A third of the way through the Spring anime season, and FMP does not seem in any danger of losing its path so far. You want action, romance, explosions, and drama, this anime is definitely aiming to deliver.
Episode 3 gave me more or less exactly what I wanted from Full Metal Panic and episode 4 gave us a very solid follow up. Chidori and Sousuke plan their rescue of the students and while they do save their classmates it isn’t without cost and it doesn’t go without a hitch. Plot armour is reasonably strong in this anime with main characters only getting wounded rather than killed, but seeing Tokiwa writhing in pain after getting a chunk of school building lodged in her side isn’t exactly easy watching. While we assume she’ll recover, there’s a real tension that one mis-step could lead to any one of these characters dying.
Of course, after the beautiful moment between Chidori and Sousuke last week and some fairly touching early scenes this week, we knew that things were approaching the end and while you see it coming a mile away it still hits hard. What I think really sells these events is Sousuke’s reaction as his usual stoicism is utterly and completely dispelled and we see the boy he is who has just lost the person he loves.
And for those just in it for the giant robot fights, you’ll find those too as well as a dramatic escape by Tessa and the others (again with causalities aplenty to add to the real drama of the situation). So far this returning series has delivered what I wanted and I’m loving each and every episode. Really looking forward to next week.
Linked Reviews:
- Episode 3: Combining War and Battle with Teen Drama
- Episode 2: The Weight of The Drama Is Real
- Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory First Impressions
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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Tokiwa is one of those characters you want to see more in fan fiction crossover stories. She’s well on the way to becoming a tabloid journalist or war correspondent. She’s seen weird stuff and always snaps photos with her tiny camera. That’s a key trait of a good journalist: pictures. She’s also lucky enough to live through stuff. This is her first injury.
I’m hoping she holds onto her spunk after this injury. It would be horrible if she actually became timid after this.
Agreed. She will either get tougher from the challenge of recovery or be forever broken.
It’s weird but my current issue right now is (which is why I stopped doing weekly reviews) that the episodes that currently release don’t have a lot that I could talk about.^^ Of course, there is the great story but my points of criticism literally haven’t changed since my last review, it would just be another story summary. The new season of FMP is surprisingly solid right now and so far, it’s a good start.
I hope they don’t pull out some bad cliffhanger and at least deal with the rescue before the season ends. I don’t know why this gives me a bad vibe, but I can’t shake the feeling of that danger being there.
I think it is the short episode count. It feels impossible that they are going to wrap all this up in 12 episodes.
As much as I’m trying to avoid thinking about it, that’s definitely a problem they are going to have to address sooner or later.
I hope they’re not trying to pull a leap of faith, as in: Expecting to get another season but then not getting it, leaving everything unfinished. We’ve had that often recently. :/
That would be the worst thing that could happen. And considering both season 1 and 2 finished their current dramas even while some plot points weren’t resolved, to leave the whole thing hanging open in season 3, after such a long gap, would just be terrible.