Jormungand - Episode 13

Looks can be deceiving.

And the second season picks up right after the end of the first, albeit at a slightly slower pace than I would've liked. That said, the pace did pick up quite nicely towards the latter half of the episode, with the set-up leading to the Operation Undershaft arc now complete. With a new season comes new opponents, and I hope that this time around, they'll actually pose a challenge to the HCLI, something that I really thought would've made season one better. But given that R is acting as an undercover, the pressure both from both internal and external sources may just be what needs to happen in order for Koko to be challenged. Her soon-to-be opponents (Bookman and Hex) already seem tougher than her season one foes so this is a good sign. Obviously, there's almost no doubt in my mind that Koko will make it out of this alive, but the question is, will all her men be able to follow in her steps?

Two very interesting relationships that have the potential to become useful plot devices are the ones involving Koko and Jonah/Dr. Miami. The former has been constantly built upon throughout season one, and for some reason, despite the fact that they seem to get along really well, I feel that Jonah will end up succumbing to trauma of his past one day and suddenly to turn on Koko because of her job as an arms dealer. And if this is the case, it probably won't take place until the very end. As for the latter, both Jonah and Bookman expressed their worries about the danger that the two women bring to the table—and rightfully so. Judging by their behaviour, both Koko and Dr. Miami can be considered psychopaths to a certain extent. They seem to have no problems with terrorizing others for their own benefit while keeping a smile on their faces. It'll be interesting to see what the two of them are up to.

With the Undershaft arc officially starting in the next episode, I expect it to make up for the lack of action in this episode. There better be bullets flying, people dying, and lots of ownage coming up or I will be one disappointed viewer. For now, I will await next week's instalment of Jormungand.

And for song analysis time:

OP: The Engrish returns for another round. Although the Engrish doesn't seem too hard to make out this time, I still feel that there are mistakes in gg's transcription. As for the song itself, I found the verse and chorus to be quite disjointed, to the point where they sounded like two different songs. Although I enjoyed the rhythm of the latter, the former just didn't click for me. A decent song overall, but nothing special.
ED: This was better than season one's ED, but that's not really saying much. It still didn't really appeal to me; I feel Yanagi Nagi's voice doesn't fit well with "Western-like" music (hard to explain, but the music used in Jormungand feels like something you'd get from a Western action film).