Jormungand

Jormungand

Jormungand anime series cover art
Jormungand

Series Overview

Jormungand (ヨルムンガンド) is an action-adventure anime series about an eccentric group of arms dealers. When I first started the series, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it all that much. But by the end, I was glad to learn that there’s a second season.

I have so much other stuff I want to watch that I don’t know when I’ll get around to the second season. However, I added it to my list. So it’s going to be watched at some point. You can look forward to that if you’re a fan of Jormungand.

Anyway, the series follows an arms dealer by the name of Koko Hekmatyar, her boy soldier Jonathan “Jonah” Mar, and the rest of her criminal crew as they travel around the globe killing people and making a lot of money.

Koko’s group sells weapons to governments, militias, rebels, and basically anyone who needs a lot of firepower. However, that doesn’t mean there are no rules. Koko’s been in the game for a long time, and she can usually tell if a sale is going to be a waste of her time.

For example, in one early episode, a rebel group wants to buy weapons. But once Koko visits the battlefield, she determines that the sale isn’t worth it because the rebels are going to be wiped out in a matter of days anyway.

As an arms dealer, Koko is also always finding herself in life or death situations. Maybe a deal goes south and her team has to fight their way out. Maybe a national government is trying to bring them down. Or maybe there are rival arms dealers who want to eliminate them as competition.

No matter the threat, Koko’s team is able to protect their leader and get her to safety.

Koko’s Crew

Koko Hekmatyar herself isn’t a combatant. She shoots a gun like once throughout the whole season. But she’s interesting because of how she acts. She’s always smiling no matter the danger she’s in — and that’s because she thinks the leader should always smile.

Jonah is technically the protagonist of the series, I guess. But Koko definitely feels like the more important character. Anyway, he’s a child soldier who hates arms dealers because his hometown was destroyed in a war. He’s given to Koko by her brother.

Now for the supporting characters, who I think are more interesting than Koko and Jonah. I won’t be going through them all, though — just the ones who matter the most.

Koko Hekmatyar from the anime series Jormungand
Koko Hekmatyar

Ugo is Koko’s driver and a former mafia enforcer. You wouldn’t think he’s all that important, but he gets some development toward the end. The same goes for Mao, who’s a former artilleryman with the JSDF. He’s important in like one episode toward the end of the season.

Next, we have William “Wilee” Nelson, an explosives and demolition expert. If a road needs or building needs to be destroyed, Wilee is your man. Lutz is a former police counterterrorism sniper. While he’s a great shot, his background can make it difficult for him to perform his current job at times.

The final two members of Koko’s crew, and the most important ones, are Sofia “Valmet” Valmer and Lehm Brick. Valmet is the third in command and specializes in fighting with knives. She’s probably the supporting character with the most fleshed-out backstory.

Lehm is my personal favorite member of Koko’s crew and is second in command. He’s a former Delta Force operator who excels at just about everything. He’s often paired with Lutz on sniping duty when in the field.

Extremely Good (At Times)

At times I loved Jormungand, and at times I wasn’t a huge fan of it either. Let’s start with the part of the series I wasn’t as much of a fan of, the craziness of it all.

I think Jormungand would have benefitted from being a lot more serious than it was. The characters can still be a bit weird. I assume you have to be a little crazy to be a member of an arms dealer’s bodyguard unit. But it went a bit far at times, such as Valmet’s obsession with Koko.

Valmet can be written as a lesbian without her fawning over Koko at every moment. It’s not like changing that aspect of her would erase LGBT+ representation. It would just make her more normal. Also, the fact that she only uses knives is pretty “anime.”

Oh, and Koko’s weird too.

Lehm Brick firing a sniper rifle from the anime series Jormungand
Lehm Brick firing a sniper rifle

The part of the series I loved is when it suddenly gets extremely serious. These moments showed me just how good the series could be if more of it was that way. An example of this comes in the Orchestra arc.

Orchestra is a hitman who likens the sound of gunfire to an orchestra. He works in a pair with a high school girl named Chinatsu (who doesn’t wear panties when on missions). They’re a weird pair of characters. But, everything gets extremely real at the end of the arc.

Lutz snipes Orchestra through the chest and then again through the head, killing him. However, he freezes up when he sees Chinatsu because he didn’t train to be a sniper to kill children. Then, later in the arc, Lehm snipes Chinatsu in Lutz’s place.

The series makes you think this quirky girl won’t die because of her age. But then that thought is shattered by the reality that these are arms dealers and hitmen. If they need to kill a child who poses a threat, they will.

Conclusion

I gave Jormungand a 7/10. It was a good anime and could have been an 8/10 if it took itself a bit more seriously. I’ll also say that while I didn’t like the OP the first time I watched it, it definitely grew on me. That shot of Lehm with his sniper (pictured above) is the best part.

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My review of the second season is available now.

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