Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid — Episodes 2-13
Gonna start this off with a minor squeefit. Spoiler: Kyaaaaa she cut his hair for him! And she gave him a bandaid!!!!! So freaking cuuuuute mweeeeeee~
Now that that’s over with… when I first started watching this show, with episode 1, I was pretty disappointed, to be honest. I really like the Kaname/Sousuke interactions in FMP, not the mecha battles, so when 95% of episode one was military stuff and mecha, I was none too pleased. Episode 2 was better, more of the wacky antics I liked from Fumoffu and that occasionally came up in the first season, but then episode 3 was, quite honestly, the pits for me. Cliched twin bullshit (I tried watching Futakoi Alternative and that just turned me off on all twin characters forever, I think), more mecha, more military stuff, ultra-violent and completely unneccesary throat-cutting… I do understand that an aspect of FMP is going to be the mecha stuff, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it. After they devoted three episodes in a row to military antics, I was really starting to despair for any great Kaname/Sousuke interaction like we got in Fumoffu.
Then I watched episode 6. And I was sated for all time. Spoiler: Like I said above, SHE CUT HIS HAIR FOR HIM. Through that entire scene, I kept expecting her to say something and then came the wonderful wonderful “You’re the only person I trust” line, and I just wanted to die inside of happiness. Finally even a tiny bit of progression in the Kaname/Sousuke relationship! Even though it 100% went over Sousuke’s head, poor guy. Which of course made the ending of this episode a complete smack in the face, with Sousuke forced to abandon Kaname, and her reaction to his not showing up to class in episode 7 was just heartbreaking. After that, I was pretty happy to see that the show didn’t go back to All Mech, All The Time, and kept things pretty balanced between Sousuke and Kaname’s stories, while still giving the highlight to the mecha stuff that this season was clearly focusing on.
[spoiler paragraphs - highlight to read]
As the end neared, I feared that the ending would be a bit too rushed, and to some degree I think it might have been. I never really got a sense of how Kaname ended up in Hong Kong, although her showing up there was definitely a nice twist and seeing Sousuke completely thrown off by that turn of events was just adorable. Kaname’s almost-but-not-quite love confession was a bit infuriating, but I have to admit it was completely in character for her. And in the final scene, where Sousuke asks her what she was trying to say in Hong Kong… I have a very distinct feeling that, while first season Sousuke would have asked that question honestly, TSR Sousuke is a little less clueless than he lets on. He’s just a little bit evil and wanted to make her actually say it. But really, Sousuke and Kaname are both so freaking silly about their feelings for each other that they’ll never just come right out and say it. Dorks.
Was pissed that Gauln was alive, of course. Really big cliche. But the way Sousuke just opened up on him after Gauln told him that Kaname was dead was just… well it was kinda hot, actually. Heh. Sousuke is such a puppy for Kaname that he’ll even rip someone for shreds on account of his loyalty to her, and that’s the aspect of their relationship that I just adore. And actually? I gotta admit that the 5-vs-1 mech battle at the end was wicked cool, partly because it didn’t mess around and was over quickly for a change. And she gave him a bandaid!!! Every time they showed a shot of Sousuke’s face, it was just another happy moment for me.
Tessa… didn’t irk me as much as she has in the past. Probably because now she has a personality and does something besides fawn on Sousuke. And she recognizes that Sousuke is NOT FOR YOU BITCH. While watching it, I didn’t really care for that scene where she gets all emotional and starts crying and being a little whiny bitch, but in retrospect it was actually a pretty good scene. And I have to admit that scene at the end where she and Sousuke talk as “friends” and then she has a squeefit about how he called her “Tessa” was very cute. But Sousuke’s reaction to what he said was even cuter, silly puppy.
[end spoiler paragraphs]
Overall, I’d say I liked this season better than the first, just because it had a much better balance between the mecha aspect and the Kaname/Sousuke relationship, as well as a good deal more character development. Very excited that this is licensed and I hope that FUNimation can get the entire ADV dub cast back, mostly because I think some of the actors would have a lot of fun with some of the material in here. Can’t wait to buy this on DVD.
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1 Response to “Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid — Episodes 2-13”
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Niki says:
July 26, 2006, 5:14 pm
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I *SO* agree with your reading of SousXKan (esp the bit about Sousuke being a li’l bit evil) - it’s the warm and fluffy in these two’s relationship that locked in my investment in these characters. Thank you for saying what incoherent me had trouble saying ^^
~niki