Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory – 03
As we wade deeper into “Invisible Victory”, I’m sort of reminded both of why Full Metal Panic is a good show and why it didn’t resonate with me as much as with some others. Without question it’s very good when it comes to conventional sci-fi action set pieces – even if they are mostly CGI these days. This episode was well-paced and the battles were nicely choreographed, I thought – very Hollywood.
But somehow… It’s all kind of predictable, isn’t it? I mean, the characters who are supposed to die by writ of genre tropes die right on cue, and the ones who are supposed to survive miraculously do. The gruff action dialogue is uttered right when it’s supposed to be. Maybe it’s that sense of familiarity that appeals to people – though one could hardly make the case for FMP being popular because of nostalgia a decade and more ago, because it would to have nostalgia for itself.
Given all that, I don’t know if there’s a compelling reason to keep covering it or not. Like Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu episodes like this pretty much tell their own story. The more character-heavy ones that focus on Sousuke and Kaname offer more grist for the mill, but those don’t happen every week (or at least they won’t if Invisible Victory follows the same general form as the non-Fumoffu seasons). I guess that’s a maybe, but no promises.
Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line – 17
That was certainly the best Yowapeda episode of the recent run – at least in a month, I’d say. Hell – we even got an appearance by Pierre-sensei! What has been, since Season 2?
I liked a lot of what went on here, starting with the focus on Koga (who remains the one that got away as far as this year’s Inter-high is concerned for Sohoku). He’s ridden the course with a GoPro on his bike, providing Sohoku with the means to get a read on the nuances of the course. The most revealing part of this segment, though, was Onoda actually asking for something for himself – though he had to be prodded by Koga to do so. If Onoda-kun is actually willing to speak aloud that he wants a piece of Manami on the climb, you know he really wants it.
I still remain skeptical that Sohoku could possibly catch a healthy and rested 12-man peloton five minutes ahead of them, but we’ll see. For now it’s a battle of wits between Midousuji and Kuroda (who’s acting as leader on the road under the assumption that sprinter Izumida will get dropped when the attacks start) as Kyoto Fushimi looks for an opportunity to attack. Manami also flat-out rejects Kuroda’s orders and insists that he’s going to face off with Onoda, team needs be damned. That’s the curse of Manami-kun as a teammate – he’s a ridiculous talent but a complete loose cannon.
Where things get really interesting is with the arrival of Kumamoto Daichi – and the timing couldn’t be better for Chimera-kun, who realizes that he’s underestimated Manami’s condition and that his zakus are incapable of breaking HakoGaku down. But Midousuji is right – chaos and confusion on the road is the perfect means to an end when it comes to launching attacks on climbs, and he’s prepared for this – he uses Kumamoto as a shield and launches a silent attack, gaining a few precious seconds of separation before Izumida catches on to what’s happening.
By the looks of things, Kumomoto was a paper tiger (bear?) as they seem to have splintered whey KyoFushi attacked. Manami and Yuto will have launched after the Kyoto trio of course – but as to how far back Sohoku is and whether they can make a race of this, we won’t know until next week. If they have any realistic (and I use that word quite intentionally) chance, I think it’d be to launch Onoda with Imaizumi along to tow him for as long as he can, and try and have Onoda jump the gap to the front. But is it even worth doing that, when it’s only the second day?
Omake:
elianthos80
May 1, 2018 at 1:36 pmRe: FMP Depending on what and how they adapt the material you might find enough if not a lot to blog about (the acronym of the source novel translated title is a bit of a spoiler in itself so look it up – or don’t – as you see fit ) :,) but do what you feel like doing and dont overdo it
more than you already do that is.Talking of the episode itself I think either the direction or the OST were a tad too… even? Needed some high and lows, some variations in pacing and more dynamic music (and camera angles?) to better convey the tension in the Merida Island part imho. The situation was supposed to be dire but the execution just lacked some in the urgency and danger factor. A certain constrained and suppressed
panictension vibe ended up suiting the urban side of Amalgam’s attacks and methods much better here. Also double love confession scene and the hands of battle couple comradeship woohoooo wreck’em SouKana duo 8D whomever hurts the shutter-happy meganekko MUST PAY.sonicsenryaku
May 1, 2018 at 5:01 pmI actually agree with you in regards to the OST choices and shot composition. Aside from one track, the OST felt way too subdued; which in some cases that’s fine but it didn’t work so much here. I commend the director’s ability to sell the weight of the stakes Mithril is facing, but stuff like this would hit even harder with some interesting storyboarding and shot compostion which i don’t think this season has demonstrated quite yet. That’s one of the things Kyo ani’s TSR nailed when it came to to their adaptation; using it’s visual framing and sound direction to really sell and immerse you into the dire straits certain characters were going through.The other thing about TSR is that when things got dire, Kyo ani’s TSR really capitalized on the thriller aspect of FMP (I’m telling you man, some people be selling TSR short). This week’s ep, while good, came off as just a display of well directed action rather than making the whole ordeal feel suspenseful. Perhaps that wasn’t the aim of this particular section of Amalgam’s raid (it’s not like FMP: IV doesn’t know how to do suspense; it handled it decently well in ep 1 and 2) so ill wait until the end of this Merida island raid to cast full judgment. Other than that, I still think this episode and the season as a whole has been really effective so far. The battle against the behemoths hit the right action beats, excelling at selling to the viewer the scale of the behemoths and the inherent difficulty of bringing down these mechanically implausible titans. Plus it’s just nice to see good mecha action again, even if it is mired in CG (which admittedly has its bright spots). This is the kind of quality Argevollen strived for and epically failed at attaining.
FMP at its core is just a well-directed, well-executed action series; one that stages its action and tension better than most anime of this genre. It was never mind-blowing, but it’s damn good; well TSR is. As i said last week, a lot of the first season of FMP has not aged well both story and action wise. For me, most of FMP’s legacy is steeped in its Kyo ani sequels. It’s a show that could take itself seriously and did not fall flat on its face when it did.
Guardian Enzo
May 1, 2018 at 6:06 pmThat’s interesting. I can’t say I overall disagree with what you guys are saying – overall direction seemed resolutely competent rather then inspired. But sp3cific to the BGM I found it rather noticeable just short of the point of being intrusive, so that part at least definitely struck me differently.
sonicsenryaku
May 1, 2018 at 7:11 pmHmmm, that’s interesting. In retrospect, calling the use of OST subdued wasn’t the most accurate way to describe how i felt about its use. It was more that the tracks chosen did not feel ancillary to setting the tone of desperation those action scenes were supposed to have, resulting in subdued tension when it should have amplified it. When you say intrusive, did you think the BGM smothered the dialogue and sound effects within the episode (like it felt too “in your face” similar to Sawano tracks) or was your gripe in line with mine in that it didn’t feel like the “right” track was playing?
Guardian Enzo
May 1, 2018 at 7:53 pmI don’t know that it would be right to even call it a gripe. I just found myself aware of the BGM in a way I often am not. Maybe it sounded like a specific soundtrack I was familiar with and my mind was trying to place it or something like that…
sonicsenryaku
May 1, 2018 at 8:57 pmAh i see; well, it was less of a gripe and more of a minor nitpick for me.
GC
May 1, 2018 at 3:09 pmGE do you still post at Ransom Curiosity? I wonder if they went out of business? Not been able to go there for days now.
leongsh
May 1, 2018 at 3:15 pmHard disk failure at Random Curiosity. They are working to recover the data from the hard disk. Be patient.
Guardian Enzo
May 1, 2018 at 3:26 pmYep. Best to follow RC on Twitter or Facebook if you can – news updates always posted there. I’m not directly involved in trying to get this sorted but it is a server issue and it’s being worked on.