[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

Watched the Conclave-Mendoi sub of Episode 10. Before I discuss the episode itself, let me first go into a sidetrack on just one of the aspects that made Full Metal Panic? The Second Raid so good as a mecha series:

Spoiler for FMP? TSR, Episode 04. Don't read if you've yet to watch it.:

Spoiler for I warned you...:

The situation that the Mithril team faced in the Yangtze River Tunnel is a dire one. They were seperated from each other, and their communications were compromised by a traitor. As a result, the Amalgam forces knew every move Mithril was making, and kept pre-empting them every step of the way. The task force looked like being doomed...yet in a moment of ingenuity, Tessa managed to come up with a counter-tactic to deal with the situation. And there you have it; One got to see the good guys, faced in a dire situation with limited resources, make the most of what little they have with ingenuity and teamwork, without need to rely on anything resembling a deus ex machina. That's the kind of thing most viewers, even if they know the turnaround is coming, doesn't know HOW it is going to happen. You don't get many turnarounds of this kind of quality in anything.

By contrast, when a viewer is watching a Gundam show such as this one, and especially at such an early stage of the entire run, the viewer JUST knows that, because it is a Gundam, it's going to pull something out of its (figuratively AND literally) fat ass to save itself. One just knows that the deus ex machina is coming....and sure enough, if anything about this episode is a deus ex machina, Nadleeh and Hallelujah would be just about it. The result; a relative lack of suspense, since the viewer knows that they're most likely to resolve the situation, and most likely do so with figurative brute force rather than guile.

And what was the point of the Louise-Mother-Saji scene in the beginning, anyway?!

Other than that, the high production values of this episode ensures that it gets nothing less than an 8. Unfortunately, the uninspired writing of this episode ensures that it gets nothing more than an 8, either. So 8 it is.

Lambda Driver to me was the ultimate Deus Ex Machina so I don't see what the difference is between FMP! and Gundam Nadle. I certainly wasn't expecting the Virtue's armor to break off any more then the HRL was so I was just as caught off guard. By contrast I could tell when Lambda Driver was going to be used by Sousuke or whoever to bail out of a sticky situation. Seems like a rather poor comparison to me as both series are just as guilty of such a thing.

Also if your looking for the tactics and ingenuinuity, look at what Sergei gave us last episode. Using the Gundam's own abilities against them was a pretty impressive showing. I think Sergei could give the "whispered" a run for her money with just natural cunning and experience.

By the way, it's FMP! The Second Raid (with an exclamation point) not FMP? (with a question mark). The FMP? is unique to Fumoffu, most likely as a joke considering the series outright satirical and parodical nature.