Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid – Series Review
Full Metal Panic returns to pick up where the first season ended. The stakes this time couldn’t be higher with Chidori’s life and Sousake’s sanity on the line.
Final Series Score: 12/12 Perfect
Rewatchablity: high
Pros: emotionally gripping, great animation, splendid action, characters do not remain static but have a lot of continued growth in the series
Cons: none
Not that I needed another reason to praise Kyoto Animation but this show gives me another. Looking back, I’m surprised that Haruhi was so far off the radar when it started because the awesomeness of this show should have tipped people off that Kyoto Animation was a premier animation studio.
Where this season excelled over the first season was in invoking emotions from the viewer. For example, Sagara’s painful emotional growth feels real – he’s not some sort of emo boy that is painful for non-emo people to watch. I constantly felt the same emotions wash over me as Sagara felt in the show. When he was pulled off from being Chidori bodyguard, I felt anger and wasn’t surprised to also see Sagara feel the same way. Later on, I only felt loathing for the Arbalest even before Sagara clued the audience that he loathed the Arbalest. So instead of just watching the show, it feels like somehow the viewer has fallen into the show and that’s a mark of a good show.
I can only imagine the waiting people who watched this when it came out have had to endure – seeing Haruhi, Kanon, Lucky Star, and Clannad (and even more Clannad) being done with no word on when the fourth season will air. At some point I wonder if KyoAni will start up a concurrent unit so they could do two shows at once and clear out some of the backlog of shows they should be doing.
In conclusion, the entire series has been a very awesome one, so if you haven’t watched it yet – you really should watch it.
ouch
Chidori wants a season 4
This show was awesome if for no other reason than the Mao vs Twin fight. That was beautiful.
I sense a little bias in these. Cons: Gates is a rehash of what we’ve already seen from Gauron and doesn’t present a very interesting villain. Cyclical progression in Chidori’s relationship. In other words they reset the character development from the first season so that they could do it all over again.
Seriously, don’t let your love of Kyoani cloud your mind. Fanboyism is bad.
I really loved this season too and the twins were just awesome. I liked it all through until the ending, even though I had trouble understanding all the military things. The action was brilliant, and I just loved this series.
Thanks for the comments.
Even though I do love KyoAni, I realize they are fallable. What probably mostly contributed to any bias is the fact that I watched all three series in about a week and half. So instead of giving myself time to really think about the show, it was like a feedback loop. My enjoyment caused even more enjoyment.
Reading Kaioshin Sama’s comment got me thinking. Gates was a loser bad guy compared to Gauron but when I watched the series, I was focusing more on Sagara’s emotional state and the trouble with Mithril. Also, I would have liked more character development with the twins, since they seem like they had an interesting backstory and motive driving them.
Awesome show! Loved almost everything about it and the second series is better, perhaps a tad more realistic and grownup?
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW***
IMO, the only real problem with this show was the ending. It was far too cliche and because of that lost a lot of the impact it otherwise would have had for me. After watching episode 9 (my fav episode) and especially after her final comment of the ep, I had high hopes that Kaname would become a mysterious semi-vigilante, not necessarily working for Mithril, but fighting against amalgam. Similar to a catwoman character from the Gotham universe.
This would’ve spawned at least 3 seasons worth of kickass material insteaed of the inevitable conclusion.
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Cheers! Sandra. R.