English Dub Review: Full Metal Panic “On My Own”

Going down the only road I’ve ever known!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Sosuke and Kaname work out their plan of attack, determining they need to save everyone, including Kyoko, in two minutes. Kaname decides to put that Whispered knowledge to work and opts to write an algorithm to find out what frequency they need to jam the bombs holding the students’ hostage. The next step involves calling Hayashimizu about faking an emergency about poison gas (with blame placed on Sosuke, naturally) that will force everyone out before heading out to face the enemy.

Only a few feet from the enemy, Al ominously asks Sosuke to stand by him, saying he’s “had a premonition” about them parting ways, but Sosuke brushes it off and begins neutralizing targets as Al takes off for a rooftop. Kaname ALSO manages to have a premonition of a giant evil looking AS gunning Sosuke down. The fake poison gas plan works well enough, getting everyone but Kyoko away from the building as Sosuke manages to find and get her free of the bomb attached to her. The relief is short lived as Kurama and his men get him at gunpoint and spill his entire mission in front of a disbelieving Kyoko. Their teacher seemingly shows up looking for her, but turns out to be Wraith, another Mithril agent tasked with protecting Kaname. The goons go down but Kurama manages to get away, ordering a missile launch that they avoid, but gets Kyoko hit with shrapnel.

Leonard decides it’s time for him to enter the fray, knowing putting Sosuke in danger will lure out Kaname. His AS, the one from Kaname’s vision, trounces the Arbalest in every way, and can even fly! While he handily takes his time completely destroying Sosuke, he sends a telepathic message to Kaname so that she can see the fight, forcing her to come out and be taken hostage as Sosuke can only cry out to her powerlessly.

Back at the base, Kalinin holds off enemy troops to allow Tessa’s escape and meets up with Melissa and the rest of the remaining crew so they can make their escape. They’re briefly stopped by Behemoth C, but charge ahead and take it into the air, with Kurtz and Clouseau destroying it with two well-timed shots.

As the class recovers mentally and physically, Sosuke confesses his true identity and swears he’ll get Kaname back.

OUR TAKE

I always had a bit of a scare in the back of my mind that the Whispered powers would be used to cheat some things, but their lack of major use most of the time kept it from the being an issue. Here, though, you could almost replace the parts of the script saying “Whispered” with “the plot” and it wouldn’t really change much. Kaname suddenly needs to pull her weight and contribute to the mission? The plot says she now has the ability to make frequency jamming algorithms! Need Kaname to be completely aware of the situation so she has a reason to show up? Practically hand her the script to tell her that Sosuke’s going to be nearly killed if she doesn’t show up! And for the sake of artificially adding tension, why not just have Al have a reason to know this too! And it’s not like they didn’t have an out for that last one, seeing how Leonard telepathically contacts her in an established way these powers have been shown to work. I’m just really hoping this doesn’t become a trend, seeing how this thing seems like the kind of thing that could get abused the most.

Speaking of Leonard, while he definitely managed to show his ability to be threatening, he’s REMARKABLY flat as a character so far. His first appearance last season had an air of mystery about him, as he saved Kaname from another villain and used those Alastor units to show both his resources and his influence. Now, though…he’s just some jealous asshole with a really strong robot who is forcing a girl to go with him and brutalizing the hero just to make the situation look hopeless. Kurama does his job well enough as the straight man who knows the game and is more than willing to just throw missiles at a problem he can’t solve immediately, and I guess he doesn’t really NEED to have much of a personality beyond the practicality, but if Leonard’s supposed to be the final boss of all this, he most certainly does. I mean, damn, I can’t even call him Rule 63 Tessa because at least SHE has an interesting dilemma of being underestimated in her field because of her age and gender, but’s THIS buttface’s problem?

That all said, I actually have fewer problems with this episode than I’m making it sound. Besides the welcome reappearance of Wraith, the impact of everything that’s happened is on full display. Sosuke’s cover has been entirely blown, his robot is totaled, he has several deaths and injuries on his conscious (including Kyoko’s), his mission a failure, EVERY ONE of his civilian friends hate him, and his basically girlfriend has been kidnapped. And we’re just through one-third of the season. Next week begins the eighth light novel, and I hope they have fun and games.