Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory 05
フルメタル・パニック！Invisible Victory episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

In the Asian town of Namsac, a foreign photographer named Lemon is beset upon by a thug named Dao and his compatriots, who attempt to mug him. A local teen girl named Nami saves him by bluffing Dao away with a broken revolver. She attempts to extort a huge sum of money from Lemon, which he doesn’t have. She shows him the local attraction, an arena were outdated and discarded AS units battle. Nami then proves to Lemon that she has her own Savage AS unit and a team that is working to get it into their next scheduled fight.

Her American AS pilot (Rick) is murdered and Dao shows up to gloat since Nami’s AS has to fight Dao’s. Nami decides to pilot her mecha unit, but she still needs the funds. Sousuke shows up, looking for Rick. When he learns that Rick is dead, Sousuke asks to be hired. Nami is skeptical, even though Sousuke proves he knows about Savage AS units, since he used to operate one as a kid in the Helmajistan Civil War. Nami’s mechanics suggest she hire him, so she does. To everyone’s amazement, Sousuke easily defeats Dao in his superior, sponsored AS unit.

Lemon, who decided to max out his credit card to help Nami, is happy with their win and the crew celebrates. Nami learns more about Sousuke and agrees to keep Sousuke on as her permanent AS pilot. After the party, Nami heads home, but is caught by Dao, who wants revenge. Dao thinks he’s taken care of Sousuke, but Sousuke shows up and stabs Dao in the throat, just shy of a fatal wound. Dao and crew agree to back off, then they flee. Sousuke thinks he should have killed Dao. He and Nami then take refuge in Lemon’s nice hotel room.

Thoughts/Review:

After the non-stop steamroller the series has been through the first four episodes, Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory 05 is an interesting change in pace that started slow, but has me interested.

Not What I Expected

After watching the episode a couple of times, I’m guessing that there has been some time between Sousuke leaving Japan and his arrival in some Asian country (quite possibly Laos, based on Google search). That said, I found it very surprising when Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory 05 started out with a whole cast of new characters. My initial thought on the first viewing of the episode was, “Really?” I can’t say that I was happy seeing some Kurz-clone and a new teenage chick running her version of BattleBots (or for you REALLY hardcore fans out there, the more apropos Robot Jox).

Fortunately, when Sousuke showed up, the episode became more interesting and relevant. While the episode established the cliched version of a thug bullying his way around, then getting shown up and forced to retreat, I found l liked it all the same. I suppose there’s just something awesome about a punk thug getting his comeuppance. Sousuke is probably right when he suspects Dao won’t have learned his lesson and will return to haunt them before the arc is over.

This episode also gave us a chance to be reminded of Sousuke’s past, when he used to pilot a Savage AS unit in Helmajistan (Afghanistan in the novels). And because Nami has a similar, war-torn past, that gives them something to relate to each other.

A New Direction

I guess the series is going to focus on Sousuke trying to earn money. That’s understandable since he seems to be on his own. I got the feeling that there’d been some time between the last episode and Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory 05. So I’m guessing that he’s trying to earn money and resources so he can rescue Kaname and attempt a reverse NTR with her.

That said, I’m not sure how long this story arc can last. I believe Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory only has 12 episodes (which is a shame), so they can’t waste much time here. But, it is highly possible that we have a lot more time skips so that Sousuke can try to get what he needs to continue his quest.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory 05 before the Internet dies.

• I’m guessing Nami was made a teenager so that we’d have another possible love interest for Sousuke. Beyond that, it is hard for me to believe that she’d have the ability to gather a team of mechanics and such to work for her.
• We received no info on what has happened to Kaname or the crew of the Tuatha de Danaan. I’m guessing we’ll get this info in a future episode.
• This Lemon guy is kind of a sap. He has to be saved by a teenage chick, he doesn’t do his job in the arena, but he gladly forks over a ton of cash in the end (after initially refusing to do so). 😆

In the end, Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory 05 ended up being an unexpected episode, introducing a slew of new characters for Sousuke to become involved with. While I initially wasn’t sure about this episode, upon a second viewing, I found I enjoyed it better. Thus I look forward to seeing how things turn out.