Monday, November 12, 2018

Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory Part 2 Episodes 4-6


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.

No comments:

Post a Comment