PeachesOnBeaches

No Spoilers: Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory finally got serious. After previous FMP franchise seasons struggled to find an idendity, vacilating between being a cute and funny romcom to a mech adventure/ drama all in the same show, (that was annoying) FMP! Invisible Victory starts out with a serious tone from the first episode and never lets up. The franchise finally grew up. While the FMP series from the beginning has always had a violent side, it increases in Invisible Victory to utter brutality. Cold blooded murder of loved characters right before our eyes is shocking. Execution head shots and explosive blood spatter is part of the norm now and it is disturbingly common in FMP IV fully earning it a solid R rating. This is the third studio by my count to undertake production of the FMP series and Invisible Victory is by far the best. There are a few cheesy CG mech sequences that look lower budget at times but other than those handful of scenes this show is amazingly done. It shines in its direction and animation quality. The characters by this point are highly developed as is the world building. It is essential to watch the first season and the "Second Raid" season to get to where IV starts off. Having skipped the Fumaffu season after a few episodes because it was too stupid to bare, I don't feel I missed anything essential to the story. Not sure what direction they were trying to go in there. (again, that romcom angle)  As the series progresses and bad guys are knocked off one by one at great cost to Mithril and new ones are being introduced as needed for continuance, we hope the franchise will go on and we get a satisfactory plot resolution. Apparently there is enough source material written in the novel series to continue the anime. After all, there is a traitor who must pay and a love story to see through to its fruition. Hopefully it won't have a tropey unsatisfying conclusion like Chidori merges with a machine and takes down Amalgam but is lost forever, or she is now part of the A.I in Sagara's mech unit. Please dont do that. Please. If you are a fan of FMP!, Invisable Victory is a must watch.