AnimeVision

mutter...grumble...

20 - Venom's Flame
Tessa calls Kana in for a private chat, and reveals she's one of the Whispered, like Kana, and that there are people who are after the Whispered's powers - which is why Mithril have assigned Sousuke to watch over her. There's not much time for explanations, though, as Mithril's forces are soon back into action against a group of terrorists who have seized a nerve-gas storage facility and are threatening to use the gas if their demands aren't met. To make sure the fight isn't a walk-over, the terrorists are using the latest model Russian AS's - and at least one AS that's equipped with a Lambda Drive...

21 - Deep Trap
As expected, Gauron was in control of the Lambda Drive-equipped AS - but a reversal of fortune sees him finally being captured by Sousuke & taken to the deDanaan. Gauron's smarter than to get himself caught for no reason, though - seems he intended to get captured, as a step towards his real objective - seizing control of the deDanaan. Meanwhile, Sousuke's wallowing in self-pity after seeing Melissa get injured, and it's doing a good job of helping him get on the wrong side of just about everyone...

Okay, maybe I exaggerated - there's some comedy here, all in the first episode. After that, it's back to the usual routine of The Man Who Would Not Die, aka Gauron. Tenacious villians have their place, but this man is just ridiculous. Still, the episodes concerned aren't too bad - unlike previous Gauron episodes, there's less emphasis on the AS combat and a little more focus on the characters involved, so it's bearable.

My problem with all this is that, based on the first few episodes of the show, it was reasonable to expect a comedy series with a little bit of action thrown in - and when FMP! does comedy, it does it really well, so I was expecting a fun series. Somewhere along the line, though, someone decided the focus should be on the action, and that's something the show pulls off noticeably less well.

The disc isn't without its redeeming values, but this isn't going to go down in history as a classic. For the best of Full Metal Panic, we'll need to wait for Fumoffu!.