In the blink of an eye, the peaceful life Sousuke Sagara
had come to find shattered. Amalgam’s
devastating attack on both Jin Dai and Mithril HQ ended in disaster and now the
Serious Sergant is on his own, separated from both his team and his beloved
Kaname Chidori. A new mission begins,
one that will take Sousuke to a world where AS’s are used for sport and victory
in the ring could bring him closer to the men who destroyed his peace. But Amalgam messed with the wrong Specialist
and Sousuke Sagara is coming for them all.
Ahhhhhhhhh!!! That was my reaction when the 4th
episode of the new season reached its conclusion. The Second Raid dialed up the intensity quite
a bit but Invisible Victory has taken Full Metal Panic’s status quo and chucked
it out the window. The school became a
battlefield, Kyoko was nearly killed (but she’s still in scary bad shape),
Sousuke lost Arbalest…man these first four episodes have been one thing after
another. But credit where it’s due, Full
Metal Panic had to make a big impression after such a long break and Episode 4
capatalized on it big time.
Suffice to say Mithril is all but crippled at this point
and Sousuke and Kaname’s ideal life has been shattered. It takes a lot of guts to make changes like
this but they’ve all been for the better.
It opens the door for bold new possibilities while also asking some big
questions that will hopefully be answered by seasons end. That said, it is scary as hell to see Sousuke
lose in such a one sided match against Leonard Testarossa. It almost makes me want to go back to my
third season review and take back everything I said about him not being a
credible threat. Granted, he didn’t have
much to do besides posture but Leonard has lived up to the quiet menace he’s
presented. Had it not been for Kaname’s
surrender, he might have very well killed Sousuke and annihilated Jin Dai High
School. These are the strongest
opponents Sousuke and Mithril (what’s left of it) have faced so far and it’s
equally scary to think that Amalgam could have set these monsters on them at
any time and the outcome would have been very much like this.
Which led us to a three month time jump (after a
pointless recap “intermission” episode), which changed the scenery (from Japan
to the country of Namsac) and dropped Sousuke right into the thick of his new
mission. I had a feeling that the AS
Robo Thunderdome death matches had some way of getting him in contact with
Amalgam. One could ponder that, given
Sousuke’s high profile status on their list that Amalgam would have an easier
way of getting in touch with him (Kurama, the guy who looks like Jean Reno from
Leon: The Professional, is still keeping tabs on him). Still the fights look good and it’s a good
way for Sousuke to stretch his feet a bit and show that his combat skills can
be used in a more “recreational” kind of way.
A couple of things surprised me on this front: first that Sousuke is
still so calm and his usual military maniac self after three months without
Kaname; and two, he likes the AS League.
It’s a new way of putting his piloting skills to good use in a non
lethal way (at the moment). I bet, in
another life, he would have been happier hanging around here. But it’s clear Sousuke isn’t going to stick
around for long and neither will we.
The jump to Namsac did put a damper in the no holds
barred momentum that kicked the season off.
Yes, we had to establish the new arena and some of the ground rules but
it was also a breather I didn’t expect.
It was cool to see Sousuke start fitting in but I was never on the edge
of my seat as I was during the first four episodes. Also, theres the addition of two new
characters: Nami and Lemon. Both aren’t
really grabbing me, Lemon more so because he looks like a carbon copy of Benny
from Black Lagoon…which did make me wonder if those two shows shared the same
universe and that would open a whole can of worms honestly. As for Nami, she’s cute but is kind of just
the female substitute and would be love interest for Sousuke (he’s not
interested but she is) until Kaname comes back.
Nami isn’t doing anything wrong, she just hasn’t done much to stand out
to me as much as the rest of Full Metal Panics bevy of bad ass beauties like
Kaname, Mao and Tessa. That could always
change. I don’t hate Nami, I just want her to do a little more.
But as Week 2 closes, the lull in momentum does bring up
more dire questions: What has Kaname been doing in Amalgam’s care for three
months? What about Tessa and the De
Danaan and what’s left of Mirhtirl? Why
do I still have the nagging feeling Kalinin (last seen securing Tessa’s escape)
might have sold Mithril out in some way (he’s been acting sketchy since the
first episode of the season)? I hope
another pointless “intermission” doesn’t slow things down either. I want to know more and despite a respite
from all the chaos, it is still damn good to have Full Metal Panic back. Man do I hope Sousuke is going to kick
Leonard’s ass at the end of all of this.
He and Kaname finally held hands…I want that to continue. See ya next week for more Full Metal Panic:
Invisible Victory.
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