FMP! The Second Raid OVA

Zyl — Thu, 25 May 2006 11:39:16 +0000

Well, while it is a day in the life of COL Teletha Tessarosa, it's an atypical day as the title literally means "A Day of a Squadron Commander with free time and no assignment".

Tessa has a dream of the TDD1 under attack but her XO and bridge bunnies have all morphed into Sousukes who confess their love for her. Waking up on the bridge but thinking she is still dreaming, Tessa chances upon Sousuke in the hangars and procedes to sexually harass him. (The rest of the screencaps will concentrate on Tessa and Mao-nee. For a more balanced set, please see Omni's entry.)

While Jason might condemn Sousuke for refusing to dig into the Tessa buffet, he is clearly flustered which implies that he does find her attractive. On the other hand, he still sees her as his superior officer and that she's not in her normal state of mind. Also Chidori will probably kill him. And no Chidori in this OVA!! Soooo happy is Zyl. And the Arbalest's comments are simply priceless.

Shower fan service.

Pantsu fan service.

Personal grooming fan service. Generally us guys complain about how long it takes for girls to get ready to go out but it's actually quite interesting and even sensuous to watch a girl's routine. Tessa has beautiful long hair so it requires a lot of TLC to maintain. Damaged hair - with loss of lustre, dryness, split ends - doesn't just spoil the look, it is also positively uncomfortable. To conform the regs that go with her military job, she'll have to braid it too.

A base of light foundation but no other make up. Again because of regs but also because Tessa is still young and has beautiful light skin anyway (I normally like girls with dark tans but this fits Tessa's overall image). Mascara not only to give body to the eye lashes but to lift them and thus allow the eyes to sparkle with reflected light. To complement her light skin, a pale rosebud pink gloss lip stick.

I love her uniform too. (It reminds me of Motoko Kusanagi's formal uniform too.) The earth colours and insignia are formal but neither dull nor vain gloriously over the top. The tie against a crisp white shirt are also a nice contrast to the rest of her crew that sets her apart. In my country, this would probably fit under the No.5J category without headdress. The informal TDD1 cap (rather than peak cap) is also a typically naval touch that speaks of a ship crew's camaradarie. Navy personnel tend to be close and less formal with each other because of a relatively small number of people serving together in confined spaces for extended periods. This applies doubly to submariners and contrasts starkly with the masses of the army or the individualism of fighter pilots.

The blue hair ribbon is very cute and feminine touch to top off the dressing scene. And we get a lovely reminder of Tessa's physical clumsiness and her youth.

Tessa confides in Mao-nee about her sleepwalking and sekuhara of Sousuke. Our other lovely slightly crazy, gun-wielding Chinese lass reassures that Sousuke will be discreet. It turns out the events of last night were kicked off by Mao-nee giving an alcoholic beverage (sawa?) to Tessa. Mao-nee then proudly shows off her latest motion experiment for the M-9s:

...which consists of the M9s doing a tango. Tessa is not amused. I bet she would have been happier if the experiment had involved five M9s doing the Haruhi Suzumiya ED dance. For a start, there's less chance of that going wrong...

Zyl: Ano, Mao-nee, what do you mean "failed again"? (;^_^)

Of course, things go wrong and Mao-nee thinks Tessa is consoling her but, with that beautiful angelic smile, she tells Mao-nee that her salary will be deducted to pay for the mess. Revenge for getting her drunk last night - don't mess with the ma'am captain!

If you're so afraid of your subordinates finding out about your anime hobby, why don't you just give it up? That's cruel and unusual punishment, ma'am! Cruel and unusual punishment!! Anyway Tessa is looking for something she lost last night but is too embarrassed to say what it is. We are later told it is her Bonta-kun doll.

I had a really good laugh at this scene. You can see where Sousuke gets his military otaku mannerisms straight from. And Kalinin's extremely mechanistic and precision-styled "cooking" was gut-busting especially when he makes a single stir at every beep. After suffering through his awful borscht (with miso!?), she gets the next piece of the puzzle about what happened last night. Leading to her own father/uncle-type figure, the formidable Richard Mardukas.

We are entertained with a fight between Weber and the new lieutenant. And then a long lim peh kah li kong (grandfather story) type lecture from Mardukas - the island and setting sun recalling Alastor's predicament in the Shana-tan special. With the XO's input, Tessa finally remembers how she ended up sleeping on the bridge (though it doesn't explain how she became undressed). Sousuke is returning to Tokyo (and Chidori) and Tessa let rip with her jealousy.

She rushes to apologize, see Sousuke off and confess her feelings. In classic School Rumble style, Sousuke completely misunderstands her confession - thinking that she is saying that she doesn't hate alcohol but really loves it. Love her sneakers BTW.

Dress shoes are also nice. More counselling from the source of all this trouble, Mao-nee, and everything is peachy again.

KyoAni and Tessa-dono, Zyl salutes you!

FMP! TSR 13

Zyl — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:41:25 +0000

What can I say? Absolutely fabulous, darlings! Excellent blend of good story-telling (including OP and ED time), beautiful beautiful animation, humour and character development. I might have found Sousuke's sudden power-up a bit over the top but watching too much Kira Yamato in GSD has numbed me to this kind of thing. Also, dealing with an enraged Kaname is certainly much more frightening compared to fighting five Cordarl ASs and facing down the MITHRIL governing council. Would have liked more of Mao-neesan but am content with the evening dress in Ep 5. Two thumbs up for Kyoto Animation!! d_(^_^)_b

Screencaps concentrate on Chidori beating up Sousuke and Tessa's Happy Little Dance. Head over to Random Curiosity for a proper summary and full range of screencaps:

I have no idea why Kaname needs Sousuke's protection. This is a very Ranma ½ type of cliché that the most powerful fighter in the series can be effortlessly hammered into the ground by his love interest especially when he's feels he has wronged her but now that their relationship has developed somewhat, it's not galling anymore.

Well, Tessa is still a teenager afterall. A definite first for her with Sousuke addressing her as "Tessa". Though this name and honorific thing has definitely more impact for Japanese viewers but the added military dimension also adds another layer. It also resonated with me because the rank difference and military etiquette thing can be very deeply ingrained - when I last ran into my former CO, I still addressed him as "Sir" throughout the conversation even though he's since retired and it's been a long time since I was in uniform...

FMP! TSR 12

Zyl — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 12:06:52 +0000

Sousuke follows the trail of clues to his old nemesis First Season Crazy Guy aka Gauron who gives useful background about his motivation, Amalgam, the Whispered, the Xia sisters and Second Raid Crazy Guy aka Gates. Gauron provokes Sousuke into killing him by telling him that he has had Kaname murdered.

Meanwhile COL Teletha Testarossa shows LTC Richard Mardukas who's boss and also restores the faith of the TDD crew in Sousuke. Marvellous character development, epitomised by Mardukas' thought: "You've grown stronger." A pity that the next episode is the last for Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid.

hontou ni » Full Metal Panic!

FMP! The Second Raid OVA

FMP! TSR 13

FMP! TSR 12