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「キャスパーとヨナ」 (Kyasupa to Yona)
“Kasper and Jonah”
Going right in, this episode ended up a bit of a surprise for the most part. Following the death of R, I had anticipated a big focus on Koko and her subsequent reactions and actions, but while this did play a fair part… it looks like they’ll be slowly playing this out through the next arc instead. Not that I have any qualms though, especially if they continue doing it as well as they did this episode, which involved some subtle references and commentary from those around her, rather than it taking over everything at the forefront.
In the end, the thing that did play a big part in this episode however (and also the biggest reason for my surprise), was the massive focus on Jonah and Kasper. Having worked off a mixture of the raw and what I read from the manga regarding the end of the “Dance with Undershaft” arc, this came as a big surprise… but it was definitely a pleasant one. Granted, they could’ve done it with less flashbacks (and exact copies of them) from the first season, but seeing as I did forget a few of the specific lines and comments uttered at the time, it served as both a nice refresher and more importantly, as a symbol of Jonah’s development over time, as well as the development of the dynamics between Jonah and Kasper.
At this point, it’s obvious that while the two were pretty much forced together by circumstance, it certainly seems like they’ve grown to at least understand each other and tolerate each other’s presence. Jonah’s no longer as quick to react and “hot-headed” as he was at the beginning of the first season, where he at times looked like he had a death wish, and it just shows his maturation under Koko’s watch. In turn, it’s a testament to the person Koko has been up until this point, and how despite her profession, her quirky personality makes it so that she’s actually managed to give Jonah a lot more positives than negatives in terms of influences. In a way, it’s to a point where you can even argue, Jonah was already pushed down so deep into the negatives of being a child soldier, that everything Koko’s managed to do has been positive compared to the scenarios he was put through before.
Shifting back for a moment, I just have to say… the expressions Jonah had when he saw Maurice, Eline, and Jano were just well… priceless. The sheer amount of happiness just shows that deep down, he’s just still a kid in many ways. He clearly would like to live a normal life with/like them, but with his intentional passing on the opportunity to actually go out and talk with them also demonstrates his maturity as well. He’s certainly accepted by now that he’s no longer the person he was before, that his life is no longer something compatible with theirs, and he understands that he shouldn’t be disturbing the peaceful lives his former friends are having at the moment. And it’s this subtle maturation throughout that just makes Jormungand an exceptional series… and one much more complex than the action oriented shoot-bang that many see on the outside. There’s just so much more to everything than meets the eye and in this case, it’s the obvious, but also invisible line that divides the line between the normal and those who kill to survive.
Continuing along this line of thought, this development also notably leads to Jonah saying that he’ll perhaps start trusting Kasper from now on, which is something you really couldn’t have expected from him earlier in the series. It further reinforces the type of complex character he is, as well as the development he’s been forced to have due to the situations he’s been given. In linking back to above about how they were forced together despite them not wanting to associate with one another for the most part, this interaction also highlights how in a way, both are better off because of it… and both seem to be realizing and accepting that. Jonah, despite not living a normal life, is still much better off under Koko than he was before… and his former friends are even safe and living normal lives as a result too. Kasper on the other hand knows that his sister Koko is in good hands as well, and in ways, despite his harsh treatment of Jonah at their first meeting, certainly seems like the good guy in that respect (in hindsight). Furthermore, his comment of not to trust anyone in response, is even more telling. It sounds exceptionally cynical and pessimistic, but it’s something that Kasper has learned from experience in his line of work, and also further proves his nature as something with more positives than negatives.
And before I end things here, I’d like to also talk about that aspect too. Because if there’s another large factor in this series aside from all the arms dealing, the action, the complex aspects we’ve already discussed… it’s the line between good and bad. Our protagonists at this point… it’s just hard to classify them as particularly bad or particularly good. You root for them because of their kick ass routines, the fact the characters are so great, and because they’re the main characters… but at the same time, you know that sometimes, the things they do just aren’t things “good guys” or “heroes” would do. Heck, even the characters themselves understand this respect. And it’s just this dynamic commentary on “What is good?” and “What is evil?” that just adds another layer of complexity to it all.
Overall, there’s just so much that this series does well, and character development is definitely one of them. We’re only a few episodes into this second season, but we’re starting to see just how much each character has come, and it seems like Tojo gets his chance this coming arc. Once again, it’s just amazing how much Jormungand is able to do so much despite so many characters, and well, it’s exactly that and the unique personalities of each one that make this series so enjoyable to watch. Seeing Chequita and the rest of Kasper’s squad again was great, as was seeing their unique interactions with one another in comparison to the interactions of Koko and her own squad. Really, I just run out of words describing this series on a daily basis, and despite the flashback heavy content, this episode still manages to do the same. At this point, it really is like what many have said. The only real nagging negative to the series is the time you have to wait between episodes. And also, last but not least, the cheers that Kasper’s squad gives to R… just attests to the comradery, rivalry, and respect they all have with one another… and the emphasis on the CIA POO as the world’s “boogeymen” to say the least.
Preview
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seeing the flashback of Jonah one-man-army ending in the epic bang of dollars of “Marka..who’s Marka” I just had to rewatch that awesome episode.
Jormungand shows that with great source material a faithful adaptation truly shines seeing the manga animated.
This was a great episode although I felt that the repeated flashbacks were redundant.. Also, Koko’s father is alive right (based on what I remember from the first season) so I’m wondering if we’ll ever get to see him and how bad-ass he is 🙂
why do they have white hair?
Genes?
Anime genes, with 7 base pairs, allowing for natural hair colors spanning the entire visible portion electromagnetic spectrum…XP
Yup. Genes. It’s particularly rare to have albinism in all members of the family in real life, because it’s a recessive trait… but if both Koko and Kasper’s parents also have it, then they’re virtually guaranteed to also, because recessive x recessive = recessive.
Albinism’s pretty rare- and is only expressed in homogenous recessive cases which are only possible if each parent possesses at least one copy of the mutant allele for albinism…does anyone else smell some House of Habsburg syndrome going on here…XP
but no red eyes. contacts?
<strong?@Cybersteel
Albinos don’t necessarily have red eyes. Read my comment further down…
I like to think that they’re just really extreme platinum blonde.
Jonah on the other hand… definitely got the anime gene. XD
In the next ep, we can see just how wracked Kasper is. Needless to say, his mental craziness is definitely on a level no less than Koko.
What state are you in zephyr? I stay in VA and most of the time its NC and VA that get hit with hurricans. When hurricane isabel hit us we went for 2 weeks with out power. It seemed a little ironic that when I saw this episode there was a typhoon in the beginning right as Sandy was still going on.
I’m in NYC. Storm missed hitting us directly, but still set every single record possible for a storm in this part of the woods. 8 million without power at one point, public transportation’s been out since Sunday, classes cancelled all week, three hospitals lost power at one point, and a fire broke out that burned down 110 homes in Queens too.
Just crazy, crazy stuff. Words really can’t express at this point.
Yeah it was hard to see all the destruction the next day and peoples life changed forever. Glade to hear you made out safe.
I think Kasper is hiding something from Jonah about those kids.. but overall pointless flashback episode this was..
on unrelated note ; when can we expect bleach and naruto coverage?
Naruto is on hiatus this week. Bleach may be as well. Unsure.
Bleach is not on hiatus this week I read it yesterday, only naruto is 😉
yea i seem to have totally missed naruto 607, busy week ¬_¬, but new bleach is 514 has been out for at least a day now
I suspect that Maurice, Eline, and Jano probably don’t know that Jonah is the reason they’re in Japan.
I think Jonah declined to meet with them because they would remind him of his loss of Marka, and
likewise he would remind them of their suffering. It was enough for Jonah to see that Kasper kept his part
of the bargain; I wonder if the new trust between those is that Kasper would continue to provide for the
children (I’m guessing 30-60 US$ year, maybe more) if Jonah died…
Another thing I felt was that Jonah has no regret or envy or felt that Maurice, Eline, and Jano were indebted
to him in any way. A very strong show of character. I did think Jonah wished he could join them, though…
Actually, I liked the exact flashbacks. It irks me to no end when a show/series decides to do a flashbacks
and introduce new facts that weren’t in the original. You know what I mean. It twists things around.
January’s going to be very tough deciding the best of 2012 – so many greats this fall airing…
(oops – I did mean 30-60 thousand US$/year)
One thing I noticed is there is one slight change in the OP.
Well if I am right there were also Koko and an long haired Minami Amada and also before they show R with the bottle which Koko putted on his grave there was also Bookman staring up at the starry sky like the moment he got out of his car as he heard Koko killed Hex
That one girl really reminds me of an bunny somehow.
Also am I looking forward to some Tojo screentime and I bet this arc will be as awesome as the last one.
Did anyone notice that in episode 5 when Kasper walks off and Jonah gets thrown into the container the guard next to Kasper isn’t blonde at all?
Finally caught up! I LOVE THIS SERIES! Team Koko + Team Kasper = GG!
A suppressed sig might not be noticed in the rain. But in the house, those boys must be deaf not to hear the rounds go off.
Surely you should know by now that Jormungand’s realism when it comes to gunplay fluctuates wildly and usually settles somewhere in WTF territory.
I agree though, I guess its just a deeply ingrained (false) popular myth that supressors make a plip noise these days, thanks to Hollywood.
I wish they did a episode on Kasper’s crew. Maybe the relationship between Chiquita and lehm.
Kasper and Jonah would be badass together. Looking forward to knowing more about Kasper.
I just noticed Kasper does that “mm hmm~” like Koko does. I like that the directors pay attention to small details like this. Though I didn’t really like the flashback, still an enjoyable episode this week.
Am I the only one who notice that the ‘preview’ song is like a zig zag?
The first episode of the new season had the traditional ‘Her name is Koko she is Loco I said oh no’ theme and the next episode it was a remix, then again normal and now with this one remix. O:
The remixes are sexy
To me Jonah leans more into the Albinism category because of his red eyes. If his skin was paler, than I would consider him this.
Solves the mystery of why Koko’s so taken with him- the Hekmatyars are blood-purists…XP
But seriously, there are two primary variants of albinism, the first of which is oculocutaneous albinism affects the eyes, skin and sometimes hair- mutations in several different (But closely related) alleles can produce similar chromosomal recessive disorders that are grouped together into this general category. Depending on the severity of albinism, the individual may or may not have red eyes; many albinos have a relatively healthy amount of pigmentation in their eyes, rendering their irises blue, or even brown- red/pink only occurs in severe cases where iris pigmentation is entirely absent.
The second category of albinism is ocular albinism in which victims only lack pigmentation in their eyes- their skin, hair and everything else looks normal, but these people will have red/pink eyes. Again this disorder is caused by mutations in one of several related genes, and it is an X-chromosomal recessive disorder.
And on a related note, real-world albinos usually aren’t the picture perfect models of health that the Hekmatyars are, and it would be nigh on impossible for most of them to be a crackshot like Jonah. They tend to plagued with things like persistent and painful sunburn and serious visual problems that stem from having a shortage of/no pigment in their eyes- which would probably make it impossible to handle a gun anywhere nearly as competently as Jonah does…
I used to think that was the reason Koko was taken by Jonah, so she can portrait to be an older sister to him, not so much a parent. And also what R meant when he spoke to Bookman, that Jonah was her weakness cause of that fact. O:
Anybody notice the voice change in this episode. Johan sounds like a little squirt.
The first thing that came to mind when I heard that Koko and Kasper’s teams were teaming up on something was Chequita and Lehm. I really want to see how they react around each other considering they’ve been married and divorced multiple times, none of which seem to have ended well. Too bad it seemed liked they purposely didn’t have Lehm talk at all this episode. I hope that one screen cap where they’re together isn’t the only interaction they’ll have.
Well that operation is only just beginning, by the looks of it (they’re trying to lure the ghost out, right?) so maybe we’ll still see some Lehm/Chequita.
well give feel relax ep give more on kasper & johan at least johan is relax the orphan kids are living a normal life.
kasper well give his crew give feast & toast in tribute to R & now also seem working on operation give have Chiquita with crew silent attack hit.
cause now seem kasper & koko being watched by Japanese Ministry of Defense’s secret SR unit cause kasper need talk one of koko’s crew about them.
kasper strikes me as very meticulous and calculated, and ruthless all the same, though i doubt he’s got a soft side to fall back on like koko…i wonder if we’ll get to see the father…and if there are other hcli division representatives…
it had too many flashbacks for its own good, but judging by the contents of the chapters this arc is adapting expect adrenaline-pumping action next episode!!!!!
btw, file:///Users/mac/Pictures/vlcsnap-2012-11-01-13h11m19s6.png
it’s been a while since i’ve seen Bajaj in Indonesia (i’m from Indonesia)
lol, fail linking.
OK, so Kasper actually kept his word… but, from his actions back at Jakarta, I see his style of business is polar opposite of Koko. He doesnt care a bit about collateral damage. Jonah, watch your step!
I wonder who or what is behind the “ghost arms dealer” seemingly operating out of Japan?
And what role Tojo will play in the new operation?
valmet seems to get mascular every episode. O.o