Here, Valmet’s gigantic thighs for your viewing pleasure should you choose not to read this review.

This show never ceases to surprise me. After two straight weeks of crap we finally get an episode that’s…actually somewhat intriguing! Well, it’s still not exactly good, either. But it’s an improvement! And incremental improvements will eventually lead to perfection, right? At least, that’s how it ought to work.

PLOT (IN ITALIAN)

Lady Gaga’s latest musical endeavor.

What is it with the Japanese and their use of classical music scores in their media? Not that I’m complaining, most Japanese bands are complete shit so having some superior Western music is definitely an improvement. HOWEVER! Japanese directors, when you choose to use a piece of music, be a good chap like the Hyouka and directly reference it in the dialogue. Because otherwise I’ll doggedly search through Youtube until I find the correct piece.

The piece they used this week was “Vissi d’arte”, a soprano aria from Tosca, an opera by some Italian dude named Puccini. It literally took me an hour to find the damn thing, since they only played a bit of it at the beginning. I feel like I should win some sort of a prize here (or at least recognition that I’m more cultured than 99% of other Jormungand viewers). Here’s the piece in its entirety:

A rather haunting piece, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be about the titular character Tosca as she ponders the fate of her beloved, who’s at the mercy of the antagonist. Interestingly, the piece is played at the beginning when we’re shown how Chinatsu first met Pointy Tooth Guy (Surprise! It’s at an opera showing), as well as at the end, when she DIES (sorry, spoilers).

I SAID I WAS SORRY.

I always thought it was surprising that the manga author took the trouble to introduce an interesting villain…ess with a backstory and then kill her off after one volume. Instead, we get the idiot American CIA agent, whose actions make us question his sanity, as a recurring antagonist (SPOILERS AGAIN). By the way, why is America always portrayed so negatively by Japan. In last season’s Guilty Crown, we get AMERICAN DAN who acts like a buffoon and gets himself killed. Code Geass’ Holy Britannian Empire doesn’t include Britain, but is instead based…in America. Even classics such as Ghost in the Shell or Samurai Champloo contain American characters who are either a) really stereotypical or b) downright evil or insane. It’s like they get two atomic bombs dropped on them and they hold a grudge for 70 years. But anyway, I digress.

They also hate Christians.

So the episode? We get a five minute backstory for Chinatsu, our assassin sans pantsu. While this episode doesn’t feature a lot of action or shooting other than the chase scene at the beginning (which is a lot better than last week, which was just cover-based shooting and lots of yelling), we do gain a bit of insight into Koko’s character. And knowing the author of the manga, this will be the only insight we get for 3-4 episodes.

We also learn about the crash test ratings of the Honda CRV.

So what do we know about Koko? Well, apparently she’s a bit of a pussy without her manly men surrounding her. She has a rather dim view on humanity as a whole, with something about “guns being more reliable than kindness”. Makes sense, considering she’s an arms dealer. She also sheds some light on gun ownership statistics, claiming that most of the guns in the world are owned by private citizens. Also, only 0.1% are owned by rebel groups. Does this mean Kony is irrelevant? Maybe. Gosh, this show touches on so many of today’s pressing social issues.

As well as some other…issues.

The episode ends with Chinatsu dying while attempting to avenge Pointy Tooth Guy’s (PTG) death, as mentioned previously. Before dying, she has a rather interesting conversation with Koko that is conveniently not heard by the viewer. Chances are we’ll hear more about that…in the last episode.

THOUGHTS AND FEELS

The rubbing returns!

First of all, why the hell doesn’t Chinatsu wear underwear? The reason she gave was bullshit, I’d like to think that it’s because she’s a sexually liberated young woman and a chronic masturbator, even in combat. Maybe she sees guns as phallic objects? I don’t know where I’m going with this.

Here’s a poorly drawn frame of her taking off her panties.

So what is Koko’s reason for selling guns? I suspect it goes beyond mere economic reasons, and probably has something to do with Jonah. It really is too bad the author sucks at giving us backstory; I dislike being in the dark about a character’s central motivation until the very last episode.

As mentioned previously, the use of Puccini’s aria, especially at the ending scene with Chinatsu and Koko, was perfect. It gave the scene a bit more of an emotional impact over the one in the manga.

We also get to pretend that we’re playing Call of Duty.

Now that the Chinatsu arc is over, I suspect the next episode will be a bit more mundane. If only this show would have more explosions.