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Summary:
Sousuke arrives on Merida Island and reports to Tessa. She knows that he wants to talk about Kaname, however she tells him to let the Intelligence department handle it and that his focus should be on the Arbalest. Sousuke takes a hard line against her, and the raised tensions eventually leads to Tessa breaking down crying and yelling at Sousuke for wanting to stay with Kaname. The situation is interrupted when Tessa’s next appointment, the newly arrived Lieutenant Clouzot, shows up. At a local bar, Sousuke confesses to Kurz about what happened, and Kurz tries his best to cheer Sousuke up. Clouzot walks up to the bar and sits down on a reserved seat, the seat of the former (now deceased) Wurz 1, Captain Gail McAllen. Kurz attempts to explain that to Clouzot, but the lieutenant calls McAllen a coward. Wanting to protect the honor of a fallen comrade, Kurz tries to punch Clouzot, but gets hammered into the ground instead. Alarmed, Sousuke stands up, but Clouzot challenges him to a game instead. After they board their ASes for a close combat fight, Sousuke realizes that Clouzot is piloting the black M9 that saved them back in Sicily. The skirmish begins, but goes poorly for Sousuke as he can only try to keep up with the lieutenant’s movements. Clouzot tells Sousuke that while he has skill, he lacks art. Up against a corner, Sousuke realizes that the only thing he can use is the Lambda Driver. In the next clash, Clouzot hits the Arbalest square in the torso, knocking it and Sousuke out. On a screen inside the base, Tessa and Mardukas watch. The real objective of this game is to gather information about the Arbalest and to get Sousuke to activate the Lambda Drivers (which in this case wasn’t successful). Waking up in the infirmary, Sousuke realizes that he is completely outclassed by his new superior officer. Clouzot tells him that part of the reason he lost is because he hates the Arbalest. Shortly after returning to his own room, the lieutenant finds Melissa standing at the door. Already acquainted, they briefly discuss McAllen’s death and Sousuke’s future. Meanwhile at the command center, Mardukas informs Tessa of an emergency situation in Hong Kong: an AS is on a rampage.
The return of FMP! TSR is finally here!
The final arc is almost upon us (see below), but this episode is basically about Sousuke feeling depressed and getting some sense knocked into him. He’s understandably angry about being forced away from Chidori, and his problems get compounded after he fails to start up the Lambda Drivers and Clouzot so easily defeats him. Clouzot’s conclusion that Sousuke hates the Arbalest is one of the underlying problems that Sousuke will have to face in the coming episodes (amid all of the coming chaos).
Like the last few episodes, this one followed the novels fairly well, stuffing as much as it could into one episode in order to stay on track. I wish they kept in the part of the infirmary scene where Clouzot leans over Sousuke and taps Sousuke’s chest as he explains how ASes should be an extension of the body. It epitomizes how small Sousuke feels at that instant, and would have been very fitting for this episode. Still, all of what is included is done quite well, particularly the scene between Tessa and Sousuke where Nogami Yukana delivers a great performance. I wasn’t as impressed with the Black M9 vs. Arbalest battle as I have been with some of the previous fights, but I admit that’s probably just because it didn’t feature any flashy projectiles. Clouzot has quite a bit of skill though, so it is fun to watch his fluid movements.
Since WOWOW’s Schedule page is saying that this series ends at episode 13, I think we can safely assume that Hong Kong will be the final arc. But don’t fret, there’s quite a bit of action and story still to be had. Xia Yu Lan and Xia Yu Fang are setting up what will be two separate encounters, one for Sousuke and one for Chidori, the latter of which will occur next episode. And you can be sure that Amalgam won’t sit idly by while this goes on. Big things are coming next episode…
Closing Thought: I laughed when I heard the gigolo comment Kurz makes in the bar scene not so much because it is funny, but more because they choose to keep that line in.
YAY IT’S BACK IT’S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13 eps? I waited years for 13 eps? This…sucks…balls…
All in favor of taking the ‘death of fukuda’ campain to WOWOW say I!
But if they end at 13 episodes, a lot will be left unexplained, I think…
13?!…maybe its a break? it culdnt be 13 culd it? theres just more to FMP 2 than 13..i mean..with that many new baddies, there SHULD b MORE episodes! hahha..damn it all…the story would be too jammed!! nooo….
No, the Schedule clearly says “終”, which means “The End”, beside episode 13.
Probably there’s another season after this 13 episodes. hey i can dream can i.
the end they put there could mean the end of one novel and the begining of another… though i am not really sure of this until i get next month’s Newtype Japan….
isnt 13 episodes too short??
maybe it will be followed soon…..
i think they should have collected the episode before airing it so it would not be too short….
I was very excited reading this article as I waited more than 2 weeks of delay for episode 8 witch I haven’t seen yet for some reason its not subbed I think!
But in any case knowing about the show that it has only 13 episodes was really shocking! And this amazing show deserve far better credit than just 22 minutes and 13 episodes on priceless story. It should be pushed from 20 to 45 minutes. And it should have more episodes to balance the actual novel.
I have to add that FMP, FMP SR and FUMOFFU is one of the best anime I ever seen not just for the entertainment and the good story, but also for the impressive frame rate in scenes that has good lighting and camera shots proves that the developers r doing more than just regular anime epically in the last episodes seen so far in the second raid.
I only hope that they are limiting the show for 13 episodes because they got a better novel to start with! But I also know form experience that over budget shows that tries to perfect the art work had lead to disaster in balancing the shows deadline’s schedules. And removing animations that have been already prompted in the trailer can explain this problem.
The show got many respected sponsors I don’t understand there odd schedule behavior and season’s short timeline.
In the end its an awesome show I hope they keep that show on TV
For me, I think that Sohs’ke being separated from Kaname is a blessing in disguise from what I saw on this episode (something that he has yet to discover). Not controlling Arbalest while battling that black AS (and the new guy) show us that he’s not yet really strong enough to protect Kaname against a very powerful enemy.
But why does he have to without going into subordination remains to be seen… again. But it feels though that based from the preview for next week’s episode, Kaname is growing uneasier that she went on the move.
YEAH!! THIS EPISODE ROCKS. I DON’T REALLY THINK THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE THIS SHOW ONLY 13 EPISODES LONG BECAUSE I HEARD THAT EPISODE 13 WAS TITLED CONTINUING ON MY OWN WHICH HAPPENS TO BE THE TITLE OF THE LAST NOVEL SO PROBABLY THEY PLAN TO DO MORE EPISODES BUT SAID THAT IT WAS THE “END” REFERRING TO THE END OF THE OTHER NOVEL BUT THE START OF THE LAST NOVEL.(NOT SURE IF U GET ME BUT ITS OK DON’T WORRY THIS SHOW HAS TO DEFFINITELY END BETTER THAN THE 1ST ONE ) 7 MORE DAYS TILL EPISODE 9 YYYYYEEEAH SEE YA .
HAHAHAHA. yup. keep the faith!! it’ll carry on airing more!! the producers cant ignore the potential of this film anyway..they know better. LOL =)
well 13 eps was kinda expected if you’ve read the novel. Well i guess it’ll either wrap up really well or they could do another 13 eps, i don’t mind too much because it’s only a matter of time before 3rd raid comes out, but 13 would be a waste.
nice blog!! keep up the hardwork!!