Jormungand: Perfect Order - 12 (END) + Series Review

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After 24 episodes, I can safely state that I'll be missing Jormungand. A series that won my heart and continued to be one of the most fun to watch this year, received a pleasantly surprising ending.

In a way that could quite literally be used to start off an anime, the final episode skips ahead two years to a time when the world has been thrown into chaos. All the major events are accounted for: a new Soviet Union, drug wars in South America, a divided African continent, a weak Asia (mainly China and Japan) etc. etc. or as Kasper puts it, "civil war, civil war, civil war."

Painting quite a picture for the final episode makes me a little sad that Jormungand didn't have any of its arcs in this future setting. I love how the author of the manga just crammed so many "disastrous" possibilities imaginable into the finale. It makes sense that this was done in order for Koko to come out on top as the good guy.

An episode of redemption in many ways, she got back in my good graces. The conversation with Kasper certainly helped, and in the end it was Kasper that came off as the villain or should I say bottom feeder. He is the example of a true arms dealer: war profiteering and manipulating politics for his personal gain, he would sell guns to both sides. In a way he represents reality by being the capitalist that we love to hate and Koko is the idealist with plans for a new world.

After the final philosophical exchange of words, the series wrapped up in a way that I wasn't expecting. Touchingly looking back at all the happiness left by Koko's path of destruction, which then ended with Jonah's reunion with his family. Family isn't restricted to just blood, and this reunion left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. A part of me was wishing for this to happen because Koko and Jonah have built quite the relationship over the course of Jormungand - season 1 included - and it would have been too sad to see it all thrown away.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with this ending. For some there must be a sense of disappointment with the non-conclusion feeling of the episode, but for me it was a better end. I'd be lying if I said I don't care that we didn't see Jormungand in action, but I'll settle for this end.

Final Thoughts:

Poor Scarecrow-kun never caught Koko.
Azerbaijan was mentioned again! Second anime this year.

Series Review

Sequels that do something different from the original mostly get a lot of heat. Why mess with the formula that got you all those fans It just doesn't make sense. Jormungand: Perfect Order was a sequel I enjoyed more than the prequel.

Don't get me wrong, Jormungand's first cour was also good but it was limited. Episodic adventures are fun but quickly lose their appeal, and what Perfect Order did was much deeper than its first half. It took the time to look at the characters, gave us a continuous story and delivered a more powerful ending than what the first cour did.

It may be a harsh comparison to make, considering the nature of the manga but Jormungand: Perfect Order was better than the first season. To me at least, the new direction of the series was a great way to deviate from the totally entertaining yet lacking first season.

I'd recommend the series as a whole. Each season will have its own fans, and I happen to be in Perfect Order's corner.