“There are so many weapons scattered across my path that it makes me wonder if this world is made of little more than lead and gunpowder.” -Jonah
Summary: Jormungand is back with its second season, jumping right back in to where the story left off. In Africa, Dr. Miami finds the wayward Karen Low and adopts her as part of her team as a “secretary”/bodyguard. From a launch platform near the Solomon Islands, Koko and company (as well as Dr. Miami and Karen) watch Koko’s 126th satellite take off into orbit, completing HCLI’s GPS tracking network designed to give the company an upper hand by giving them the ability to monitor shipping movements worldwide with much greater efficiency than anyone else, even out doing the CIA. One of Koko’s bodyguards, R, has dinner with George Black (aliases: Bookman, Saw) to discuss how his undercover operation as a spy in Koko’s team is going as well as his greater role in “Operation Undershaft”. Meanwhile, Hex, another CIA operative, seduces another CIA member into giving her the name of the target of the operation. When she find’s out it’s Koko, with whom she has some type of history, she swears to not just kill her, but to make her suffer first by breaking something close to her.
Tenderfoot’s First Impressions: YAY KOKO’S BACK! Wooooo! Aside from my initial excitement about just the fact that this show is back, this was a very exposition heavy episode that obviously is ment more as a set up for upcoming conflicts than anything else. Aside from a couple of very brief flashbacks, I was happy to see that they didn’t spend half the show covering who and what was going on, and instead just got on with things. I like shows that respect my intelligence enough to assume that I’ll remember at least most of what happened in the last season.
From the looks of things, this season our “World Snake” is looking to take over the sky by building up a system of satellites that can be used to track shipments of virtually anything by GPS. With 126 such satellites, HCLI Corporation would have almost five times as many as any other government agency or private company, thus ruling over the competition. It’s an incredibly useful and sought after set up, as this episode shows. Imagine being able to watch any where in the world; you’d be able to not only see who’s sending what where overseas, but also over land, any army movements etc etc. You could use it for great evil, or great good, depending on your inclination. It’s no wonder the CIA has placed a spy inside Koko’s group in order to try and “leash” her so as to gain control over such a potentially powerful system, which is as we find out, the goal of “Operation Undershaft” (what a terrible name. Yes, I have a dirty mind). It’s just too bad that even after spending two years in Koko’s company, R still has no idea of her true personality which she keeps carefully hidden behind her always smiling mask. R’s comments about both Koko and Dr. Miami turning into “Monsters” at the same time is very interesting, and leaves me wondering what those two powerful women are up to. Koko at least seems to have some kind of inkling as to what might be going on, as she explains to Jonah about different operatives within the CIA and seems to know that it was Hex who sent the assassins after her in Egypt.
Hex is also introduced in this episode, obviously as the villain for at least the next couple of episodes (if not the whole season.) It’s clear that she and Koko have some history, and that Hex is out for revenge. One tiny thing I’m going to point out, because I’m annoying and a know-it-all, is that “Hex” is not actually the word for “witch” in German. It’d actually be “Hexe”, since a witch is always a female in German. A-n-y way, putting that aside, can I just say that it’s nice that this show has oodles of strong female characters, both good and evil? Yeah, it’s nice to see that, especially after shows where girls are treated as little better than infants trapped inside bodies that are made to be lusted after. Koko and Dr. Miami are the ones calling the shots and pulling the strings here, and are clearly shown to not only be very aware of the world that they operate in, but are even to be feared because the power they could weild if and when they wanted to. Plus you have Valmet and Karen, who both kick-ass and take names, and are perfectly capable of handling themselves not just on the battlefield, but also in semi-normal everyday conditions. And now with Hex thrown into the mix to represent the more clearly “evil” side of things, there’s just one more scary cool lady to add to the list. She’s obviously not afraid to get her hands dirty (she does shoot that guy at the end of the episode), and will clearly use everything in her arsenal to get what she wants. She seems like she’ll be a suitable rival-type villain for Koko.
The animation continues to be the same style and quality as last season. I still find myself to be drawn to the unique character designs, with their weird V-shaped mouths (especially Koko’s, bringing snakes to mind even more) and strange eyes (love the eyes, especially with the lashes, and even more so when they’re in close-up. They just look so freakin’ weird and awesome at the same time). I also find if very refreshing that the characters bodies, especially the female characters, aren’t stick thin/super muscled to the point where it’s unreal/huge ballon boobs/blah blah blah you know what I’m talking about. The style the show goes for seems more true to life. Take Valmet for example: you can tell she’s a woman who’s been fighting all her life. She’s very muscular and she’s obviously really strong, but that’s never exaggerated so much so that it goes into caricature territory. Koko looks like a your average, normal woman, not huge, but she’s also clearly not stick thin either. But I digress. The new opening is alright (I liked last seasons better), the ending is fine, the background music is there. I liked the track they played during the rocket launch, it seemed fitting. The animation when it came to anything techincal was very realistic and well done (the gun dropping and breaking at the beginning, the rocket launch, the ship and launch platform just to name a couple.) Over all, the show continues to be just as solid as last season.
My one and only complaint, and it’s not even really a complaint, is that yes, for an series based on action, I can see how this episode might have bored some people. I don’t mind an episode or two that sets up conflicts or are basically all talk, no fight, but if you came to see people shoot at each other and blow shit up, then this might not have been an episode wholly to your taste. Next episode looks like it’ll be more action-y, as Hex seems to start her “get revenge on Koko” plan.
One last final thought: I nominate Spin as worst secret agent ever. Just flash him some titties and he’ll tell you anything you want to know! I literally almost died laughing at that part.
Possibility of Watching: Yes, Ma’am!
Possibility of Blogging: Jawohl, Herr Kommandant! (Basically, yes.)