#the second raid

Oh no, it got really good.

Well, most of it. Any time the psycho bald bad guy is on screen the show becomes detestable, but he was barely in this series of episodes (5, 6, 7). Instead, it was just one excellently directed and paced sequence after another.

The action scenes from the mansion party raid and subsequent chase were great! Mao was a severely underutilized character in S1, but this season has been doing a lot to rectify that. Aside from the action sequences, Mao has a really, really good scene with Sousuke. She’s saying what we’re all thinking. It’s what finally gets him to think about himself.

I really dig how the inter-service rivalry and politics going on within Mithril is starting to cause problems. A lot of the developments in these episodes feel like somebody said, “Hey wait, this wouldn’t work in real life,” and now they’re addressing all of them. After witnessing the “enhanced interrogation” of a prisoner, even Tessa’s softness and age is brought up, though subtly and not in the way I would expect. She is very young, but she never lets that show in how she acts when she’s “Captain Testarossa” and has the knowledge and discipline to pull it off.

Sousuke’s gag of “misinterpreting a situation and pointing a gun at people” was always played for laughs before, but it’s starting to catch up to him. EP6 is all about how despite being undercover for 6 months, he still hasn’t adjusted to civilian life. He was (still is, really) a child soldier who grew up in a war torn Middle Eastern country. Literally all he knows is how to survive on the battlefield, but he’s becoming self-conscious about it now. The hair salon sequence plays out like like a veteran with PTSD having an episode, and it’s not so funny anymore now that he knows something is wrong.

After getting kicked out of the salon, Chidori decides to cut his hair herself. It’s a really quiet and intimate scene that shows a lot of growth between both characters and their relationship. It’s really good, and like everything in these episodes, very well paced and directed. It really does feel like a special moment.

Then there is a 10 minute long scene that’s literally just Sousuke talking on the phone, but the whole conversation is completely enthralling and drives home how much conflict he’s got going on internally. It’s made worse by the fact that what “Wraith” is saying, is totally true. His antics are, ironically, putting Chidori in danger even though his mission is to protect her. In the end, Sousuke has been re-assigned. Between Mao’s conversation earlier, the salon incident, and spending time with Chidori, he’s had a lot to reflect on and is uncharacteristically upset.

And then, there is an incredibly tense and well directed sequence where Chidori starts freaking out, because she suddenly is struck with very, very strong feelings that she’s in danger. Sousuke’s been strangely absent, and in a panic tries calling him but there’s no response. There’s no longer a safety net.

This whole sequence felt so real. At first she tries to convince herself that she’s just imagining things by distracting herself. Instead though, she just gets more nervous the more she tries to ignore it. She starts hearing noises and becomes increasingly convinced that she’s in real danger and starts to get very paranoid, especially because she’s so familiar with what Sousuke would always say were warning signs, even if they were usually false alarms before. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, but I cannot say enough about how great this sequence was.

I’ve said it before, but when things get serious, Chidori doesn’t fall into the typical anime tropes. On top of that, her VA really sells it.

The Second Raid. Overall, I think it was pretty good!

There’s some parts of it that are rough to get through, but on the whole the animation and writing way, way exceed the standard set with the first season. The more rounded and world-buildy nature of the first series has been dropped for a no-filler action story and character driven drama.

I want to get the bad stuff out of the way, because it’s really bad. A psychotic killer named Mr. Gates is the primary villain and he sucks. He’s hammy in a way that doesn’t fit the tone, and since he’s just another psycho, it feels like a repeat of Gauron, but even worse. This guy is functionally the same, but doesn’t have any connection to any of the characters, nor is there even any motivation for it all. He’s just a crazy guy that kills a lot, including his own henchmen.

The other villains of the series, the twins, fare a little better, but only a little. They are hyper-skilled assassins that fight like anime girls perfectly in sync with each other. Their introduction is embarrassing to watch, but at least there is an interesting (albeit only implied) explanation as to why they’re so weird.

A quirk of them being Whispered is that they can communicate with each other telepathically. However, as Tessa warned in the first series, overdoing this can result in the two people getting “mixed” in a permanent fashion. Since both of them are Whispered, and they grew up together, there’s a possibility that this unknowingly happened to them. Aside from one preferring to fight on foot, and the other in a mech, they don’t ever act differently from the other and always seem to think the same things. They still feel out of place, but at least there’s an interesting story behind it.

Unfortunately, FMP has a villain problem. It looks like Tessa’s brother is going to be the big bad, and I already hate everything going on with him. I’ve heard that the 2018 series is pretty bad, so I’m okay with stopping here. I already went through one Eureka Seven AO, I don’t need another.

With that out of the way, I’m going to bullet point the stuff I want to gush about, because this post is already pretty huge and there’s a lot of ground to cover.

Holy crap, I can’t believe they got me to like Gauron. His one scene at the end is incredible, and at the end we even get the satisfaction of Sousuke finally killing him for real this time.

I spoke about it in my previous post, but the sequence where a (rightfully) paranoid Chidori gets increasingly panicked because she knows nobody is coming to help, is masterfully done.

Chidori using everything she’s learned from being around Sousuke to lure out her “stalker” and turn the tables, among other things, was great. I’ve said it before, but I really love how Chidori actually learns, and is capable of doing awesome stuff on her own.

Mao is so cool!

Mao gets a lot of screen time and backstory this time and it’s good stuff. She was under-utilized in the past series, but she plays a central role through most of Second Raid.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense for Chidori to show up at the end the way she does, especially in her school uniform for some reason, but that whole moment felt very Macross and got me real excited for the battle curbstomp to follow.

The ending got a bit G-Gundam, especially when Sousuke basically does a Shining Finger to completely obliterate Gates in a way that I really enjoyed.

Chidori’s, “Get in the fucking robot Sousuke!” in the finale.

Tessa’s character gets fleshed out quite a bit. It all comes to a head with a really tense standoff between her (the captain) and Mardukas, the sub’s XO. It’s a really great scene.

Tessa gets only one (one!) very brief scene at the end where she’s allowed to let loose and be happy, and it was wonderful. You could feel all the pent up emotion.

The above is also why the OVA was so good, and felt so earned.

There are so many really good action sequences over the course of the series. They’re easy to follow, tense, and mix in enough actual military terminology and tactics that it gives them all an air of plausibility.

Even though I liked a lot S3, I still have a hard time recommending FMP as a whole, since you really need to watch S1 to understand S3. The first series wasn’t bad, but it was bland. While I think S3 has some really great stuff in it, I’m not sure it’s good enough to suggest people go through a 26 episode series to watch it. Fumoffu on the other hand, is easier to recommend, since it’s a very standalone comedy. I’d recommend it on its own, though keep in mind it’s over 15 years old.

I finished Second Raid earlier this night, but before I write up my thoughts on that, I want to get the epilogue OVA out of my system.

What I love about the OVA is just how earned if felt. Captain Testarossa has a lot on her shoulders. What’s most impressive is that the show somehow manages to make that believable by depicting her as totally deserving of the post, along with some implied backstory details. The tiny captain is every bit as professional as the officers and bridge personnel she chooses to surround herself with.

Unlike past seasons, this one brought her age and relative (emphasis on relative) lack of experience to the forefront through meetings with other high ranking officials of Mithril. While she never loses her composure while commanding, it’s visibly draining on her by the end of the season and it’s hard not to get the feeling she’s only just barely holding on.

During the OVA, Tessa finally has some time to breathe, drop the captain act, and just act her age. I used to get really annoyed at Tessa’s “stock anime cute” characterization when she’s off the clock, but given the context of everything that happens during the season, and how much more fleshed out her character has become, it doesn’t bother me anymore.

While Tessa is the focus of the OVA, you get a lot of fun bits with everybody else. This season didn’t really have time for filler episodes like the first one, so characterization only happens during the plot. During the OVA you get to see what the crew of the Tuatha de Danaan do on their off time. The new uptight team leader turns out to be a closet anime fan, operations commander Kalinin loves to cook, and Mao shows that automated dancing routines for their mechs are what happens when you leave the maintenance crews alone for too long.

Oh no, it’s dumb. At least the action sequences are great.

I’ve watched the first handful of episodes of Second Raid and it’s both a big improvement but also even worse than first series. Plot-wise, I’m really hoping balding psycho guy isn’t the series-spanning villain because he sucks. FMP didn’t need another crazy psycho guy that’s unreasonably effective at shooting, mech piloting, and has henchman that he kills with casual glee but still follow him for some reason. He’s the worst aspects of Gauron, but even more painful to watch. Throw in some emotionless incest fanservice lesbian twins that fight like anime girls, in a series that’s otherwise fairly grounded in reality, and it’s evident Shoji Gatoh has a big problem when it comes to writing villains.

I’m dreading what the rest of the series’ plot is going to look like, but on the bright side, the animation is fantastic. The actions sequences are tight, with a lot of “close enough” real military tactics and communication practices. It’s easy to forget how dumb the plot is because the action sequences take up entire episodes and it’s nonstop tactical mechs operating tactically. It’s clear that Shoji Gatoh is big into real world military stuff, frequently inserting cool modern and near future tech like the Comanche. You got that feeling even with the Gonzo directed series, but KyoAni does a much better job of showing off that sort of thing.

For example, there’s a short series of shots where a couple Leclercs fire a killing shot on a mech. You’re then treated to a slow motion view of the sabot breaking up to reveal the kinetic penetrators. They didn’t have to do that, and the scene would have worked all the same if it was just a big animated tracer/bullet, but they went the extra mile.

They keep making me like Tessa more and more. In the first series she sometimes gives questionable tactical advice, but she absolutely knew her stuff when it came to the submarine itself. Though it’s not really her job to command operations (that’s Kalinin’s job), she has some really great scenes during the tunnel raid where she fairly quickly realizes that their digital maps and communication chain are compromised, and turns that on its head by listening to radio traffic and coordinating on a paper map. It’s great stuff. I love the tiny captain, and I love how professional and competent she is while “on the clock,” not falling prey to the so many typical anime tropes that her character suffers from when in private.

(2005 anime)