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Jormungand (TV) Reviews
Jormungand
2062
Title(s): Jormungand
ćƒØćƒ«ćƒ ćƒ³ć‚¬ćƒ³ćƒ‰ (Japanese)
č»ē«å„³ēŽ‹ (Chinese (Taiwan))
Creator: Keitarō Takahashi
Genres: Action
Age Group: Older Children (May contain mild bad language, bloodless violence)
Vintage: April 10, 2012
Status: Still Airing
Summary: The series follows Koko Hekmatyar, a young arms dealer who sells weapons under HCLI, a weapons corporation. As one of the company\'s unofficial weapon sellers, she secretly sells weapons in many countries while avoiding the local authorities and law enforcements as most of her work is actually illegal under international law. Traveling with her is her team of bodyguards who are mostly composed of ex-military veterans. Her latest addition to her crew is Jonah. Jonah is a child soldier, born into the chaotic conflicts that rage across Africa, his family lost to a war fueled by weapons supplied by the so-called "Merchants of Death"--international arms dealers. Despite Jonah's hatred of weapons and violence, he employs both extremely well in the service of high-flying arms dealer Koko Hekmatyar and her band of mercenaries. Their journey through the dark underbelly of the world's arms markets may lead only to damnation, but will Jonah one day make his way back to the light. Only one thing is certain: it's going to be a long, hard road out of Hell...
Reviews
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Excellent 22 reviews
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Good 1 review
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Average 0 reviews
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Jormungand
Written by Little_Wolf-18 on September 23, 2012 at 10:41 AM
Overall Rating
Excellent
Story: 4
Dialogue: 5
Animation: 5
Entertainment: 4
See that little genre tag above? The one that says ā€œactionā€? It means it. Fast-paced, vicious, amoral, more than hardcore, and definitely not advised for pacifistsā€¦ like me. Whatā€™s a pacifist doing in action genre? Seeking a change from the shoujo, expecting something Fate/Zero-style (cā€™mon, the title ā€œJormungandā€ stems straight from Nordic legends). I didnā€™t get legends, or Fate/Zero, but I got something about as far from shoujo as anime can go. ā€œJormungandā€ is nothing short of thoroughly insane.

Story (4/5) -- First things first: No, the original story doesnā€™t snugly fit into twelve episodes. All youā€™ll get here is a set of sub-stories made rather for the purpose of getting to know the characters than for one overarching plot. Thereā€™s a hint of the main story towards the end, but the time frame simply has it breaking off. Thereā€™s a second season (Perfect Order) announced for October, but whoever is annoyed by the break will be better off reading the manga. 49 chapters out according to Manga-Access (I just hope that site is halfway informed for once ^^Ā°). On the upside though, none of the sub-stories is entirely predictable, and completely shoving side stories aside, the concept is fresh and quite intriguing where it doesnā€™t try all too hard.

The whole concept plays on one highly twisted and violent conflict for peace, providing unusual takes on common themes such as teamwork and professionalism. It strives for realism, giving background info that, despite seemingly a little exaggerated here or there, is close to reality. Overall? It displays. But it doesnā€™t judge. Thereā€™s no good, no bad in ā€œJormungandā€. The main characters are killers for the sake of business, and where their customers arenā€™t any better, their enemies are no worse.

That in itself might evoke a lot of questioning and ethical problems if you care to dig behind bad guys and gallons of cinematic blood. But ā€œJormungandā€ doesnā€™t make you rack your brain. Original, fast, badass, comparably realisticā€¦ itā€™s all that. But it never takes a stance on what it tells. If thatā€™s a good or bad thing depends on its viewersā€¦ itā€™s certainly a change, at the very least. The main problem with the storyline isnā€™t that it doesnā€™t judge itself, but that itā€™s incomplete and unforgiven. Might change with the next season, but thereā€™s no telling that quite yet.

Title -- I donā€™t usually include notes on the title. Titles are a way to identify the show, they fit or they donā€™t, theyā€™re interesting or boring, and thatā€™s that. Rarely though does a title add so much to a show as it does in ā€œJormungandā€.

I mentioned before that ā€œJormungandā€ as a term is taken from Nordic mythology. Let me try to keep things short and sweet: In Nordic mythology, Jormungand (originally Jƶrmungandr) is a kind of giant serpent (wound itself around the world and grasped its own tail when tossed into the oceanā€¦) that antagonises the main god Thor, battling him a number of times and twice ending the whole thing in pretty much of a draw. I donā€™t want to unravel the whole legend (more on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jormungand), but try and connect the whole thing to Koko and her serpentine smileā€¦ I donā€™t want to spoiler things, but this opens about a dozen number of ways to interpret the whole thing.

Anime isnā€™t meant to be interpreted like Shakespearean sonnets? Okay, youā€™re right. Sorry for the sidetrack. Moving on to the topic of characters.

Sure enough that in a reality where ā€œmundaneā€ means ā€œin a hardcore fight for survivalā€, the characters canā€™t be wimps. And thatā€™s another of the seriesā€™ main draws. The characters are richly designed individuals, both in visual and psychological design, each with their own quirks and personality. Koko especially is probably one of the most mysterious, cold-blooded, and intriguing females in anime history. While twelve episodes seem like little time to get to know a bunch of characters, and itā€™s true that many side characters are still missing more or less explanation, the few background stories revealed so far are quite touching and add depth to the respective characters; also, chara development is finely done for a series of this length, and adds to the story where the set of sub-stories doesnā€™t make for a consistent plot of any kind. Character interaction, if at times a little odd, is likable and has its funny moments, and the trust among the members of Kokoā€™s bodyguard group (?) is well displayed. The main problem here would be that due to the rather violent atmosphere and some charactersā€™ pretty business-like attitude, the majority of the bunch comes across as phony or sadistic at first. I guess thatā€™s what you call ā€œgiving off the wrong impressionā€. Sigh.

Dialogue (4.5/5) -- Itā€™s not without its flaws, but itā€™s relatively intelligent and easy to follow. Tends to feel out of place in many predominantly action-packed scenes (Iā€™m all for intelligent dialogue, but when thereā€™s a rain of bullets in the air at the same time, it can get rather ridiculous), but itā€™s still above average, and thereā€™s no obvious faults in the voice-acting.

Technical aspects (5/5)
Music -- Opening and closer fit the show oddly well, and especially the openerā€™s a title that could probably be nominated for ā€œgetting stuck in most listenersā€™ earsā€. Anything pales compared to that, so naturally the background music throughout the show is a little less memorable, but itā€™s without a doubt well-done and rich.

Animation -- Recent quality. The action is plentiful, fast, and ruthless, with well-done tactics, dozens of guns, and tons of cinematic blood. Itā€™s not a second Elfen Lied in terms of gore, but where it comes to violence, I must say Iā€™m really not sure which one tops the other. >.< Ā“

Artwork -- Itā€™s as rich as music and action. Thereā€™s one pretty odd point of grey/red in the beginning, as the colouring tends to become washed-out where it doesnā€™t come to either blood or charactersā€™ eyes, but once you get used to the colouring, the art canā€™t be complained about. Distinctive character design with plausible eye and hair colours, clothing, and facial shapes. The line-art in general is meticulous, with many detailed and modern settings; even military hardware is displayed accurately.

Entertainment (4/5) -- In the endā€¦ itā€™s all about the viewersā€™ liking for action and cinematic blood. Thereā€™s some decent character development, a number of comedic moments, some emotion (thatā€™s generally rather extreme rage than anything else ^^"), an intriguing concept and title, and the characters are interesting without a doubt. The story is interesting as well, were it not for the fact that the end will leave every viewer hanging (and possibly disappointed). All of that however pales if compared to the action. And right there, it simply tries too hard for me. Itā€™s a dream for lovers of guns, gore, and overall badassness; yet it also borders on insanely sadistic and bloodlust-y. Itā€™s something I personally had a hard time with. Iā€™ve never minded action that knew its limits, but I simply didnā€™t expect a show that could at times rival Elfen Lied in terms of violence. It is intriguing without a doubt, but intriguing in quite a cruel way sometimes.

Personally, I wish theyā€™d focused a little more on a consistent story and a little less on gun-fights. Now that I did make it through the first season and that Iā€™ve seen a hint of a consistent main story, Iā€™m willing to stick around for another while to see where this thing goes. But eventually, itā€™s not the action and gore that attracts me, itā€™s the story with its connection to reality. In terms of fights, the show simply tends to go overboard for me. I guess thereā€™s no helping it, though. Maybe I should rather read the manga, seeing as action tends to get less haunting if it loses its sound.

Itā€™s not that I detest this show. Itā€™s quite intriguing, even for me, and itā€™s definitely one of the better and more realistic in the action genre with its hints of comedy as long as you donā€™t mind, or even happen to like, overboarding violence. No changing it -- but I personally simply wish theyā€™d cut it a little on the ā€œobjectionable contentā€. As it is, itā€™s 18+ at the very least. NOT SUITABLE FOR MINORS
6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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