Jormungand (manga)

Jormungand (ヨルムンガンド, Yorumungando) is a manga series by Keitarou Takahashi, which was serialized in Monthly Sunday Gene-X magazine and published in North America by Viz Media. An anime television series produced by White Fox was broadcast between April and June 2012. A second season titled Jormungand: Perfect Order aired from October to December 2012.[2] Both seasons have been licensed by Funimation in North America and Manga Entertainment in the United Kingdom.

This article is about the manga series. For the sea serpent in Norse mythology, see Jörmungandr. For the Marvel Comics version, see Midgard Serpent (Marvel Comics).
Jormungand
English cover to first manga volume featuring Koko Hekmatyar (left) and Jonathan "Jonah" Mar (right)
ヨルムンガンド
(Yorumungando)
GenreAction, thriller[1]
Manga
Written byKeitarō Takahashi
Published byShogakukan
English publisherViz Media
MagazineMonthly Sunday Gene-X
DemographicSeinen
Original runApril 19, 2006 – January 19, 2012
Volumes11
Anime television series
Directed byKeitaro Motonaga
Produced byGaku Iwasa
Written byYōsuke Kuroda
Music byTaku Iwasaki
StudioWhite Fox
Licensed by
Original networkTokyo MX, TV Kanagawa, TV Aichi, KBS, BS11, Sun TV, AT-X
English network
Funimation Channel
Original run April 10, 2012 – June 26, 2012
Episodes12
Anime television series
Jormungand: Perfect Order
Directed byKeitaro Motonaga
Produced byGaku Iwasa
Written byYōsuke Kuroda
Music byTaku Iwasaki
StudioWhite Fox
Licensed by
Original networkTokyo MX, TV Kanagawa, TV Aichi, KBS, BS11, Sun TV, AT-X
English network
Funimation Channel
Original run October 10, 2012 – December 26, 2012
Episodes12

Plot
Main article: List of Jormungand characters

The series follows Koko Hekmatyar, a young arms dealer who sells weapons under HCLI, an international shipping corporation and illegal smuggling operation. As one of the company's unofficial weapon dealers, she sells weapons in a variety of countries while avoiding both local and international authorities. Traveling with her is a team of bodyguards, mostly composed of former soldiers. The newest addition to her crew is Jonah, an inexpressive and deadly child soldier who hates arms dealers.

Media

Manga

The manga is published in North America by Viz Media.[3] In Japan, Jormungand is officially published by Shogakukan.[4] In Taiwan, it is licensed and published by Taiwan Tohan.[5]

Anime
Main article: List of Jormungand episodes

An anime animated by White Fox and produced by Geneon was announced on the 10th volume of the manga.[6] The anime began airing on April 10, 2012 on Tokyo MX, Television Kanagawa, TV Aichi and KBS and on later dates on Sun TV, BS11 and AT-X.[7] The show will also be seen online in Showtime, NicoNico, Bandai Channel and GyaO.[7] A second season of the series, Jormungand: Perfect Order, was also announced and slated to be released in October 2012,[8] which began broadcasting on Japanese TV on October 9, 2012.[9] The two seasons aired on Japanese TV at 12:30 AM.[9][10]

The first release of Jormungand on DVD and Blu-ray was on June 27, 2012 with the first two episodes, "Gun Metal, Calico Road" and "Pulsar" included.[11] Subsequent releases followed with two episodes each on both Blu-rays and DVDs on July 25, August 29 and September 26 of 2012.[12][13][14] The Perfect Order DVD/Blu-rays was first released in Japan on December 21, 2012.[15] The DVD and Blu-ray version of the first two seasons of the series was released on February 18, 2014.[16] The anime dub clip showed the dangerous species.[17]

Showgate handles licensing aspect of Jormungand outside Japan.[18] A sneak preview of the anime was held on March 31 to April 1, 2012 at the Anime Contents Expo at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba.[19]

Music

The Jormungand Original Soundtrack was released on June 27, 2012 following the conclusion of the first season. It was composed by Taku Iwasaki and released by the record label Geneon Universal Entertainment.[20][21]

For the first season, both the opening and ending themes were produced by I've Sound. The opening song is "Borderland" by Mami Kawada,[22] and the ending theme is "Ambivalentidea" by Nagi Yanagi. "Borderland" was released as a single on May 30, 2012, while "Ambivalentidea" was released as a single on June 6, 2012. Both songs were released as singles by Geneon Universal Entertainment.[21]

For the second season, the opening is "Under / Shaft" by Maon Kurosaki, while the ending is "Laterality" (ラテラリティ) by Nagi Yanagi.[23]

Additionally, the song "Time To Attack" by American rapper/hip-hop artist SANTA[24] is featured in episodes throughout both seasons of the show, as well as during the next-episode previews at the end of each episode.[25]

Drama CD

A 6-part Drama CD had been released prior to the anime, based on the Orchestra story arc. Of all the voice actors involved in the CD, only Unsho Ishizuka reprised his role as Lehm while the voice actors for everyone else involved in the drama were replaced.

Radio show

A radio show dedicated to Jormungand has been made public with Shizuka Ito and Mutsumi Tamura as the hosts.[26]

Reception

Scott Green, writing for Ain't It Cool News, summed up the series as being enjoyable, but underachieving.[27] Matthew Warner feels that the story in the fourth volume is more focused on the business of trading weapons, describing it as a nice change of pace for the story, but Warner was disappointed that the violence and "dark, twisted plot points" of earlier volumes in the series were not present.[28] Erica Friedman, organiser of Yuricon, noted the yuri potential of Valmet, but declared the manga to be "just a dumb manga that I really like".[29] Karen Maeda enjoyed the action shown in the sixth volume, regarding the panels as being easy to follow, and hoped that Jormungand would be produced as an anime.[30]

Anime News Network's review of Jormungand points out the "challenging ideas about war, peace, and world affairs—and throws in some whiz-bang military action for good measure."[31]

In Japan, the manga's 9th Volume sold 41,712 copies in a week for a total of 42,337 in the 27th place out of 30.[32] Jormungand's 11th Volume was in 10th place and had sold 70,593 copies.[33] It later placed itself in the 20th place out of 30, selling 34,697 copies weekly for a total of 105,290.[34]

References
  1. "Jormungand Vol. 1". activeAnime. December 12, 2009. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2020. This is an action-thriller that knows how to deliver fast thrills at an even faster pace.
  2. "Jormungand Perfect Order Slated for October 10". Anime News Network. 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  3. "Official VIZ Media Jormungand Website". VIZ Media. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  4. ヨルムンガンド / 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  5. 軍火女王 1 (in Chinese). Taiwan Tohan. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  6. "Jormungand Action Manga Gets TV Anime by White Fox". Anime News Network. December 17, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  7. "Official Jormungand On Air Page". Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  8. "Jormungand Second Season Confirmed". SeventhStyle. March 19, 2012. Archived from the original on May 15, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  9. "All Cinema's Jormungand: Perfect Order Page" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  10. "Official Jormungand Staff/Cast Page" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  11. "Official Jormungand Blu-Ray/DVD Page" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  12. "Official Jormungand Blu-Ray/DVD Page, Blu-Ray and DVD Volume #2" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  13. "Official Jormungand Blu-Ray/DVD Page, Blu-Ray and DVD Volume #3" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  14. "Official Jormungand Blu-Ray/DVD Page, Blu-Ray and DVD Volume #4" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  15. "Official Jormungand Perfect Order Blu-Ray/DVD Page, Blu-Ray and DVD Volume #1" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  16. "Latest 'Jormungand' Anime Dub Clip Highlights Violence & Swearing". The Fandom Post. January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  17. "'Jormungand' Anime Dub Clip Shows The Dangerous Species". The Fandom Post. January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  18. "Showgate's Jormungand Page". Retrieved 2012-04-21.
  19. "1st Anime Contents Expo's Title List Announced". Anime News Network. 2011-12-17. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  20. "VGMdb page for the Jormungand OST". Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  21. "Official Jormungand Music Page" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  22. "Mami Kawada to Sing Jormungand Anime's Opening Theme". Anime News Network. 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  23. "Official Music Page, Jormungand Perfect Order Japanese Page" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  24. "Official SANTA Twitter account". Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  25. "Official SANTA Soundcloud page for the song". Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  26. "Hibiki Radio Station's Munmungand" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  27. "AICN Anime - Three Manga for the AICN Readers Who Don't Read Manga - and Alien vs Ninja". Ain't It Cool News. 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  28. Matthew Warner (2010-08-10). "Jormungand Vol. #04". Mania.com. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  29. Friedman, Erica (2010-12-02). "Jormungand Manga, Volume 5 (English)". Okazu. Yuricon.
  30. Karen Maeda. "Jormungand Vol. 6". Sequential Tart. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  31. Santos, Carlo (2013-06-09). "Jormungand GN 11". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
  32. "Japanese Comic Ranking, February 28-March 6". Anime News Network. 2011-03-14. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  33. "Japanese Comic Ranking, April 16–22". Anime News Network. 2012-05-15. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  34. "Japanese Comic Ranking, April 23–29". Anime News Network. 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
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