FMP: A Dancing Very Merry Christmas Discussion *Spoilers*

AEmer · Post by **AEmer** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 8:57 pm

Firstly, the novel is already up on the file mirror on boku tachi - just check the thread in this forum for the mirror, or go to the site and go to the bottom of the fmp! page.

This post contains spoilers!, don't read unless you've read the latest novel!, but if you've not read it, now that it's available on ftp, why are you even comtemplating reading this post?

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The chronology of the manga is pretty much jumpled up already, so I wouldn't worry about it; chronology isn't that important in this series, although it appears it will be in the comming novels
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I was dissapointed by this chapter. Eh. I don't enjoy the way Gatou does the endings. But I suppose it can't be helped. On the whole, I found the fights to be very predictable, and the play between the persons was...strange, particularly the 'rescue tessa' mission. Maybe that's just me though.
I also liked the AI more in the begining, but it wasn't half bad.
I'm not sure how I feel about Sousuke trying to tell Kaname about his feelings, but I still liked that scene.
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I was suprised by his afterword. It seems I may have mispredicted;
I'd rather like to know what the deal with a 'Part 2' is, but I think I can guess.

I'm still betting he won't be able to let this story go after Part 2, though....with the rumours circulating, it seems he's finally going to walk away from his previous setting. Heh. I still don't think he can end it in 4 novels though. More like 6, and then he'll still leave the story open. But that's just speculation.

Geshron Tyler · Post by **Geshron Tyler** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:07 pm

No, I was thinking the date of birth was a clue to Whispered potential.

In the author's notes, Gatoh does say something about having to cut back on the short stories, in regards to upcoming holiday in story time, as he has some plans for those... I think that's what meant anyway. ^_^

What I really, really want to see before the story as a whole ends, is Kaname
in an AS, as pilot or some kind of WO. ^_^ Jae's got a wonderful two page spread from Dragon Magazine I think, where Kaname's suited up sitting on Arbalest's (or some M9, not sure) shoulder.

sj4iy · Post by **sj4iy** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:08 pm

Leonard's the older twin, which is why she refers to him as her older brother.

Weltall Elite · Post by **Weltall Elite** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:20 pm

AEmer wrote:Firstly, the novel is already up on the file mirror on boku tachi - just check the thread in this forum for the mirror, or go to the site and go to the bottom of the fmp! page.

This post contains spoilers!, don't read unless you've read the latest novel!, but if you've not read it, now that it's available on ftp, why are you even comtemplating reading this post?

-
The chronology of the manga is pretty much jumpled up already, so I wouldn't worry about it; chronology isn't that important in this series, although it appears it will be in the comming novels
-
I was dissapointed by this chapter. Eh. I don't enjoy the way Gatou does the endings. But I suppose it can't be helped. On the whole, I found the fights to be very predictable, and the play between the persons was...strange, particularly the 'rescue tessa' mission. Maybe that's just me though.
I also liked the AI more in the begining, but it wasn't half bad.
I'm not sure how I feel about Sousuke trying to tell Kaname about his feelings, but I still liked that scene.
-
I was suprised by his afterword. It seems I may have mispredicted;
I'd rather like to know what the deal with a 'Part 2' is, but I think I can guess.

I'm still betting he won't be able to let this story go after Part 2, though....with the rumours circulating, it seems he's finally going to walk away from his previous setting. Heh. I still don't think he can end it in 4 novels though. More like 6, and then he'll still leave the story open. But that's just speculation.

Oh, he could finish it up in two novels if he wanted.

Personally, I could wrap this bad boy up in about 3 paragraphs but that'd be pretty anti-climatic, I think.

But it seems he's got a lot more planned for this story if we're only about halfway through it.

Man, for this many books, he'd BETTER not leave it with an open ending. >_<

Yeah, I didn't care for this ending as much as the last one. He didn't really put a lot of effort into the feeling of this one. There was some dialog, some hesitation, and things got wrapped up. It was nice, but the last one was much better. I did really like the scene with Sousuke and Tessa though.

Oh, and I guess the afterward answers my question about Valentine's and such. I wonder what he meant about it playing into the main story though.

pseudo-chan · Post by **pseudo-chan** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:03 pm

Thanks Geshron! ^_^

Spoilers

Doh, I thought SxK were going to admit their feelings to each other? Heh, but it was nice to see Sousuke all red and nervous and whatnot. It's good to see that Sousuke has finally admitted it surely and publicly (even though it was only to Tessa). And if he gave Kaname something that he's kept with him since Afghanistan...that sort of has the effect of giving away a personal heirloom or something.

I'm wondering...maybe all Whispereds are born on December 24? <insert random religious subcontexts and tie-ins here> I don't remember if it's true or not, but isn't Leonard a Whispered as well? A1 did say that anything was possible around Christmas.

Ending was too abrupt...not enough reaction from Kaname. But glad to know that's there's several more books on the horizon.

Weltall Elite · Post by **Weltall Elite** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:18 pm

Maybe so, but you still got another 10 shots coming. Plus, I think he got a clue at least twice in this chapter, so you owe another 10. And he neglected to admit his feelings for her at the end, so that's another one. Bottoms up!

But yeah, I agree. They didn't give us nearly enough about what Kaname was feeling or thinking or even her facial expressions. We basically got what she said and that was about it. From a writing standpoint, it made it fall a little flat.

pseudo-chan · Post by **pseudo-chan** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:30 pm

*hic* Goddamit I should... *hic* ...really change... *hic* that sig... *falls over*

*a few hours and a gallon of water later...*

more spoilers
After re-reading the epilogue for a bit, I noticed that Kalinin gave Tessa a brooch that was from "an acquaintance" of his...could that acquaintance be Leonard, and the point of their whole meeting was just so that Leonard could see how his sister was doing, and thus give Kalinin the brooch, just as a present, no strings attached?

Another question this would lead to: why pick Kalinin? I guess he would be the go-to guy for stuff like this, since he does seem to have more of a laid-back, family-oriented, non-snitch feel than say, Mardukas (which btw, I would LOVE to see a picture of him wearing that pixie hat and prince-nez glasses

).

(Funny how my title is now "Broken Beer Bottle")

AEmer · Post by **AEmer** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:43 pm

Something is definately fishy about Kalinin. I'm not sure what, or how, but it's definately fishy that he's involved with a head member of Amalgam.

Definately fishy. The brooch thingie was definately from Leonard though.

Circle · Post by **Circle** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 11:13 pm

In the Afterwards, Gatou-sensei said he won't be writing about Valentines, skiing, and hanami for the next novels right? So that means 100% Mirthil vs Amalgam from here on out?

The rescue-Tessa operation reads so awesome, I want to see it animated!!! NOW!!! :p
I feel so sad for Tessa after reading this chapter. Ah... one way love... so sad, so sad indeed. Sousuke chokes, that's not as sad, I just pity the fool! Well, at least it's very clear now on "Who does Sousuke like more?"

New "Springtime" forum-header picture too today, what a nice day. ^^

Thank you very much again Brandi for translating!

We'll have to start a new thread for Continuing on My Own when that's released. Weeeeeee

Pyrite · Post by **Pyrite** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:10 am

Circle wrote:The rescue-Tessa operation reads so awesome, I want to see it animated!!! NOW!!! :p
I feel so sad for Tessa after reading this chapter. Ah... one way love... so sad, so sad indeed. Sousuke chokes, that's not as sad, I just pity the fool! Well, at least it's very clear now on "Who does Sousuke like more?"

Agreed. Here's hoping she finds someone else...

Truth be told, I found the ending a little disappointing - and I'm beginning to eat my words about suggesting that TSR should end with DVMC. I mean... Sailor gets the short end of the stick - although the account of his report was funny, the desk job wasn't; Kalinin and Leonard really leave things hanging; and poor Tessa! Here's hoping she doesn't snap any time soon...

It's really funny seeing Clouzot's cover get blown, though, and Al needs to develop a better sense of timing when it comes to jokes.

There are two roads for Sailor at this point: we'll either see much, much more of him in the next novel, or he'll fade away. There's only so much you can do with a desk job.

Wild Goose · Post by **Wild Goose** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:25 am

My take is that Sela was offered a promotion to a desk job, th implication being: Keep talking, and you'll get promoted to Captain and a desk job. Shut up, and you'll stay a Commander but you'll still be Pasadena's CO. Either way, you win.

Sela: Goddamn you all. Fine, I'll shut up - I don't want Takenaka taking my place.

Kalinin meeing with Leonard: it's one of those classic "Spy-meets-Spy" confrontations. Both of them know that to do anything right then and right now would be counter-productive: there'll be plenty of time to do that later. Kalinin seems to have been Amalgram-hunting... and he seems to be aging really fast.

The Burya torpedoes: according to Popular Science, the USN is working on making supercavitation torpedoes. The Burya looks to be one of those... and it seems that the Leviathans are carrying USN Mk48 ACDAPs, like the ones the Pasadena shot. Against normal subs, ADCAP is the king. But then again.... TDD-1 ain't a normal sub.

Mardukas also gets another cool line: "The enemy should have known better. Trying to sink a ship under my command with three tiny underwater fighters is like tryng to challenge a fortress with three infantrymen."

Weltall Elite · Post by **Weltall Elite** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:31 am

Like Goose said, he was threatened with a desk job if he didn't let it go. So he relented.

But right after that, it says that the whole thing didn't sit well with him and he's evidently disappeared. I think he's gone AWOL.

And yes, the brooch came from Leonard, and no, I don't think the meeting was just so he could see how his sister was doing. They were discussing about how he could have "let him get away" and all. Leonard seems to have an agenda all his own.

sj4iy · Post by **sj4iy** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:54 am

I didn't read anything about Sailor going AWOL...just that he kept his mouth shut.

Weltall Elite · Post by **Weltall Elite** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 2:07 am

Well, wait...

Sailor wanted to challenge it. However, when they dangled a "promotion" from his more-important-than-life assignment as the captain of a ship to a desk job in the Pentagon, he had to keep his mouth shut.

The incident remained strongly in his heart.

The matter with Captain Harris was a disgrace. After being shocked by the "accidental shooting", he left alone on a boat. He then got lost, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Then who are they talking about here? Harris was killed, so it couldn't have been him. It seemed to me that when they played off what really happened with Harris, Sailor took it personally and left. If that's not the case, then what does this mean?

Wild Goose · Post by **Wild Goose** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 2:12 am

My take was that that was the official explanation for Harris been missing. He accidentally shot Sailor, and then snapped, and took a boat and ran off.

FullMetal*Panic!

FMP: A Dancing Very Merry Christmas Discussion Spoilers