Jormungand (Anime)

Continuing my viewing of anime new to me via +Hulu, next up on the list was Jormungand, the wiki can be found here.

I'm a little torn on this one.

I like the character designs.

Many of the individual stories are well done and provide a nice sense of action and information.

The characters almost each get at least one episode to shine through as we learn more about them.

I like the animation style and art.

I like the soundtrack.

Hated the payoff. The whole payoff of the series is, for me at least, essentially counted by the main character's brother who spells out what's going to happen regardless of what Koko does.

If you want to see an anime about weapon's dealers that looks like it's part Nicholas Cage Lord of War and part post modern, Jormungand is for you. There are some observations about the modern world that are getting more and more referenced. For example, in a recent James Bond movie, the whoel sleight of hand of the incident being oil when it was really water? Referenced here in that water is going to be the biggest resource people will be fighting for. Overall I enjoyed it because the character interaction and friendships that develop are nicely done.

If you want to look at a series and think, again, you might enjoy it.

But if you want to see some of the grand scheme come to actual payoff? Nope. Nowhere near as bad as Berserk when it first came out mind you as the manga for that wasn't even locally available but still kinda of a "Well now the story's actually starting" bit for me.

Spoilers below!

The series is broken up into individual missions with an overarching mission for Koko, the leader of the mercenaries who act as her bodyguards. The viewpoint character here, is Jonah, a child soldier whose parents were killed by weapons sold by a weapons dealer but he's a good soldier so while he hates what he does, he accepts it.

Koko and her various guards and allies, include a wide variety of characters which makes a nice change of pace from everyone being super skilled at everything. For example, the 'driver' is a former mafia member while some of her other 'standard' guards are former members of various specialty units.

In many ways, this would be the perfect adventuring group and scenario. They have a powerful patron who values them. They are paid well. They have access to some of the most modern and devastating weaponry on the market.

They also have a constant source of enemies. Their patron needs them precisely because she is worth a lot of money and because a lot of people would rather she be dead. This gives the character many unique enemies to battle that are as bright and colorful as they themselves are.

The patron even has her own goals and has the wealth and allies to at least try it.

In this case, which to me is a perfect super hero challenge, she is crafting Jormungang as a quantum level computer and intends to use it to ground mankind from the sky. She feels that without the ability to travel via the air that it'll make things more difficult in a 'flat world' and hey, only some odd 700,000 people will be in the air or crushed by planes falling out of the sky at the time to achieve it.

Imagine the characters have to knock out satellites orbiting the earth in order to stop the deaths of almost a million people. And of course in a super hero or even super spy campaign, those satellites might have armed defense systems ranging from lasers and missiles to even more gonzo stuff the higher technology the setting has available to it.

Her brother, Kasper, doesn't mind. He goes on a little bit about how he's a weapons dealer and he'll use boats as his ancestors used to. He'll sell them guns until there are no more guns, and then knives and then clubs because he's a weapons dealer. And to me, it's a strong argument that all those people are going to die for nothing.

The viewers get a hint of how terrible the world is becoming in the last episode when Jormungand is activated, but then the series stops. We don't get to see how things actually play out. Some people love that. It sets up the whole thing  either for the reader to make up what happened in their own head, or leaves room for a sequel down the road. Me? I wanted to see the payoff of gathering all those scientists and going through all those betrayals.

Jormungand is two seasons and I'm unsure of how closely it follows the manga as I haven't read that yet. Only problem? I think it's a little expensive. Season one and season two are a little over $40 bones each. Ouch. While the commercials are indeed annoying, I'll stick with Hulu on that.

Zetman (Anime)

I'm continuing my journey through +Hulu and its anime selection. Next up on the list was Zetman. The anime feels a little rushed being twelve episodes but it does feel complete in and of itself. The wiki is over here for those who want a breakdown, but note that appears to be the manga Zetman wiki and I didn't see one for the anime proper.

I enjoy most of the character designs. One of the 'heroes', Alphas, looks like a cross between Iron Man and Moon Knight in a white and blue armored outfit. The main hero, Jin and his human outfit are 'street' but his 'hero' form is the one I actually dislike. The good thing is that there are a few varieties to it and its not in heavy rotation as he's actually human most of the series.

The villains really have some great images here though. For example, the Sweeper? Classic hooded style enigmatic entity. Not all of them are 'hits' though. Some of the lower end ones are just well, goofy looking.

The series follows Jin who is Zetman. In this series, most powers are explained through the genetically created 'Players' who have a host of different abilities and different levels of power. These players were created by the ultra rich who bet on gladiator battles. Sounds incredibly inefficient to me but I'll accept it as the premise.

Jin is created to destroy the Players but is taken by 'Gramps' who wants the boy to have a normal life and its not until he's older and already encountered two of the 'Players' that he learns what he is and that he isn't a fully realized creature but has some evolutions to go through.

Now I did say most abilities come from genetics right? The other player here, Koba, is a young man obsessed with fighting evil doers. He's often called a 'cosplayer' because he's in weird uniforms, including the eventual Alphas outfit. He has different methods and styles than Jin and the two handle justice and saving individuals in a different way.

The anime puts both Jin and Koga through the ringers to showcase what they are made of and their eventual differences and how they handle the Players around them.

The series does a nice job of showcasing how people can want similiar goals but approach them in completely different ways.

For those looking for super hero style action, Zetman has you covered.

In terms of themes?

Rivals: Jin and Koga aren't necessarily rivals in the sense that they're both trying to do exactly the same thing, but both often wind up in the same place at the same time and have different ideas of how things should be done. In addition, both continue to gain in experience and abilities as they mature in the series.

Ulterior Motives: There are many mentor style individuals in the series to both Jin and Koba and both have their own reasons for doing what they do. When providing mentors and allies to the players, make sure that you know what their own reasons are for doing what they do.

Secrets: While the 'Players' and their existence are relatively unknown to the public, many try to keep it that way and have developed technology to keep it that way. When players and those around them have their own secrets that they have to keep from each other, how do they do it. Do they have different explanations for why they do what they do?

Limited Origin: I mentioned with Tiger and Bunny that if you want Mutants like the X-Men but don't want to call them Mutants, just come up with a name. For example, Tiger and Bunny uses 'Next' while Zetman uses 'Players'. Both stretch a little past that though as both series have technology playing a prime role in making things equal to the 'Player's or even providing more abilities to those that have them.

On bluray, the series runs a little under $44 from Amazon and is not available on Amazon Prime but is available on Hulu. In terms of the manga, maybe a kinder soul than I can make sense of what Amazon's search shows as I find the Spanish and Japanese versions but didn't see the English one.

For those watching anime, are there any series out there that you'd recommend on Hulu? I've been impressed with the depth of the selection on Hulu and its modernity in contrast to Amazon or Netflix.