Sousuke’s job has not gotten any easier since it
started. Having barely survived a
botched student trip/kidnapping, Kaname now knows of Sousuke’s mission and
isn’t willing to be left in the dark when her life is on the line. Things get a bit more complicated when
Sousuke’s commander, Teletha “Tessa” Tesstarosa, appears at his house with
another potential Whispered. The sparks
fly when the terrorists come calling.
But Sousuke finds more danger closer to home when Kaname meets Tessa,
who is secretly in love with Sousuke.
Sousuke’s gonna need more lives to survive this ordeal…and a brand
spanking new Arm Slave wouldn’t hurt either.
Giant monster mechs roam the streets of Tokyo. Kaname finds herself in the wrong place at
the wrong time. And the only thing
making Sousuke’s life more complicated than high school living is his
incredibly inept but for some reason she’s still in charge Captain. The former of those two sentences does make
for some exciting watching material this week but the last sentence, yeah let’s
start with Tessa.
So last week I made a comparison between the de Danaan’s
short skirted figure head and the lovable Yurika Misamaru from Martian
Successor Nadesico. Even at her most
irritating and irrational, I always believed Yurika was a capable tactician and
captain, able to pull out the win against all odds…even if one of the odds was herself. Seeing Tessa near the forefront of this weeks
set, I have to say, Yurika might fare a bit better as an overall captain. Sure, Full Metal Panic is a much darker
series than Nadesico. But seriously, how
the hell did Tessa end up the Captain?
Even Sousuke is able to point out her flaws during a prisoner exchange
and know that collecting Tessa before Kaname would be a smart move cause…well
Kaname can take care of herself and Tessa cant.
All the explosions happening around her and Tessa just kind of shuts
down after a bit. She has maybe one
moment of, ok kind of Captain like quality, but it isn’t very long. Hell, a subordinate has a Plan B ready for
the finale because she didn’t think to have the Arbelast on standby launch
cause…hell if I know. And now she’s
calling Kaname out, declaring her love for Sousuke and challenging Kaname for
his affections. She does know that
Kaname did far more than she did in this entire weeks set of episodes right? Ugh, Tessa is a pain in the ass and not even
a short skirt can save her in my eyes, in fact it might be her downfall.
If you could stomach the dead weight that is Captain
Testarosa, there was still fun to be had this week. Most of that fell to Sousuke and his acquisition
of the Arbalest AS. This AI outfitted
mecha, with a knife taped to it’s mouth (not kidding) and a shotgun on it’s
back, is really something else. Design
wise it looks a bit sleeker than most Arm Slaves we’ve seen so far. But it’s how Sousuke uses it that is pretty
awesome. Oh and through it, and Gauron’s
AS, we discovered the Lamda Driver capabilities some mechs can use. Basically these channel the thoughts and
wants of the pilots for form additional barriers and weapons for combat (think
biotic energy like in Mass Effect). It’s
a neat trick but it bear the possibility of making some mechs a bit over
powered. Case in point with Gauron and
his ponytail sporting mech. For a while
it seemed like nothing could take him down until Sousuke was guided by
Kaname. Do I think Gauron’s dead? Well he survived a bullet to the head once
cause of paranoid precaution. I doubt a
nuclear like explosion of his mech is going to do him in right now. As for the Behemoth battle that closed out
this week, well it did leave a bit to be desired (like where the hell was the
Japanese military when a Godzilla sized mecha was roaming around?). Again, it was a bit OP but the fact that Sousuke
and Kurtz were able to score winning hits (Kurtz with nothing but a sniper
rifle) made the chase and battle a bit more unique.
Kaname once again stole the show in several spots. Whether it’s being serious or enraged at
Sousuke’s antics, she always manages to pull off the best expressions and be
even more of a commanding presence than poor Tessa. Her comedic timing with Sousuke hasn’t become
dull this far in either, in fact it’s still pretty funny. Probably one of my favorite scenes of the
week is Kaname walking in on Sousuke when Tessa has just arrived and gotten out
of his shower. Sousuke, and us for that
matter, know what’s coming next.
Strangely enough, Kaname doesn’t freak out and beat the mess out of him,
she tries to figure out if he’s lying about Tessa being his captain
instead. Unexpected reaction, still a
fresh one and still very entertaining.
Of course, moments like Kaname chucking a baseball mound at poor Sousuke
are also crowd pleasing moments.
I’ll admit, the villains weren’t as interesting this week
as they could have been. Gauron feels
like another addition to the “so annoying I cant stand them” category along
with Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay Night and Naraku from Inuyasha. He’s just posturing and bloodthirsty. Can be scary for sure but it’s a bit overdone
that he’s more cartoony than scary.
Speaking of, there was Takuma, who was basically a possible example of
what Kaname could become as a Whispered if things go sideways. Overconfident, scary OCD when he’s off his
meds (his internal rant about a security officers crooked tie reminded me of
Death The Kid from Soul Eater), but not quite the tragic figure to me they were
going for. It didn’t help that Tessa was
the one who tried to get through to him with I guess peaceful negotiations only
to wonder why she didn’t just have him killed to spare Tokyo an attack from the
towering Behemoth. Kaname had a better
time getting a fun rise out of the overconfident brat (again cementing why she’s
a better choice for Sousuke than Tessa and why she’s a better character
overall).
When it’s just Sousuke and Kaname getting into trouble,
with welcome appearances from Kurtz and Mao (who randomly sported a sexy nurses
uniform btw), this show works more often than not. Throw in some not so greatly written bad guys
and characters who infuriate more than impress (looking at you Tessa), and the
show does tend to get a little bogged down in listening to itself talk a lot. At least the comedy was toned down to one
tiny episode in between serious storylines (even if it didn’t go anywhere,
seeing Sousuke threaten a guys life for trying to hit on Kaname never gets
old). Still, how are they going to top
Sousuke vs the mountain of all Arm Slaves?
We’re only half way through the first season. Let’s hope they didn’t burn all of their big
ideas (and budget) on this one event.
And that’s it for Full Metal Panic for two weeks. I’m off to Katsucon on Thursday, so that
means no new review on Monday.
HOWEVER!!!! I do have something special planned for the rest of this
week to pass the time and hope you all enjoy.
Til then, see ya in two weeks for the start of the second half of Full
Metal Panic.
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