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Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid 1
I'm watching this more or less on a whim. I loved Fumoffu, but a brief encounter with the FMP manga convinced me that I wouldn't enjoy the original series (too much standard mecha-y drama, not enough funny). However, I've been hearing good things about this, so, what the hey. (If anybody on my flist has seen the original series and is watching this, too, lemme know how they compare. I might be persuaded to run out and rent the first one.)
It looks and sounds pretty good. The production values are nice and the voices sound right, that sort of thing. It's interesting to see Sousuke in a battle. He seems so natural! In Fumoffu, he was always out of place--that's the joke. But this is where he was raised, where he belongs--his speech, his skills, his mindset, everything is appropriate for his environment.
...that is, up until he's separated from his unit, and casually tells his commander that he'll be fine, and he can't die here because he has to hand in school work the next day.
Yeah, I'm sold.
It looks and sounds pretty good. The production values are nice and the voices sound right, that sort of thing. It's interesting to see Sousuke in a battle. He seems so natural! In Fumoffu, he was always out of place--that's the joke. But this is where he was raised, where he belongs--his speech, his skills, his mindset, everything is appropriate for his environment.
...that is, up until he's separated from his unit, and casually tells his commander that he'll be fine, and he can't die here because he has to hand in school work the next day.
Yeah, I'm sold.
you WOULD have to post this on a particularly "FMP YAY!" day for me
I love how Kaname and Sousuke play off each other. I love Kaname's Ed facial expressions. And I loooove Sousuke. He is near my platonic ideal of earnestly clueless hero who is serious and determined and completely incapable of Getting It. Also, he is pretty and sometimes a cat.
I recommend the first 8 episodes of the first series for the comedy: 1-7 are the first arc of Kaname and Sousuke meeting and getting to know each other, and it's structured much like an action-romantic-comedy movie (angst! fighting-as-UST!). The mecha does start to drag in the last couple of episodes, though. 8 is back to high school comedy with Sousuke helpfully informing his classmates how many men he's snogged in battle. 9-12 (most of the comedy is in 9) I think I would like better if I liked Sousuke's commander-girl Tessa, because I like all the bits without her in them (and without mecha). Although I was amused despite myself by episode 13 (which focuses on Tessa and Melissa Mao) because Melissa's wriggle-dance of triumph is a thing of beauty. I somehow managed to miss 14 and will go back to watch it, and 15 (which is as far as I've gotten) is mecha-mecha-mecha and is booooring and the preview of 16 looks to be mecha-mecha-mecha as well.
I have a site bookmarked somewhere with translated PDF files of some of the FMP novels upon which the manga and anime were based, if you want them. And now I will shut up.
Re: you WOULD have to post this on a particularly "FMP YAY!" day for me
>_> I would totally like to see novel translations. And it sounds like we like and dislike the same things about FMP, so I may take a shot at the first series after all. I can always skip through the boring mecha parts anyway. (That's how I've been surviving the horrible Naruto filler episodes.)
Aaaaaaaanytime you want to fangirl in my journal about the awesomeness of Sousuke and Kaname is fine by me, yup.
Re: you WOULD have to post this on a particularly "FMP YAY!" day for me
FMP novels pour vous! I haven't read all of them yet, but I'm extremely interested in them and another Japanese anime/manga based on books. Why can't we have more on-crack Japanese literature officially published in English for me to enjoy? *wishes for Kyou Kara Maoh and 12 Kingdoms while we're at it*
Aaaaaaaanytime you want to fangirl in my journal about the awesomeness of Sousuke and Kaname is fine by me, yup.
I will continue to watch no matter how annoying the mecha gets as long as there is the slightest chance that Kaname and Sousuke will be in the same room together, because if they are in the room together there will be UST and snark and total selfless wuv. I love them. I LOVE THEM SO. They have a madcap screwball comedy chemistry to them that is priceless. And then sometimes they will do a complete turnaround and have a very dark edge of sexiness to them. There's one scene early on in the first series that manages to be sweet and sexy and WRONG all at once, when Kaname is teaching Sousuke mid-battle via radio to use the Lamba Driver (the mecha-telepathy thing that makes the robot respond to the pilot's aggression) by forcing him to imagine the bad guy raping her. "Picture him doing that. It makes you mad, right, Sagara-kun?" "Yes..." "Makes you want to hurt him, right?" "Yes..." "If you lose, he's going to do that to me. Makes you want to stop him, right?" "YES!"
God, this is making me want to rewatch the first 8 episodes. But I have to finish the series first before I can rewatch it! And I have to pack for college before I can finish the series or anything! WAAAAAH!
Re: you WOULD have to post this on a particularly "FMP YAY!" day for me
UST and snark and true love...yes. Yes, exactly. And okay, not so much with the dark-and-sexy in Fumoffu, but in Fumoffu, sometimes it got just serious enough that my heart would leap into my throat and stay there.
I was fangirling about Daniel and Vala from Stargate the other day--talking about how there's a kind of chemistry that you have or you don't, and it's this slappy physical presence with them. It's as true for cartoon characters as it is for live actors. Kaname and Sousuke bounce off of each other in a way you don't see every day, and that's why people like them. Sousuke's uptight soldier schtick would be funny by itself, but it wouldn't have that madcap edge if Kaname wasn't around to go crazy at it.
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Actually, to someone who loves mecha as much as I do the mecha parts of this show are surprisingly boring. And, also, they have Tessa who I can't stand.
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Gee, so far, that's a unanimous "mecha=boring, Sousuke=good, Tessa=bad" opinion from all...four people I know who've watched any of FMP, myself included. Okay, maybe that's not a good statistical sample, but anecdotal evidence is just as good, right?
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Tessa is not only irredeemably dull, she is also deeply unproffessional, has no figure and has an annoying voice. I hate her.
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Tessa: hee! My dislike for her probably stems mainly because she likes Sousuke, and HELL NO WAY, it's Sousuke and Kaname all the way for me. But then there's nothing about Tessa to counteract that.
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Sousuke/Kaname is a pairing I find both unspeakably hot and hysterically funny at the same time. They're adorable together.