English Dub Review: Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory “Rotten Repose”

Zen and the Art of Giant Robot Maintenance.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

With sponsorship money in hand and an ace pilot to lead them to victory, Nami’s team begin doing maintenance on their Arm Slave to the only logical music choice: Smooooooooth Jazz. And to fully make it Sosuke’s, he chooses an Arbalest-style black and white paint job, christening it “Al the Second.” The next few matches are little more than a cakewalk for him, lifting the team’s spirits and finally giving them all a chance to breathe as they take on sponsor after sponsor over the montage saxophone. Oddly, Sosuke can’t bring himself to fully settle down, even becoming nervous about actually becoming comfortable with everyone despite Nami starting to very clearly developing strong feelings for him.

While on an AS part run in the town’s electronics market, Sosuke and Lemon discuss being an artist in their respective fields: photography for Lemon and AS fighting for Sosuke. Sosuke ponders about how he can only really express himself through fighting, though Lemon tells him there’s always time to try something new. This bonding moment is sadly interrupted when local police arrest them. The chief singles out Sosuke specifically to basically tell him all of his easy wins are starting to disrupt the rigged nature of the fights. But it seems our boy’s been preparing for this, agreeing to get off the circuit if they can put him in the big leagues. Live ammo fights that pay way more and go to the death, so basically almost as corrupt as FIFA.

Having a hard time winning her over and not wanting to hide things from his friends like he used to, Sosuke explains his real goals and reasons for coming here: He’s really after Amalgam, and his only lead is these death matches. Nami initially fires him over this but eventually decides to go along with things, partly to get Lemon out of jail. And it seems Sosuke’s leads were right on the money, as it turns out Kurama is running the matches.

OUR TAKE

We’re waist deep in this new arc now (especially going by the new “English Versions” of the OP and ED which are ironically HARDER to understand), and we’re not wasting any time fleshing out this section of the FMP world. The two-minute sequence at the beginning of overhauling the team AS is quintessential Real Robot stuff, showing the development of a giant freaking robot as sort of a mix between a building a car and a computer (even though most cars have computers nowadays but you get what I mean). It really connects the optimistic child and cynical adult in me that this seems like something that could really be put together in real life someday.

We also get to actually see Sosuke cutting loose in his own Sosuke way, gleefully giving his new mecha custom paint job and name while also reflecting on how his life spent fighting and his prowess in it has really only left him with one apparent option for being himself. With that in mind, I wish the actual fights themselves were cooler looking, though whether that has to do with the CGI or just that they’re meant to be quick I have no idea. Sgt. Sagara also can’t seem to turn off his swag, attracting a new love interest in Nami that, again, I can only see as just reminding him that Kaname is out there waiting. A shame too, since Nami’s a fine girl in her own right, but when even a prodigy submarine captain like Tessa can’t really compete, Nami’s got no chance.

I’m trying my best to not be overly aware of how temporary this whole set up is likely to be, so I’m appreciating all this development this starkly different part of the show gets, as well as how this is all part of Sosuke’s plan to find more about Amalgam. Like I said, an underground giant robot fighting league would probably work well as a show on its own, even if it wasn’t connected to something like Full Metal Panic, but it seems like it’s going to be condensed to this handful of episodes, giving the whole thing a bittersweet tinge. The arrival of Kurama and his own awareness of Sosuke is a big enough indicator that the actual sporting part of this arc is probably over, and now we’ll soon begin seeing a collision course between him and Sosuke. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up destroying a city again.