November 2007

Here is another adventure into the world of Full Metal Panic! Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid is the true sequel to FMP!

This series takes you back to the military life of Sousuke.

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
5 Stars

Here is another adventure into the world of Full Metal Panic! Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid is the true sequel to FMP!

This series takes you back to the military life of Sousuke.

In the first mission of the series, the person giving them aid in the tunnel betrays Sousuke and his team. Captain Vincent Blueno, who goes by Ogma-1, was responsible for the communications maintenance in the Yangtze River Tunnel hostage rescue operation in Nanjing. Captain Blueno betrayed his comrades by leaking all of the radio transmissions to Gates, allowing Gates to know every move they made before they made them.

Sousuke is constantly battling with enemies, but his biggest battle is trying to fit in with normal society. He is told in the end that he disrupted the life of Chidori and ultimately put her into more danger than she normally would have encountered.

Although Sousuke could not adapt to Tokyo and city life, Chidori adapted to Sousuke’s military way of life. After Sousuke is taken off the mission of protecting Chidori, she starts to notice things are wrong and begins to think like Sousuke. She becomes suspicious of everything and comes up with a plan to save her life. The events that take place after Sousuke leaves make Chidori realize that she needs Sousuke and actually admits to liking him.

Chidori is attacked by the younger of the twins while the other twin runs a rampage in Hong Kong. Chidori saved herself, and many of her techniques came from Sousuke’s methods.

After Sousuke leaves, he encounters several antagonists including some new and some old. Gates, even crazier than Gauron, is the major antagonist. Gates is a general leader to an organization called Amalgam; this organization’s one desire is to bring down Mithril. Gates has in his possession several Venom Arm Slaves and he and his followers attempt to take out Mithril. Gates only answers to one person inside the organization Amalgam, Mithril’s Captain Testarossa’s brother, Leonard Testarossa.

Leonard’s one weakness is Chidori; he confesses at the end that he loves her. Where Leonard lacks there he makes up with strength brought on by his human-sized Arm Slaves who obey his every command.

Leonard is also a Whispered, along with his sister Captain Tessa Testarossa of the Tuatha de Danaan and Chidori Kaname. Sousuke thought Gauron had died when he set his Arm Slave to self-destruct in FMP! I was even shocked to see Gauron had survived and as the infamous sensei of the twins.

When Gauron reappears in this story, he brings followers Xia Yu Lan and Xia Yu Fan. Gauron stays in hiding until he sends out the message saying, “To the son of Bdakshon’s Tiger. Meet Hamidra at Tsim Sha Tsui.” Gauron only expected one person to be able to decipher the message and expected Kashim, or better known as Sousuke, to find him. The plan was to lure Sousuke to Gauron’s bedside, where he lay crippled from the self-destruction of his Arm Slave in the final episode of FMP!

Gauron finally dies for good when Sousuke learns that Chidori was to be killed on his orders.  In attempts to kill Chidori, Gauron’s trained assistant, Xia Yu Lan died in battle by the hands of Leonard Testarossa. Her twin sister, Xia Yu Fan’s mission was to create commotion in the city of Hong Kong with her Arm Slave, which eventually lead her to death moments after hearing of Xia Yu Lan’s death.

After seeing all three of the series linked to Sousuke and Chidori, I really am saddened to be done with it all. I really enjoyed watching these characters and as many have said, I felt connected with them. The characters’ lines seemed well thought out and made the viewer connect with each character. The story line in the thirteen-episode show was exciting and shocking; I never would have guessed Gauron would survive from the explosion. I enjoyed the dark comical relief from Gates; he often would revert to his less sane side by hauling off and shooting his followers for no reason. Overall, each of the Full Metal Panic series are good to look into for those who like action, battle scenes, explosions, drama and love stories. Try not to be discouraged by the love story and drama part, not all battle/action animes can survive without a little drama.