Jormungand - 8

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So I think I've got to the point where I got a little bit bored with Jormungand, and if I remember correctly it was around this point in time that I got more into with the manga as well.

It's not that I hated this episode, but rather I was disappointed by it which was a first for Jormungand thus far; I understand that this adaptation is being very faithful to the manga and that's great on its own but the execution of this episode felt way to half-assed for me to genuinely enjoy it. Unlike the manga, the anime failed to capture the first time when Koko was truly shown to work up a sweat and instead it showed her solving her problems in a matter of minutes without so much as worrying. This did annoy me greatly and even though I understand that the adaptation is going to cover 70 chapters in just 24 episodes, I was hoping that at least the rival arms dealer arc would be done in a shonen-esque style, where the chapters adapted into the episode aren't numerous but are drawn, more specifically like in Naruto.

I think that the best part about the episode was that it carried on with the focus on the business of arms dealing and the various political implications of each action, something that's not only interesting but adds more depth and colour to a series which could have been totally about an arms dealer travelling the globe and taking down any enemies she might encounter. I will say that this episode was more about the politics of arms dealing but being a business major myself, I got the feeling that the mangaka of the series, Takahashi-sensei's knowledge of how the two go hand in hand was definitely displayed here.

Even with the enjoyment I got from watching this episode for the business side of things, I still couldn't get over how Koko was portrayed to be even more invincible because the battle of the wits between her and Amalia was concluded too quickly. I would have much preferred a longer arc, but I'll settle for Lutz finally getting a little bit more air time since he's been in the dark so much; in fact I can't remember the last time there was a proper scene with him in it.

I don't know whether it's because I wasn't that impressed with this episode, that this review has turned out very short compared to the other ones I've written for Jormungand or it maybe the exhaustion of having had a Law exam today but I'll just wrap up by saying that I'm hoping for better next week and I'll even welcome some original input from the studio and director as long as the original content isn't forsaken.

A Funny Moment - In this episode, when Valmet was reading the newspaper, the first page story read "Bolt beats Sweden"