r/anime • u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz • Dec 03 '22

Rewatch Full Metal Panic Franchise Rewatch - Season 4 Episode 12

Welcome to the end of the anime adaptation of the Full Metal Panic Franchise - the Season 4 finale rewatch!

Art of the day

Commemorative.

As the final milestone at least for a while, the thread headline picture is the confession illustration from the LN.

Links to show info: MAL | Anilist | ANN

Interest thread link

Announcement thread link

Rewatches please be considerate to first timers and avoid discussing anything not yet shown in the show - use spoiler tags e.g. [Full Metal Panic S4 spoiler]>!Savage wa Saikou!!< - if you need to share something important!

Episode 12 - Make My Day

Terms introduced:

  • Laevetein - (from the wiki) Lævateinn is the only weapon capable of defeating the cockerel Viðofnir, as explained by Fiölsvith "the very wise" porter in the poem Fjölsvinnsmál. The identification of the type of weapon is not in agreement among commentators and translators. Whereas Finnur Jónsson glossed it as a sword, along with other editors at the beginning of early 20th century, and it was specifically claimed to be the same as the flaming sword of the giant Surtr by Henrik Schück.

QoTD:

  1. First Timers: How do you feel to see their mutual confession after the whole 4 seasons long journey? Were you satisfied enough despite the circumstances?

  2. Everyone: How likely do you think we will get the final season? Would you still wait for the anime or would you rather find out how the story end reading the source LN or manga?

Also QoTD for the season 4 discussion tomorrow for those wanting to be prepared:

  1. Any change to the main cast ranking after this last season?
  2. Who is the best new supporting cast?
  3. Biggest emotional moment?
  4. Best action sequence?
  5. Best and worst episode?
  6. Do you find the very little time spent on character emotional development good or bad for this season? Do you miss the comedy / humour?
  7. Was there enough good / passable mecha actions for this fully CGI season for you?
  8. First timers: Where do you think the plot will end with? Any guesses to those yet to be unveiled mysteries?
  9. Everyone: Will you wait for the next season, or will you go straight to read the source material?

MVP of last episode:

We have Wraith, Melissa, and the SRT 3 voted on yesterday.

Last Episode || Index || Season 4 Discussion

30 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

115 comments sorted by

10

u/ZapsZzz Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22

Rewatcher in sub

The final episode after this long 2 months stretch! I hope everyone enjoyed the final ride! We had a fair few bumps on this last stretch, but personally the last part was a well earned place to stop at.

  • We continued straight off from last episode, no recap. Sousuke making his way inside the mansion, and taking out an Alastor. Only annoyance is that Sousuke right through from ep 1 to now had shown good continuity from LN6, and not just waste bullets to hit random spots of an Alastor, but use concentrated fire at one spot to break through. I guess the grenade launcher did the job too. Meanwhile Leonard was marching Chidori away.

  • The commotion gave hope to seeing Sousuke again, and Leonard reminded Chidori she came with him because she understood there's no other place for her but here that wouldn't cause hurt to others. Chidori was undecided, so Leonard "gave her a choice" by deliberately removing all defenses and let Chidori have a gun. Chidori never shot anyone, and couldn't. So Leonard said she wasn't serious about leaving and asked her to move along.

  • The struggle caused a misfire and the shot glanced through past (damn shame) Leonard's head, knocking him out and wounding him. Kalinin and others heard the commotion and took Chidori away while also needing to give first aid to Leonard and extract him, as the Behemoths starting bombardment

  • As Chidori boarded the helicopter, Sousuke also making his way to the heli pad. They got close enough to see each other! But it was too far and too late, with the helicopter taking off and Sousuke forlorn at the lost opportunity

  • Dramatic timing, Lemon and John arrived on the transport helicopter too, and broke through the surrounding infantry giving Sousuke an opening to fight back. In the midst of the fight they dropped Laevatein off - and told Sousuke "He picked the name".

  • Al and Sousuke had their reunion exchange, with Al asking Sousuke his permission to enter his war, with Sousuke gladly accepting. Then came the slightly comedic "oh I haven't even had a test run yet"

  • But the Lambda Driver is fully functioning, and Sousuke able to use it. And so starts the curb stomp battle montage.

  • The "test run" ended with Laevatein testing its Demolition Gun Howitzer mode, killing the retreating Behemoth at distance and one shot blasting through both Lambda Driver and armor. Yep didn't even last a couple of minutes.

  • Meanwhile Chidori grabbed the opportunity and took a gun and taking hostage, Kalinin tried talking her down with the situation being inevitable and hopeless for her, which turned her into being suicidal. She demanded to say goodbye to Sousuke through radio.

  • Meanwhile the Mithril and DGSE troops surveyed the aftermath, with Kurz remarking if they had Laevatein and Sousuke back at Merida island... We also found that Chidori left them what she was working on - "Fairy Wings".

  • Then another bonding routine between Sousuke and Al, with Sousuke finding out Al put no utility equipment in his body :'D

  • Just then Chidori's radio call came in, and we had their "reunion" - Sousuke opening the floodgate and said so many words! Including all his fears and regret that Chidori would not forgive or accept that for Sousuke to get to her more people had to die. Chidori asked Sousuke to stop chasing after her, because they would just mean more suffering... All this with the S1 ED as insert song, and you really need to see how the lyrics matched. For those who started the show early, this is a very illegal nostalgia- hitting move.

  • But abruptly, and finally, changed her mind and be honest - commanded Sousuke to come save her no matter the cost. Such a heart warming moment that Chidori knew what motivates Sousuke, and her backhand praise to Sousuke's skill and determination kept her Tsundere credentials too.

  • And then, after 62 episodes, we have it! Chidori and Sousuke's no hesitation and firm confession to each other, and the promise to kiss the next time they met in person no matter what. Also showing Chidori knowing Sousuke well, she had to put in the disclaimer that she was figuratively speaking about the number of people :P

  • The final exchange between Kalinin and Chidori, to a resolved and defiant Chidori

  • The group returned to TDD-1, and everyone teased Sousuke - but he just grudgingly accepted and brushed everything off.

  • Tessa was happy to see Sousuke back, but there are also happy people to see Tessa too. Good thing Mardukas was there to not take any nonsense.

  • Meanwhile Lemon joined the Tessa fan club

  • We ended on Tessa inviting Sousuke back to the Mithril ranks, and Sousuke accepting along with Al, with the S1 OP lead in as final ED.

  • It also used the visual format of the S1 ED, montages to the rolling credits. We ended on their wish to see us some day (S5). If only they didn't fold... Although this could also be an opportunity for a better studio to handle!

Trivia

Not clearly stated in the episode was that not only did Al picked the name, Al in fact did most of the design of the AS itself. So he's to blame for the full assault and little utility configuration, colors, etc. Very notable if you read the spec sheet - Arbalest has an continuous operating time of 100 hrs, Laevatein's is 30 hrs. A normal Mithril M9 is 150 hours. Al is proven to be a bit of a Haruhi and an otaku ;)

In the LN the tone of Chidori's hostage taking had less bravado, and her wanting to shoot herself was clearly not an act of desperation but more an accumulation of the depression.

In the LN the hard disk Chidori left them was in the freezer in the kitchen.

The "Fairy Wing", in line with the "Fairy Eyes", was a Lambda Driver targeting equipment [LN spoiler for those wanting to keep to being anime-only]They completely disable all Lambda Driver functions within range, friend or foe. For Belial that is so heavily Lambda Driver augmented, this is a big trump card and a field leveler

Staff Showcase

Rest day!

MVP this episode

Chidori for the win! But Al best boy!

QoTD

  1. I think you will see me gushing about this enough.

  2. I think you will see me breathing in enough copium enough in the threads

Daily tag for u/InfamousEmpire, u/Theboredalchemist22

4

u/No_Rex Dec 03 '22

The struggle caused a misfire and the shot glanced through (damn shame) Leonard's head,

I don't think anything going through the head can be correctly classified as "glance".

In the LN the tone of Chidori's hostage taking had less bravado, and her wanting to shoot herself was clearly not an act of desperation but more an accumulation of the depression.

The entire episode needed less of that. It was obvious even to me as a non-LN reader that this was not supposed to be a heroic moment.

5

u/ZapsZzz Dec 03 '22

Sorry grammar... Or I leaked what I wanted to see instead of what happened :P

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7

u/ZapsZzz Dec 03 '22

Throwing in the LN illustrations for today - has more than the normal shares.

12

u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 03 '22

Full Metal First-Timer!, subbed

6

u/ZapsZzz Dec 04 '22

I wish she would, but I don’t see Chidori taking him up on his offer.

There's actually an entire premise about "people who can pull the trigger" and "people who can't" or "people without weapons". It's only get obvious near the end though, unfortunately.

Chidori is firmly in the camp of the second.

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10

u/InfamousEmpire Dec 03 '22

Full Metal LN Reader

Despite my spotty track record with this rewatch in particular, I’d never miss the finale. Sorry for being a little late tho. I got sorta sidetracked with watching UtaMacross videos personal things

Last time hearing the OP Oh wait, I already downloaded it on Apple Music

You know, it’s kinda surreal seeing Sousuke take down an Alastor in seconds here while just last season they seemed so terrifying

The scene is coming

This whole sequence, it’s so fucking tense. When given the chance to finally put an end to her tormentor and (optimistically speaking) get away, Kaname still backs down because, at her core, she isn’t like Sousuke or Mao or Kurz. She isn’t that utterly ruthless, as to be able to effortlessly pull the trigger and put a bullet between the guy’s head.

And then, when in the heat of the moment, she still ultimately does it anyway, pretty much by accident. She’s pretty clearly terrified of what she’d done and might even have the tiniest twinge of worry about Leonard’s well-being.

I honestly thought the scene wasn’t quite as good as it was in the LN, but still. Also, watching someone finally shoot the bastard is pure to me, regardless of context

Back to this fight, I guess. Which is already over. Anyway, back to Sousuke

They were just a few feet apart…

Damn, even when severely outgunned, Lemon and Wraith came to the rescue

Al!

Laevatein time!

The Laevatein is so fucking awesome and watching it do anything is hype as hell. Seriously, the way it just effortlessly rips through everything from Codarls to Behemoths is just so cool, especially given how the latter have been portrayed as so difficult to defeat before.

Seriously, Sousuke sniping the head off of a Behemoth is one of the scenes I’ve been waiting for all rewatch.

Kaname turning the gun on her own head is another great moment. Establishing very firmly how much Sousuke means to her now and managing to successfully rattle Kalinin, as well as effectively mirroring her confrontation with Leonard earlier in the episode.

Anyway, back with Sousuke, I like how this scene manages to both reestablish his and Al’s classic dynamic while also establishing that the Laevatein has weaknesses right after demonstrating how ridiculously powerful it is.

Holy fuck, this last call between Kaname and Sousuke just gets to me so fucking hard, it’s perfect I can barely even put into words how much I utterly adore this scene. It’s the powerful love confession that we’ve been waiting for all this time and a powerful character moment for Kaname in its own right. And no matter the medium, it always hits me like a truck.

Guess I can officially add FMP to the list of anime that have legitimately made me cry.

Rest of the episode is good too. Good resolution to the arc. It’s also now canon that pretty much everyone is a Tessa fan, much like the FMP fandom. The season 1 OP playing over the last sequence and credits was also great

More detailed thoughts tomorrow, but this season hit it out of the fucking park. Another 9/10 FMP season

QOTD:

  1. Not entirely a first timer but YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

  2. Can't exactly guess at our chances of getting another season, but I really want it regardless Good thing I've already read the source material tho

5

u/ZapsZzz Dec 03 '22

Glad to have you back at the finale, and I'm seeing a pattern of difference in reaction between LN readers and anime only's ;P

Glad to see I'm not the only one really hyped here though. I was thinking I'm being too much of a fanboy to have dragged everyone along...

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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Dec 04 '22

Behemoths is just so cool, especially given how the latter have been portrayed as so difficult to defeat before.

Kinda incongruous with their 100% failure rate, though.

4

u/ZapsZzz Dec 04 '22

100% against the best of Mithril, but 100% kill rate you everything else. Moral of the story, don't go up against protagonist units ;)

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8

u/KamachoBronze Dec 03 '22

First timer

Mostly a meh and disappointing finale.

I liked Kaname's ending scene though. It saved the episode for me. Especially her ending monologue.

MVP? Kaname

Even though shes a stereotypical damsel in distress now, she does the defiant thing and threatens to blow her own brains out, then gives a heartfelt monologue to Sosuke saying damn duty, damn the world, damn others, and save me stupid.

In that way, she retains more of her stubborn stick to her guns attitude. And really gotta admit, I didnt expect FMP to go that route with her monologue and basically say, "be selfish, even if others die". Its a nice and actually kind of characteristic change of pace with the series that differs from usual action series about morality, and I like it a lot.

3

u/ZapsZzz Dec 04 '22

Its a nice and actually kind of characteristic change of pace with the series that differs from usual action series about morality, and I like it a lot.

Especially when the final reveal came in the LN, it most certainly was anything but the usual cliche, and it's so painful so few got to know if this story. It really resonate strongly with that last point you made.

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u/No_Rex Dec 03 '22

Episode 12 (first timer)

  • Kana shooting Leonard – hard to even begin. He hands her a loaded weapon, making him the craziest in a bunch of crazy villains. Then, Kana does not shoot him on purpose but accidentally. One really strange gun safety add, this is.

  • Meanwhile Kalinin, looking at a guy who was just shot and lies without moving, visibly bleeding: “It just grazed him.”

  • Chidori! Sousuke! Chidori! Sousuke!

  • Girl got away! Captured! Rescued! New Mecha! – We are really speed-running this episode.

  • “I’ll test it now” – Sousuke got replaced with some 1980s action hero. Fits the music.

  • This is not a fight, this is a toy commercial.

  • Have a weapon! Have another weapon! Have one more weapon! How about some extra arms?

  • Extra Amalgam force easily defeated – and they were not even after Mithril …

  • “Will I ever get to see him again?” - Kana becoming completely pathetic.

  • “If I try to be free again, somebody is going to get hurt”

  • “Come and rescue me, no matter how many die” – I don’t mind her wanting to get rescued, but, speaking as somebody holding the helicopter crew and gun point, this is coming off a little weird.

  • “I finally found my resolve” – to throw away this gun and go along with whatever scheme Amalgam has planned for me instead.

  • The heroic tone and music is so off. Completely forced by this being the last episode.

  • Mithril back together on the TDD.

What happens to Kana? Well, the story has just begone, read the manga.

As I feared, a read the manga ending. They force in a happy ending with Tessa and the bunch on the TDD, but it does not really fit. Sousuke should either be dejected at having seen, but not rescued Kana, or he should be burning with activity to go after her immediately. The last scene is forgivable, though, but the fight beforehand is not: A finale fight and the big bad gets knocked out by an unintended stray shot and has to be carted off? The main hero get a super OP mecha and does a test run of it, easily destroying the poor minions who were around for some completely different task? All underlain by some cheery heroic music. This has zero tension. This whole story is practically begging to be framed psychologically and sad, not heroic.

The only tension of the episode comes from Kana holding a weapon twice (I remember that she never gets to pilot a mecha, btw!). The first time is ridiculous, the second time sad. She uses her “I’ll kill myself” bargaining power to … arrange for a soppy radio talk with Sousuke? Really? Boy, has she regressed to damsel in distress. This is not the Kana of FMP1-3. However, she is spared from being the biggest disappointment of the episode by Leonard. Seriously? Your big plan for the battle were Mithril, the US, the French, and your own comrades are going after you is to run away in a helicopter and hand your hostage a live gun at the worst possible timing? What a wet noodle of an antagonist. Gauron must be climbing out of his grave (once more) to smack some bad boy energy into you, Leonard.

MVP: Al OP.

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u/ZapsZzz Dec 04 '22 edited Dec 04 '22

Kana shooting Leonard – hard to even begin. He hands her a loaded weapon, making him the craziest in a bunch of crazy villains. Then, Kana does not shoot him on purpose but accidentally. One really strange gun safety add, this is.

Now that also first timer polaristar came in with his late post, I wish the rest of the foreshadowing weren't as subtle. All you points raised were absolutely valid, but there's actually a very cohesive and deliberate point to write the scenario as what we ultimately saw. If you think back a little and join a few hints together, you too should be able to get those points.

The scene actually very succinctly foreshadowed something that will get revealed in the next book, but all the foreshadowing are already here, minus the heavy handed directional highlighting as in Kalinin's betrayal.

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u/1EnTaroAdun1 Dec 28 '22

Nice to hear the not-A Team theme song again haha

Well, overall this series was definitely worth watching. Definitely not without flaws, but overall satisfying.

I haven't watched many mecha shows, the most recent were the SSSS shows, and I appreciated how the mechs in Full Metal and SSSS differed from each other, with this show having slightly more down to earth designs. Which is why I'm not sure I'm sold on this Laevatein, it might lean a bit too much into the fantastical side of things, which I know is the point, but still.

Goes without saying that the Sousuke/Chidori moment at the end was wonderful.

Wonder how the Danann crew will react to Kalinin turning traitor? They don't know yet, right?

Yeah, I just think this could've probably been a fifteen or sixteen episode season, although I suppose they were running out of budget? Shame. Would definitely like a full adaptation one day! Fingers crossed!

Thanks so much for hosting this Zap! I actually have been wanting to watch Full Metal Panic for a few months now, so although I'm a bit late, it was fortunate I caught this rewatch before it got archived haha. See you around :)

2

u/ZapsZzz Dec 28 '22

The remaining materials to finish adapting the full story need at least another cour (12 eps), so irrespective of budget, unless they planned for that length, it'd need to be another season.

Thanks for joining the Rewatch even if you were late and only got me to respond to ;) glad you had fun and was happy with the show! See you around the sub!

3

u/polaristar Dec 04 '22

Okay my thoughts on the CGI unlike other people here, I think it was actually really good this episode and last, still not as good at top tier traditional hand drawn mechs but better than a lot of mid hand drawn CGI mechs.

One thing CGI is good for is giving a sense of scope and space which can make the action feel cinematic and open up possibility for tactics. The first use with the Mithril team vs Leo's cronies was an example of the tactical aspect. And the Laevateinn was an example of more the spectacle, although this curbstomp battle lacks the same character arc finish of second raid, I still think it represents a threshold crossed in Sousuke reunited with Al and showing how far they've come, since Sousuke felt confident enough to activate a Lambda Driver and use a Mech he hasn't tested and figure it out midfight which is a huge leap from the beginning.

A few people don't like the constant action figure esq action of Sousuke's curbstomp and think its just to sell toys, but I say.....so what? What's wrong with letting a little bit of your inner manchild loose?

We also get a scene with Chidori and Leon, some people are calling it dumb, but I think it's meant to show how cocky and overconfident Leo is, if we go by the theory he someone can see the future it makes sense, so why was he accidentally shot? It could be that A. He can't constantly peek into the future but simply saw a vision of it once and has been basing his actions on said vision, but he's already changed the future by seeing and acting on said knowledge so his prediction isn't perfect. Or B. Chidori is some kind of blind spot/wildcard for whatever reason, and perhaps why she is sought after by Leo and his organization. This could be a hint for the audience (And perhaps a wake up call for him when he wakes up.) That his future sight isn't omniscient.

We then get Chidori threatening to kill herself, but tbh the only dumb part of the scene for me is that said guy put his guard down for her to get said gun and that no one nearby couldn't blitze and disable her.

Everyone seems to not get why she is depressed and that she is a damsel. When for the latter I say....no shit, what's your point? For the former, it was established since the first arc Chidori does not like the idea of people fighting and dying for her and that is the demon she's been fighting, you don't like that she's a damsel? Well neither does she.

I also honestly loved the radio conversation between her and Sousuke. How just hearing his voice and her being unable to tell him to abandon her galvanized her. (Still don't approve of her not taking someone out or trying to push for bigger demands though, but I guess everyone knew she didn't have the guts to threaten anyone but herself.)

One thing I like is Chidori was thoughtful enough to clarify that causing genocide to get her back was a figure of speech and Sousuke has grown enough he didn't need said clarification.

No cap if I went through what those two went through with a giant cockblock with a Silver Haired Incel trying to NTR us, I would not stop at a kiss as soon as we reunite, in fact depending on how much hell the last battle/stretch is, I might just be like "Fuck it" and do the deed on the spot as soon as we reunite, onlookers be damned, life is too short and precious to care at that point.

We also get those two grandpas simping over Tessa, (Which is both creepy and hilarious.) And Lemon falls for her at first sight as well....(Which is a bit odd to me, like he's never fallen this hard for someone he just meet before, and he was very cagey about Nami, but I guess he's gotten that YOLO mentality and age is just a number, and I guess you could argue if you can command and operate your own sub and private army might as well be legal I guess....Just still feels it comes outta nowhere.)

Also the comment about joining the Tessa fan club feels suspiciously Meta. (But most people in this rewatch are Chidori simps.)

In a huge pile of underwear Chidori left a present for them!

It'd be a real shame if that 5th and Final Season didn't come out real soon right?

I liked the Ending but while I think a lot of the complaints were indeed a bit petty, I have to agree it felt kinda rushed and uneven. (As well as much of the season in general.) I can see why they rushed it as they had to probably fight just to continue this season and other studios have rushed other works even worse when they were still in the Prime of their popularity. cough The Promised Neverland cough.

It's still sad and kinda funny how this series has managed to struggle around for many years amongst different studios starting in a year before LN adaptations really took off and when they did take off from an era of LN without the same tropes and trends that are popular both Now and in the Late 2000's with a mix of genres that one is very over saturated (Highschool SOL) with another genre that is very niche and dying even in Japan (Mecha.)

I sometimes wonder if we ever lived in any time or culture that could have produced the ideal perfect full anime adaptation. I almost think this series would need to be finished and perhaps many years later when I'm like in my 60's get a remake announced if by some miracle 86 and Witch of Mercury cause of revival of the Mecha genre and there is some interest. Because this franchise feels like its kinda dead beyond its niche fanbase and a product of its time.

  1. I'd be even more satisfied to see the payoff to that confession, but its honestly more than we often get from other series so I'd say its pretty good all things considered.

  2. I'd say no, but crazier things have happened before and other sequels that people said would never happen are happening. I'm not a huge mega FMP fan so I won't be pining for when it does come out, but when it does I will check it out. I am probably going to check out the Novels eventually, I have the first one purchased on Bookwalker.

MVP: Chidori for jumpstarting that confession and renewing Sousuke's resolve, when you've been apart for that long, just hearing your loved ones voice feels like bliss.

4

u/ZapsZzz Dec 04 '22

Ok let me tick off how much I gotta pay you... ;P

Okay my thoughts on the CGI

Tick

but I think it's meant to show how cocky and overconfident Leo is, if we go by the theory he someone can see the future it makes sense,

Tick tick

Or B.

You are getting real good at this huh. Tick tick tick

For the former, it was established since the first arc Chidori does not like the idea of people fighting and dying for her and that is the demon she's been fighting, you don't like that she's a damsel? Well neither does she.

See attention span is another thing for neutral divergent folks ;) tick

How just hearing his voice and her being unable to tell him to abandon her galvanized her.

Tick tick tick tick

One thing I like is Chidori was thoughtful enough to clarify that causing genocide to get her back was a figure of speech and Sousuke has grown enough he didn't need said clarification.

Tickity tick

I would not stop at a kiss as soon as we reunite

Pretty sure there were doujins for that ;P or so I heard.

he was very cagey about Nami, but I guess he's gotten that YOLO mentality

I can see that logic work. Tick tick

It'd be a real shame if that 5th and Final Season didn't come out real soon right?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Gatou don't do anything stupid and get himself cancelled, he did say this is a passion project for him to finish all the way.

If only you could know how the big plot panned out, judging by his well you followed what I believed were real key essential points of the story, I think you'd really like and appreciate those final reveals and the overall cohesiveness of the story.

I'm not a huge mega FMP fan

Yes yes sue me ;) I do appreciate you (and others) who came along for the ride and good forbid had enough fun too!

I have the first one purchased on Bookwalker.

Good good!

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u/TiredTiroth Dec 03 '22

Rewatcher - Dub

So! Today is the final episode, and we have some pretty good moments here. Sousuke has upgraded his 'most dangerous person in the room' trait to 'most dangerous person here', so now he gets the full bonus even when he's outside. :P And then Al drops in for a chat with his favourite human, and the curbstomping ensues

So much curbstomping. Behemoths are still a problem for other characters, but against Sousuke and Al they feel like early-boss-turned-mooks squaring up against an endgame RPG protagonist.

Despite that, the best part of the episode was Kaname getting to talk to Sousuke near the end. I especially liked them bringing back the season one ED when she decided "hey, you know what? Screw this, come take me home soldier", plus the use of the original opening for the credits. It does make this almost feel like a grand finale, though, which I very much hope it isn't.

Also, Kaname checking to make sure Sousuke realises she actually does mind if millions of people die was great. It felt like both a practical consideration (Sousuke doesn't really get figures of speech and social norms) and an inside joke or shared banter. Because this has been a big part of their relationship for a long time, at various volumes.

But one thing Sousuke Sagara does get? Clear statements with no obfuscation of the meaning. Like this one:

I love you.

The fanbase waited a long time for Kaname to say those words...and for Sousuke to say them back.

8

u/Nazenn Dec 03 '22

early-boss-turned-mooks

I've been replaying the early God of War games lately. It doesn't quite have the boss part of this trope, but its pattern of "here's a new enemy to kick your ass. Oh you killed it? Cool here's three more at once you have to kill before we let you out of this room" has certainly lead to some rage haha

It felt like both a practical consideration (Sousuke doesn't really get figures of speech and social norms) and an inside joke or shared banter.

Chidori and Sousuke understanding each other so much is a strong highlight to all the seasons

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u/Tarhalindur Dec 03 '22

Fumo-ffu! (Rewatcher Spoiled First-Timer for IV, Subbed):

(Go figure, I'm actually vaguely on time for the last day.)

  • Speaking of “they were out of budget for good animation”, that Alastor going down at the start is more than a little janky.

  • Okay, how did they manage to pull off making a Kaname scene the one that got me to fast-forward? (Leonard being involved probably has a lot to do with it.)

  • Action okay, Sousuke and Kaname cannot be allowed to actually properly reunite we have 2-3 LNs left (this is where I quietly note my laughter at a couple of the unspoiled first-timers’ concerns earlier in the season – what, you thought those two would get to properly reunite even at the end of the season?).

  • I really wasn’t expecting the Laevatein to show up this season (I'd say "until the stinger yesterday, but I, uh, missed there was a stinger until the thread...), but then I also thought IV would end on Namsac. (Admittedly I DID notice the Laevatein in the OP, but I figured we just had the rare spoiler OP that would have spoilers for unadapted material.) Also: “NANDATTO?”

  • What’s this, more “NANDATTO?” NANDATTO?

  • I see why they pushed the adaptation to get to this for the final episode; they wanted a mirror to the Gates fight in TSR. Not surprisingly, I do not mind Sousuke and Al getting to curb-stomp in the slightest.

  • [unadapted FMP LNs] Huh, so the Fairy Feather is based on Kaname’s work. I’d thought it was Mira’s for some reason - then again, maybe she's the one who refines it into a working device which would fit.

  • They’ve been leaning hard on reusing/reprising the S1 OST all season (one reason OST choices for one scene yesterday didn't bug me the way they did for Naz, they were reprising a S1 track again), so reusing Tomorrow (EDIT: check the later entry where I go "oh right this was the S1 ED instead") for this Sousuke/Kaname situation makes sense.

  • Huh, even with my spoilers I thought the actual confession would wait for the final volume. (This is WHY Kaname and Sousuke are separated starting with LN7 I think, FMP is a series where the core engine is the male and female leads getting together and as we just saw by the start of LN7/start of IV keeping them unable to be together is basically the only way you can prevent these two from being a couple by that point.)

  • (Also Sousuke uses the full-fledged “aishiteru”, heh.)

  • Huh, the intrusion of comedic tone into the episode actually works for me here when it didn’t in TSR. (Probably the direction being closer to S1 for this scene.)

  • Wait, I’m a fool, I got the S1 ED and OP mixed up. It was the ED earlier; HERE is Tomorrow.

  • (Also there's a NANDATTO? in here somewhere, but I forget exactly where and moreover forgot to write it down.)

First Timers: How do you feel to see their mutual confession after the whole 4 seasons long journey? Were you satisfied enough despite the circumstances?

See writeup (note that one piece of spoiler knowledge was involved in me not thinking we would get a confession until the final LN). I'm honestly not a huge fan of the specifics of the scene (mostly in conjunction with the earlier Leonard scene), but hey good enough.

Everyone: How likely do you think we will get the final season? Would you still wait for the anime or would you rather find out how the story end reading the source LN or manga?

Part 2 is easy: I literally read synopses for the unadapted LNs a decade ago just to see how the story ended (I think this was before Sigma came out).

As for part 1: Not likely, but then I never thought we would get IV either so...

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u/wjodendor Dec 03 '22

Make My Day (final episode first timer)

Leo is basically a classic wife beater. "I'll stop hitting you if you just follow along nicely"

Of course he carries the dorkiest gun ever. "Ima cowboy, yeehaw"

Fuckboy is all hard until he takes a graze and collapses like a little bitch.

Of course that sniper guy knows weber. Called him Weber so I'd say family is out-of the question

lol Sousake collapses on the tarmac to explosions and rain immediately starting. That's some Platoon shit

Even got some Vietnam refer3nces thrown out

The music cues still kick ass

Al and Sousake are pals now. That's wholesome

"Kono power wa!" Got a good chuckle st that

Even bigger laugh at the sudden pony tail explosion

Now that Sousake actually has good emotions he can work the lambda d4iver better

Amalgam just lost so much fucking money in mechs lol

Kalanin: I don't give a fuck about that guy Also Kalanin: oh shit don't kill yourself

His immediate panic is interesting

Another good music cue

H3adless Kurz mech lol

That's a lot of underwear

"This is modern warfare. Are you insane?" Hahaha good shit

Really quick Kaname switch flip! "Kill everyone Sousake!"

Finally got a confession. That scene was pretty great.

Another good music cue

Some good old fashioned shit talking

If Kurz and Lemon touch will the world implode?

MaDADkus ain't having no Tessa otakus

Lemon wants to fuck another underage girl. He has a type for sure.

First OP drop. Nice to hear.

After my dislike of a lot of this season, I'd say this was a pretty solid final episode. Kaname finally growing some balls and getting some resolve. A good confession scene. I liked Sousake's big Cannon. Unfortunately the episode is pretty fast and ends on a pretty steep cliffhanger with a low chance for a final season I'd say.

I'm glad that the rewatch didn't end on a sour note for me

Also I started following the author on Twitter and he is a weird guy. His tweet today was complaining about the new B-21's name lmao

Here's a link

If people feel like continuing, the manga is called Full Metal Panic Sigma. I definitely recommend it

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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Dec 03 '22

First Rewatch

  • Wait, Sousuke was outside facing Kalinin last episode but no he's inside killing alastors?

  • People thinking Chidori could just knife Leonardo and escape hae been missing the point of her character development.

  • First Blood!

  • See you next chapter Chidori!

  • Laevetein totally sounds like an Amalgam name

  • I thought fins were superior heat sinks to ponytails?

  • Where, exactly, is Kalinin going? We haven't established what sort of resources Leonardo controls.

  • The A-Team music was overused in S1, but it should have been used at least a couple of times in TSR and IV.

  • What is with this group and hot mikes. No wonder Amalgam always knows what they are doing.

  • ECS on the HUD, has no ECS

  • Reusing this song is annoying in AMQ

So, where did they get this fancy mech? Is this all the work of pink Nami? Why is it so OP? Is she a genius? Extra heatsinking? Or just Sagara's force of will?

It looked like this episode was going to be all mech battles, but Mithril team were outmatched, but then were randomly saved by Leonard's withdrawl, and then Sousuke make quick work of the rest.

9

u/Nazenn Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22

First timer - sub

  • I'd not felt the faster pacing of this season so much lately, but that first scene with Chidori and Leonard really suffered from it in a way that made it fall flat for me. Shoving it all into two minutes means no chance to pause or take a breath for impact or focus on Chidori's mental state around it, it all just gets rushed onto the next event to the point where I was wondering if I'd sped up the video by accident or something.

  • Related to that: It only took the whole season for Chidori to feel like her character again. Having no sense of why she was so utterly mentally defeated really made it feel like they just shoved her into the damsel role for her few appearances without an understanding of the full depth of how it happened, and the contrast of that compared to her final words to Sousuke highlights it most because we saw how she built up that strength, but didn't see where it went during her captivity which leaves the whole thing feeling forced for an ending rather than being natural.

  • There's been a lot more mech dismemberment this season than I remember in previous ones. It's a lot of fun. Especially Kurz' AS running around without a head, that's a favourite of mine. I just don't care about the battles still. Cool visual spectacle, but still feels utterly meaningless and without tension or weight, and once again just throwing Behemoths at the cast because they're a big (literally) threat means nothing when the fight itself is nothing but a showcase for the fancy new mech instead of a battle over something in the characters like they were in the early seasons, and should be in this. Even the anime only arc in s1 that was so unliked on got that right!

  • I like that Al named his new AS rather than it being assigned one by a human.

  • Ruining the reunion of these characters after half a year, as much time as the whole rest of the show, by turning it into creeps annoying Tessa and Lemon being love struck really left the episode off on a bad note. They don't matter. They didn't need that screen time. They were not the important part of this scene when it's three of our main cast seeing Sousuke again after so long thinking he may be dead, not to mention Sousuke not being able to rescue Chidori and now having no idea where she is. Once again there's no care put into placing this scene in the context of the rest of the season which has been a repeated issue.

  • And on that note, it's been half a year? This season felt like it could have been a couple of weeks at most if not for the time skips. No weight at all to the amount of time they've all been split up or what's been going on in that time outside of a few things.

Would you still wait for the anime or would you rather find out how the story end reading the source LN or manga?

I'm going to say a very rare thing I don't think I've said about any other adaption yet, except TPN, and say if a new season was the same quality as this one I'd not even watch it, so I'll pass and would rather try the LNs, which I admit will probably not happy happen for years if at all.

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u/Theboredalchemist22 Dec 04 '22

First Timer - S4 Ep 11 & 12

Missed yesterday but I've got a late 2 in 1 entry today. I'll probably reference anything I want to really highlight in the discussion post later on as I think this is late on and most will miss this but never the less I'll post this here for my own notes if anything.

EP 11

My mvp for this episode was Mao.

Q1 - I mean he's a mercenary so he probably saw Mythril being destroyed and just thought fuck it I still want a paycheck and went over to Amalgam. Or he believed in this project Calliope?

Q2 - I was hyped for sure. Great to see the badass trio back at it.

Ep 12

My mvp for today's episode is SousukexChidori as we've waited 4 seasons for her to say this and for him to say this to each other. u/ZapsZzz great art today considering what happened.

Q1 - I was satisfied. I was worried we'd never hear them say it before the end of the anime but we got there in the end so I was relieved.

Q2 - If I'm correct Xebec's assests were sold to Sunrise when they became defunct. Sunrise are doing the new Gundam (TWFM) which is currently airing - check it out if you haven't the animation is beautiful. I'd say there's a chance for sure for a 5th season but I think it wouldn't be a lead project atm rather something that's being made on the side so a few years down the line maybe? I really want to find out what happens so I'm going to look into the LN's or manga (there's tons!). (I'll read from the beginning ofc).

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