English Dub Review: Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory “Giant Killing”

Fee Fi Fo Fum, people who don’t know the title’s a sports term might feel dumb!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Nami’s team drives out to the boondocks for Sosuke’s first deathmatch. On the ride over, Nami surprises Sosuke by quickly mastering AS systems in half a day, leading him to wonder if she might be a Whispered like Kaname and Tessa. Upon meeting up with the police chief, Sosuke’s ordered to leave his team behind and head towards some ruins for his fight. The model of the opponent’s mech is a bit of a fright for him, as it’s an M9 Unit he and the rest of Mithril used to pilot. Seems that was intentional, as Kurama is making it loud and clear that he knows Sosuke wanted a link between Amalgam and the death matches. Now he’s got it, but he has to live long enough to keep it.

Up against a superior model, Sosuke’s Savage is initially caught off guard by the M9’s quicker mobility and agility, but they didn’t count on the young Sergeant using his knowledge of both mechs’ specs to his advantage. Keeping in mind his Savage’s greater durability, he collapses one of the ruins on top of both him and his opponent, which wrecks the M9 while the Savage is only marginally damaged. The other pilot introduces himself as George Lovelock, and he worked for Mithril until the recent attack, getting taken after it was decimated and forced to work for Amalgam. He fesses up what he can about the group, though it’s not much more than the locations of some camps and that Kurama is here now. Before they can make a move, an attack helicopter moves in to finish them off. Sosuke decides to respond to this by CLIMBING UP THE RUINS WITH HIS MECH AND LASSOING THE HELICOPTER OUT OF THE FLIPPING SKY. HELL FREAKING YES. This sadly wears out the Savage, so he’ll have to do the rest of the mission on foot.

Nami gets taken to Kurama while the team is taken to a remote pig farm in order to grind them into sow chow when they’re saved by Lemon! Behind him are a few armored guys with guns, showing that our struggling photographer is not all that he seems, and maybe after the same thing as Sosuke. Nami is not so lucky, as Kurama holds her at gunpoint as Sosuke looks on helplessly.

OUR TAKE

I’ve stated before how conflicted I am about the awesome idea of a mecha fighting league being basically glossed over in favor of the bigger story, and in a way that’s still true, but at least here it’s blended well enough to play to FMP’s greater strengths and signature tone. The battle between Sosuke and the M9 is very tense and elaborate, with an added sense of pressure with Sosuke in an inferior model than he’s used to. Speaking as mecha fan, seeing how both suits have different quirks and advantages over the other really help flesh out these things as realistic parts of the world. The fight could’ve been as simple as “run down old robot vs new high tech robot”, but it’s the extra touches that really lend a sense of immersion and wonder to it all. And I may be stretching a bit here, but the added dilemma of Sosuke facing what he used to pilot before the Arbalest set him apart from other pilots might be pointing towards how he’s become, or at least becoming, his own man instead of a simple mercenary like Lovelock says he is. And, of course, lassoing an attack helicopter in mid-air will always be awesome, though the CGI ends up kinda mucking things up a bit in all of that, but not nearly enough to ruin it.

I appreciated Kurama getting to show off his villain chops again, even if he’s not nearly as active in the planning as he was in Tokyo. I still like his cold and steely demeanor to contrast him from previous season villains (who he oddly brings up again like he did in the first episode so as to give us more reason to make the comparison), and it’s clear enough from then and now that he is not the type to play around even if his plans start to go sideways. I do wonder if he has many purposes to the story after this arc is done. If he does, that’s more time to see him at full throttle, but taking him out now will be a bit of a disappointment unless it’s a really good send off.

I’m kinda confused as to what the purpose of showing Nami to be a Whispered is unless she’s going to be important later. His works on the Savage couldn’t stop it from shutting down, so she’s still learning how to manage her new gifts, but there must be more to it. Sosuke obviously isn’t going to tell her about it all now, especially while the group that’s on the hunt for them is around, but it seems right now to just be an indicator that Sosuke is just a magnet for Whispered girls. Maybe we’ll get something out of all of it in the next episode, as we conclude our time in Namsac.