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FMP! The Second Raid – 07

Short Summary:
A troubled and angry Sousuke walks from his desk onto the balcony and starts calling for Wraith. When he gets no answer, Sousuke starts to shout classified information out. This quickly gets him a phone call from Wraith telling him to shut up. Sousuke questions Wraith about guarding Chidori, since he’s never revealed himself to save her before. Wraith’s answer is that the situation was resolved without his help. Wraith goes on to lecture Sousuke on his own inability to guard her and knack for getting into trouble. Wraith eventually tells him to follow the orders and hangs up. The next day, Kaname goes to school feeling very energetic, happy about giving Sousuke the haircut. Kyouko quickly figures out that something good must have happened. Arriving in class, Chidori notices that Sousuke still isn’t there. She eagerly waits his arrival, but he never comes. He is instead at home packing his stuff away. As he finishes writing his withdrawl letter for school, his cell phone rings: it’s Chidori. He remembers his orders not to talk to her and doesn’t pick up the phone. After school, Chidori walks home with Kyouko and continues to worry about Sousuke. Trying to raise her own spirits, she starts planning a karaoke party. However, she walks by someone who causes her to become very alarmed, though when she turns around, no one is there. She immediately tries to call Sousuke again, but gets a disconnected phone message. She returns home in a panicked state, trying to shake the feeling by watching TV. Every small bump and noise gets her agitated until she gets a phone call with no one on the other end. Completely freaked out, she tries to call Sousuke again, then rushes over to his apartment. She walks in to find her notebook on the floor and the entire place empty.

As I suspected, this episode was devoted entirely to Sousuke’s departure and Chidori finding out. They consolidate all of the Chidori material together up to the point where she discovers that Sousuke is gone. It keeps the story from being too fragmented, so I think it’s a good decision. But aside from that, this episode followed the novels fairly well.
For me, what really made this episode so good are the atmosphere and mood. During the walking home scene, they play a happy song all the way up until Chidori passes Xia Yu Lan. Then the scared, panicked feeling starts and goes all the way she enters his apartment. Finally, there’s silence until the end as Chidori realizes that she’s alone in an empty room. This was very well done, and almost felt like a horror movie at certain points.
We’re getting to the point where Sousuke’s inner struggles will come to light. In today’s episode, he does something as uncharacteristic as question orders, then goes as far as to yell classified information to get Wraith’s attention. The particular pair of novels that the current storyline is drawing from is ultimately about Sousuke’s own growth as a character. We’ve always seen him as a strict person who follows orders, but now we’re beginning to see him question what he’s doing. This won’t be resolved for a long while yet, but it’s good to keep in mind since we don’t actually get a lot of the inner monologues that the novels have.
Next time will most likely cover all the Merida Island stuff that got cut from today’s episode. The preview shows the Arbalest facing off against the same black AS that saved the Wurz team in Sicily. Unfortunately, there is also a note stating that it won’t air until September 14th. That’s two weeks off, three weeks total until we get more TSR.

August 24, 2005 at 4:59 pm
29 comments »
  • August 24, 2005 at 5:02 pmRen

    OMG! I wanna leave work right now and go see it. Especially after seeing your cap of Chidori face to face with one of the psycho chinese girls. (I can never remember their names…)

  • August 24, 2005 at 5:03 pmOmni

    Holy crap Ren, you commented within 3 minutes of the post…
    Xia Yu Lan is the short haired hand to hand combat one. Xia Yu Fang is the long haired AS pilot.

  • August 24, 2005 at 5:26 pmRen

    Heh, I’m quick on the draw :D, especially when it comes to all things FMP.

  • August 24, 2005 at 5:53 pmAnza

    This ep was really good but heartbreaking for Sosuke, isn’t it true that the next ep doesn’t air until the 14th of next month? Any idea why? That sucks beyond all belief.

  • August 24, 2005 at 5:56 pmOmni

    Yea, there’s a message on the preview that says next episode will air 9/14.

  • August 24, 2005 at 6:09 pmkuoj

    That’ll give some time for the other fansub groups to catch up (just kidding, though I am patiently waiting =P).

  • August 24, 2005 at 6:39 pmAnza

    3 weeks… THAT SUCKS BEYOND ALL BELIEF!!!

  • August 24, 2005 at 6:47 pmRen

    3 Weeks?? I’ll die :|

  • August 24, 2005 at 6:56 pmHuorfae

    ARGH!

  • August 24, 2005 at 8:33 pmAmikitty

    3 weeks hiatus! WTF?! Did they say why? Any theories?

  • August 24, 2005 at 8:35 pmOmni

    Probably just to give the crew a break. Animating a series like this can’t be easy…
    On a related note, several shows recently have been taking breaks (Kamichu, Ichigo Mashimaro, Tsubasa). A trend?

  • August 24, 2005 at 10:25 pmDiventa

    The 2005 US Open starts on August 30th and ends on September 11th.
    Other WOWOW animes(Trinity Blood,SHUFFLE!) are two weeks off,too.

  • August 24, 2005 at 10:54 pmOmni

    Yup, you’re right. Looking at WOWOW’s schedule, it’s all being replaced by tennis.

  • August 24, 2005 at 10:56 pmAnza

    No Trinity Bloody, no FMP… No Shuffle… Someone kill me now…this is a starting school next week OMEN OF DEATH!!

  • August 25, 2005 at 12:00 amflou

    Gaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!!! i CAN’T WAIT THREE WEEKS! THIS IS CRUEL PUNISHMENT!!!! CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT!!!!!

  • August 25, 2005 at 1:42 amMentar

    3 weeks? Whoa, this is evil – especially since the story is REALLY hitting the painful material now. I guess they want to make us feel the pain of something very important missing, too ^_^

  • August 25, 2005 at 5:00 amNanami Kamimura

    This means I will wait for three MORE weeks. With so many things in my head and a conflicting TV viewing schedule (CSI:NY is on at the same time in another channel), I completely missed last night’s episode.

    As I expected, Kaname feels edgy looking for Sohs’ke (right at a time she needs him most), finding out late that he disappears. Good show on the summary!

  • August 25, 2005 at 10:07 amcyw1988

    oh man this stinks… man 3 weeks without anime is hell… so only the wowows are gone right? so suzuka gundam seed and D.C.S.S are still going on? only shuffle and FMP! are taking a break? anyway i would really love to see how the story goes from here.. would be nice to see Sousuke defy orders to be with Kaname(but i highly doubt so)… I wonder how much more angst i can take.. D.C.S.S.=angst Suzuka=angst FMP=angst >.

  • August 25, 2005 at 11:08 amHuorfae

    ohh..any idea when the OSTs will be out?? I mean, if they are selling at where u guys live..lol

  • August 25, 2005 at 12:38 pmAnza

    Gundam Seed Destiny is the king of angst XD

  • August 25, 2005 at 5:43 pmmadcrow

    Oh well. You can always read the books… They’ve been nicely translated up thru the first chapter of COMO… Anyway does anyone know if the author of the novels is taking a break from the main story ATM and doing side stories or has next part of the main story showed up in magazines…

  • August 25, 2005 at 7:57 pmAnza

    Whats the site with the translations again? I’ve been meaning to do that but I forgot the site >.

  • August 25, 2005 at 7:58 pmOmni

    Boku-Tachi

  • August 28, 2005 at 1:29 amStellar

    well, all in all anice eps cos they finally show emotion between sousuke and chidorii, but to tell us to wait 3 more weeks before we can find out what does chidori do when she discovers sagara gone, that’s jus @$$ man ~~~

  • August 29, 2005 at 11:48 pmSaga

    Just a hunch but considering the last episode, and this episode…something tells me that Gauron might come back, being the “sensei” that the Chinese sisters call…

  • September 11, 2005 at 8:57 pmkaname

    Man 3 more days till the next episode of TSR yeah!!!!!!!!!Can’t wait to watch it.

  • September 14, 2005 at 5:28 amYuffa

    Today! is that day. :D – nothing else said

  • September 14, 2005 at 10:44 amHuorfae

    HAHAHHAHAHA!!! YESSSSSS!!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO. its been hell. =S

  • September 18, 2006 at 11:37 pmanime fan girl

    i hate this episode!!!!!kalain gd tana yahhhhh!!!!