October 10, 2003
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu Episode 08-09
"Pure and Impure Grappler"
"Trespass With Good Intentions"
The first of the two episodes was pretty weak. The animation wasn't so hot, and there was a lot of art reuse that really cheapens the show, especially considering the first season's extremely high production values. Looking past that, the story is suitably wacky for this series (Chidori and Sousuke must evict the school's karate club, who of course won't give up without a fight), but ultimately kind of flat.
The primary bad guy is basically a stupid joke, and of course Sousuke wins. We get the requisite amount of Chidori spazzing out... In other words, another standard episode of Fumoffu.
The second episode sort of carries on the first episode's story, which marks the first time we've had a carryover theme this series. There's some more action, and some general weirdness. The story is pretty stupid and far-fetched. I know this is based off of the manga, but seriously, this isn't even in the same ballpark as the first season, different subject matter/genre or no. It's just not very good.
One thing that I thought of while watching these two episodes is that the show really doesn't provide you with sufficient exposition. If you don't know anything about Full Metal Panic, there's a very very high probability that you won't have any idea what's going on, or why you should be entertained.
If you are familiar with the story, however, you'll probably still wonder why you should be entertained.
Rating: C
Posted by Kei at October 10, 2003 12:28 AM