First Impressions / Jormungand

「Dragon Shooter phase.1」

Well, to say the least, THAT was surprising. It’s like: “WHAT, A SWIMSUIT EPISODE IN MY JORMUNGAND!? NO WAY!” Not that it was a full episode of it, but I reckon it’s as close as we’ll get to one with this series. Don’t get me wrong though, I ain’t complaining in the least. I mean, how can I? I got some great screenshots of Jonah, Koko, Valmet, and the rest of the group and got some great laughs to boot also! Seeing Jonah getting tossed around for fun, Valmet going demon mode and launching R after getting groped, Lehm intentionally sneezing on Tojo… really, it just goes to show how great this series is to be able to make such quality comedic moments in between all the action and seriousness. And to top it all off, they even fit some nice character development within it too.

This time around, Mao actually takes a fair amount of the character focus this episode… and the surprises just keep rolling in. Considering how insane everyone else in Koko’s group is, it’s quite interesting to see that there’s actually someone kind of normal hanging around. Heck, he even has a family too, although all his children look more like his wife rather than him… And speaking of family, it was also quite something to find out that Lehm was married to Chequita a few times before as well. To say the least, Mao’s comment of “Quite a team, don’t you think?” couldn’t have captured my reaction any better. Notably, Jonah gets quite a bit of development as well, as his interactions with Koko and the rest of the group let’s us see that he’s a soldier on the exterior, but still has bits of being a child within him as well.

One can go on and on about Jonah and the other characters, but in the end, Mao’s comment of “Ten people, ten pasts. We all have our histories. You’ll understand one day” really summarizes everything I want to say. I mean, it really just hammers in how big of a cast we’re dealing with here, as well as how unique each character is. Heck, I can’t help but feel the dialogue here was intentionally phrased this way by the author as a sneaky way of saying: “Don’t worry, we’ll get to phasing out each and every character before it’s all said and done.” But yeah, at this point, I’ve given trying to predict what’ll happen from episode to episode. The series just mixes its elements of comedy, action, adventure, seriousness, and character development so well that they’re able to throw it in anywhere and anytime and yet not have it out of place.

Moving on to the more serious elements of this episode… Koko’s main objective this time involves the ironic delivery of a humanitarian aid organization (“ODH” or “Outspoken Doctors for Human Rights”) to a “Republic T”. I keep wondering why this series keeps referring to these respective nations as letters, but meh, I suppose that’s not quite a big deal. In any case, yet another new adversary appears this episode in the form of Dragan Nicolaevich, who seemed quite brutal from his initial actions and his past as described by the ODH leader. But alas, it seems like he wasn’t really that big of a threat apparently, as Koko’s group pretty much wipes the floor with him at the end. It seems like he’s probably dead, but I wonder about that. The preview doesn’t show him at all though… so it seems like to assume that he’s dead and that his death will lead to some great complications for Koko’s group’s attempt to leave Republic T per the preview.

In the end, what can I say? It’s more of the norm this episode and really, Jormungand’s such a breeze to watch through every week. Next week concludes this arc I believe… and if the other multi-part arcs have been any indication, it’ll be quite the action packed episode. Until then, I’ll leave you here with a bunch of nice full screens. 😀

Full-length images: 01, 05, 07, 17, 18, 22, 30.

Author’s Note: Just a quick thanks to the people that stopped by my blog last week! 😀

 

Preview

49 Comments

  3. It was a great episode. Sorry, R. Don’t grope Valmet if you want to live. And seeing Lehm bash that guy’s face in at the end with the stock of the rifle <3 love it.

    NaitoNii
    Reply

  4. I know those guys are reckless, but really, R, touching a beast’s boob is just suicide. Although I want to feel sorry for you but you should have seen that coming.
    Imagin what will happen if R grape Koko’s………..

    zleihsh
    Reply

  6. Would imagine using code names for countries serves multiple purposes. First off you can create a conflict anywhere with little more than what continent you’re on without having to worry about actual geopolitical details and second you can avoid having anyone from Country X Y or Z from getting pissed off that their people are depicted in a poor light.

    Qwert
    Reply

      2. It’s not necessarily Serbia. It could be any one of the Balkin countries. Each one of them had characters like this. In fact it’s probably more likely to be one of the smaller states which internally are much less stable.

        Scruffy
        Reply

      3. The location is Slovenia, they show the airport name in the episode, Planina Airport. Velika Planina is a mountain plateau located in the foothills of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps.

        beerbaron
        Reply

  8. Zephyr just to correct. Lehm actually knocked the teeth out and shot the militia soldier that jumped at him after he disarmed the Dragon. That’s the problem with the character design of this manga/anime, that a lot of character look the same. Anyways you’ll see what happens to the Dragon vs Koko’s team next episode, since being reader of the manga I can’t wait till next week. Show Spoiler ▼

    Kamui04
    Reply

  9. Some series’ take an effort to watch; to get to the point of their episode.
    There are a few series that manage this excellently, drawing their viewer in too
    deep into their energy before they know what’s happened to them. And it’s great!

    Jormungand is one of these series. IMHO there hasn’t been a bad episode yet.

    I’m amazed by this because gun play/shoot ’em up isn’t really something I like.
    The characters are so well done. I almost feel like I’m part of the team when I watch.
    I’m not articulate enough to commit to words the praise this show deserves.

    KokoXJonah — I like the possibilities…

    mac65
    Reply

  10. I am surprised that KOKO only deal in eastern arms, uses antonov AN-12/shaanxi y-8 as her transport and packing 3 2a-18 D-30 122mm howitzer with Frag-He and Heat-FS Howitzer ammunition.

    dh19440113
    Reply

    2. Those cannons are everywhere as they were exported widely by Soviets, Chinese , and dozen-a-dime local manufacturers…
      And the location is ex-Yugoslavia (or modelled after it) so the merchandise is spot on!
      An-12 is East equivalent of Hercules or the go anywhere land anywhere heavy transport…
      The thing is in any ex-Yugoslav republic you can find breakaway regions, and often there are even breakaway regions WITHIN breakaway regions… Add to this organized crime forming its own militias, and you get the picture why the Balkan wars of 1990s were so messy!

      ewok40k
      Reply

  11. Valmet would give Cammy a run for her money with this Spike Kick
    https://randomc.net/2012/06/06/jormungand-09/
    http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1920&bih=947&tbm=isch&tbnid=EsWjdr3_bgpjRM:&imgrefurl=http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/scificat/all-images/52-153453/cammy_cannon_spike_final_2_65_copia/51-841280/&docid=VqQpdN0lU3PwhM&imgurl=http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/6446/841280-cammy_cannon_spike_final_2_65_copia.jpg&w=1520&h=1075&ei=S_TPT7mTJ6fB2QWz_4j7CA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=179&vpy=54&dur=266&hovh=189&hovw=267&tx=130&ty=121&sig=111247192856745789627&page=1&tbnh=131&tbnw=185&start=0&ndsp=56&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:72

    Tez
    Reply

  12. I am greatly impressed and pleased of the amount of detail they put in the swimsuit part of the episode. Clearly, they put more budget than usual for the animation in that part; everything was just so smooth and drawn to perfection(as perfect as the art style will allow). Seeing that milky white skin of Coco’s and Valmet’s is just heaven to watch X03!

    Also, don’t like the death flags that went up for Mao. Generally when someone starts talking about their family, then ends up in the situation like at the end of this ep, there’s a good chance said person will be killed. If he was killed anytime before this episode, I probably wouldn’t care as much, but now, knowing he’s the only one with a family, I hope he can make it out alive =0(.

    frubam
    Reply

  16. I like how Jonah blushed when confronted with Koko in swimsuit up close…
    I just imagined Valmet putting a sticker “property of Koko H.” on her assets, as per what Urabe of Mysterious GF X has done lately…

    ewok40k
    Reply

  17. I was honestly stuck on the whole Lehm and Chequita being married multiple times for the rest of the episode. I’m still trying to imagine just how crazy that marriage (those marriages) must’ve been. Most of those gunshot wounds and scars that Lehm have were probably from Chequita during the divorce processes. hahaha Now I can’t wait to see them interact again.

    Watt
    Reply

  19. At the end, when Koko commanded “Eliminate the Balkan Dragon militia!”, I was totally “Wow. That’s BADASS, man.” I love Koko and her squad; they’re all insane. XD

    haizaraa
    Reply

    1. you can assume that crack troop under the command of warlord fought battles where the opponent are defenseless or untrained. They are not be prepared to confront crack mercenary ex special forces who can put up a fight and gain inititive. Once a few body start to drop panic set in and a rout occur. Once routed, its hard to regroup buying time for koko’s hot exfil.

      dh19440113
      Reply

    2. To draw first blood is the best option when your outnumbered and opponent think they have it under control. Liability lie in the an-12 transport plane, it can’t take much small arms fire before it get grounded. If the plane is grounded koko team can’t win. Now if they take off then they get picked up by radar guided ZU-23 AAA and SA-3/2k12 surface to air missile.
      These surface to air missile require active radar jamming equipment to miss a transport plane, flare only works on IR heat seeking missile. Active radar homing won’t be fooled by flares.

      dh19440113
      Reply

  22. swim time so let toss johan around the water.
    the men trying to get valmet but R yea you valmet’s “milk” REST IN PEACE call the medic.
    johan do study one of koko’s men explain why he join doing it for his kids.
    mission time cargo plane to deliever & escort ODH mecical people.
    koko going NUTS but ok keep it safe.
    show johan the sky & floating.
    enter area deliver the goods but here come the dragon.
    ODH people trying to explain dragon attack cue koko’s crew attack.

    next ep koko vs dragon

    & (BLEEP) that is so valmet is LESBIAN AMAZON WOMAN!!!

    free-KLAC-zing
    Reply

  23. Am I the only one who thought that a cliched swimsuit episode was uncalled for? Instead of standing out from the crowd, doing this made it seem like the producers wanted Jormungand to be part of the crowd. Were they so doubtful that Jormungand would fail if there wasn’t an episode where everybody showed off skin? I just don’t get it.

    That aside, I’m glad that we’ve been getting a little more backstory, with the rest of the gang sharing about their pasts and why they’re where they are now. I’d take a story about the past over all that cruddy fanservice any day. Sigh.

    Junglepenguin
    Reply

      1. Jormungand is still part of the crowd, the producer, animator and screen writers does mostly fantasy and highschool theme series. Which explain the bananna peel rifle barrel, if they were animator in the united states they would work for pixar, disney or WB studio making cartoons.

        dh19440113
        Reply

    2. Apparently, you are so focused on the plot and backstories of the characters that you dislike anything else that you think to be a nuisance like comedy and fanservice. This anime does not use them much but it does not have to be too plot-driven as well. Sorry, but that is the reason why you do not get it.

      By the way, why would anyone hate Valmet? Jormungand would be less interesting without her. If you are looking for backstories, wait until you see Valmet’s.

      John Hayabusa
      Reply

      1. That’s quite the assumption you’ve made. While I can’t say I’m all good with fanservice (especially when it does little besides lightening up the mood, and in a crude manner I’d have to say), I do enjoy comedy quite a bit, when it’s done at the right time. Seeing Johan trick Mao into reminiscing about his past in order to escape class was honestly funny, and it also gave us the opportunity to get a glimpse of his past and the kind of person he is. That’s the kind of storytelling that I appreciate, and that’s what i think comedy should be about too, especially in a series that’s not about kids in high school playing pranks and making lewd jokes about each other or something. You could say that I believe Jormungand HAS to be a plot-driven series.

        And I don’t hate Valmet. What I hate is that she’s getting attention for all the wrong reasons. Yes, she has a past, and quite the dark, gritty one, too. So why is everyone so obsessed about her boobs and her love for Koko?

        Junglepenguin
        Reply

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