Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid Part 3 Episodes 8-10

Convinced Sousuke’s closeness with Kaname is hindering him, Tessa recalls Sousuke, cancelling his mission to guard her.  At the same time, Almagram begins to come after Kaname herself.  Without her bodyguard and friend, how will Kaname survive going up against ruthless assassins?  Meanwhile, Sousuke deals with a new assignment, the wrath of Tessa and a new officer who berates his every move.  Tested at every turn, will Sousuke return to his roots as a soldier, or is there really no going back after the time he’s spent with Kaname?


Well that took a helluva turn.  Scratch that, the turn had been made and now were on an unknown road.  Following last weeks traumatic cliffhanger, it was time to look at how Sousuke and Kaname were handling their separation…turns out neither are doing so hot but one is doing a bit better than the other.


Let’s start with Sousuke.  He’s almost completely changed from the no nonsense orders taking solider he was back in Season 1.  Sousuke’s angry and unfocused and that’s definitely cost him in this set.  I liked, for the most part, his talk with Tessa.  It’s true, Tessa has to look out for Mao, Kurtz and the rest of her crew and if Sousuke isn’t 100% there, that is on her.  It was one of the few times that I felt Tessa was a competent commander…and then she had to ruin it by basically letting her jealousy of Sousuke’s feelings for Kaname creep in.  I’ll always wonder if that same jealousy is what drove Tessa to back the order to recall Sousuke (Also shoutout to the photo Tessa has of the Hot Springs trip she took with Kaname and her friends during Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, I love to see that season acknowledged in some way).  Probably the best moment by far was when Sousuke passed Tessa in the hall before his next mission.  No words were shared but the low “hmph” was all you needed to hear from Sousuke.  He’s never gonna forgive Tessa for pulling him away from Kaname.

Which begs a couple of questions: first off, I don’t get why Sousuke is so essential for the Arbelast to work?  Seems like anyone else would be better suited, including the hard ass new SRT leader Clouseau, who kicked Sousuke’s ass in AS combat.  If it has been explained, ill admit, it hasn’t been explained well.  Secondly, this separation isn’t something you can just shake off.  So why send Sousuke on a mission when he’s clearly a liability to others and himself?  As it turns out, he almost gets himself and Mao killed when thinking about Kaname.  Sousuke flat out deserting when Mao suggested he do so was a big “whoa” moment.  Sousuke’s in a lot of pain and only one person is going to be able to fix it.

That other person is Kaname and man did she get a lot to do in only one episode.  While she did eventually get a moment to break down and confess she wants Sousuke back, otherwise life isn’t normal anymore, Kaname wasn’t going to stand by and wait to be picked off.  Her skillful evasion of the rather disappointing Wraith was well done and so was her unexpected showdown with Yu Lan.  By rights, Kaname should be dead.  We’ve seen Yu Lan and her sister tear through seasoned soldiers like tissue paper.  More surprising was the appearance of Tessa’s confirmed brother, Leonard, who had next gen AS style cyborgs kill Yu Lan.  Leonard was a bit of an enigma and I hope we get a little more detail on him besides his “working for another organization” schtick.  His only good in this show, so far, was to kiss Kaname, which forced the aforementioned breakdown before she got her head back in the game.  What she’s going to do with a damaged Wraith (what the hell is Wraith anyway?) is exciting to speculate about.

I was a little worried something was going to happen to Mao once her team got to Hong Kong.  It’s a normal trope for a main character to get seriously injured or even die when they reveal too much backstory.  Hearing Mao talk about how she was engaged to be married only to bug out and enlist in the Marines that same day was very much in her unpredictable and fun character.  So it’s a sigh of relief that she came out ok.  Was also interesting to see she and the new hard ass Clouseau have a bit of history.  I don’t think I like that guy, even if he’s playing the tough love approach with Sousuke.  He just doesn’t fit in with my favorite Mithril A-Team.

 

I think I know why Sousuke was spared by the attacking AS before he deserted, especially if it is Yu Fan inside of it.  Looks like we’ll be getting to “Sensei” in the grand finale next week.  There’s a lot of ground to cover, the least of which is reuniting Sousuke with Kaname.  Will Gates get what’s rightfully coming to him?  What’s Leonard’s role in all of this?  Will Sousuke master Arbelast?  The Second Raid’s been on fire the last couple of weeks.  Here’s hoping it can keep up the pace to a blazing conclusion next week.