After securing Kaname Chidori’s safety and deciding to stay in his position as her bodyguard, Sousuke Sagara continues to try to live out a normal high school existence. However, off another defeat at the hands of Sousuke and Mithril, Amalgam has decided to become more aggressive in both its fight against the anti-terrorist organization and in capturing Kaname. Meanwhile, the man who is perhaps Amalgam’s most dangerous agent of all, Leonard Testarossa, warns his sister and the others that war is coming.
It’s been thirteen years since we’ve had a full-fledged Full Metal Panic series—that Invisible Victory exists at all is blessing. But I wonder if other viewers will have the same problems I had, which have to do directly with that time gap. The new series feels like it was made in 2005, in terms of animation quality, the same distracting CGI the series has always had, and the sensibility of the show: Leonard’s grandstanding fits anime from a decade or two ago, but feels out of place now. Of course, all that is part of the charm of the franchise, part of what made me love it originally, the light novels (which I’ve almost completely forgotten) in addition the series and OVAs. And it was exciting to see Sousuke and Kaname’s relationship progress, and especially to see Kurz do his thing while the rest of the unnamed Mithril forces hopped to attention (a rare dose of comedy in the hyper serious opening episode). And it’s that love for the characters that’ll keep me watching. I’m in it for the long haul—after all, I even watched TSR twice, so finding out what happens to our cast (or going “oh yeah!” as I recall the light novels) in a show from a different era is, well, not a problem.
Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
I love Full Metal Panic ! I even disc copies of it.
Same here! Episode one of the sequel is now on Crunchyroll.
I’m about to get to this one after I finish checking out blog posts for the morning. Really looking forward to it.
I’m eager to hear what you think!
A great first episode. Looks like Amalgam has indeed gotten serious. I have high hopes for this!
The stakes are indeed high—I think that’s something FMP has always been good at!
Full Metal Panic was my first exploration in anime after I was exposed to Trigun by my cousin returning from college( At the time I didn’t consider my previous exposure to Cardcaptor Sakura, Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, Sailor Moon and Yu-Gi-Oh as true mature Anime, my definitions were a bit fuzzy). I ended up wandering through the Anime section at Hastings bookstore back before movie rentals became obsolete because of streaming services. With my card I rented Samarai Champloo, Armitage, S-cry-ed, Cowboy Bebop, Shaman King. I had no guide at the time to help me make selections. So I braved the unknown. Like the debris of many half eaten sandwiches so we’re the clutter of DVD cases, I rarely stuck with a show after two or three episodes.
Anyways… Full Metal Panic was the first I sat through a whole seasons worth of episodes. I don’t think I ever laughed so hard about Sousuke and his antics as his misinterprets normal highschool social situations. I needed the release. Except for some very old Gundam or Ultron I wasn’t too familiar with Japanese ” mech” culture. Still I ended up enjoying it.
Rachel likes Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura!
Good series!
🙂
Thank you for sharing! Full Metal Panic holds a special place in many of our hearts, myself included. But I also think it’s just a very good series—I can think of few others that balance humor and intense action so well.