As printed in The Northern Light newspaper
Nov. 14, 2006
One of the more accessible and successful anime series in the U.S., “Full Metal Panic!” has an excellent blend of action, comedy and drama. “Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid” is a 13-episode follow up to the original “Full Metal Panic!”, a 26-episode series combining military robot action with the comedic attempts of Sousuke Sagara as he tries to blend in with high school life. His undercover mission is to protect Kaname Chidori, an often-hostile girl who has special subconscious knowledge of “Black Technology,” which is sought after by the terrorist organization Amalgam. Sousuke, who grew up as a mercenary and now works for the secret paramilitary agency Mithril, is combat trained but socially clueless. Most of the humor comes from the deadpan military attitude with which he approaches every situation, Kaname’s exasperation at his tactics and her love/hate relationship with him.
“Full Metal Panic!” was followed up by “Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu,” a purely comedic series that stepped away from the main storyline. “Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid” comes back to the main story and adds the action and drama from the first series back in, making it a true sequel.
Volume one reintroduces the characters along with the new mysterious madman Gates and his twin assassins Xia Lu Lan and Xia Lu Fan. Even without watching the first shows, the story is easy to get into. “The Second Raid” has a slightly darker tone than the original, the scenes with the assassins in particular. The first volume sets up a lot of the new conflicts and serves as a good intro to the continuing story. The animation is very high quality and the action is fluid and gorgeous. The DVD is also loaded with special features, a rarity for anime, including audio commentary for all episodes.
“Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid” is about as mainstream as anime gets.Fortunately, it’s also really good.
"Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid: Vol. 1" ★ ★ ★ ★½
U.S. Release: FUNimation/ADV Films
Animation: Kyoto Animation
Release date: Nov. 14, 2006
Genres: Action, comedy, drama, mecha, romance
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