Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory Episode 7: There's Something Really Satisfying About Watching Sousuke Pull A Helicopter Out of the Sky

In one episode so much was packed in. This returning anime has definitely continued to impress as Invisible Victory marches on.

It is rare that an episode can pack so much in and yet not feel like it is rushing a mile a minute or mashing things together that just don’t fit. We continue directly on from the previous episode with Sousuke and Nami gearing up to fight in the illegal battle (which is of course rigged against them and designed only to kill off Sousuke). However, in the midst of this they manage to drop a potentially major character reveal that could become fairly critical to the plot later around Nami. Sousuke starts to raise the point and then decided to let it be because his attention is still squarely on Kaname.

And that brings me to another excellent character point in this episode. Sousuke is fully in military mode for the majority of the fight. Its been awhile since we’ve seen him this on edge and having to think of a way around what seems like insurmountable odds. I like that for the most part this show doesn’t rely on just giving him the best equipment or being the most powerful (even when he had the Arbalest he could seldom use it at full capacity). They also don’t really rely on luck or chance. Sousuke genuinely thinks through the possibilities based on his and his machine’s capabilities at the time and manages to apply clear decision making in the heat of the moment. It occasionally helps that his opponents aren’t always the brightest bulbs.

Despite this, Sousuke makes a declaration after the battle that really struck with me. He tells the former Mithril mercenary that he is ‘just a man’. For those words to come out of Sousuke’s mouth really demonstrates how far he has come. Previously he would have claimed to be a soldier or to have a mission or something to that effect. This is a really impressive moment for him and yet it isn’t given a fanfare, it comes across as part of the natural flow of the episode.

We then have the reveal about Lemon and though we still don’t know exactly what he’s up to this looks like it is going to get interesting as he swooped in and saved the rest of Nami’s crew from becoming pig food.

So, a cool robot fight and some fantastic character work, meanwhile the plot progresses in a satisfying way; what more could you want from an episode?

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Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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