English Dub Review: Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory “Big One Percent”

Nooooo, not that one guy! I loved that one guy! But not THAT one guy.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Mithril’s island base is still under siege from the slowly incoming Behemoths, which are color AND LETTER coded for our convenience! Clouseau divvies up the bot-killing duties, with Urzu 3, 5, 6 (Kurtz), and 8 going after B, with Urzu 2 (Melissa) taking the Magenta A, and Clouseau, being Urzu 1, will take C. Melissa manages to lay some damage on A with an opening salvo, but not much. Kurtz and his group prepare to target Blue B, planning to surprise it and bypass the Lambda Driver by nailing it with a couple headshots, using the other three to distract it while he lines up the shots, but only manages one of the two needed. That is, until Spec, Urzu 8 and the guy who proposed mutiny last episode, sacrifices himself to give Kurtz the other shots, finally taking one of their biggest problems down.

The Yellow C is held off by Clouseau, but Melissa is blindsided by incoming air reinforcements, ending up with a crippled mech and com-line in the process, but saved in the nick of time by Castello, Urzu 3, who also bites it. The enemy touches down on land and destroys several aircraft as the sub-team scrambles to get ready for escape. The rest of the active mech team does their best to take on the ever growing enemy forces.

Back in Japan, the students are clueless about what’s going on, while Kyoko fights back fearful tears while being held hostage by Kurama. His goons have lost track of Sosuke, but he knows he’ll show up and play the hero. For now, though, the Arbalest decloaks at a temple so Sosuke and Kaname can take a breath. Kaname confesses she knew this kind of confrontation had to be coming someday and how scared she is of all of it, including how she Whispered knowledge may be changing her and her conflicted feelings and fear for Sosuke. He agrees but feels that their lives have been made better by meeting and that they can’t run away from this. So, with one deep breath, the couple take each others’ hands and face the enemy.

OUR TAKE

I think it’s pretty safe to say this episode was centered on one thing: Giant friggin Robots, arguably more than half of FMP’s fanbase’s favorite thing about this show. Though specifically, this is the make or break for transitioning the Arm Slaves from hand-drawn fights into fully CG, something that’s become a much more occurring trend in mecha anime over this current decade, such as Aldnoah Zero or Knights of Sidonia. Hand drawn mechs obviously aren’t entirely extinct if Iron-Blooded Orphans or the currently airing Darling in the FRANXX are any indications, but it’s a personal sore spot for me and probably others, given that FMP’s previous seasons never had this. That’s not to say the fights look bad or anything, quite the opposite in fact, it’s just more a consistency thing. I’ve no doubt future fights in the latter three-quarters of this season will look perfectly fine, but one will always wonder what could have been.

I also have to wonder if the fact that the light novels this season was based on were published over ten years impacts how the clichés get thrown around, but that’s still a problem now, so probably not. Regardless, the loss of Urzus 8 and 3 really don’t have much punch to them, given their minimal characterization. Spec’s entire purpose was to make Tessa look in control, and now that we know his name and face, I guess it’s time to kill him and see if the audience feels anything? I know things are supposed to be getting more serious than usual, but it really feels more like the actual tension is over in Japan. The Behemoths are certainly formidable boss fights, and I suppose it is pretty anti-climactic if NO ONE who we recognized got offed. But hey, the season’s still young.

Our time checking up with the main couple is brief, but they use their time efficiently. Kurama’s certainly managed to hit Kaname’s home life harder than anything the previous villains ever did, so I definitely believe him as a credible threat so far. Very to the point with no maniacal laughter and just a touch of genre savvy-ness is a refreshing change from the last two, even if his boss is flat as a plank from what we’ve seen of him. The bomb on the hostage plan is just a tad overplayed, but it’s clear he’s caused some damage just from doing that alone. We might just see this part of the story come to a head next week as they reach the conclusion of this novel. What could possibly go wrong, you may ask? Find out soon!