First of all, there’s been a lot of comparisons between Jormungand and Black Lagoon.
All of these comparisons are dumb.
They’re nothing alike. Sure, they both have guns and shooting with a cast of zany characters. That’s pretty much where the comparisons end for me, and even the zany character point is a stretch for Jormungand, whose characters so far aren’t really all that zany.
WHY THEY ARE DIFFERENT
Unarguably the best character in the series so far.
While both have zany characters, Jormungand’s characters seem far more one dimensional (though to be fair, it’s been one episode). EXAMPLES:
Black Lagoon had some BAD-ASS FUCKING CHARACTERS (not to be confused with characters who are bad at ass fucking).
Revy kicked ass.
Roberta kicked ass.
You know what? Pretty much everyone did. And we also had awesome personalities like Rock, the salaryman turned Outlaw/Pirate/One Bad Mother Fucker. The list is endless, as every character has a unique/badass history/personality. There’s a lot of backslashes in that paragraph, which just proves how zany/badass all of the characters are.
By comparison, Jormungand has a few good characters, but many of the people working for Koko are normal soldiers with little personality. I mean sure, you’ve got Johan, a bad-ass kid with a revenge wish, but he’s really……well…….he’s fucking boring as shit.
And sure, you’ve got the insanely awesome lesbian/eye-patch-girl/large-breasted/knife-wielding girl with a thing for Koko, and then Koko herself. But shit. That’s about it so far. I mean, even Koko, who definitely kicked ass at times (like the sniper scene which was awesome), seems kind of off in terms of character personality. Something just doesn’t seem right. She seems forced in the same way that Mio from K-On seems forced.
Yeah, I just compared Koko to Mio, but let it be known that Mio is 408383895 times worse than Koko will ever be, because Koko at least has flashes of BAMFS, or Bad-Ass Mother Fucker Syndrome. I also have this disease, and it kicks ass.
See what I did there with that last sentence? Genius.
Now for the worst comparison of all, yes, worse than the Mio comparison. What can be worse than that? Only one thing:
To me, Jormungand is not similar to Black Lagoon, but a better comparison would be to compare it to Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom, a Bee Train series that was okay but still managed to have a shit ending and be boring as shit at times. I hate Bee Train; all of their shit sucks. I somehow gave Phantom a 5. I dropped every other one of their shows. In all honesty, Phantom should have been a 4, in fact, I’m going to change it. If Jormungand goes the way of Bee Train shows, then I fully expect Johan to discover that it was Koko who sold the weapons that killed his parents, and then fight Koko until one or both of them are dead.
That comparison scares me, but it’s dead on. Very similar animation and very similar color scale; everything is grey and boring, though at least it’s not bright stupid colors like Lotte’s Toy and Zero no Tsukaima (which I love despite the colors). Another similar trait is the very similar character styles (Johan looks just like a character out of Phantom in both appearance and personality).
The episode was not bad, but it wasn’t all that great either. If the rest of the series is filled with carbon copies of this episode, then I’m going to get bored fast, and that’s coming from a guy who loves the FUCK out of shows that feature guns, blood, and violence. They should include more scenes like this one:
This was awesome because it was so unexpected. This kid is too emotionless I'd rather see a kid who simply loves to kill people, and does so.
Johan is boring. You can’t be bad-ass if you don’t show that you love to kill. Some maniacal laughter while shooting would be a great touch. Perhaps introduce a catch phrase like, “Fuck you fucking fuck.” Did I steal that from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? I don’t know….is Rooney Mara hot as fuck? YES AND YES.
Eye Sedso 
Thank you, I couldn’t agree more. Pretty much the only thing this show has in common with Black Lagoon is that they both have guns and they both have people.
Yeah, the plots and character personalities are completely different, and the entire feel of the show is completely different.
Indeed, it’s like a completely different show.
Valid point, but lest we not forget about the bees.
In short words, “Jormungand revolves around the
druggun cartel and Black Lagoon revolves aroundRATED ARRRRpirates.” That’s why.Oh, also, you nailed it.
I don’t think I made that comparison at all. That’s a very small difference that really doesn’t make a difference in how Jormungand is different than Black Lagoon.
Well granted it’s only the first episode, so give the characters time to do something, but I’ve never watched Black Lagoon so I can’t make these comparisons. Nevertheless I do hate it when people hate on a newer show just because it is “SIMILAR” to previous anime/characters. (e.g Medaka Box)
“….never watched Black Lagoon…”
SHUT THE FUCK UP AND WATCH IT YOU SAD SAD PERSON.
I really didn’t like the first episode. Watching the trailer, reading the synopsis, I kinda hoped it would be something like Black Lagoon. But then it’s this weird story that just seemed convoluted because of the way it was told. And the kid was really a hell of a non-person and the saddest thing about the episode was how much time they actually spent explaining on how his paradoxical character is supposed to make sense – but when you see him acting there’s simply nothing going on. He acts like he’s Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator. And that definitely isn’t the stuff sympathetic protagonists are made of. And then this “black and white”-like visual style of the series just added to this overall feeling of blandness.
I really hope the second episode will be better than this.
Blandness is a GREAT way to describe it.
1. One episode.
2. The Bee Train comparison has potential and I’m surprised it didn’t occur to me. I liked Noir when I first watched it, but looking back I realize that I never really gave a shit about the characters. I was just in it for the gunfights.
I hate Bee Train. I’m pretty sure that there’s only one person who hates it more than me:
http://myswordisunbelievablydull.wordpress.com/
I have a lot of Bee-Train in my backlog. I’m reserving judgment.
El Cazador de la Bruja had awesome stuff:
– Cool Mexicans
– Guns
– A hot, female bounty hunter
– A strange girl
– A relatively unique story-line
And it still managed to be an extrememly boring piece of shit that I dropped.
I dropped it….ME. I didn’t even drop K-On or Kanamemo. I watched those horrendous shows till the end, yet I dropped a show with a hot, gun toting, female bounty hunter who lived in Mexico. That’s like a fucking oxymoron of life.
If Bee Train made a show that hypnotizes any person watching it into liking the show, then STILL no one would like the show.
Bee Train is terrible.
Keitarou Takahashi drew a comic that Rei Hiroe included in his Black Lagoon artbook, “Book of Venom” that features a young Koko selling weapons to Revy.
THAT kicks ass. Too bad Jorm…..I fucking hate the name to be honest I always forget how to spell it it’s not even that hard of a name I’m calling it Jormu from now on…..
As I was saying, too bad that Jormu doesn’t have the same completely-fucking-awesome-bad-ass-nastiness that Black Lagoon has.
is this the picture?
though to tell but it looks like Koko. Johan brings down this entire series if you ask me.
I’m going to steal your screencaps and recycle them.
Okay.
Uhhh, so they’re comparing Joker-Menma to a babe who pretty much kicks ass without taking names. Sometimes I’m glad I stay away from anime community forums other than a select few. In any case, I enjoyed both episodes so I could care less whether people want to waste their times making comparisons or not.
This reminds me of the time Sora no Woto was compared to K-ON! when that certainly wasn’t the case…but knowing how much you loathe K-ON! we’ll leave it at that.
I will never watch Sora no Woto.
I know you’re not a fan of Slice of Life/coming of age or anything that has to do with everyday life at all. Either that or “moe” is one of your numerous arch enemies.
There’s actually a few slice of life shows that I like. Lucky Star was awesome, so was Azumanga Diaoh and a few others.
K-On is trash though there’s no plot or anything, and admittedly, I’m judging SnW by it’s cover, which is similar to K-On.
Pingback: A missed opportunity: Jormungand | Bateszi Anime Blog
Well imo i think your off about the phantom requiem thing. That ending… didn’t agree with what i wanted but it definately had an impact and i won’t be forgetting it any time soon. They do have annoying lulls, but i rated it at at least 7.
So far Jormungand’s fuel seems to be the fact that it’s 2012 and has pretty great graphics, but Lagoon really does outstrip it in many ways. Nevertheless, i’ll give this show a chance
I feel like the end just happened for no real reason. They finally succeed in gaining some semblence of a real life and then in the last scene NOPE! It was cheap and cheesy. On that note, I’m hungry (the cheese part).
you and me friend.
btw… do you do these kind of reviews often?
I think this is the first time I compared two shows. Usually I never compare shows because….well, they aren’t the same show, so why compare them?
The only reason I compared these was because everyone was saying that they’re very similar, and those people are wrong.
They have a few things in common. The main thing i would say is the non-Japanese centered story it has. most anime not matter what have a hard time getting out of japan. other then Rock actually leaving japan and being Japanese. as much as a have seen in jormungand nothing indicates that anyone is Japanese.
Not that it is a problem, recently medorce anime push japanese culture on entire fictional worlds forgeting other cultures or blackfacing it. (Having one male Japanese teen save the entire world from conflict in japan surrounded by females. No one else in the entire world will stand up to save the world.)
Jormungand and Black lagoon are works that understand that japan is not the world.
Pingback: Jormungand Review--- B- | Draggle's Anime Blog
The series are published by the same people and the storylines take place in the same world (but different times). Not only are they similar, they are slightly connected, there’s even a short crossover manga.
Black Lagoon has more interesting characters, but the basic formats of the show are pretty much the same.
Well, I think Jormungand and Black Lagoon have more similarities that only have guns and shooting.
Both animes are violent, and take place in the same “face” of the world, you know. They show the most cruel world.
Black Lagoon may have better characters, but I totally disagree on your vision of Johan. For me, it is not boring at all. And I think that Koko is one of the best female-characters I have ever seen.
Pingback: A missed opportunity: Jormungand – Bateszi