Anime: Fullmetal Panic! The Second Raid

TSR is a wonderful action adventure that anyone (who can tolerate a bit of mech) will love. Despite being a sequel series, I believe that the execution was done in a manner that far surpasses the original. You can't help but enjoy it.

The story returns as Sosuke continues to struggle utilizing the full potential of the arbalest while encountering new, dangerous foes.

Animation:
Kyoto animation delivers again. Crisp lines, eye catching color, and attention to detail create an absolutely stunning piece of work (minus the Mechs, which still look ugly).

Sound:
Overall, I'd say the sound was better than the original but not as good as Fumoffu. The OP is quite good and serves as a refresher to the series. The voice acting is the same as the original and Fumoffu, overall a great job by Sosuke and Chidori.

Story:
The plot is very action oriented so prepare to see quite a few battles between the mechs. There are also many twists in the story which leaves the watcher constantly intrigued. Many of these twists deal with Sosuke's relationship with Chidori and how he pilots the Arbalest.

The villains here are all very skilled which heightens the tension during every battle. Combined with the fact that Sosuke can't fully use the lambda driver partially due to his disliking of the AS and you get a really intense show.
There is a definite climax in this show and the conclusion is very satisfying and sets the state for FMP TTR (The Third Raid?) whenever that will come out.

Character:
Sosuke is completely torn apart in this series. He seems to fall deeper and deeper into despair as he can't properly utilize the Arbalest nor is he able to protect Chidori. You go through a roller coaster as his character changes from just a loyal servant of Mithril to an actual human being with innate desires. Chidori is more of a side character in this than the first series since it really focues on Sosuke but nonetheless makes critical appearances.

The villains in this also make this show really interesting. On one side, you have a psychotic terrorist Gates and on the other side you have two deadly, suggestively erotic, sisters. The characters in this series were absolutely great and complements the story nicely.

Value:
For thirteen episodes, you get one huge action and drama packed series. Definitely re-watchable and still anxiously awaiting the sequel.

ANIME MINOR JEWELS SERIES
Full lit of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

This is a review of all three different series.

When you think of sequels, you would imagine that they are mostly the same as before, with perhaps more action, more fan service, less story, and so on. In this regard this trilogy is one of a kind because each segment has an entirely different feeling to it. The first is an almost run-of-the-mill teen action/adventure (simply called FMP), the second is a comedy (Fumoffu), and the third is a drama (Second Raid). The reason for this turnaround is because the original material was deliberately separated into these three different sections, presumably for a better consistency and flow of the story. The result is three very different shows.

If we are to place them in a line of importance, the most entertaining is Fumoffu and the least interesting FMP. The reason is rather simple; being a story based on light novels means that it takes things… light. The story is simple and full of convenience and the characters lack overall complexity. Thus by nature it better suits to be a light comedy. Plus, the first season was made by GONZO, the company famous for ruining everything it touches with its horrible CGI and incompetent staff at the storyboards. KyoAni taking over the production in the two other shows saved the franchise from certain doom.

STORY SECTION: FMP: 4/10, FUM: 1/10, SR: 7/10, AVERAGE: 4/10
As I said, the story part is simple and with weak reasoning; it’s just there just an excuse to have things happening for the sake of happening. There are people who are supernaturally born with hidden knowledge, there is a secret military organization with mecha protecting them and some random villains trying to abuse them. Don’t try to see past that because nothing amazing is ever going to happen beyond that; it’s to the most part the chemistry amongst the characters that matters and the comedy. The military missions will feel almost boring after awhile and the meat of the show is the funny school events.

- For the sake of reviewing, the first season is a simple teen adventure with a very loose plot around Chidori being stalked and protected by Sagara.
- The second is one of the same, with a lot more humour and no story continuity at all; it’s pure aimless comedy.
- The third returns to its original premise and has now a far more tight story, better developed characters, interesting twists, and even adds drama and gore to the lot and creates a nice overall season. The scenario is still full of convenience but the far less dead time and the seemingly powerful finale make it far more interesting. For some silly reasons, it was not received very well from the community because they saw it as a poor attempt at making something tragic out of something light.
Just in case you wonder, the story continues further in the novels and it is unknown if they even adapt the rest of it in anime.

CHARACTER SECTION: FMP: 6/10, FUM: 7/10, SR: 8/10, AVERAGE: 7/10
In effect, there are only three interesting characters in this trilogy.
- Chidori is your average energetic school girl, who strives to be perfect in everything. She also has that weird hidden knowledge inside her which makes her better without even knowing it. She is very active and dynamic as a character, a thing rather rare in anime, which love to humiliate females and present them as frail and useless. Although there is a rather high degree of fan service around her, that still does not take away her charm.
- Sagara is a teenager boy raised in the battlefield. That makes him acting as a completely distant and militaristic character, acting suspicious all the time and carrying lethal weaponry even in school. He is assigned to protect Chidori and thus he turns to a stalker and a freak, always causing a ruckus even around the most trivial event. It’s his interaction and overprotection and anti-social behaviour that makes him a highly comical character. As expected, he and Chidori gradually start having feelings for one another and it is very humorous to see how he is unable to express even the slightest feeling without making it look ridiculous.
- Testarrosa is a young girl and Sagara’s superior in the organization. She is there to provide a romantic triangle and frankly she hardly seems to be leadership material. It’s her powers that somehow make her important but you end up caring about her silly behaviour and her rivalry with Chidori.

All the rest of the cast are not interesting; mostly stock material of students and other military staff, just so the story will have more variety. They help to colorize the main trio nicely.

ART & MUSIC SECTION: FMP: 7/10, FUM: 8/10, SR: 8/10, AVERAGE: 8/10
All three series look and sound very appealing to the senses, as they have pretty good visuals and nice songs, appealing character figures and fitting voice acting. There is no innovation or even experimentation in here to offer the trilogy some sort of artistic bonus to the scores; it’s a pretty much mainstream take on mecha action and school comedy. I give FMP a bit less though because it is made by GONZO. Their CGI is making everything look worse. Plus, aesthetically speaking the bright colours of Fumoffu and the dark ones in Second Raid helped to establish a sort of unique feeling to them, a thing that misses entirely from FMP.

VALUE SECTION: 7/10
This trilogy has by all means nothing exceptional about it. It is an above average time killer thanks to the strong chemistry around the main trio as well as Sagara’s weird behaviour. Plus, the different feeling of each season make it more memorable.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: FMP: 6/10, FUM: 8/10, SR: 8/10, AVERAGE: 7/10
FMP is an almost average teen adventure with loose plot that has very little to remember it about. Fumoffu is very good as a comedy, with several hilarious scenes. Second Raid is also good if you see it as a whole, as it strengthens and progresses the relationships of the characters, offers new aspects of the setting and even presents a darker side to the light and silly feeling of the previous instalments.

VERDICT: FMP: 6/10, FUM: 6.5/10, SR: 7.5/10, AVERAGE: 7/10
It is not by any means a masterpiece but it is very enjoyable in overall and does improve along the way instead of getting worse, as it usually happens with sequels.

[br]So, my stretch of Full Metal Panic anime watching is at an end, at least for now. While the series as a whole has been undeniably very enjoyable, my feelings on this last installment are very mixed.
[br]First, the good: the presentation has improved noticably. The animation is definitely better than the first series, and substantially improved over Fumoffu. Combined with improvements on what was already first-class sound - whether by luck or judgement, the choice of music is superb, while the voice acting has advanced to be truely flawless - this brings even more slickness to what was by no means a shabby show on that front. But sadly, the same cannot be said for the storytelling.
[br]The Second Raid is in some sense an opposite to Fumoffu - it neglects the romantic comedy aspects of the first series to concentrate almost exclusively on being an action show - but this sadly means it suffers even more strongly from the same faults Fumoffu did. Considered in isolation, the action-show side of Full Metal Panic is, while by no means bad, generic and on the whole uninteresting. It's a pleasant enough waste of time, but robot action shows are ten-a-penny, and the unique characters cannot raise the action show FMP above the crowd the way they can for the romantic comedy FMP.
[br]Like Fumoffu, The Second Raid's greatest flaw is its failure to advance the most interesting plot thread from the first show. Without wanting to give too much away, the show ends with an explicit "everything is back to normal now" scene, where what I really wanted to see was a sign that things had progressed and changed. Of course some villans were defeated, people rescued and so forth over the course of the 13 episodes, but it's never enough to involve the viewer, especially one who's seen a series' worth of the good guys in combat already. The villans are given too little characterization and screentime to make them interesting; they're just cardboard cutouts for Sagura to knock down. And it's not enough; we know from the previous series that he's a good fighter, and the bad guys here seem far less competent in actual combat, so there's never even the tiniest hint of risk. Perhaps the show has become a victim of its own earlier characterization - the minor characters were so well-done, have so much love, that threats to their lives are never going to be remotely credible. But the series never even tries - the military supporting cast only see the occasional battle scene with about as much risk as hanging out the laundry, while the school cast (other than the leads) are entirely ignored.
[br]But the worst problem is the behaviour of Sagura towards the end. While his character has always been entirely implausible, his ridiculously bad decisions in previous series were always made in the interests of comedy. In The Second Raid they seem to be made solely for the purpose of fucking him over, and it doesn't make remotely pleasant viewing - I had to force myself to watch the last few episodes. His very reason for existence is rudely trampled on by the writers here, and while things work out in the end, it doesn't seem to be anything like a good enough payoff for the suffering he goes through.
[br]The Second Raid was enjoyable enough while I was watching it, but a bitter disappointment looking back over it. Where I had hoped for a fitting conclusion, this show does nothing but mark time. And that's a real shame, because the characters of the original series deserve much better.

The gods of KyoAni have... is there a need for a repeat of what I've already said? And this time, they've put nearly all my feelings of GONZO's production out and amaze me with their pro-production skills.

Capitalizing after the temporary break from action that was Fumoffu!, The Second Raid starts with a bang, climaxes at a bang, and ends with a bang, all while having a perfectly executed weaving plotline between the situations of Sousuke and Kaname and bringing out the best of both characters in their situations. Oh, and making changes to the character cast was an AWESOME decision as well. I don't know how they do it!

Continuing the franchise, the opening action-packed episode reintroduced us to the world of Full Metal Panic!: Arm Slaves, military involvement, blood and guns and more. Though none of the Whispered stuff is expanded, it still provides ample entertainment that makes you forget about those mysteries to just enjoy the well wrought out story, characters, and villains.

This time, the villains get a HUGE spotlight on them that makes them very likeable in a strange way. Insane and barbaric, Gates is one of those rare villains that freaks you out but charming at the same time. Whenever he kills someone, it is just too funny. Whenever he gets behind a lambda driver, he's believeable to be nearly invincible. Whenever he jacks off to squirrel pr0n... Well at least the scene lasts no longer than 30 seconds or so. The other main villains this time around are the twincestous Chinese assassins. Originally twin boys in the novel, KyoAni decides to spice things up with a little fanservice by changing their gender and cruelly plays with them (or the author is cruel, KyoAni is just following the plot). I felt a great loss when they get killed off, especially when the death scenes can make you rip your heart out from the sadness (both the feelings and the fanservice).

Sousuke and Chidori are still the same awesome pair as they were, but upgraded with life and emotion. Though nowhere complete, the development between the two was a major influence on the war against the villains, and thankfully made the ending barely believeable. Some may say there's too much angst and 'emo' involved, but hey it works!

Though it's the same-old must-kill-new-villain recycling, The Second Raid takes it to another level with KyoAni's help. I'll predict that the novels could be read the same way as any other recycled material, but the way the story is handled in animation form gets a lot of vibes and credibility.

The only element bad about TSR is the return of Gauron. I could not believe he could survive from the last episode of the first season, but then again the season made the statement that he is pretty much invincible. Though the only scene with him was excellent (in addition to him getting shot multiple times), I only hope that he doesn't return as a freaking cyborg next season. Rest in silence, please.

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid! is a great pain reliever of the first season, a great continuation of the FMP franchise, a great story, and a hopeful for the release of a third season. Go KyoAni Go!




note: And GAWD FREAKING BASTARDS. They CANNOT speak Cantonese. It hurted my ears so much because I can't understand anything even though I am of the native tongue.

I've been looking forward to this anime with utmost confidence and a great deal of hope. The first FMP series was nothing but eye candy so I was hoping that this would somehow manage to change FMP into a truly wonderful thing. You should notice that I am only referring to FMP, the original. Fumoffu is established as a league of its own in the comedy genre, completely cut off from the general story-line.

Well, as months passed by, months of expectations, blood and sweat as each episode was released, I gained more and more hope in what I was expecting "The second raid" to become in the end. To my greatest surprise, this show managed to overcome all oddities of fate and from the ashes of a great project that FMP could've been, it rose as a great sequel to an average anime.

Animation
Let me put this blunt and painful: The animation flirts with perfection. Starting from Gonzo's original series, going through Fumoffu and finally into TSR, the animation has always looked stunning. Clean models, good backgrounds, great battles and good movement...these have always been present throughout the series.

I must mention an interesting thing here. The concept of mecha usually revolves around bulky robots and epic fights between these machines of future-lore. The producers of TSR do a great job at animating these elements of the anime...perhaps a too good job. When the mecha parts began I felt like I was watching a cyber-punk anime instead of a mecha series. The robots move with such naturalism that it's beyond any rules of physics. Until I saw TSR I believed that the mechs in the Gundam series were cruely exaggerated but this series actually manages to surpass even those. Don't get me wrong, the battles are enjoyable and extremely dynamic but they feel like battles between cyborgs rather than giant constructs of metal.

Another thing that was introduced into this installment of FMP is the close-combat between soldiers. Be it fire arms blazing or sword clashing, everything looks absolutely gorgeous and natural. There are some fights that could very well write history in this domain since there are virtually no flaws in the sequence of the actions: clean, fluid, natural and dynamic...all these make each clash something to remember.

TSR is a visual masterpiece...a slight annoyance could be the strange glow around the characters but that can be easily overlooked.

Sound
The first thing you hear in TSR is the opening (genius statement, ain't it?): an all account great song that brings about the somewhat hectic mood of the anime. The ending is calmer and a bit more romantic, showing another part of the anime. So, these two songs are practically a great part of the OST. The rest that comes isn't much further behind.
The voices are great for each and every character, matching their personalities really well and conveying to us, the viewers, the emotions that torment the ones on screen.
The BGM is close to being cliché...I've heard the same tunes in so many different anime I became practically immune to them. Yes, the music that there does fit the scenes but it's not really something unique. It's just like a by-the-book built element to the anime's chasse.

One last thing I must add are the general sound-effects for the fighting mecha, the weapons and all that: wonderful and pretty realistic. The first time you watch the anime it really manages to stand out, even if you don't realize it at first, just that there's something there that you notice but can't identify it...well, it's the sound. A round of applause for the producers for accomplishing such a feat...

Story
Here I'm in a bit of a predicament: to judge the anime on what it does alone would be denying the fact that it's actually a sequel and as such it's not impetuous that the anime be containing elements that would make it stand solely on its own feet. Let's see...

"The second raid" is a direct continuation of the original FMP series, evolving the story and the characters. To make a bit of a comparison with the original thing I must state that in this season the idea of more, loosely connected side stories has been abandoned for a more concentrated and detailed plot that starts straight from the first episode and doesn't get distracted on the way by stupid fillers or useless crap. That's the greatest plus that I can give to the story in the sequel...it follows a set plan and path and it works great, introducing not only great moments for battles but also it gives Sousuke enough time to finally do some development.

But the length is not helping this anime much. Just 13 episodes were not enough and the story felt really concentrated. Not only that, but after the last episode there is so much story material left behind that he creators can create a second season off it. TSR feels, from start to end, just a prelude to something much greater. And in a lot of ways, that's just what it is. If anything, all that this anime accomplishes is to develop Sousuke from an already interesting character to a great one, outside the sphere of comedy anime.
The fact that the producers stopped straight in the center of the whole thing, I can only consider it a great bit stain on an anime that could have been legendary. Perhaps the next season will finally complete the story...too much postponing is getting tiresome.

One thing I must mention is the fact that this anime seems to be the maturity point of FMP. No more silly gags, no more social inapt situations, no more masked violence. All bets are off in here and all limits are released. The violence is sky-rocketing; there is nudity and sexual implications and, basically, a much darker side to the whole story. Too bad all of this is laid to waste as the anime is not complete and simply ends in the middle of the action. Too bad, it's too damn bad that this happens.

Character
Well, it finally happens: Sousuke Sagara gets developed. It's been a long wait but in the end, it finally came: a dynamic and natural evolution, taking into account the circumstances. I was not only thrilled that this occurred but I was happy to see how well it was carried out on a character that I considered to be inflexible to the brink of being a piece of obsidian. My hats off to the producers for managing this without forcing anything into his evolution.

Sadly, the other characters receive no such favors.
We have the mad scientist.
Interesting?
Yes.
Developed?
No.
We have the lesbian twins.
Interesting?
Yes, very much I might add.
Developed?
A fair share, certainly not enough.
We have a guy with long, silver hair accompanied by goons.
Interesting?
Yes, he seems to be someone's brother and playing an important role in the story.
Developed?
He barely has time on screen, no development for now; left for the next season.
Tessa, the klutz, makes a daring comeback. As usual, she was interesting and she gets a bit of development this time. Beyond the fact that she is a commander, she is not a soulless puppet, she is a young woman with strong feeling that are not returned. The decisions that she makes had made her grow in my eyes. Perhaps in the next season more shall happen...I can only hope so.

And, last but not least: Kanami plays a very important role in the story and, even on her own, her actions are hardly predictable. She comes next after Sousuke in evolution terms. This time she was a truly magnificent character, not that she wasn't one before but this time all her actions are only her own, without standing in Sousuke's shadow.

All in all, time was an important factor yet again. More time would've made the anime a 100 times better but as it is, it feels incomplete in most of the things it tries to do. The only thing I may call complete is Sousuke's development. That's good for now...

Value
On its own, TSR has a very low value. Watched as a stand alone anime it's barely got enough elements to make it understandable but enough action and production values to be a good anime.
Watched as a sequel, it's perfect...just that's it's too damn short. A prelude to something greater if you may.

My only disappointment is the fact that it's not a complete experience. Other than that, I've enjoyed this anime a bit more than I should have.

This continuation of the original Full Metal Panic! solves many of the issues that I had with the original series, and addressed some problems that the first series had.

The animation is by far better than the original series. The Mecha battles are fluid and well done, the Lambda Driver fights are much better done, and the character models are still fantasticly rendered. The backgrounds are also very detailed and realistic, especially in the Hong Kong scenes.

The soundtrack is fairly good, but not great, same with the opening and ending songs.

The storyline is where the series most improves over its predeccesor. Focusing mainly on the exploration of Chidori's and Sosuke's relationship, specifically with Sosuke's character, this story is very fulfilling and riveting. The villians are also much more complex in this series, especially with the addition of the two sister villians. This story is rife with conflict which makes the story more interesting.

However, just as in the first series, Second Raid leaves us hanging and, while Sosuke's and Chidori's relationships and characters are given closure, the villians are ultimately not destroyed and we never find out what, exactly, the villians are after, why they are fighting Mithril, who the leaders are, and how they were able to acquire the technology.

FMP: Second Raid focuses, as I have stated, mainly on Sosuke and Chidori, with Tessa and the villians being the main side characters (Mao and Kuze don't feature prominatly in this series). Sosuke is given much more depth, and the inner conflict within him between what he wants to do and what he is ordered to do, after being a soldier his whole life, is extremely interesting. It is very amazing to see his character develop as he explores his psyche and his relationship with Chidori. Chidori herself is also given more depth, besides being an obnoxious high schooler with no regard for Sosuke's feelings, she has begun to grow and develop as well, and aids Sosuke in his transition and growth.

As for the villians, I think the "mad villian" is a bit stereotypical, but I did enjoy the villian sisters and the mysterious "mastermind". However, the sisters were left unexplored; their motivations, backgrounds, and characters were never really fleshed out: I wish I knew more about them.

This anime is for Full Metal Panic fans: if you liked the original, watch this series for more closure and continuation of the first, though even this one isn't completely finished and seems headed for another sequel.