Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory

There’s an old phrase that goes “be careful what you wish for because you just might get it”. It’s been over a decade since Full Metal Panic aired and we got a new season at our hands. However, reviving old franchises isn’t something new these days. Just ask series like D. Gray Man and Dragon Ball. The real question is if Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory can be welcomed back like a hero.

With a new director and studio, the series felt like a breath of fresh air. Honestly, it almost felt like the series never left us despite the 13 year gap. I also confess ... that Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid is among one of my favorite mecha series so expectations coming into this for me were high. If you haven’t watched that season, do yourself a favor and do it now. Invisible Victory isn’t going to spoonfeed you information especially since this season takes right off without absurd recaps.

For starters, the first episode made it clear that there’s a quiet and looming threat. It felt like an atmospheric episode that brings back Sousuke and Kaname together but not in the happy-go-around way that some fans may expect. This didn’t come as a surprise to me as the franchise is known for its psychological elements. Sousuke and Kaname deals with a terrorist threat that puts their friends at risk. It also didn’t take long for Kaname to realize she is in trouble. Remember Amalgam? Well, they are back this season in full force and stops nothing to capture her. It shouldn’t take fans long to realize what they are in stored for. Up to this point, Sousuke and Kaname has been through a lot together but there’s always the curiosity of what may happen do they if they’re not careful. Invisible Victory carries an unpredictable suspenseful plot that shows how the pair deals with their own personal demons. Neither character has changed much as their personalities will be familiar with fans. However, it’s their raw emotions that surfaces at times which highlights their personas.

In addition, this season also introduces a new girl named Nami. Now, I’m not a big fan of new major characters being introduced in this franchise especially when one seems like a potential love interest. There’s already characters like Tessa to fill that role from previous seasons. However, I will say that Nami is a character to keep an eye on especially for her tomboyish personality and courage. The season spends a decent amount of screen time for her and Sousuke to bond during Kaname’s absence. It almost feels refreshing as Sousuke is able to interact with someone who is different than others he’s met before. In later episodes, the show really puts Sousuke’s emotions at stake when dangerous enemies like Kurama enter the story.

I have mentioned Tessa before but in this season, she does get a meaningful role. I’ve never been a big fan of Tessa and she still maintains a strained relationship with her brother, Leonard. Yet, Tessa is valuable in the conflict against Amalagam. In the later episodes, she provides key information that proves to be imperative for Sousuke and his allies. Similarly, Sousuke continues to fight the good fight and maintain his image as a soldier. At this point, the conflict against Amalgam has become much more personal for him and the show capitalizes on the stakes.

Adapted by Xebec, I was initially optimistic about this adaptation. Sure, the animation quality looks familiar to the previous seasons. However, they produced some questionable anime in the past like Tokyo ESP and Triage X. Luckily, Invisible Victory is safe from broken animation and mostly remains intact with the quality that I expected. The CG may take some time to get used but not too distracting once you get used to it. The battle choreography remains sharp to capture the vivid details of the violence. There’s minimal censorship so watching close up duels between Sousuke and others is a gift to the fans. Furthermore, character designs still remains generally the same as previous seasons. There’s some minor fan service in the case with Kaname and Nami but nothing really too distracting. The real fan service is the psychology in the character emotions shown their expressions. The music and OST sometimes reflects this too through their clever timing. As this is perhaps one of the more serious seasons, the theme songs even shows a bit of their colors.

Invisible Victory is a 12 episode series that give the fans what they wanted and that’s a new season of surprises. It’s been a long time since the franchise aired on TV and I feared that the time gap may have done its damage. However, this season lived up to its expectations while raising the stakes it needed to. While the plot may not be too refreshing, it still captures the essence of the franchise that I loved all those years ago. To me, the revival of Full Metal Panic is a victory in itself.

13 years. After over a decade, with thousands of anime airing and after waves of change has occured with anime and the anime industry as a whole, one of its former generation shows decided to revive itself from the dead to show up with a major bang. After so many years of people forgetting about this show, or even giving up hopes for a sequel to occur for this show, Full Metal Panic! returned from the grave to show up with no one being ready at the time to see it again.

And to no surprise at the end of things, this show never came close ... to the hype that it once had back in 2005 since this show really did belong in the 2000s, not in 2018 after years and years of people not being aware of it, or losing interest in it, that it's tough to regain that same spirit that it once did with its buzz. Still regardless, I was lucky to have seen this franchise a few months back before this season, and even luckier to have rewatched this season later on a couple years later along with the rest of the show to truly realize, how fucking great this show was, being one of my favorites from the decade. Even with the lack of hype.

Anyway, here is my UPDATED review for Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory, 2 years after the airing of this season originally.

Story & Writing (7/10)

Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory was the direct sequel to it's previous season, Second Raid, an excellent season from 2005 that while delivers, given the long gap like I mentioned, lost a lot of interest. And to be frank, even though it didn't affect me before since I saw the show originally a few months before this aired, and even rewatched it together, a lot of fans that saw this YEARS prior and had to see this, didn't get a recap whatsoever. The show just jumped straight into the action with a much more serious tone overall for the narrative. It maybe very jarring for a lot of people who didn't binge the show for years, since they have to recollect everything properly and be prepared mentally, and the show failed to do that.

However, excluding the lack of a much needed recap for most people, in terms of the content and writing itself, this season was pretty fucking awesome for the most part if you ask me, with the events occurring being nearly on the same level as Second Raid as it is the season that acts as the beginning of the end for the overall franchise as a whole.

Invisible Victory deals with Amalgam, the opposition to Mithril who are trying to gather and take all the Whispereds, taking a much more direct, sinister approach by kidnapping Kaname, destroying Mithril and trying to use their powers for their purposes. Unlike the first season, and even Second Raid, it's a completely serious season as it dwells into the psyche of Sousuke. A soldier who deals with his internal and external struggles as he tries to find a way to rescue Kaname Chidori and finally take down Amalgam, and Leonard Testarossa, Teletha's brother and leader of that organization. Although I kind of wish the middle portion was paced a lot better sinc e it did feel really rushed at times, the non-stop action, thrills and plot twists that left me flabbergasted more than made up for the minor flaws the narrative had. It's not necessarily unique, but Invisible Victory had so much intensity with its events, and even a lot of emotional investments being attached to many twists and turns that occurred due to how well the show was setting up the cast and the story beforehand.

I love Full Metal Panic for its comedy, and a lot of people prefer the show for its comedy over action and serious storytelling, but this season proved to me that FMP was equal. It was a great comedy when it wanted to be, and can be an engaging and compelling action, drama, romance story when it needed to be to. The dynamic ability is pretty terrific from this franchise. If the pacing was better in the middle and final few episodes, this truly would've been a fantastic season writing-wise.


Characters (7/10)

Sousuke was also really awesome this season as a whole. He still is a badass, still someone who seems very clueless with everything not military-related but it is clear that he has shown some change throughout his tenure as a high school student. He really has showcased tons of growth since the beginning of the franchise and his emotional internal conflicts, and his relationship with trying to save Kaname through all the bullshit coming his way really fleshed out his characterization very well. All we need is the final season eventually to complete his development out.

Kaname wasn't there for many episodes, but when she was present, she was great with her character shining in the end. In fact, even though they were separated for a majority of the season for storyline purposes, whenever I saw Sousuke and Kaname together on screen, I really love how genuine and well constructed their relationship had been from the beginning of the franchise, to where they were at the beginning and at the end of the season. Both are completely imperfect characters, but as they both grow and mature as people, and realize how much they care for each other, it's very nice to see how much trust they show in each other (whether it relates to holding hands or even the touching moments at the end of the season).

The rest of the cast was okay overall, from new comrades that Sousuke meets after the events of Mithril being split, to new and old antagonist too (especially Leonard and Kurama). Regarding his comrades, one of the new faces I got to witness was Nami (the orange haired girl that is NOT Nami from One Piece). Even though her interactions with Sousuke were really short-term, it was nice seeing how he was open and bonding with others as he was trying to figure out his way into stopping Amalgam and getting Kaname Chidori back. Some of the other characters were fine but not the most interesting from this franchise.

Shame we didn't get to see too much for the rest of the members at school except when shit was going down and chaos was occurring, but they did play some minor roles into fleshing out some characterization for Sousuke as they finally realize why the guy's a nutjob with military weapons and being overly cautious all the time. Not many comedic reactions shown in this pretty damn serious season, but it does help out in motivating Sousuke to accomplish his personal mission that would continue to the final season if it ever happens.

Art & Animation (5/10)

Full Metal Panic! as a whole has been a tough franchise to deal with in terms of the amount of studios and different members working on this as a whole.

With the first season being done by Gonzo, and the Fumoffu spinoff and the Second Raid season being done by Kyoto Animation (where KyoAni delivered massively with its great action, beautiful lighting and smooth sequences), it was pretty nervous for me knowing that this show went to a pretty mediocre, inconsistent studio like Xebec. A studio that was in its final stages of life, as it only shut down sometime later as a whole after the airing of Invisible Victory - and it really felt that way when this was airing due to the amount of production delays, issues and overall chaos Xebec had to deal with throughout the summer season. 2 recaps, and the final 2 episodes being delayed by 2 weeks = a month worth of delays wasn't the healthiest sign and it did leave to their doom.

But let's talk about how Xebec actually performed as a studio for the visuals aspect of this season of FMP!

Overall, it's very divided by the community. For me overall, while it did fall off pretty far from the masterclass that Kyoto Animation delivered with its previous 2 seasons, it's still a passable effort from Xebec overall, albeit some episodes slipping up big time like Episode 10 in particular.

The characters looked good for the most part with a nice take on the character designs that made it look fresh and modern while retaining the feel from the prior seasons, and the CG mechas while controversial for many, were surprisingly nice for me. The fast frame rate for the action and movement of mechas made up for the fact that they're CG and look odd compared to the rest of the show. The car chase scene was rough but the fast pace of the motion made up for it somewhat. Xebec didn't pull of Orange-level quality with their CG, but it looked fairly solid. Speed up the CG movements and that would help massively, and it worked for the most part. The lighting ain't KyoAni levels of great but the more darker, grim lighting fit the tone of the show a lot more for me, so I like what they went with.

I do wish for way more consistency, especially given some rough areas like the car chase where the actual car movements and thrills were good and high, the backgrounds suffered immensely. Almost like they looked completely unfinished and just rushed this out to air. It looked really odd, but at least the harmony with the music and just the pacing of the chase itself made up for a lot the actual production issues at hand for that moment. And episode 10 like I mentioned where tons of frames were so cheap and terribly drawn (not even the CG), and some keyshots were ruined by how low-budget everything looked with not only a lack of quality frames, but lack of frames in general for certain movements.

Like I said, somewhat passable but if only they did it the entire time, and not suffer from many production issues that led to chaos, it would have been even better. Some of those cheaper looking episodes did affect my enjoyment a lot during the bigger moments at times.

Sound (8/10)

Solid effort overall. I do miss Mikuni Shimokawa's opening and ending songs for Full Metal Panic's previous seasons (which were all brilliant), but Tamaru Yamada definitely delivered some awesome songs that made up for the loss of Shimokawa. The opening song was intense, catchy, memorable and kickass in particular.

The OSTs used felt very reminiscent of the original seasons, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them, especially during battles with the intensity just exploding everywhere. It captured the themes of the show really well.

And regarding to the voice acting, while I did like the sub, I watched the entire show in dub and absolutely loved the dub for the original seasons, especially with Chris Patton and Luci Christian playing Sousuke and Kaname respectively. So seeing the original dub cast return after 13 years to play a part with this season was one of the best moves the producers did with this show. I bought into the drama and the overall tone of the show so much more with the dub, so I'm glad they returned.

Enjoyment (8/10)

It was tons of fun, and was one of my favorite shows of the year. Even with some sloppiness with some composition and visuals to frustrate me a little at times (alongside some frustrating pacing issues), it still delivers in exciting, refreshing and thrilling content that I felt like was lacking for a lot of anime this year, so thank god they returned.

I'm gonna patiently wait now like a hawk for this season to return for a fifth and final season potentially, to adapt the final 3 volumes of the light novels. Given how this returned after 13 years, I'm willing to wait that long and even more, just to see Sousuke and Kaname's romantic mecha story conclude in the best possible fashion. A refreshing, nostalgic and entertaining season as a whole that would've been on the levels of the Second Raid and Fumoffu? seasons if the production and pace was better. Still a true gem really.

Overall 7/10

The love Full Metal Panic gets has always fascinated me. It's widely acknowledged among its fans that the characters deserve to be in a better series. The writing for the first 2 seasons was such a miss that you can ask any fan what their favorite episode from those were and they will name a you a filler. You know this series is peculiar when things like this can occur.

Kyoani realized --after the first cour-- that Gonzo's route is not what the fans really want, and gave us the comedic masterpiece that Fumoffu was. And now, it would seem like that will be the ... pinnacle of the franchise, as this 4h season - by Xebec this time around - is not very different from the first 2. For that reason, those who liked and those who disliked them, will most likely have very similar opinions of Invisible Victory for the given reason.

Our plot resolves around mind-numbingly dull mecha fights, gun sounds and random explosions caused by disagreement. I do not recall witnessing such tension-lacking battles in any anime since the first 2 seasons. The whole military side of the story is once again a joke that I either do not get or just won't laugh at because it's not very funny. The driving motion from random kidnapping incidents (yes, plural) to evil men planting bombs and murdering women, all feel so forced and mainly just bad excuses for the story to go somewhere. It's truly interesting how the main content feels more like filler than the actual fillers do.

The romance is going somewhere at least. 16 years and some month it took, but now Chidori and Sousuke are finally holding hands and not feeling blushy blush baka every time they realize some feelings stuff. This is all good, but mainly reminds me how most amazing stories (such as Chrno Crusade (also by Gonzo)) are always filled with gigazillion tons worth of shit. Even this time around, we are talking 1:10 ratio of good shit to bad.

Some good decisions have still been made. For one, Tessa is not constantly pushing herself to get a role in the harem - which is great because she is the opposite of great. Her brother, on the other hand, is but a random plot device. Kurz and Mao of course still exists to make the series more boring than it would otherwise be. And naturally, the best friend Kyouko is there to hold the important role of being tied to ropes half of the run time, making annoying anime sounds.

Xebec did decent job by making the series seem like FMP. Some obvious problems still exist. The mecha fights would probably be less boring if some music was used during those scenes. Weird decisions here. The art is super inconsistent. The series suffered from production issues which caused things like 3fps climbing scenes to exist, as well character design so sloppily drawn that the faces are occasionally nearly unrecognizable. Some better choices could have been made, especially with voice actors who only make their archetype characters seem even more generic presentations of their character types. Otherwise I can't say the production is the reason why I am not very pleased with the show, but it surely didn't make it seem any better either.

Enjoyment-wise, I wouldn't mind most of the problems and the questionable stuff the show has if I had been at least able to not get bored while watching it. The show didn't exactly make is as easy as other similar series, such as Black Lagoon, Jormungand, Gundamn Vietnam, Break Blade, Kaze no Stigma and even Canaan.

*The last 2 episodes were rescheduled due production issues, I saw the finale and pre-finale via atx. I am mentioning this in case moderators think this review was posted too early*

After finishing the two previous seasons of Full Metal Panic! about 1,5 year ago, my hopes for a continuation was very low since the last season aired back in 2005. But surprise, surprise, here are we now 13 years later with a new fresh season and I was one of the people who got really excited about it. Actually, Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory (FMPIV) was THE show of spring 2018 I was looking forward to.

Full Metal Panic! Invincible Victory is a direct continuation of Full Metal Panic! Second Raid, and it does assume that your memory is fresh. So, I would recommend you ... to re-watch the other seasons if it was a while ago since you watched them (or read the manga or novel). That will probably make the experience of FMPIV better and more coherent.

After finishing the second season I was on the manga in an instant. It´s still one of my favourite manga to date, and I´m not even that in to mecha (or damsel in distress leads). But the clean and intense art, and the interesting battle plot kept me at the edge of my seat until I had binged it in no time at all. But what you probably wondering now is how Studio Xebec did a good adaptation or not, or if it’s worth the watch.

From what I recall from the manga, they are following the story very closely, so cred for that. Just as in the manga, the turbulent but at times peaceful moments in Japan is over for Chidori and Sousuke. Amalgam is making a serious advancement and are no longer satisfied to just work from the shadows, which sets our main characters on different paths around the world. Here the story takes a bit more of a serious tone as well with bloodier battles, betrayal and cruel deaths (plus in my book), and less relieving comedy. Worth to note is that isn´t a full adaptation of the source material, so don´t expect a conclusion to the story here, its is at least 12 episodes of source material left. So, questions about the whispered and Amalgams end game is still highly unanswered.

Chidori is still the damsel in distress, and Souskue her loyal protector. Events leads up to that they sperate, and Sousuke goes to the furthest length to correct that, because at this stage either he or Chidori denies their mutual feelings for each other. Tessa is really put to the test this season, which focuses more on her as leader instead as potential love interest for Sousuke. Of all the characters, her development feels the freshest and most relevant. The rest of the crew do what they always been doing, my girl Melissa is still there to give people a good ass kicking, and Weber to snipe badies in the head. No major character developments occur in this season though, its more like a build up phase to the grand finale, where the characters have to move along the board to their final destination.

It seems like the art and animation suffer from production issues along the way. Which was one of the biggest disappointments of FMPIV for me. Initially, the art looks good, they do a fairly good job of recreating the manga´s art, even if the animation can a bit lacklustre. The quality unfortunately drops along the way and at the end of the show it´s hard to ignore, it gets that sloppy. The CG looks ok I guess, but the intensity the battles had in the manga is heavily reduced. And if uncoloured still frames can evoke more feelings than an animation, that says something, and it’s not good. The animation started out absolutely decent, but along the way it suffers as much as the art work. The motions of moving characters and objects gets jerky and non-coherent, to a point where you are wondering if the crew where all hangover and lazy at work for the last couple of episodes.

Another disappointment was the soundtrack. If Studio Xebec wanted to learn anything from the prequels it was that 90´s cartoonish soundtrack wasn´t a hit (at least not for me). The second season made a lift in that department but now its back to the 90´s cartoon inspired music again. If a good soundtrack can make a show appear better then it really is, the opposite is true as well, which unfortunately is the case here. Intense or emotional scenes fell a bit flat when accompanied with music that could been from a child approved Batman movie from the 90´s. In some shows that could´ve worked but for an action-mecha-drama story produced in 2018, it didn´t work well at all, and just undermined what was happening on the screen. Besides one track, the ED was the only music that actually highlighted the show. To bad. The VA´s was good to okish (both English and Japanese), but aren´t worth any Oscars.

Despite the let-down of the depletion of the art and animation, and underwhelming soundtrack, I´m still very glad that someone took up the task of trying to finish of the Full Metal Panic! story. I still enjoyed it, they had cut few corners regarding the story and characters, which kept the original feeling intact. To many source materials gets a season or two but are left unfinished. Hopefully, the last part gets a go as well, even under these conditions the show was still enjoyable.

Story:
A direct continuation of TSR. While retaining the awkward charm of Chidori and Sousake FMP: Invisible Victory has might i say even more tension as well as getting even more serious then TSR. However overall its the same story as the first and second season Kaname is still the damsel in distress and Sousake answers the call.

Art:
Almost everything looks exactly the same as the first 3 seasons, with a more modern look and far cleaner lines and character drawings. only minor things like Kaname's cheek zigzags are gone and other little things, the AS's Look far better as well (for the better i might ... say) Although everything looks nice and clean the art isnt anything wonderful, it could almost be considered subpar by todays standards but it get the job done.

Sound:
Explosions, music and voices all sound perfectly good, ( cant say if the characters sound the same since ive only watched the dub) Chidori is still loud at times though less annoying then the older seasons.

Characters:
If you've seen the first 3 seasons there is practically no differences in the characters. Sousake is still a man of few words and far too tense in social situations. Kaname is still annoying yet sweet. Tessa is still the cute little captian girl who's also an extremely hard working and very serious person at times. Melissa and Kurtz still are the same, he makes a joke at her expense and she hits him for it.

Enjoyment:
While i have been a fan of this series and i can now enjoy watching the season, the time gap might just be a big problem. Because if you haven't seen the original and TSR newcomers will have no idea whats going on at all. While some people wont be too keen on watch the older entries which are between 12-17 years old at this point.

Overall:
While this is a good start to the continuation of the series and the quality is decent, time goes on and FMP had its time in the spotlight long ago. Also is get a little bit more bloody. personal and they Turn the action up to 11

This is it! The king returns! The first season of this show was amazing walking the fine line between highschool romcom and action adventure about an out of place child soldier turned teenage mercenary. It did a great job juxtaposing the two sides of that coin as the main character's mission was to protect a highschool girl and it required him to blend into regular highschool life so both the action adventure and slice of life comedy felt natural. The second season of this show dropped the ball with dumb things like the same bad guy coming back to life 3 times until he was ... a brain in a jar futurama style barking commands to underlings that had to be retconned into the show just to have it make sense how he could have anyone that would listen to him and allow him to still be a threat after getting blown up twice. Then the third season went full retard and only focused on slice of life comedy and all the action adventure stuff was dumb shit like the main character releasing nerve gas into the school on accident and didn't touch on any of the amazing mercenary missions or plot progression.

But now, 10 years later we have a season 4 and it is as good as that magical first season! Balance has been restored to the universe and we have mercenary missions with non-immortal badguys that have an insane upper hand making the good guys the extreme underdogs in every situation that only survive because of their amazing skills and even then every battle they win (which doesn't always happen) is won by the skin of their teeth and they pay a high price for it. This is it! The tension, the drama, the amazing technical military execution of battle plans, the giant killer robots; everything that made season 1 amazing! And it still has the interpersonal relations and highschool setting without an army of people in mascot costumes with automatic weapons.

I am so glad we finally have a sequel that lives up to the first season. If you are new to Full Metal Panic I suggest watching all of season 1, maybe skimming season 2, completely skipping season 3, and then picking up here.

10/10

Overall Summary:
For my first review on MAL, this hurt to write. I'm a fan of FMP. I saw the original around 2003, loved Fumoffu and TSR, and waited 13 long years for this. Sadly, I came away disappointed because they wasted so many opportunities to make this as great as seasons 2 and 3. In the end, it's clearly the weakest of all 4 shows, despite the advances in 3D animation AND a delay from its original air date. I really wish KyoAni had done the show instead.

It had good moments, but they could've done SO much better. I pray that IF they make another ... season that it's given more money and attention. After the first few episodes, it really went downhill.

Story:
It's pretty straightforward action a lot of the time. It suffers from bad pacing, and stupid tactics/decisions in parts. It's merely "OK".

The bigger problem is the execution, and that many of the familiar characters are MIA for long periods of time... Lots of wasted cast.

Art:
After the first 3 eps or so, the art is terrible when no mechs are on screen. They put all their effort into the 3D mech animation (which is pretty great), and it makes me sad that they lacked the funds on the non-3D parts. The show really suffers from the low budget.

Sound:
It's pretty decent. Nothing wowwed or made me notice a major problem.

Character:
I wish the main cast showed up more often...

Enjoyment:
Pretty clear by now. I'm trying to be fair, but I get why others might rate this lower.

1st of all, I'm a huge FMP fan, the original anime series hooked me up years ago, I had read some books of the light novel and I finished the manga some years ago. The story itself is nice, very clever and the development of the characters is one of the strongest points in the LN and the manga adaptation, and that's something that we aren't getting in this poor anime adaptation.

The story is pretty much the same as the manga, same pace, it got me interested, but its get buried by the awful art, animation and voice acting, it screams "on a budget", even ... in the most tense scenes you can't feel what the characters are feeling or how it is described in the novel. And I'm not complaining about the abusive use of CGI, which is awful by itself.

It's like I'm watching budget a series in 2004, like the 1st adaptation of Fate stay/night.

This series needs more love, the story and the characters are amazing, but with this quality of animation we aren't getting any of that,

It pains me to rate this show so poorly. I loved the first two seasons and fumoffu was hilarious. Maybe this is why I can't help but grade this production poorly? All I know is I may not ever finish watching this because of the glaring issues.

From what I have seen the character development... is non-existent. It relies entirely on previously created character stories to fill out the characters (and it changes key characteristics of existing individuals from the previous seasons without notice). Kaname has magically changed from the confident and kinda kick ass character, to the crying screaming damsel ... in distress, with no explanation. This would have been a GREAT time for some character exposition to explain, maybe she got PTSD (or whatever can possibly explain this) from the events at the end of TSR to explain this change. And this would be fine if there was something of value to be gained from them using that time elsewhere. It does not. It is OBVIOUS the creators are trying to tell a darker, grittier aspect of the story. But in doing so they have ignored MANY of the aspects of the originals that made them enjoyable. The writers (if they actually have writers and didn't just plug previous seasons into Watson to fabricate a new story for them) have taken the cheesy, easy way out by making every aspect of the story cliched action tropes (many of which were taken almost verbatim from one of the previous seasons). The art is obnoxious with the excessive use of CGI for fight sequences (and fights tend to last a few episodes each. but hey... it's easier than drawing and animating the old fashioned way even if the art now sticks out like a sore thumb).

Also, this is probably just a personal pet peeve, but after the 13 or so year gap since the previous shows, the voice actors' voices have changed (Japanese audio version). They SOUND a decade older, even though the characters are supposed to be the same age they were when TSR ended. Kaname must smoke 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day, because this 16-18? year old girl now sounds like she's 40-50.

In closing, this was not the enjoyable ride I expected to get when I saw the title "full metal panic!" again.

This is a shameful reboot of a series that had hit so many high notes in the original three seasons. Hell even the filler season of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu had more fulfilling episodes then this hollow shell.

Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory is anything but good. With episode 10 just being released and only 12 full episodes being planned so far, this is by far the worst season of them all. Don't even get my started on the two (yes two) recap episodes that somehow someone at the studio thought was a "good" idea. The original season had 24 episodes, with Fumoffu having 12 and ... Second Raid having 13 (plus a OVA), and none of them had a recap episode. Let along TWO!

This season isn't worth your time. You are treated like a child (the two recaps only drilling this treatment worse) and the story bounces all over the place. There animation is hit and miss. With vehicles being CG and the mech being a pale comparison to what the series use to have, it's would be no surprise to me if they canned the series permanently with how bad Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory has ended up being.

And yes, the old seasons had GI, but at least they bothered to blend it into the drawn elements. Here anything CG just sticks out like a sore, bloody thumb. It is clear that Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory suffers from the CGI treatment that so many mech and robot based anime end up suffering from.

Other then the CG the series has OK animation. There is a part in episode ten (you'll probably know it when you see it) that they tried to so a weird half-slowmo but it just looks choppy. Sometimes the moving of a character (or a limb of theirs) looks really blocky.

There's even a scene in episode 9 that has you wondering if a character is kissing another because of a really bad camera change. Since there's no lead up to any sort of concept of a kiss happening, you are left wondering if it was a mistake or a intentional choice.

There's also a really bad case of cut and paste story. Meaning there's odd time jumps (both forward and back) that are jarring and it is clear that very little story boarding was done for this season. Maybe this is why they had to have two recaps, however bad production decisions are not the fault of the viewer.

Last but not least is something that is probably the biggest offend out of all of these. Remember the charm and humor of the original seasons? Ya well that's gone. Only one episode so far in this entire season has put a smile on my face. Where as the original seasons I couldn't stop laughing. Obviously this season is supposed to be darker, but one of the very things the series is known for (it's sense of humor) is all but gone. Only added to the shell the series has become.

There is very minimal music (even the famous theme that plays Tuatha de Danaan seems to be missing. Which makes me wonder if they couldn't get the original writes for any of the series most icon themes). Gun sounds are of course pretty good, but you it's hard to mess that up with the internet having a plethora of samples the studio could have bought and used.

I have nothing to say about the characters because, what characters? There is no focus on any of the characters, and instead we just get constant cuts between one character to another. As such there is no character development (further development I guess in this case), and the characters we do know and love have been chopped down into bite sized pieces.

Overall it pains me to give this season of Full Metal Panic! a 2/10. With the sound (somehow) being the highest rated thing for this season, with a 7/10.

Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory is not what is should be, and it shows. This season is sadly a husk of what the series once was, and double recap, choppy story, poorly blended animation and CG and the deeply missed musical themes only aid to the fact that this may be it for the series once and for all.

In short, Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory was clearly rushed out the studio's door.

Review until episode 10.

Animation/Art details has been dropping a lot to awful levels lately. Not even just frame skip. Proportion, Perspective and Quality has dropped massively that it is very noticeable. I see serious issues with the production of this series, especially due to the fact that we got 2 episode recaps already. Something really wrong is going on.

I simply wanted episode 10 to end up quickly. The animation is taking away the enjoyment from the series... wishing Kyoto Animation still made this...

This is very sad as we have waited lots of years for the next part. The start of the series was really good, ... it got me hooked into the series immediately. Episode after episode, it got me wishing for more. Way more than TSR (and that was a nice arc)

The series had a nice story. So far we had Mithril counterattack the enemies and they have come to the rescue most of the time and they succeeded, but IV is different in the sense that Mithril is now in need for rescue, and there is no one able to provide backup. So it is up to Mithril remnants to rise from the ashes take flight once again.

Will see how it goes from episode 10. But so far, if I had to buy the Blu-ray series, this massive drop in quality and the production issues are making me doubt if it will be good to buy any goods.

13 Years and season 3 is out unbelievable..... but I watched the first time season 1,2 three years ago and I enjoyed this fantastic series the maxiumum, I know that my brother began to look back 13 years ago this anime and now he have 30+ (years old) and when he end third season he said again,'' I feel again like 15 years old boy'' :D.

OP/ED Intro- 9/10 I immediately felt in my good old times.

But I am personally very pleased-story continues from the second season, which takes you into the atmosphere and you know, what and how only with what it will have no ... idea I was shocked by the unexpected turning in some moments. Art- it wasn’ t changed to the worst but improved slightly for the better, I even liked the new animation mechs its like a 60 fps vs 30 fps. Sound- remained almost without news. Character- there was nobody who I didn't like, but fact is those who are older than 25 they might like main heroes action and because they think like adults not like it in today's children under 19 years of age. Enjoyment- 9/10 "look and feel.

Overall 9/10- I hope I would still be alive for example, when a 5-6 season comes out :D.

13 Years is a long time to wait for a revival of an old franchise. Lucky for me, I didn't have to wait at all. While I was aware of Full Metal Panic back in the day, I never got around to sitting down and watching the whole thing. It wasn't until just recently that I decided to binge the entire franchise. You'd think maybe there would be some disparity between the different eras of the show, but to my viewing there wasn't much of a shift at all. It's almost like the show never left, and it's amazing that even the entire English voice ... cast was willing to come back and reprise their roles. Though I imagine any future installments will unceremoniously replace Vic Mignogna because an outrage mob on twitter who have never met the guy demanded he be removed from society for being a man.

So the quality of the show didn't decline at all in the interim between seasons, and in fact this was one of the best so far I think. Sousuke's character has finally been fleshed out enough to make him feel like not a complete robot, and his robot punching league arc was a standout fantastic showcase of good storytelling. Honestly that arc is so good you could enjoy it in isolation without even having to watch any of the rest of the series.

I'm a little disappointed that we get blue balled at the end of the season, it's not like they're waiting for the original author to finish the story or anything, the light novels wrapped up in 2010 so far as I can tell. I'd love to see another season of this revival but if there's been no announcement about it yet I don't see it happening any time soon. Hopefully we won't have to wait another 13 years because I honestly would love to see more.

9/10

After a wait of 13 years we finally have the new season of Full metal panic ... was it worth it ? yes ! it was.
Many people can be bothered by the fact that this season is starting to devellop the dark part of the LN, so don't wait for jokes, and laughs like in the previous seasons, this time it's serious, it can be boring for some people but the nostalgia is here, i love it, it was a FMP with a lot of action in a dark atmosphere.

Spoiler

The opening form the first season 16 years later coming out of nowhere at the end ... of the last episode almost made me cry, i want the next season, hopefully not in 13years.

I'm so happy that I lived to watch a new season after so many years, it came with no warning and gone so fast.

It's completely full of intensity, the characters are well used, the story is well writing and exciting, and the ending song is so beautiful, I enjoyed it listening to it several times.

The mechas ares well constructed and designed, the fights give a real feeling of combat, the weapons are real impressive with their fire power, but as the anime shows it's nothing without having ability to use it.

I will really miss this anime, I hope we can meet again in a new ... season!

Kiwk-E
In the end the 4th season of full metal panic panned out to be better than expected. The series had already been transferred to different studios before and now that it was in Xebecs hand who have been known to make some questionable titles, the quality of the series would obviously be worrying. However in the end the show just ended up decent as it continued to follow the direction of second raid in terms of tone and dropping most of the comedic and school elements. The plot is composed of three parts Almaga’s attack, the search, and mithril’s counter attack. The first one is ... bunch of set pieces that take too long for their own good, second part is the best just because of the characters introduced, and the final is okay even though it feels like the show ran out of steam by then. Characters are decent with characters like Nami being introduced and being one of the highlights of the show. Still the show still has a problem with having some of the most boring and one-dimensional antagonists. Still one of the amazing parts is many of the old voice actors reprising their roles even though it’s been more than a decade since the last season. Overall it’s still a decent addition to the series even if though it doesn’t seem to be worth the wait.

I loved this show back in the day and was so happy to hear that they made a new season in 2018. As a kid, I enjoyed mech anime and felt that the characters in this show in particular were all likable and unique. Once they hit us with a spinoff series just for laughs in Fumoffu, I got even more attached to the characters because I don't like to take things seriously. I think the best part of Full Metal Panic has always been the easygoing and fun interactions between Kaname and clueless Sousuke.

In comparison to the first two plot-based seasons, I thought ... Invisible Victory improved in some areas but suffered in others. The theme of this new season is more similar to that of Second Raid in that the plot itself takes on a more realistic and darker approach to the relationship between Kaname and Sousuke. Unlike the first two seasons, Invisible Victory at times feels rushed because its short 12-episode is dense with a large array of scenes and locations that can be difficult to follow. In terms of animation quality, this new season definitely improved and offered interesting shots that did a good job at incorporating CGI for any fast-paced scenes. In the last few episodes, I had no idea where the show was going but I still relatively happy with how they chose to end it.

In conclusion, I get the feels whenever I hear "futari de nigebasho sagashite" and am hoping they make another season of this show within the next decade!

Hi! Robert's Too Late Review time, even though today we're going to be talking about the fourth season of Full Metal Panic! known as Invisible Victory, and this time, we're not actually late! I'm really fond of the FMP series, but this time around, it seems that the series has lost something. Also of note, I am dealing in the dubbed version. Will Kaname and crew make the RTLR wall of badassery? Let's look at what we have here.

Story: 6
I would say that there is a lot of important elements from the previous seasons missing in IV, like the soul of the show is ... somehow withering. Before we always have seen our heavy mech action tempered by the comedy of Kaname and Sosuke interacting, usually including Sosuke being a obvious soldier undercover, and Kaname being totally exasperated by his lack of a clue. This fun, light vibe helped properly counter some of the more intense sections of the show, especially as we saw in the first season. The bad guy was heavy duty, and was definitely a threat to Sosuke and his team, but he also had to deal with Kaname constantly trying to kick his ass for being a 'military freak'. This kept the plot with a lighter footprint, and set a precedent for the series, giving it a distinct feel.

There are a ton of mech action anime, military based series, and the like with heavy, serious plots. FMP and The Second Raid were different because Kaname and even Captain Tessa had many moments of humor and levity. This feeling is so much part of the soul of FMP that an entire season was devoted purely to the humorous side of the series. (FMP Fumoffu) Invisible Victory seems to forget this completely, and bogs down in its own self imposed seriousness. Instead of following the stride set by previous seasons, IV comes across as pretentious and full of itself. Not even Kurz is good enough to raise the spirits of the show, even after his *epic* episode in Fumoffu. Melissa also returns but is under utilized as well, as compared to the earlier seasons.

As I mentioned one of the major aspects of FMP was the interactions between Kaname and Sosuke. These really don't happen much this time around because Kaname is barely in the series at all! She is removed from the picture for most of the series, and is briefly replaced by another young woman. This woman is a poor substitute for Kaname, and even the show seems to only use this new girl as a device to drive the plot forward, and in some terrible ways to boot. We don't see Sosuke getting smacked with fans, books, chairs or any other weapons Kaname was so eager to bash across his head when he was having one of his military 'geek-outs'. The entire season suffers for this.

One of the main antagonists is tied to another character who is their polar opposite, and it is such a predictable move that I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the identity was revealed. Also of note is the ending. I will not spoil it any more than absolutely necessary, but the season ends with a *major* cliffhanger. One big enough that if this doesn't get a fifth season, the story is ruined. Most anime I've seen seem to follow a trend of a general wrapping up of the story, even if they are angling for a continuation in the next season. Its not my experience to see such an uncompleted resolution as was present in IV. I like FMP (well, for the most part) and I hate that we may well never see our characters ultimate fate.

Art: 7
Everyone looks exactly like they are supposed to, from previous seasons, so no complaints there. The CG mechs often look odd and out of place to me, so I was not a fan of them per se. It didn't look too horrid, and coupled with the animation I believe it to be fairly well done. My only complaint is a personal one: I don't like Kaname's hair and eye color combo. Just irks me for some reason.

Sound: 7
There are some odd discrepancies in the sound. The mechs all sound good stomping around. The weapon sounds are all fine, but it's the dialog that baffled and irritated me. Slight spoiler here: at one point sweet, young Captain Tessa addresses the bad guys directly, and totally drops an unbleeped 'F' bomb. Later in the series, Sosuke enlists the help of a very grizzled Vietnam veteran Marine. This man also, predictably, throws down some coarse language. Yet when he curses, dropping his own 'F' bombs, they are oddly censored out. The source I used to watch the series did not swap between a filtered version and an unfiltered one, the best that I can tell. If it is the case that it was intentional to bleep the Marine but not the 17 year old girl, I find that quite odd, and a fair bit vexing.

Also of import regarding the sound, they did manage to retain the voice actors for the main cast, so they all sound like they are supposed to. This is a bit of note because the large amount of time between seasons, some 13 odd years. That deserves a bit of approval as they seemed to understand that changing the VA cast would be yet another ding against the series.

Characters: 6
Sosuke is still himself, thinking and acting first as a soldier at all times. Kaname has a shift that isn't really compelling for her. She goes from the headstrong girl from the earlier seasons to basically a 'damsel in distress' in IV. What little we see of Kurz and Melissa fits the pattern from before, whether that's a good thing or not is debatable. The new members of the cast all seem a little flat in my opinion. This is especially noteworthy in the case of Nami who in the end suffers her fate less to drive the story forward than to shock the viewer. Lemon is far too well connected to be realistic and his cover isn't very well thought out either.

We don't see much change in anyone. Even Tessa, with her cursing tirade goes back to being very much the sweet girl she was before. Melissa is still badass, Kurz is still horny, and the new leader of the mech group is a predictable hardass. The biggest swing is Kaname, and not in a good way, as I mentioned.

Enjoyment: 6
I do like FMP, and I didn't think this season was unwatchable, but it has lost a good part of its charm by moving away from a civilian centered show about how Kaname and Sosuke feel about each other. The new, grittier feel has the same failings that most 'gritty' reboots or what have you have, the loss of identity. FMP just becomes another story about a knight in shining (mech) armor facing down the world to save the girl he loves. We've seen this story just a few (thousand) times before.

If you really like FMP like I do, I'd say it isn't a complete waste of time to watch IV. There's a few interesting moments, but it is unbalanced by the overly serious tone. This is really a situation where they should have left well enough alone. Kaname and crew failed to make the RTLR wall of anime, but its not a total wash. If you watch this, go in knowing this is the weakest point of the series, and be willing to accept things that don't make sense, like where in the hell did all those damn Behemoth mechs come from? Wouldn't blame you for a pass, however, if you don't want to spoil the nostalgia of Panics past.

Full Metal Panic is one of the best Mecha animes around, and this was a fine return to the series. It's a darker twist on the usual feel of this series, but it's not overly dark to the point of trying to be too edgy or going overboard. I really enjoyed the earlier episodes where Kaname Chidori is finally forced to come to the realization that this is war and lives are being lost. FMP has always been one half school rom-com and one half military thriller. But, they decidedly dumped the school rom-com aspect of the anime and made it ... totally military as Sosuke struggles to rescue Chidori from the hands of Amalgam. I appreciated the more grown up version of FMP IV for this reason.

Although, this anime suffers from one problem, and that is the immense time gap between the last season and this season. It's been 13 years. So, alot of the emotional connections you had with the characters have been lost to time. You'd have to watch the original FMP and Fumoffu to really get that feeling back. It's kind of like starting over with friends you knew from middle school when you're in your 30s. The anime could've done a better job with re-acclimating us with the cast, but it didn't. It just picked up right where it left off, which I imagine would be difficult for new viewers to get into, and older viewers would feel like I did. It lacked that really deep emotional impact, especially considering what happened to Mithril early in the anime. That would've shocked everyone if those events occurred 10 years ago. However, if this gets another season, it can build off of the foundations that were laid here.

Outside of that issue, the anime is solid. Lots of good action, good animation, and a solid, if not spectacular plot. It's basically one long rescue mission. So, while there are a few twists and turns, and one pretty surprising moment about midway through, it was pretty much a "save the girl" anime. A very good "save the girl" anime, mind you.

Overall, I think most people will enjoy this. But, I would recommend going back and watching all of the original FMP shows before starting here if you're a newer viewer or if you've forgotten most of what happened in the earlier seasons.

Story: 7
Art: 8
Sound: 7
Character: 8
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 8

TL;DR: Overall good sequel, love the mech design, pacing is slightly irritating, art is fine, don't rate the CG.

I originally watched Invisible Victory as it was airing without going back and re-watching the other 3 seasons and was honestly disappointed with it. Having had the chance to go back and watch the whole lot in one go, I have to say my opinion of it has improved.

Story wise it picks up after the last season well and doesn't really do anything dramatically different. Pacing could be better, the first 8 episodes seem to be one long cliffhanger (probably what upset ... me when I watched it while it was airing). While the pace could have been improved, they had a lot to cram in to 12 episodes, so I can give that a pass.

The art style is consistent with the previous seasons and did not feel out of place when watching it back to back with TSR. The addition of CG on the mechs wasn't great, but by far not the worst use I have seen. Overall it gets a pass despite the average CG effort, as a lot of it does not detract from the heat of the battle.

Overall, I would say that this is a good follow up to the massive wait. Sure I would love the original studio to work on the next season, but these guys were *fine* and I really enjoyed watching it the second time through regardless of the hiccups.