- Last OnlineMar 25, 2013 5:48 PM
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Mar 3, 2013
As an anime fan, if there's something that makes me really happy, its when the second season of a certain series fixes/upgrades on what the first season did and makes it much more enjoyable to watch. The first season of Full Metal Panic! (will be known as FMP! for now on) suffered from boring fillers and whether it wanted to be a Slice of Life High School Comedy or a Military Action Mecha.
There were easy resolutions to these problems. First, the fillers consisted of mainly the comedic portion of FMP!, so instead of creating a full-on Fumoffu?-esque episode, why not just include the comedy
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while the main action is going on? Second, FMP! really shined as a Military Action Mecha more than the SoL HS Comedy, so keeping it centered on that would be great.
With that, the boys over at Kyoto Animation took over Gonzo's work and created the brilliant sequel of FMP!, known as The Second Raid.
Our characters are still the same from last time. We have our war freak Sousuke Sagara and the woman he is assigned to protect, Kaname Chidori. Don't worry, the loveable supporting characters are also still there, but don't play as big of a part. Its a damn shame too, because there were some pretty cool supporting characters that didn't really get the love they deserved, like Leonard and the Xia sisters.
The story is kind of like the original FMP!'s in a way. You would have Sousuke living the school life that he was assigned to and some form of mission would come up that he would have to attend to. It does work out in the end because, like the original, all the missions in TSR have to do with one large issue in their way, which is Amalgam, another independent organization like Mithril.
The only issue with the story is that you aren't given a large background of Amalgam. Its like KyotoAni just wanted us to know that Amalgam is Mithril's biggest problem at the moment since they have technology that is equal, or even superior, to Mithril's. The rest of the story plays out well, but it would've been nice to at least hear more of how Amalgam got together. It shouldn't have been difficult because Gonzo told the story of Gauron and what he meant to Sousuke and why he was a threat to Mithril in less than 13 episodes, which is the length of TSR. Shit, they even showed Gauron at work a couple times and didn't even put in a lot of screen time for that stuff either.
Once again, the story does end up being very well done, taking the amazing Action Mecha elements from the original series and making that the main premise of TSR, along with adding some superb dramatic scenes to increase the level of quality. The new antagonists are also very nice to see and I would say are much more of a threat than Gauron was, but I wouldn't say that there were as cool as him.
KyotoAni also improved the animations from the original series. In the first FMP!, it seemed that Gonzo was too scared of showing off really gruesome moments. I'm guessing KyotoAni noticed that and made the actions scenes even better, showing things like throats getting slit and just letting TSR become more of a bloodbath in general, something that I also thought was missing in the original.
I was never too much of a fan of the first season and Fumoffu?'s OP and ED. TSR has a very nice OP that I didn't end up skipping, until I got near the end of the series. The ED is average though, nothing really amazing. If you watched the original/Fumoffu? dubbed or subbed, then the same voice actors/seiyuus are here. I felt like the dub took a step forward from the original series, so props to the English voice actors for stepping it up.
TSR was just an enjoyment overall to watch. There really wasn't one moment that I could say I was bored of a certain scene. Overall, Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid really improves over the first series a bunch. Its shorter than the first, but does a great job of telling the story in just a mere 13 episodes. The only things stopping TSR from being perfect is the uninformed background history of Amalgam and the lack of progression in the supporting characters.
If you've seen the original and you're wondering whether or not to start this or Fumoffu?, I would suggest watching this one first, but you can't really go wrong with either one in the end.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 2, 2013
When it comes to the Slice of Life genre nowadays, it really isn't a surprise to see Romance/Drama genre tags placed on the shows. Its not like I have an issue with these shows, but it just feels like most of them are shallow romances, or they don't end up being romantic in the slightest. Being adapted from an Adult Visual Novel (oh boy), School Days is a wonderful example on how you can seriously fuck over your anime in more ways than one (no pun intended).
The story of School Days is very simple. Guy A likes Girl A. Unfortunately, Guy A is too scared
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to confess to Girl A. Girl B, however, finds out about Guy A's feelings towards Girl A and decides to help them out. After successfully getting them together, Girl B decides that its a great idea to slowly confess her love to Guy A. Anyone with a brain will know that at this point, the roof, and maybe even the house at that, will just start coming down.
Our Guy A in this situation is Makoto Itou, a quiet guy who is usually by himself listening to his music. Like most other Harem (yes, its a Harem) protagonists, he doesn't possess any qualities of a character whatsoever. He notices Girl A, who is Kotonoha Katsura, on the train to school that they both ride. Kotonoha is also usually quiet and is seen reading most of the time on the train. Finally, our Girl B is Saionji Sekai, the more energetic, outgoing girl in this show. Not too much to say about her, other than the fact that she really turns the tide of everything quickly.
Oh yeah, you noticed this as well? There have already been countless anime with these characters!
Makoto Itou really has nothing going for him. I don't understand what these two girls (not just them though) truly see in Makoto. Its probably that overused "He's so nice." statement that I'll never understand no matter how many times it gets thrown around. Kotonoha is dropped pretty early in the series and doesn't have much impact to School Days, other than the "quality fanservice" she brings. Sekai is also in the same ballpark, but she doesn't get dropped entirely.
As for the story of School Days, its as atrocious as our characters. If you want the progression of the story in a nutshell, it goes from a Love Triangle to a Love Octagon, but calling it love at that point is laughable. School Days drops the Romance portion and creates more of an Ecchi environment for the people who enjoy that kind of stuff. The supporting characters are all forgettable and don't really do anything to influence this series in anyway, other than the- yeah, you guessed it, fanservice.
The best thing about School Days is the last two episodes. Episodes eleven and twelve really pack a lot of punch and shock factor, but it really felt like School Days only lived off of those last two episodes alone. They were really enjoyable to watch though, but still doesn't make School Days worth it.
The OP and ED are average at best. Nothing that'll really stand out to you. The music played throughout the series is also very forgettable. The art is also average and not something worth mentioning much. The seiyuus fit the characters, which you could say is also a plus if you're into that.
There isn't much else to say at this point. If I had to put it in short, School Days is like driving through a city one day and having the scenery completely changed the very next day. If, for some reason, you're interested in seeing this anime, I would tell you to just read a summary of the first ten episodes and just finish off the last two, since that's all that is all School Days really has to offer you.
To all producers in the future, if you plan on making a romance anime, don't turn it into anything like this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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