Long The Second Raid thoughts
Apr. 16th, 2006 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI am madly in love with FMP. And Chidori. She is, as of now, my favorite anime heroine, bar none.
The Second Raid is amazing, but what especially strikes me is how much darker it is than FMP part 1. It deals with what makes Mithril tick (and it isn't nice), with the horribleness of Sousuke's position and with the breakdown of Chidori. Everybody reaches the end of their tether and is pushed to the limit and it isn't pretty but it makes for an amazing viewing.
The biggest changing point comes, of course, when Sousuke is recalled, his mission to guard Chidori terminated, and any contact whatsoever with her, forbidden. And that highlights the chief tension of TSR: not just the tension between what Sousuke desires and what he should have, and what he is allowed, but also the tension of Mithril itself. In FMP we saw Mithril as this incredibly cool organization, full of nifty gadgets and saving the day and a sort of mercenary, corporate White Knight. But this isn't the case in TSR, as we delve deeper and we find that even though Tessa might be nice, and some mercenaries in it are good as people, the organization is prone to the usual: nepotism, inefficiency, beaurocracy which is all about covering its collective asses rather than saving people. In fact, it does not care about people as individuals and treats them as cogs. After all, organization whose main purpose is to kill and fight, cannot be nice. That is of course true in the case of Sousuke (more on it below), but is manifested in plenty of other situations as well, especially with the Information Bureau which seems more like some kind of NKVD secret police type thing than a nice intelligence unit.
And then we have what Mithril does with Sousuke, which is basically negate any humanity or personal feelings he might have. I can understand terminating his mission to guard Chidori as, much as he might like her, they are not here to cater to his feelings. But to forbid him to ever contact her serves no purpose I can see and is pure meanness on their part. They negate and neglect any feelings he might have and I think it's something for him to think about when he considers if this is what he realy wants to do. He hates piloting the Arbalest, he loathes it, in fact, but he is forced to do it because he is the only one who can. He's been separated from the woman he loves suddenly and for no reason. His superiors are fruitcakes (the new Lt. who gives him a drubbing makes me want to drown him and Tessa is a reason why you don't give teenagers commands as she throws a stupid hissy fit when he gets back and is all "why don't you tell me 'I want to be with her [Kaname]' I hate you," which makes me want to tear out her hair, because woman, he is your subordinate and you are being an unprofessional bitch). No wonder he is utterly miserable (he looks like he is functioning on an autopilot back at the base) and I would say it's time for him to seriously reconsider what he wants to do for a career, except I am beginning to think he knows too much and they might not let him leave.
And then we have the Wraith, one of the Intelligence Bureau boys who is also assigned to protect Chidori, and who is a right bastard, who taunts Sousuke and admits that he has been causing him problems with reintegrating into normal life (he trains his rifle on him and Sousuke instinctively reacts and causes havoc, like happened most recently in the barbershop) in the same breath as he tells Sousuke that he is only a decoy and is useless in protecting Chidori because he can't integrate into society, while he is the one in large part preventing the integration. Nasty. Add to it subtle threats of the fact that Sousuke's papers and citizenship is forged and ugh.
And everyone and their brother keep telling Sousuke how bad it is that he just follows orders, which makes me grit my teeth, because leaving aside the fact that he's disobeyed orders for Chidori before, they don't want someone who disobeys when he feels like it (how could you ever have a military force that way). They just want Sousuke to independently come to the conclusion that he loves piloting the Arbalest and that Mithril is the best thing ever. They only want independent thinking if it agrees with what they want him to think. I would like to see how quickly they would jump on him if his thought process was 'screw this, it's idiotic, off I go.' We saw how well that was covered when he showed his independent thinking in wanting to stay with Chidori or to get to the bottom of what the Wraith is supposed to do, as we got a full-on threaten mode from the Wraith etc. Actually, they should probably be glad he is so full of duty, or they would have gotten a finger a while back.
And then, of course, there is the fact that Sousuke is, emotionally, walking the ledge and is really really close to the edge. Chidori has always been not just a chink in his armor, but she's been someone who's kept him human and sane, and now Mithril's taking her away from him. That scene where he recieves the message that his orders have been terminated and he has to leave, no communication with Chidori ever? I have never seen Sousuke break down before, but he is out of control there. And not just when he packs all his belongings in the rain, looks like someone's been walking over him with cleated boots. When he breaks the computer screen, and then starts shouting for the Wraith on his balcony, yelling secret info until the Wraith does contact him? That is angry, and reckless, and a man who's completely emotionally flipped.
And cruelly, this happens right when Sousuke's consciously realizing that this, the normal life with Chidori is what he wants, when he is reconciling the two unreconcilable halves of his identity (I love his cellphone conversation with Chidori, very relationshippy, as he is driving a getaway car, with bullets flying all around him). He is ready to give in and relax, he wants to (I love it when he admits to her on the bridge that there aren't any enemies). He is trying to fit in, so desperately, so earnestly, and so naively, it just breaks my heart. When he agrees to go to the hair salon to get his hair cut, for the first time in his life, it's both hilarious and sad, how he talks to himself, calming himself down, about being off-guard when someone has a towel on his face, or scissors anywhere near his neck. It is genuinely hard for him, but he tries so hard (and then of course, he flips, because he can feel the Wraith with the gun, and his moment of normalcy doesn't happen).
He needs normal life. But he also needs Chidori. Chidori and Sousuke are definitely in my Top 10 OTPs of all time. It's their compatibility and their individual coolness, and the fact that they just fit and get and relax around each other. My favorite FMP scene ever is when, after the failed haircut, Chidori takes him back to her apartment and offers to give him a haircut, and he agrees. She asks him if he doesn't mind her having scissors around his head and he says no, she is different. And it's true. He doesn't even fidget when she cuts his hair. He isn't nervous, or stressed. He is completely relaxed, and he is actually enjoying it (and hey, she told him she never cut hair before and he doesn't seem to care anyway. Definitely love). And they have a completely relaxed, lovely conversation during it, and the whole scene is gentle and intimate and domestic. They just fit. And I love how Chidori is a bit giddy to be fussing with his hair, how she loves touching it, and I love her concern (despite all her loud annoyances earlier) that when he was away, missing classes, he was actually on missions and he might have gotten hurt. And there is a brief moment when she leans down for something or other, and his line of sight is right in front of her cleavage, and you can see him drawn to it and losing composure. And, in fact, he is so relaxed with her and scissors, that he falls asleep by the time he finishes his haircut. And she leans in, and almost kisses him (this show is evil in its teasing). And then she makes him a meal and he ends up stuffing his face and it's all so relaxed and stress-free and perfect and I realize that before Chidori, no one ever even tried to take care of him.
Of course, if Sousuke needs Chidori, Chidori equally needs Sousuke. When she tells him she only trusts him to protect her (and I love that he answers with a very emphatic 'good.' The boy is jealous), it's quite true. And he's certainly rubbed off on her, as she asks him for non-deadly weapons to protect herself. And when he leaves (once again, cruelly after she's been walking on air after the haircutting session), she freaks out and falls apart, because she senses danger and she has come to so much rely on Sousuke being steady beside her and protecting her. I don't think she ever realized how much work he put into it. But she also needs him for emotional support. No matter how strong or capable she is, Sousuke is the only person with whom she can share that crazy part of her life. I adore Kaname more than I can say, though, because even with Sousuke gone, and with her potentially pursued, she freaks out but does not freeze. She acts and does not let her emotional mess make her ineffective. She is, somewhere inside, unyielding and tough as nails, and she won't break, and I love that. And I love that when Leonard (one of the bad guy's henchmen) talks to her and calls Sousuke her boyfriend, she doesn't even argue. Of course, in that conversation Leonard says that he hasn't killed as many people as Sousuke has, and this brings to the forefront, once again, the fact that Sousuke is leading a FUBAR life and needs to get out of it. Even if Chidori is right in her defense that all the people he's killed has been in military operations and in a fair fight and that they were all bad (learning more about Mithril, I am dubious about that latter point), the very fact that he's had to live this way is bad, bad, bad. He is going to reach breaking point soon, if he hasn't already. But I love that Chidori does save herself. And I love even more that afterwards, only afterwards, when she is all alone, she breaks down and sobs for Sousuke, repeating "where are you? I want you to tell me "no problem" [his catchphrase] once again." But, I love even more that at the end of that episode, she says to the Wraith who said he'd rather die, that she herself has decided she'd rather live and fight.
I can't wait to see what happens next. This is dark, and angsty, and good.
The Second Raid is amazing, but what especially strikes me is how much darker it is than FMP part 1. It deals with what makes Mithril tick (and it isn't nice), with the horribleness of Sousuke's position and with the breakdown of Chidori. Everybody reaches the end of their tether and is pushed to the limit and it isn't pretty but it makes for an amazing viewing.
The biggest changing point comes, of course, when Sousuke is recalled, his mission to guard Chidori terminated, and any contact whatsoever with her, forbidden. And that highlights the chief tension of TSR: not just the tension between what Sousuke desires and what he should have, and what he is allowed, but also the tension of Mithril itself. In FMP we saw Mithril as this incredibly cool organization, full of nifty gadgets and saving the day and a sort of mercenary, corporate White Knight. But this isn't the case in TSR, as we delve deeper and we find that even though Tessa might be nice, and some mercenaries in it are good as people, the organization is prone to the usual: nepotism, inefficiency, beaurocracy which is all about covering its collective asses rather than saving people. In fact, it does not care about people as individuals and treats them as cogs. After all, organization whose main purpose is to kill and fight, cannot be nice. That is of course true in the case of Sousuke (more on it below), but is manifested in plenty of other situations as well, especially with the Information Bureau which seems more like some kind of NKVD secret police type thing than a nice intelligence unit.
And then we have what Mithril does with Sousuke, which is basically negate any humanity or personal feelings he might have. I can understand terminating his mission to guard Chidori as, much as he might like her, they are not here to cater to his feelings. But to forbid him to ever contact her serves no purpose I can see and is pure meanness on their part. They negate and neglect any feelings he might have and I think it's something for him to think about when he considers if this is what he realy wants to do. He hates piloting the Arbalest, he loathes it, in fact, but he is forced to do it because he is the only one who can. He's been separated from the woman he loves suddenly and for no reason. His superiors are fruitcakes (the new Lt. who gives him a drubbing makes me want to drown him and Tessa is a reason why you don't give teenagers commands as she throws a stupid hissy fit when he gets back and is all "why don't you tell me 'I want to be with her [Kaname]' I hate you," which makes me want to tear out her hair, because woman, he is your subordinate and you are being an unprofessional bitch). No wonder he is utterly miserable (he looks like he is functioning on an autopilot back at the base) and I would say it's time for him to seriously reconsider what he wants to do for a career, except I am beginning to think he knows too much and they might not let him leave.
And then we have the Wraith, one of the Intelligence Bureau boys who is also assigned to protect Chidori, and who is a right bastard, who taunts Sousuke and admits that he has been causing him problems with reintegrating into normal life (he trains his rifle on him and Sousuke instinctively reacts and causes havoc, like happened most recently in the barbershop) in the same breath as he tells Sousuke that he is only a decoy and is useless in protecting Chidori because he can't integrate into society, while he is the one in large part preventing the integration. Nasty. Add to it subtle threats of the fact that Sousuke's papers and citizenship is forged and ugh.
And everyone and their brother keep telling Sousuke how bad it is that he just follows orders, which makes me grit my teeth, because leaving aside the fact that he's disobeyed orders for Chidori before, they don't want someone who disobeys when he feels like it (how could you ever have a military force that way). They just want Sousuke to independently come to the conclusion that he loves piloting the Arbalest and that Mithril is the best thing ever. They only want independent thinking if it agrees with what they want him to think. I would like to see how quickly they would jump on him if his thought process was 'screw this, it's idiotic, off I go.' We saw how well that was covered when he showed his independent thinking in wanting to stay with Chidori or to get to the bottom of what the Wraith is supposed to do, as we got a full-on threaten mode from the Wraith etc. Actually, they should probably be glad he is so full of duty, or they would have gotten a finger a while back.
And then, of course, there is the fact that Sousuke is, emotionally, walking the ledge and is really really close to the edge. Chidori has always been not just a chink in his armor, but she's been someone who's kept him human and sane, and now Mithril's taking her away from him. That scene where he recieves the message that his orders have been terminated and he has to leave, no communication with Chidori ever? I have never seen Sousuke break down before, but he is out of control there. And not just when he packs all his belongings in the rain, looks like someone's been walking over him with cleated boots. When he breaks the computer screen, and then starts shouting for the Wraith on his balcony, yelling secret info until the Wraith does contact him? That is angry, and reckless, and a man who's completely emotionally flipped.
And cruelly, this happens right when Sousuke's consciously realizing that this, the normal life with Chidori is what he wants, when he is reconciling the two unreconcilable halves of his identity (I love his cellphone conversation with Chidori, very relationshippy, as he is driving a getaway car, with bullets flying all around him). He is ready to give in and relax, he wants to (I love it when he admits to her on the bridge that there aren't any enemies). He is trying to fit in, so desperately, so earnestly, and so naively, it just breaks my heart. When he agrees to go to the hair salon to get his hair cut, for the first time in his life, it's both hilarious and sad, how he talks to himself, calming himself down, about being off-guard when someone has a towel on his face, or scissors anywhere near his neck. It is genuinely hard for him, but he tries so hard (and then of course, he flips, because he can feel the Wraith with the gun, and his moment of normalcy doesn't happen).
He needs normal life. But he also needs Chidori. Chidori and Sousuke are definitely in my Top 10 OTPs of all time. It's their compatibility and their individual coolness, and the fact that they just fit and get and relax around each other. My favorite FMP scene ever is when, after the failed haircut, Chidori takes him back to her apartment and offers to give him a haircut, and he agrees. She asks him if he doesn't mind her having scissors around his head and he says no, she is different. And it's true. He doesn't even fidget when she cuts his hair. He isn't nervous, or stressed. He is completely relaxed, and he is actually enjoying it (and hey, she told him she never cut hair before and he doesn't seem to care anyway. Definitely love). And they have a completely relaxed, lovely conversation during it, and the whole scene is gentle and intimate and domestic. They just fit. And I love how Chidori is a bit giddy to be fussing with his hair, how she loves touching it, and I love her concern (despite all her loud annoyances earlier) that when he was away, missing classes, he was actually on missions and he might have gotten hurt. And there is a brief moment when she leans down for something or other, and his line of sight is right in front of her cleavage, and you can see him drawn to it and losing composure. And, in fact, he is so relaxed with her and scissors, that he falls asleep by the time he finishes his haircut. And she leans in, and almost kisses him (this show is evil in its teasing). And then she makes him a meal and he ends up stuffing his face and it's all so relaxed and stress-free and perfect and I realize that before Chidori, no one ever even tried to take care of him.
Of course, if Sousuke needs Chidori, Chidori equally needs Sousuke. When she tells him she only trusts him to protect her (and I love that he answers with a very emphatic 'good.' The boy is jealous), it's quite true. And he's certainly rubbed off on her, as she asks him for non-deadly weapons to protect herself. And when he leaves (once again, cruelly after she's been walking on air after the haircutting session), she freaks out and falls apart, because she senses danger and she has come to so much rely on Sousuke being steady beside her and protecting her. I don't think she ever realized how much work he put into it. But she also needs him for emotional support. No matter how strong or capable she is, Sousuke is the only person with whom she can share that crazy part of her life. I adore Kaname more than I can say, though, because even with Sousuke gone, and with her potentially pursued, she freaks out but does not freeze. She acts and does not let her emotional mess make her ineffective. She is, somewhere inside, unyielding and tough as nails, and she won't break, and I love that. And I love that when Leonard (one of the bad guy's henchmen) talks to her and calls Sousuke her boyfriend, she doesn't even argue. Of course, in that conversation Leonard says that he hasn't killed as many people as Sousuke has, and this brings to the forefront, once again, the fact that Sousuke is leading a FUBAR life and needs to get out of it. Even if Chidori is right in her defense that all the people he's killed has been in military operations and in a fair fight and that they were all bad (learning more about Mithril, I am dubious about that latter point), the very fact that he's had to live this way is bad, bad, bad. He is going to reach breaking point soon, if he hasn't already. But I love that Chidori does save herself. And I love even more that afterwards, only afterwards, when she is all alone, she breaks down and sobs for Sousuke, repeating "where are you? I want you to tell me "no problem" [his catchphrase] once again." But, I love even more that at the end of that episode, she says to the Wraith who said he'd rather die, that she herself has decided she'd rather live and fight.
I can't wait to see what happens next. This is dark, and angsty, and good.
