「Dragon Shooter phase.2」

If there’s one philosophical quote I could attribute to Jormungand, it’s that “if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” In this case, there’s also a “might as well tack on some style and flair on to it” as well. Because that’s exactly how Koko rolls: whether it involves eliminating the Balkan Dragon militia, avoiding surface to air strikes, or bow tying wanted war criminals for the CIA. But yeah, Mr. Dragan Nicolaevich sure chose the wrong dragon to mess with… and well, that’s just too bad. At least his loss was our gain though, as we got some darn great action scenes this episode as a result, mostly due to those epic cannons. And really, the fact that Mao was the one given center stage via the use of the cannon to knock out most of the anti-air batteries was just fitting. Considering they just showed some back story to him last episode, this was definitely something intentionally done, and just goes to show how awesome Jormungand is to be able to link things in such a way while throwing off a fair amount of viewers who figured that Mao’s death flag was raised.

Moving on, I have to also mention how much I loved the insertion of some new songs to emphasize the air combat scenes, as well as the fact that Wilee got some nice airtime this episode as well. But in the end, none of that really compares to how much I loved Scarecrow getting owned and put in as comic relief again and Schokolade pulling her usual shenanigans. At this point, even though she doesn’t get as much focus as the member’s of Koko’s group, Schokolade’s definitely continuing to rise on my list of favorite characters for this show. Considering how many great characters are in this show, it really also just demonstrates how great Jormungand is to be able to also phase out their side characters to such a memorable and likable degree.

And last but not least, perhaps the more intriguing part of the episode involved the fact that Floyd Hekmatyar makes his way into the picture a bit via some machinations from behind the scenes. It’ll definitely be interesting to see if Koko’s father appears at some point in time. Considering the way Floyd’s able to do such things and the fact Koko probably learned a lot of her skills from her father, it goes to reason Floyd’s on an equal, if not better level than Koko. And seeing Koko’s awesomeness through these first 9 episodes… it’s gonna be something words cannot describe if we ever get an episode focused on her father.

All in all, what else is there left to say except that this episode was just superb. We get the usual great action scenes, a mix of seriousness and comedy with the Koko dragon aspect, the return of the comedic relief CIA crew, and an episode that just kept your adrenaline rushing all the way through. What more could you want? And with that, we head into the final arc of Jormungand’s first season… and from the preview, it looks like Ugo’ll take center stage this time around. Can’t wait!

Author’s Note: Just remade my Twitter. Feel free to follow! @ZephyrRC

 

Preview

47 Comments

  1. Clime against humanity”

    I have to also mention how much I loved the insertion of some new songs to emphasize the air combat scenes

    This! I really enjoyed the combat scenes in this episode, some of the best I’ve seen in Jormungand so far. And I don’t think I would’ve been so enthralled by this if it weren’t for the music, not saying that the action was uninteresting, but still, the music made it seem more impressive.
    I love this show so much!

  2. Sometimes I try to rationalize the complete nonchalance towards arms dealers and child soldiers exhibited by other parties, then I decide I’m better off enjoying the Magnificent Bastardry and fight scenes.

    Bio D
      1. That was a big surprise there.

        It’s never a good sign in a show with as much shooting as this when a guy points out how he’s the only married one and the only one with kids and how they don’t know how dangerous a job he really has…

        The episode’s reliance on having someone that could use those 125mm guns saved his butt.

        Qwert
    1. 5 millions in weapon trading business, especially in high spec weapons like Koko, is not that much you know? A few missiles are already cost more than that.

      But still it’s always good to have some extra money, lol.

      Aster
  3. Ever since Jonah outright told us that Koko’s smiles are a way of hiding what she’s really feeling, I’ve tried to guess what’s behind the smiles. Because if she’s grinning, especially when the situation is serious, she probably isn’t actually happy.

    I think Koko might have been about a second away from killing that female doctor when she was told, “You’re a dragon too.” You notice how she pauses a second and then starts grinning and laughing and waving her hands? I don’t think that’s Koko being amused. I think that’s Koko incredibly angry, whether at the doctor or at herself, and she was doing what she always does to hide her anger.

    Dayriff
    1. Angry? I doubt. It was probably how it looked like: She didn’t realize that the team and herself form one bigass dragon themselves. If anything, she could have taken it as a compliment, hence the laugh. And I’m sure that Koko understood that being in that line meant having that kind of power. There’s no way she would deny the title of “dragon”, because it’s the truth, and we’ve seen since the start of the series that Koko doesn’t try to disguise who she is and the work that she does at that point in time. I see it as her having pride in what she does.

      Junglepenguin
  4. Let’s fire a howitzer from the back of a plane!!!

    Impossible physics aside, a great episode. What I really love is Koko’s engagement with Jonah.
    I like the character development between these two. Who knows where it’ll go, but it’s endearing
    nonetheless. He trusts her – I would’ve taken the bastard out! She doesn’t control him, but has
    won him. A wonderful difference. She even coos for Jonah at the end (Jonah, what does a dragon
    sound like). Obviously not a romance series, they’ve done a good job of threading their
    character development and growing fondness towards each other through each episode.

    Pretty cool.

    mac65
    1. The 105mm cannon on the AC-130 Gunship is just a howitzer that has been integrated into it, and they are pretty accurate. So I will have to disagree with you when you say that it is impossible.

      Mash
      1. Posit that, and before that there was 75mm one on B-25 in the World War 2…
        Still, they were mounted in specially designed cradles, not shooting out of the rear ramp of cargo plane 🙂
        But as the rule of cool makes the howitzer biggest – and coolest – BFG we can get short of refurbishing old battleship, I let it pass!
        Mao, congrats on dodging the death flag! I was really concerned.
        And Coco, congrats on poking fun at yourself as dragon “Grooaaaar!”

        ewok40k
    2. I agree with mac65, how do you brace a 122 mm howitzer on the rear ramp? what about fire controll computer and 3 dimension stabilizer integrated with flight control to calculate a solution to fire on target?

      Lets start from the beginning, manpad SA7 are infared seeker guided, how does it lock on to the body which has no heat? It locks on to the engine and exhaust. If it locked on it won’t miss, not a cargo plane thats not manuvering.

      Russian ZU 23 is radar guided not IR, how do you fit a seeker on a 23mm shell? you don’t its a piece of dumb lead. The turret is MMSR radar guided to shoot ahead of the plane and allow the plane to fly into the bullets.

      now to the 2K12, its SAM with radar guided by the firecontroll on the ground, firing flare will do nothing as I said last week. A jammer however receive radar signal and send back signal od same frequnecy but trick the computer with a wrong speed and heading. you can’t stop radar from reflecting off your plane but mix it with bogus data and the missile has a chance to fly off course, there is also a easier way of fooling anolog radar by dumping aluminum strip out the back of the plane, but you have to time it right. The aluminum stip cause a blob on the radar for a short period of time.dumb soviet radar doesn’t have computer to filter out the difference. Too early and missile acquire you as the target after being confused and too late will mean the missile hit you anyway.

      Now the 122 howizer strap to the back. You need huge metal brace welded to the plane, the legs on the D30 is design to sink in mud or sand, which doesn’t exist on a plane.
      concussion, a 122mm will blow out the panel on your plane and blow up eyeball and eardrums in a half enclosed space of a plane. The spook 105mm round has special powder that reduce recoil pressure and some rounds used in enclosed space, recoil pressure are then channeled outside the plane or expelled through a water barrier before it enter the cabin.

      You can’t hit a side of a barn without a firing control computer, spooky fire controll are link to the avionic which give a pitch and yaw to aim the gun.you fly the plane to aim the gun.
      Fletchett round are loaded into 50 per shell + wad to stabilize the arrows. How do you load 6000 into a shell, they don’t know any physics I swear.
      Why use flechett to take out radar? Frag-he does a far better job. Flechett is a giant shotgun for antipersonel.

      dh19440113
      1. @dh19430113:

        I dunno, I kinda get the feeling that Dragan’s forces were more on the flashiness and less on the substance of things.

        Now, regards jammers, the An-12 is carrying INFRARED JAMMERS. The technology for these has existed at LEAST since the 1970s, beginning with the ALQ-144 that was first deployed in Vietnam. It essentially works by rotating out a pulse of infrared radiation out; prior to launch, the pulse is strong enough to burn out/blind a SAM seeker; after launch the pulse tricks the missile into going somewhere else, which is exactly what happened. They’re not using radar jammers at all.

        As for the TV screen, that was probably the easiest way to interpret to the viewers the missile perspective. Ironically, the IIR seeker head on the AIM-9X apparently fuctions as a combo heat seeker/camera, so I’ve heard. Well, the IIR Maverick’s camera more or less did both…

        As for the comparison to Black Hawk Down, I beg to differ. That was a situation where the militia knew the Americans were coming, had the advantage of home territory, and were able to block US reinforcements from comming (by setting roadblocks to each route the convoy tried to take), as well as the fact that it was an urban battle zone. The militia were prepared to fight. In this case, Dragan’s forces were caught off guard by Koko’s team, who drew first blood and engaged ruthlessly without giving them time to get ready to fight.

        Also, note that many of the Somali militia had previous combat experience due to it being a civil war and pratically everyone being armed; I’m doubtful the same thing applies for the Dragons.

        Just because they can afford SAMs and AAA doesn’t mean they can use them, y’know. Training money is often neglected in the rush to buy the newest and greatest toys.

        Regards Mao’s choice of ammo, it was probably the best option he had: flechette would spread out and kill the spotters and crews, and probably mission kill the avionics on the ZSU-23. Besides, while it’s technically antipersonnel use, flechette IS rated for lightly armored vehicles.

        As for aiming, Mao was firing the gun out the back, in what appears to be more or less direct fire – notice how he’s using the sight? It’d be difficult, but not improbable, I believe, given that artillery HAS been used in direct fire and aimed by sight.

        Wild Goose
    1. It’s something related to protecting your hearing when shooting without any earmuffs or explicit ear protection. The explanation behind it is some kinda funky explanation about pressure equalization or something of the sort. XD

      1. That’s what I was thinking too – makes sense though… eardrums would burst if there was too much pressure O: Finally… four years of post-secondary education put to good use for that scene ;__;

        BakaMochi
  5. Did anyone else follow to Mao’s instructions to plug your ears and open your mouth while watch? I just found my mouth hanging open instinctively during that scene, lol. =P

    Schokolade is just awesome. Sadly, I don’t know any ditzy, blonde geniuses in real life. Also, Japanese need to realize that most Americans are not blonde anymore.

    1. So true, the action is soooo good.

      And that’s even just one of the awesome features of this show, I’m loving this series, I’ve not be let down at all even with my really high expectations before it started. 🙂

      DangerMouse
  6. The gun fight is too easy, after the inital shock. militia will counter attack with ferocity after losing men. They will use heavy weapon like BMP or T-55 tanks. A warlord isn’t easily captured, blackhawk down is a good example.

    dh19440113
    1. Dragon’s guys are not trained enough to deal with world’s greatest soldiers, like Koko’s team members. The only thing they are good at is killing innocent civilians, especially elder people and younger people.

      U Doh
      1. You need training and money to operate an air defense, just by having sam and AAA. They can afford tanks and BMP. since we are talking balkans warlord, former officers and soldier of yugoslav army, they are trained to bog down a NATO attack against the warsaw pact. Yugoslavia is a buffer state to the soviet Union, high rank officer are trained to operate russian equiptment and tactics.

        Compare that to mogadishu, delta force and us rangers with help of two devgru seal team 6 operators were totally outgunned by weed chewing somolia gunman with no training, AKM/RPG7, dshk mounted technicals for equipment, and avid determination to kill. Those operators were the best we got and somolia peasants were not afraid to engage.

        dh19440113
    2. Wow just wow dh19440113, and have you noticed this other errors in Jormungand? That real life people is 3D and made of flesh and blood and not 2D made from pixels and bytes? Or that real life arms dealers couldn’t be platinum blonde teenage girls? Or that black kids don’t have natural white hair?

      Yomero
      1. That’s not an excuse for the producers to throw the technical aspect and realism out of the window. They made up for that with good pacing of events, storytelling and character interaction, but I’d still say some scenes were pretty absurd.

        It doesn’t do the series any good if the main characters come across as invincible, which is exactly what they seem to be, surrounded by a squad of militia ready to take them out, with their backs to the plane and with no cover, and still coming out with no casualties whatsoever while completely wiping out the militia. It’s been happening since the start of the series, and it bugs me, but what else can I do, besides brushing it off as an attempt to mimic Hollywood? Which is why I’m glad the past two episodes did well in terms of developing the story and the characters involved. It made it a lot easier to see past the technical flaws.

        Junglepenguin
  7. this week ep.10

    koko’s crew curb stomp dragon army while dragon take a hostage
    seeing dragon army will attack get plane & bring the cannon gun.
    air attack cue cannon blast boom.
    koko call scarecrow but no then chocolade said yes get dragon.
    koko makes plan send few of her crew landmine dragon army.
    capture the dragon to give chocolade & scarecrow while female doc called koko a dragon.
    mission done all good flying to next work.

    next ep valmet’s past & female person.

    KLAC_OF_PERSONALITY
  8. Some how I felt hollow with this episode. After some soul searching, it was because there wasn’t enough Valmet!!! Yes I know the other characters need their time under the sun too. But I need my weekly dose of Valmet moe… faces, expression and Koko Luv.

    Since the orchestra shoot-out I stopped looking for physics reality in the show. But unless they fire a polaris from a cluster of glidders I won’t question the team “tactics”.

    Yes!@
  9. Funny how many people are fixated on the technical aspects of the show and miss the storytelling. Lets with start with Koko as I mentioned last week she’s all business and as shown here with two examples. The first one is realizing that Dragan was a high value “commodity” that could be traded, that’s why she ordered Jonah not to shoot him. Also she realized what was really going on with this mission even before HLCI HQs told her the truth. Then we see her comment that the contract was to bring 10 doctors to their destination safely and went to those extremes to accomplish it.

    On the other hand the comic relief that is Scarecrow shows another aspect of doing a business and the dealings. Since his first appearance it’s been told that although he’s a CIA agent, his not well liked and he keeps his job because he brings the money in. I think he would be analogous to a Hunter’s hound, which is used to fresh out the ducks, chase the fox and bring back the prey, but in this case he brings the “criminals” and the money for the CIA. But like a hound, he’s not intelligent enough to realize when Bugs Bunny wants to talk with Elmer Fudd and offer a deal. Scarecrow hears Koko’s offer and rejects it because he would have to give her the 5M reward money which funnily just a few secs later Schokolade receives her call and accepts. You can guess by Scarecrow’s face later that he was ordered by his superiors to take the offer, go pick up Dragan and the fame and capture credits that come with it gift-wrapped and served on a silver tray for the 5M price. That’s the difference between knowing when to accept a good deal or not. If Scarecrow was a hound and ever found the golden egg goose, he’d take the only egg present, kill the goose and bring them back to the hunter.

    Kamui04

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