Sousuke Sagara is the ultimate soldier. He’s an expert at hand to hand combat, lethal
with guns and knives and an ace pilot with an Arm Slave. What his is NOT…is being capable of everyday
life. Yep with the terrorists
dispatched, for now, Sousuke settles into her seemingly permanent position as
student and secret bodyguard of the beautiful Kaname Chidori. But Jindai High has it’s own share of
problems, from shoe locker bombers to late homework assignments. Sousuke might blow some of this out of
proportion but Kaname will always be there to real him in. The summer season has begun and it’s gonna be
a hot one for Sousuke Sagara.
One of the biggest complaints I had about the first
season of Full Metal Panic was its uneven balance of action and comedy. More often than not, episodes dedicated to
side adventures with Sousuke and Kaname at Jin High seemed to fail more than
succeed and often was overshadowed by the superior, more dramatic
storyline. Well, if those episodes had
been anything like the first four episodes of Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, the
first season would have been a lot stronger.
Welcome to the second season of Full Metal Panic, Full
Metal Panic (with a ? instead of a !) Fumofuu.
The question mark on the title is pretty clever as you’ll clearly ask
yourself if this really is part of the series as a whole with its more light
hearted tone and zany antics. The answer
is a very welcome “yes”. From the first
episode alone, this is a different show but its one with plenty of heart and
still focuses on what made Full Metal Panic work in the first season, not the
mech battles or the Tom Clancy like plot, but the core characters themselves. This is Sousuke Sagara out of his element,
trying to make it work and both failing and succeeding in surprising ways.
Clearly, the season picks up sometime after the first one
and the dynamic between Sousuke and Kaname remains intact. Sousuke still likes to find military
solutions to problems: from booby traps to waiting in the bushes with a sniper
rifle when he thinks a love letter is someone issuing a challenges; and Kaname
is there to beat the hell out of him, mostly.
And yet, their growth as characters, and as a will they/wont they
romantic couple, continues to unfold just as smoothly as it did in Season One,
and that’s saying something for a bunch of short episodes meant to be one off
stand alones (I doubt much of what happens here will have an impact or will be
referenced in the third season, The Second Raid). As insane and manic as Kaname is driven by
Sousuke’s antics, she still cares about him.
Likewise, even though Sousuke cant see that Kaname is trying to catch
his eye with a sexy bikini, he still comes to her rescue when he thinks she’s
in trouble and will always be there to protect her. Unlike Keitaro and Naru from Love Hina, the
mismatched relationship seems more genuine and entertaining.
What makes all of the comedy work for me is that it is
suited to every single scenario you could think of to test Sousuke and see what
he’ll do: notices someones tampered with his locker-blows up the locker; thinks
someone has taken Kaname captive in a mansion on the beach-storm it with
military precision; spots Kaname being hassled by Yakuza in a theme park when
he’s not supposed to be there…GRAB THE PARKS MASCOT AND TAKE OUT THE GANGSTERS
WITH A SHOTGUN!!! Yes, Sousuke’s
acquisition of the Bonta Kun mascot suit (you may remember the cute little
plushie from a couple of appearances in Kaname’s room in Season One) is the
highlight of the show so far (that and shooting a gun in the air to demand
plain rolls from the school bakery). The
fact that he is unable to speak and can only say variations of the character’s
sole word “FUMOFFU!!” is cute and absolutely hilarious when he is using it to
kick some ass. Why could this not have
been in Season One, it would have been so much more awesome for it.
Besides the added comedy, we do get some new and familiar
faces to join Kaname and Sousuke in their antics. Kiyoko, Kaname’s best friend, is front and
center for a lot of the action, continuing to admire how Kaname, no matter how
pissed off, seems to be having a lot of fun with Kaname. Kaname and Sousuke’s classmates Mizuki and
Shinji are back as well, though they don’t have nearly as much to do as of
yet. Two notable additions are the main
members of the student council: Hayashimizu and
Ren. Hayashimizu is awesome, the kind of
person who Sousuke gets along with perfectly, Sousuke even calls him “Your
Excellency”. Either he is unaware of how
destructive Sousuke is, or he just doesn’t care. Either way, Hayashimizu feels like an alternate
universe Sousuke who uses obscure wisdom and references (imprinted on his many
fans) rather than weapons and explosives.
Ren is usually seen at Hayashimizu’s side and doesn’t really question
any of his decisions. She seems to like
Kaname though and is very pretty…so there’s that.
And for those of your concerned, the season
so far isnt without its share of action.
I mentioned the Bonta Kun sequence in the theme park. There’s also Sousuke dealing with a gang of
youths and their ruthless leader…which includes a disarmmament scene straight
out of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome; Sousuke and Kaname outracing a traffic cop
to get back to school with Sousuke’s notes; and Kaname and her classmates
trying to locate a forest hidden Sousuke for an art project…to name a few. The stand out of this set, besides Bonta Kun,
is Sousuke’s one man army assault on the beach mansion, owned by a wacked out
kid who crushes on Kaname. Sousuke is in
top soldier form, even if he isnt killing anybody. He even manages to take out a knife weilding
psychopath while he’s monologuing with a single gunshot…Raiders anybody? It’s bad ass and it’s comedy gold.
What can I say? Already I like Fumoffu better than Full Metal
Panic Season One and there isnt even a mech suit in sight. Seeing as how we see Tessa, Kurtz and Melissa
in the beautiful opening theme, we can rest assured that they’ll all pop up
sooner or later (Tessa did have a voice cameo in the first episode). I doubt they’ll bring any drama with
them. This series looks like it is here
for laughs and laughs alone. And really,
I don’t mind that at all. This is still
Full Metal Panic, it’s still Sousuke and Kaname having crazy adventures. This is the sequel I might not mind at all in
the slightest.
See ya next week as the Fumofuu craziness
continues.
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