There are days, like today, when the idea of being a professional killer holds great appeal. On days like this, I never read manga like Jormungand, for the same reason I won't have a drink on days I'm depressed. It would be a very, very bad habit to get into.Jormungand continues along its merry way, leaving piles of corpses in its wake, while the main characters become even more sympathetic and human so that we root for them to kill even more *really* bad guys. Our guys aren't bad, you see...they are really honorable, decent professional soldiers who were screwed over by their dishonorable leaders. Hey! we say. We're really honorable people who have been screwed over by THE MAN. We would love to take revenge in a visceral way. But we're also not entirely delusional and, in my case at least, a pretty bad shot, so we watch Koko and her team do it for us.
In Volume 6
, Valmet finds that her former life as Major Sophia Valmer has some unfinished business that needs to be wrapped up and she sets off to finish it. She is joined in this by Jonah, who is clearly the other piece of Koko's soul. They wrap it up neatly while Koko and the rest of the team deal with baddies who try to pay with drugs rather than good, clean, dirty money and piss Koko off. The body count rises.Of note, Koko discusses how she feels about Valmet, admitting she sees her as an important part of her life. The actual description is left open-ended, so we can fill in what blanks we feel are appropriate.
Valmet's feelings for Koko are, as ever, on the surface for all to see. In this book, emboldened by affectionate kindness from Koko and proximity to her, Valmet sneaks in a quick peck on the cheek. Happy Valentine's Day, Valmet. That's probably all you're ever going to get, but if you're happy, then I'm happy.
Jormungand remains a cheerful little ditty about cheerful professional killers killing cheerfully. I feel better already.
Ratings:
Art - 5 (It's steadied up a bit from last volume)
Story - 5
Characters - 8
Yuri - 5
Loser FanBoy - 2
Overall - 8
For a manga equivalent of a shooter game, you really just can't beat Jormungand. It's morally reprehensible, but extremely enjoyable.