Jormungand Perfect Order – 02-04
Spoiler Alert!
 |
…I wish I had a good excuse for why this is out late, but in the end, it’s because I’ve been busy playing otome games. OTL I think blogging all of these action series is making me miss talking about shoujo things, even if my shoujo show last season had little to no romance, plot, or anything remotely good about it. …Yeah, this season of anime is better. |
Dance with the Undershaft
As Bookman said at the end of this arc, he lost both of his arms all at once. Maybe he is competent at his job, but this arc only really proved that he wasn’t really a great judge of character. How he didn’t see Hex’s betrayal for her own goals miles away is beyond me. Maybe he’ll be back for revenge later, but at the moment he doesn’t seem like a huge threat, even though he’s a pretty prominent figure. I’m sure he could be a huge threat considering all of his surveillance technology and employees that we saw in the background and his plan to try to control weapons dealers sounds really exciting, but his character seems a bit weak right now. …And not just because he lost his best people.
So, about R. Or should I call him Renato? Anyways, R turned into such a great character in only a few episodes. Maybe his depth wasn’t that great, but I did love watching his inner struggle between his loyalty to Bookman and Koko’s group. It wasn’t even that long of a struggle, but I do understand his feelings between following orders because of gratitude and saving people because he really does like being with them. It’s funny how he’s the one who said that he couldn’t understand what Koko was thinking, yet he figured out that Jonah was Koko’s limiter. It seems he was much closer to his ‘fake’ team than he realized. I can’t say I was torn up about his death since it happened really quickly and we didn’t even know much about the guy until an episode ago, but it should be interesting to see where the story goes from here. Especially with how Koko leads the team.
Bookman said that Hex just kept being betrayed by her country, and in the end, that was pretty correct. I’m not surprised that she just gave up in the end, especially since it was her own country’s machines trying to kill her. There’s no doubt that life loved screwing her over. …Not to say that she didn’t have a few screws loose herself, but between her original military group being forced out of a job, losing an important person in 9/11 and all of that other crap, it’s not a huge surprise that she became a little twisted. Though that being said, I couldn’t really sympathize with her in the end. The combination of her short character introduction, the fact that she went after Jonah, and her insanity all threw any sympathy I had away. I won’t deny she was absolutely devious and really great to watch as a character, but she had no sympathy from me.
It’s a pity she didn’t play that big of a role in the series overall. I would have loved to have seen her and Koko at odds for longer.
Charisma break! So I guess the real reason why Koko has the smiling poker face on 24/7 is because of Echo’s words on the night he died. R was a replacement for Echo and after that, he never once saw Koko break character. …Koko really does care a ton about her team. I don’t think it was R saying that he was a spy that sent her over the edge, but more the fact that he might leave her like Echo (…which R did anyways). She seemed fine with him being a spy and I don’t think she’s ever shown so much worry on her face before. Koko had a larger lapse in character after R died and we had the opportunity to see her scary side again. Not only in threatening the CIA, but also in going through the effort of bombing the crap out of Hex. Koko could have probably hunted her down and exacted revenge herself, but there’s something more forceful about bombing the entire mountainside and destroying everything in the vicinity just to take out one person.
Kasper and Jonah
There were a ton of flashbacks this episode. Probably more than necessary, but I guess it has been a while since that one episode about Jonah aired. Again, Jormungand seems to have stepped away from having a gunfight an episode and has set its focus instead on storytelling first. I can’t say that the action in the last arc was as exciting as some of the fights that have happened before, but this episode of dialogue did make a good break from the topic of R’s death and the CIA. It’s not like the idea has been forgotten entirely, but this was a good transitional episode as opposed to throwing us right into the next arc with no mention of the last one. If anything, Koko certainly isn’t over his death if that alcohol was any indication.
So Kasper did keep his promise to Jonah, and the three kids who were with him are safe and out of harm’s way. …I was worried there for a bit since most of these shows seem to like killing children that were saved, but my fears were lessened when Koko said that she knew what had happened with them. We don’t know much about Kasper as a character, but Koko doesn’t seem like she would lie to Jonah. Jonah himself seems way more comfortable with Kasper, Koko and the idea of arms dealers in general, so I guess this was a good episode to mark his progress as a character since episode 1.
Now onto the new mini plot with Kasper and Koko working together to take back East Asia… I like it. Not only with Kasper working together with Koko, but also because they’re doing it for the sake of the family business. We seem to see a lot of Koko running into trouble in the business because of the nature of the work, but normally she knows who she’s dealing with and she has to work defensively. In this case, it looks more like the siblings are on the offensive. …Which has the possibility to be fun considering that when Koko is pissed off, she’s absolutely vicious.
In any case, this arc looks like it will shed a bunch of light on Tojo’s character, so I’m looking forward to that. …Maybe we’ll have something on Lehm too since his ex-wife is part of Kasper’s team. If anything, I’d love to see them interact more.
Like I mentioned above, I love that the show is taking it’s time with the arcs now instead of rushing us through everything. Sure, the first arcs were great for setting us up with plot points (like the idea that Koko is dangerous), but now that those have been mentioned and the side characters introduced, its time to go more in depth. The side characters are getting more screen time at least. Kasper and team is one thing, but I never expected Koko to keep business with that other female weapons dealer (or for the other female weapon’s dealer to even stay in the business). It’s good to know that the things that happened last season are more important than oneshot characters and events.
Next episode seems to involve that new (probably insane) female character, and Koko/Kasper and team looking concerned.
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
Moral of the lesson: Don’t mess with Koko Hekmatyar if you value your life. Hex got severely screwed over and weapons from her own homeland add insult to injury. Bombing an entire mountainside is probably making a point and sending a message to those with the nerve to cross Koko’s path telling them they’ll end up in the same state.
Requiescat In Pace, R. He turned out to be a great character towards his end because of the focus on him. “Dance with Undershaft” was the most emotional arc out of the whole anime so far. I’ve never seen Koko so vulnerable and it was surprising she wanted to keep R around despite knowing he was a spy.
With all the time the group spent together, I think it was fairly obvious that Jonah would be seen as a limiter to Koko. Though it looks like she’s robbing the cradle, she actually hangs around him as if she’s his older sister.
It’s a bold but effective move adding more story development to a show that was mostly dominated by all out gun fights. Having Kasper and Jonah paired up after their meeting on the military base was interesting. I was expecting Jonah to be riled up at the sight of him but he was strangely calm. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting Kasper to keep his promise about the three kids. He was too shady for me to think otherwise and it seems he can’t help himself causing chaos to accomplish his agendas. He might be biting off more than he can chew if it’s a group hardly anyone knows exist anymore.
With this, today has made it officially two full years since I’ve started commenting on Metanorn. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since I left my first mark on one of Overcooled posts.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
No kidding. Koko is one scary lady, even when you’re on her good side. I don’t even think that was Koko in a full rage either. She might value R, but imagine if she lost Jonah.
R would have been flat if not for these last episodes, but he did become great here. It’s pretty emotional due to the first loss to Koko’s team (that we’ve seen), but also because R had that inner struggle and chose Koko in the end, regardless of his other agenda. It wouldn’t have been as sad if he had died fighting for Bookman. I was surprised by Koko’s emotion range this arc. Maybe she wants world peace so she doesn’t have to lose anyone.
The next arc looks fairly dialogue heavy as well. …Which is good since Jormungand seems to do story right when they actually take the time to set it up. I wasn’t expecting Kasper to keep the promise either, but I guess this is one of the times where the ‘bad guys’ are actually pretty reliable.
Congrats! If anything, at least you’ve accomplished the top commenter spot at this site xD …I assume your first comment was on Shiki? I can’t even remember what aired last year, let alone 2 years ago.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
If Koko ever lost Jonah, heads will roll. I think deep inside, Koko hates herself for being an arms dealer and Jonah is a limiter so she doesn’t cross a line she doesn’t want go. Like in the first half of the anime, that doctor called her a dragon and she lost her composure for a second as if fighting to deny that implication.
If the next arc balances both dialogue and action, then it’ll make things all the more sweeter. Especially since Koko and Kasper will be working together. What I want to know is where did they come from. Up to now there hasn’t been any revelations on their part.
Thanks for compliment! To be honest, when I first commented, I never once thought I’d get so far, let alone being the first commenter and a one that became a Meta Resident. Yeah, my first comment was on one of Overcooled’s Shiki posts (and where I unknowing signed a contract with my soul as collateral. LOL). That was my first mark and I got my title from a Shiki post OC and Kyokai tag teamed. Heh, it’s funny. Both the anime and title concern vampires and I got it just then. The whole thing sounds like coincidence. Don’t you think?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
…As much as I love Jonah, I want to see heads roll.
I’m excited to see them interact as well. Especially since the whole family is pretty much an enigma at the moment. They weren’t afraid to she Koko’s lost emotions this last arc, so maybe they’re finally ready to tell us more about the woman.
LOL it’s okay Briar. You don’t need your soul here xD. AHAHA I figured as much, because of your title. …Also because Shiki is pretty much the only vampire thing OC has ever blogged. It’s strangely fitting. You have your place here. xD
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Arg, I was annoyed at seeing Hex get knocked off so easily. Right after miraculously surviving a shot to the eye, too. She had been built up to be a badass, and I was hoping she’d be a major villain.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Me too. I was expecting the whole Undershaft thing to go on for a lot longer, and killing off Hex and R so early was a bit of a killjoy.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
*raises hand*
Another reason why you shouldn’t read anime blog abt this kind of show be4 watching it lol. (Too busy atm)
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Villains just never last long enough in Jormungand, even when they are badasses… Hex could have been the perfect villain for the show, but I guess they have other plans.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It’s saddening when the badasses disappear. Hex was similar to Chinatsu from the first half in looks and insanity but Hex took it to another level completely. At the end, Jormungand will be remembered for hot, insane women that can hold their own and awesome gun battles.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah, I’d compare Hex to Chinatsu over any of the other characters. Though Hex would definitely be the more insane one. She also had better reasons for doing what she did rather than Chinatsu joining her teacher just because.
POWUH: 600-699 and Wingman with 655 comments
dont worry UNDERSHAFT is still continued by Bookman, its originally CIA’s plan anyways :p koko is seriously badass thou 😛
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Oh, good. I was worried that they had set all of this up and named the OP UNDER/SHAFT for nothing.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Operation Undershaft simply experienced a minor setback with R and Hex’s deaths. Bookman did say he’d dance with Koko until she starts screaming.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I’m excited to see that. They had such a great set up, it would be a shame to waste it all.