“This case is like a refreshing spring breeze, making me realize how no one can escape their past” -Kaspar Hekmatyar
(One tiny thing before we start; I’ve decided to change the episode count to be a continuation of the first season, instead of counting this season separate. It’s the way the episodes are numbered themselves on the title cards, and the file names etc. so it’ll be easier in the long run for me, since I have a habit of messing up numbers. I’ll be going back and changing the numbers on past episodes as well, so that it’s the same throughout.)
Summary: Having agreed to work together, the Hekmatyar siblings part ways, with Kaspar going back to Jakarta and Koko staying in Japan. Tojo fills them in on the history of SR unit, to which he once belonged, and how gives them some valuable insights into how their leader, Hinoki Yousuke, operates. Hinoki sends Koko a request for a meeting and she and her team decide to go, even though they all know it is most likely a trap of some kind. Meanwhile in Jakarta, Kaspar is attacked by an SR operative only to be narrowly saved by Chiquita. With more SR soliders on the way, Kaspar and his unit are left with no option but to fight their way out.
Impressions: One thing this episode solidified for me: Chiquita is not someone you want to mess with. Because she will take you down. She reacted so quickly to cat-faced-meow girl drawing that sword she had hidden in her belt, and then proceeded to knock her over the couch and straight up killed her. No hesitation. Same with the soldier’s in the hall. It was pretty crazy, and pretty great, if I do say so myself. I think we can all agree that you have to suspend your disbelief at her going up against them with only a knife and a hand gun, since I’m pretty sure in the real world you’d be dead instead standing over three lifeless corpses in full body armor. But since this is an anime and not the real world, I’m more than okay with Chiquita coming out on top. I think that the last 7 minutes or so of the episode really helped it over all, since the rest of it was nothing more than an info dump.
Now, I can follow a lot of information dropped on me at once with the best of them (or so I’d like to think), but when it involves a lot of names of organizations that are ten words long or abbreviations there of, I just tend to let it go over my head, since many times the specifics aren’t really that important. Let me put it another way. It’s the kind of information that as soon as you start to actually think about it, it get’s super confusing, were as if you just glance at it out of the corner of your eye, it makes sense as a bigger picture. The Secret Research unit (SR for sort) was made with the help of the US so that they would have an easier way into nations that they might not be able to send their operatives to directly. They seem to have been forgotten about in recent years, since no one really knows who they are anymore, and have had enough freedom to do their own thing. One of those things has been getting in the way of Kaspar, and now he’s out for their blood. It wasn’t a particularly interesting info dump, and I got a wee bit bored but hey, at least it wasn’t more than half the episode. I totally sympathize with Jonah falling asleep though. Can’t say I really blame him.
Other than a lot of talking, and the end part, we did get some of Jormungand’s unique brand of fanservice, if you can call it that. It’s probably one of the only shows where someone is excited by the fact that boobs are touching their back as they’re being held in a chokehold. Valmet and Koko have a little moment here, involving a shower and a very drunk Koko, although a lot more of that is left to the imagination than you’d think reading that sentence I guess kudos to you, Jormungand, for not going for that low hanging fruit and having naked Koko and Valmet sexy shower times for all the fanboys (and girls) to drool over (and probably do other things…) But other than that, it was a slow episode. I wouldn’t say it was boring, since the story advanced a little bit and we did have a nice fight scene at the end, but it wasn’t as engaging as other episodes so far have been. At least to me. Hopefully that will change next week, as Koko & Co. walk right into SR’s trap. We’ll see how well they fare!
Final Thought: So, I do want to mention this one tiny detail, being the papers that you can see above that were in Hinoki’s car. They’re labeled as being from the NSA and seem to be info on Koko and HCLI. I know that the SR had been helped in the past by the US, but these seems to imply that SR is purposely interfering with HCLI, Koko and Kaspar by order of the NSA. While the NSA and the CIA are two different groups, they are involved in many of the same activities and are (obviously) both US agencies. So…maybe Bookman’s involved with this is some way, acting as a puppeteer from the shadows again? I’m almost certain I’m way off, but just thought I’d throw out that theory for ya.