FMP S1-REVIEW-Episode 2 "I want to protect you"

[Charles Phipps]

(This review may contain spoilers)

Plot Summary:

Episode 2 of the story primarily centers around the unfortunate difficulty of Sergeant Sagara’s difficulty adapting to civilian life. He manages to blunder quite badly even as he also ends up having a touching moment with Kaname (oh yes and he later in the episode gets to bond with her too…hehehe). It also has the introduction of the series villain Gauron…and someone else…hmmm who was that…oh yes

TESSA!

Art:

The character designs I felt were curiously alittle “cuter” and more “anime” esque with the women of this episode than normal. Mao has eyes so round that one could think that they are those of dishplates even as they are adorable and of course Tessa is as surreal as Black technology in her own way.

Sosuke and Kaname (who just can’t get the camera not to film her in compromising positions) are amongst those who appear the most ‘normal’ of designs. I also note that everyone in the classroom is a unique character that tells a different story personality-wise.

Gauron is a character design I’d also like to address. Gauron is visually striking because he’s designed as the most visceral of characters. In some ways like Kaname, he is the most “human” looking of all the characters in the fact that you think you could actually meet him. The hulking yet graceful form of the man is something you might expect out of a caveman ‘civilized’ or Mr. Hyde. His eyes actually manage to convey intelligence though.

He’s amongst the best ‘acting’ in terms of charcter design I’ve seen in anime.

Oh yes and now where I will briefly abandon all biasness. TESSA MAKES HER FIRST APPEARANCE! I remember my initial reaction was something akin to blinking and saying “What the Hell is Ruri doing in this anime and I LIKE WHAT SHE’S DONE WITH HER HAIR!”

The military uniform also looks good on her, her acting pedantic and concerned about lives is amongst her best acting in this story. Her concern for Sosuke is also very human here. She’s at her best (hot tubing aside) in this ep.

Characters:

I like the depiction of Sousuke’s difficulties here more than I like the depiction in the manga or Fumoffu. Sousuke isn’t insane here or completely socially retarded. He’s just under the well documented impression that someone is after Kaname and will likely strike in the immediate future. He also answered honestly the questions presented him….

His only strange moment is the luggage bomb incident and I took that as simply Sosuke being very BORED and reading more into a situation than strictly feasible. The only thing I didn’t believe was that Sousuke wouldn’t notice his feeling her up.

I think Kaname also much better illustrated here the attitude that caused Kurtz to blink in horror. Specifically Kaname has all the congeniality of a cobra. She’s a nice person but she’s loud, opinionated, and very insulting.

I will admit we see our first serious development of a serious relationship between the two though.

Gauron is an individual whom we also get to see in action for the first time. Where for most villains the murder of an individual whose on ‘their’ side is a defining character trait. I note that for Gauron, it was played as he was actually bored with killing the man. It was an afterthought. He wasn’t angry at the man’s disrespect, simply annoyed his time was being wasted and using the violence to speed things up.

Also his little ‘literring’ incident establishes his competence more than anything major or overthetop.

The “talk” I also liked.

Plot: A healthy balance of hijinks and set up for the main plot. These are my favorite kind of episodes after the MAIN PLOT ones. Still, Sagara is given more respect here and sympathy than he will be in Fumoffu and I appreciate that.

Overall: A solid ep

8/10 (Tessa gives it an even 10 but that’s biased)

[Taurec]

really could be ruri's sis .. .. (or maybe the niece of lapis )

[Charles Phipps]

While I see Sosuke developing an attraction for Chidori, I don't actually think that his relationship with her can really progress very far so long as he's guarding her. His talk with her at the station rather solidified my "friend" vibe between them rather than something romantic personally.

At least in my interpretation.