Review - Jormungand Volume 3

My new shelf is almost finished! Maybe I won't fill this one up as fast. To be fair, I did have the other one already partially filled since I was transitioning out of an old, ugly bookshelf. Now I have a blank slate that I'll fill up with good manga. I think I've only read two series that I didn't like and donates to someone else. That would be Drifters and Switch. You'll probably never see me give a recommendation for SKIP IT, just because I usually see if what I want to buy is actually worth buying.

STORY

In this volume of Jormungand, people shoot guns at things and such things usually explode.

Actually, not really. In this volume, the action actually takes a backseat to the quieter moments, allowing us to get to know some of the crew a little better. At the beginning, there's the story of why Jonah hates Casper, which is pretty good. It's sort of cliched, but not too much.

In the second half, we get a plot involving an annoying American guy, a Chinese businessman, and an apparent grudge from Valmet's past. There's also a scientist who is obsessed with butterflies. It seems like it could be interesting. Plus, I'm always up for learning a little more about Koko's crew.

ART & PRESENTATION

The art continues to be sort of lame. Since there wasn't much action this volume, there wasn't much of a chance for the art to shine. THAT SAID... There was one spectacular scene where Koko's cargo ship mounted with mini-guns took out a squad of pirates and a helicopter. I'll show some of it below.

Viz's presentation is once again spectacular. Everything is so nice looking. Honestly, one of the best things about Jormungand is how it looks on your shelf. That makes it sound like the rest of the series is wank, which is false, but seriously. It's put together soooo well.

CHARACTERS

There are quite a few new characters here, but none of them are characterized enough for me to really go over yet, so I'll just talk about one I haven't talked about yet. All the new characters can lead to some confusion, though, as not everybody is given enough panel time to make a lasting impression.

Valmet is kind of scary. She's insane with a knife, is more muscular that most of the guys on the ship, and is crazy in love with Koko. She's crazy, but also entertaining. It's shown in this volume that she used to be with some form of military that she has some tragic back-story with, but we only get a glimpse of that this volume.

FINAL VERDICT

Jormungand is still most certainly cool, but I'm still not entirely sold on it because of the occasionally lackluster art. Plus/minus below!

+ Still cool and fun
+ Low amount of action means more time for characterization
+ That pirate take-down scene

- Meh art
- Lots of new characters is a little confusing and can leave the reader thinking "who's that?"

B- - BORROW IT

You ought to read Jormungand, for sure. It's up to you whether you want to give it a permanent place on your shelf.

(I don't own Jormungand. All rights go to the author, Keitaro Takahashi, and the licensing company, Viz Media).