I enjoyed the anime until the 2/3 episodes at the end where we learn Koko's plan, which is completely stupid and honestly ruined the whole series for me. I know they say it's the journey that counts, not the destination. But some destinations are so shitty that it ruins the entire journey. SPOILER: Koko's plan: She wants to stop wars around the world by using a super powerful AI capable of hacking every computer system in the world. And permanently hack the computers on board all the planes flying around the world (civil or military) so that they crash (causing hundreds of thousands of deaths at the time of activation of the AI) so no one can make war in the sky, and that humans are so ashamed of themselves that they stop making war. The anime ends with Koko activating the AI. But this plan is stupid on several points: 1_"hundreds of thousands of deaths at the time of activation" = hundreds of thousands of family and or loved ones in mourning/angry/screaming for revenge (very good for world peace) 2_ A HUGE part of the world economy depends on airplanes, profession directly linked to airplanes (pilots, air traffic controllers, mechanics, airplane builders, refining and transportation of fuel) or indirectly (creation of materials for construction of planes and lots of other) the stopping of all planes overnight would cause an unprecedented economic crisis the world would be in total chaos (once again good for world peace) 3_The AI only works on computers, not analog, so we can perfectly make the planes work again without on-board computers (this would take time but with motivation, the big companies would put this into operation in 1 or 2 years) I'm sure there are other points but I'll stop at 3 I realized it within 5-10 minutes after Koko revealed her plan, and I'm far from being super intelligent. So how does Koko and the peoples who created the AI, people who are supposed to be super geniuses, not arrive at the same conclusion as me? conclusion which is: "this plan to stop war in the world is worse than shit"
We see shades of what else she can do with Jormungand, like altering GPS coordinates to throw off the Night Nine (think Tomorrow Never Dies), and setting up/stopping George Black's assassination (revealing that she knew EVERYTHING about his plan to use her skills for the US in the process by naming the op the same name as his master plan). With the quantum computers in Jormungand, she can do this pretty much instantaneously. What else could she do? You know, like remotely launch missile at any possible threat that might come her way, including said switch to analog planes? It's also worth noting that she outright admitted that she doesn't know if her plan will succeed. In the end, Project Jormungand is the concoction of a woman so jaded by humanity's willingness to wage war and conflict, that she sees depriving humanity of those tools as the ONLY way of making world peace. In her own mind, nothing else has worked, so why not take the ultimate risk on a massive crapshoot of a world domination plan? "Jormungand" isn't about whether or not her plan succeeds, it's about the steps the planner is taking to ensure that she's got stopped by those around her. It's about convincing Jonah that what she's doing is right, regardless of the chaos and the loss of life it WILL create in the short-term. In short: "Jormungand" is a character narrative (to use Orson Scott Card's MICE Quotient) of a massive nihilist with lots of power, no faith in humanity, and no real hope for the future. She's basically Lelouch Vi Britannia without the Geass, and with a LOT of money. If her involvement become public knowledge, humanity will unite...against her. Just as the world united against Celestial Being (Gundam 00), just as the world united against Lelouch when he played up the "evil overlord" (Code Geass). Or to use a general reference, she's a Bond Villain who managed to kill her James Bond (Hex), and talk down the only other possible threat to her life (Jonah, when she revealed the plan), and "Jormungand" is basically a James Bond story from the perspective of the Bond Villain, a look into the minds of what makes those monsters tick.
I loved the ending. as someone whose done a PhD in Conflict and Peace Studies. It's literally something an undergrad student in the field would dream up and decide to write it in a paper. And I go to my colleagues like "look at this wild shit, atleast they broke down the structure of the American IC community pretty accurately, but yooo this shit crazy "
I think that was supposed to be the point. Kasper was right. Realistically, Jormungand would *never* work, and that's because it's quite literally a harebrained attempt at stopping global conflict by a delusional arms dealer with a god complex. I think this idea *can* work in the context of the story, but unfortunately, the author has no idea on whether to portray Koko as a villain-protagonist or a secret genius who's actually right about everything, and that's why it feels so disjointed and unfulfilling (also why is literally everyone in the show except Jonah onboard with the plan LOL) All in all, I think Jormungand is wasted potential. I personally think they should've just made Koko a full villain-protag like Light Yagami and change her motives from "I want to stop all war cause uhh idk" to "I want to become the NEW GOD OF THIS WORLD BY CRIPPLING ALL AIR AND SEA TRAVEL", that way the ending would make infinitely more sense and feel less like a meandering mess
Just finished the show and I enjoyed it a lot despite the ending, which was a bit rushed for me but overall it was a very fun ride. It was also one of the only anime with the type of fanservice I liked: *Looks at Velmet* 😚
It's like discount black lagoon but then it tries to be code geass at the end, with an interesting premise (the idea of a moral arms dealer, or one that could be argued to be one) that is completely squandered because they refuse to actually say anything substantial with it (granted if they did in today's culture it probably couldn't get green lit in all honesty, maybe the manga actually does I havent read it). and instead veers off into ridiculous over the top edgelord nonsense. It plays around it's main theme only to subvert it in the most ridiculous way possible, you'll love it for about 3 episodes but if you are in it for the grounded story that it markets itself as setting up you'll find everything beyond episode 3 a disappointing mess by the end of it.
