Search - Full Metal Panic! - Mission 05 on DVD

WON'T GAURON EVER DIE?

Sesho | Pasadena, TX USA | 06/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 5th volume of a great series begins with part 2 and 3 of "The Wind Blows at Home", a storyline from Volume 4. Sousuke and a team have been sent to recover a nuclear warhead in Afghanistan, which happens to be the country where Sousuke grew up as a fighter against the Russians. It was there Gauron slaughtered most of his comrades, including his friend and mentor, Zaied. Since he knows the country, it should be a snap for Sousuke to slip past the enemy forces. There's a problem though. Zaied isn't dead and he's on Gauron's side. "Deep Sea Party", the third episode on this disk takes us back to the relationship/situational comedy of Sousuke and Kaname. Sousuke invites Kaname to a southern island, just the two of them. There's only one week left in the summer vacation and Kaname has wanted to spend time with him. Of course, being Full Metal Panic, Kaname will probably end up jumping out of planes and docking with underwater secret submarines and Sousuke will be hit in the head with a newspaper. The thing that is great about this series is that it has two storylines, almost two genres to work with. You have the mecha fights as Sousuke fights Gauron and goes on all kind of secret missions with lots of smooth animation and action sequences. Then you have the school setting where the cast is dealing with just everyday problems with relationships and loads of physical comedy. Some episodes can be bloody and dark and then next episode you're laughing. The Japanese voice acting is superb with just the right actors/tresses playing the parts. The only thing that bugs me is the invincible Gauron. I mean, he must have died in this series about 3-4 times already, plus one more if you count a flashback sequence. I guess they needed a strong villain, but kill him already! There's really no extras worth talking about here. Just the usual bare minimums. Sketches, privacy warnings, openings/closings."