed, but the fanservicey nature of the scene was so far removed from anything else in the show it was just weird), and in episode 12 after they are done rescuing Rock and Revy busts out an incredibly tsundere reaction to Rock's thanks. It's like the series lacks the confidence of its action scenes when it comes to following through on its more contemplative aspects.
Also, the thing with the Nazis dragged on for one episode too many, the side characters lacking completely when compared with the ones that show up in the subsequent arcs.
Definitely above average, but hamstrung by the lack of a cohesive vision behind it. I'm hoping the second season just continues to ramp it up, though.
****
(I am now using a five-star scale, as I don't like 10 point scales)
edit: Nearly forgot, the episodes titles are awesome.