Jormungand – 11
Oh nothing, just burying some bodies out in the middle of nowhere.
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I’m definitely excited for the summer season, but there are some shows that I don’t think I’m ready to let go of yet… Jormungand being one of them. On the plus side though, the fun will continue on in the fall season! |
New bad guys this week! Though these were slightly more interesting to me then the other antagonists before them. Not just that one girl’s hair, but the fact that they don’t really seem as into the whole assassin/hitman/whatever you want to call it business as say Orchestra was. In fact, that one guy doesn’t seem like he wants to do much at all. Sure, I like the character types they used here, but I think most of my interest stems from the fact that these guys are kind of like Koko’s team. Based on this episode, they work best as a team (like Orchestra), but they also have the intellect behind that to catch Koko off guard and pick off her men one by one. They also seem to have the skills to back all of that up as well. It’s probably because they caught her off guard, but as of the end of this episode, they seem to have the upper hand against Koko. I’d love to see them developed more than the usual antagonist in Jormungand. Who hired them? It could be anyone really. Koko did mention at the beginning of the anime that she since has so many enemies from her job, there’s no point in keeping track. What a time for Jonah and Valmet to go missing.
Valmet was probably the last person I would ever expect to just get up and leave Koko without warning. Then again, she definitely has personally issues to deal with. I have no doubt that she’ll be back. At first I assumed that she went out to deal with her past in order to come back and serve Koko better, but then again, Koko sent Jonah out to make sure that Valmet comes back. Koko doesn’t do things without a reason. It seems like Koko doubted that Valmet would come back if she didn’t do something about the situation. Would Valmet have really wandered off if Koko didn’t do anything? …Though there’s also the possibility that Koko sent Jonah to keep Valmet from getting killed. Valmet is probably less likely to brush off a child then any one of the men and judging from how she was in the mountain battle, she is not going to keep her cool when she exacts her revenge.
Loli(?) Koko is glorious.
On the other hand though, Valmet’s past wasn’t as strong of a link to Koko as I thought it would be. Koko offered her a choice and Valmet took it. There was no dramatic fight involving one of them saving the other’s life or anything. Hell, Valmet even said herself that she hated Koko at the beginning. Just when and why did she become so attatched? Or was she even really attached in the first place? There’s so much about Valmet that we don’t really know yet. I’m sure when she comes back (I have no doubt that Valmet will return), maybe we’ll find out the answers to some of these questions in flashback form or something.
So Ugo definitely has a death flag raised here. …I’m less assured that he’ll live then I was with Mao, but then again, we hardly know anything about the guy compared to the rest of the team (I think he’s the guy who likes cars). Maybe he’ll live since we know nothing about him? The end of the episode didn’t look too promising though. He seems pretty expendable as a character and ending the season with a death seems like a course of action to get people to watch the second half of the anime. Well, if he dies hopefully we learn more about him afterwards. I’d hate for any of Koko’s awesome team to remain undeveloped. Plus if he dies, maybe we’ll see Koko get really angry or break her smile. Nothing ends a season quite like having the main character go full out.
It wasn’t that big of a part of the episode, but Koko actually shot someone. Just thought I’d point that out.
End Thoughts:
Overall, a pretty interesting arc. They focused a lot on the characters, which is always great, and while Valmet is one of the characters we know a bit more about, more focus on her is welcome. I wasn’t expecting Chen (his name is Chen, not Chang apparently. …Which makes this show less likely to be confused with Black Lagoon. Yay!) to be the guy who took out one of Valmet’s eyes since he was in that other arc, but then I realized that she was off in the mountains when Koko met him. I wonder if Valmet would have realized it was the guy from her past if she saw him before. I’m betting on her and Jonah coming back either in an extremely convenient and well timed manner to save Koko, or arriving after the fact (in which Koko and team got their act together and throughly kicked the other team’s asses) and going “Well shit, we missed everything.” …With maybe a bit of regret in there if Ugo ends up actually dying. I think there’s a 50-50 chance that he will. I also hope that they at least go a bit into how Valmet suddenly found herself gay for Koko since the dots don’t seem to be connecting fully here. They definitely have an interesting setup for the next episode.
Preview:
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yikes!! Now I know how Koko looks when she’s having a bad day. Not only is her sister figure Valmet gone but she took her shota with her. I liked the part where she was losing it while claiming to be calm before jump kicking her team. The shocker was that she actually killed someone. Shot in the face. Someone actually died personally by her hand instead of being killed out of her orders. It must be an honor. I was so in disbelief that I replayed that piece at least 3 times to accept it.
Damn you, Jonah, damn you!!! You… you… lucky bastard!!! That’s the second time he took a shower together with Valmet. I let it slide the first time after the knife training but a second time?! Why couldn’t I have been an orphan child soldier among these people? And in episode 9, Valmet said her boobs were for her and Koko. Yeah right. I guess she failed to mention a third person involved.
So we get to see Valmet’s arc. Cheng being the one who killed her team and took out one of her eyes went over my head. How many years has it been since then? He looks so old and decrepit now to believe he did such things. The next episode looks like all out revenge for her.
We get guest seiyuus this time: Keiji Fujiwara as Boss Dominique and Kana Asumi (Nyaruko) as Liliane. Liliane is a perfect balance of insanity and moe. She’s like a female child soldier. Her character design is a different choice in this show considering she doesn’t have a huge bust. As a testament to her craziness, there’s that razor blade necklace she made. Having that is proof that she is as nuts as most people on top of that hot body that petite and moe. Having a moe face while shooting people while having a hot body like this proves the combination of moe/appeal and craziness that of killing people. So many dangerous traits but I’m also getting some Seras Victoria vibes from her the way she follows Dominique.
Koko’s team is trouble this time. Looks like they’re not as invicible as they appear to be. LOL. Lutz’s rear has been targeted once again. At this rate, he won’t be able to sit down ever again. I figured the assassins would go for the low level team members but didn’t think they would go directly for Lehm and Ugo first. They’ve got guts.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Eh, I don’t think I would call this a bad day for her yet. Sure she’s a bit disorganized at the moment, but I’m sure that she can pull off a graceful recovery. …Maybe. I was shocked too that she killed someone. I didn’t even know that Koko handled guns.
LOL calm down Briar! He’s only a shota! I don’t think Valmet even considers him a guy yet.
Yep, I totally didn’t expect the Chinese mafia or whatever he is, to be behind the whole thing. Koko brought up a good point about him slaughtering the UN though. What did he want?
No kidding, Liliane is pretty flat considering everyone else on this show. I wonder how her and Jonah would react in a fight against each other. He let that one kid go before since he didn’t really want to fight, but Liliane is her. I just hope she doesn’t sleep with it on. As for the Seras Victoria thing, I think she lacks that whole humanity into insanity thing that made Seras so badass in that one Hellsing OVA where she finally drank blood. Liliane seems insane from the start.
Lutz I can see failing here since he’s a sniper, but Lehm man. They must have caught him really off guard.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I like the new villains too!…I have to admit I might have been swayed by the hair though. Is her necklace a string of razor blades? Siiiiiick. Anyways, I like that they’re a bit more slack and want to just open a restaurant after this. You can’t have EVERY character be a bloodthirsty demon all the time, or else they all start looking and sounding like the same person.
Oh wow, I thought we were done with Valmet’s drama but…GUESS NOT. I’m kind of sad to see Jonah away from Koko. I don’t know if he’ll be as fun with Valmet, especially when she’s being so serious right now.
Waaahh I’m gonna miss this show when it ends (even though it’s coming back in the fall as you said…)
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Whoever can think up something as dangerous as a razor blade necklace can’t be good in the head. That thing can slit your throat at anytime. These new assassins are too whacked for me to believe they’d want to retire and open a restaurant. What would stop them from killing again if they wanted to? And you’re right. Basically every character is a bloodthirsty demon. Even Koko seems to be joining in. If only we could get Mirai Nikki’s Yuno in here, then it would be a party.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY. I think they could do it. Sometimes you just want to get away from it all. Killing people might be fun, but that one guy acts like even breathing is a chore. I think the whole point of them moving away from all that is that they can still kill who they want if they really wanted to, but they’re no longer being employed by random people.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ahaha …again, I can see the necklace accidentally injuring someone. Yeah, it was the restaurant comment that got to me this episode. I doubt they’re going to live since killing her team is more then likely to induce Koko’s wrath, but it’s the thought that counts.
…Yeah, I didn’t want to see Jonah ever leave Koko, but if it’s her orders, I guess it’s okay. He was pretty damn adorable while smiling this episode though. If he keeps up these adorable power levels, I’m okay with it.
Same here, OC!!!