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
