One Night Stand

Full Metal Panic! Light Novel #2

by Shouji Gatou, Shikidouji (Illustrator)

When Kalinin and Tessa investigate the capture of a suspected terrorist by the Japanese governement, they expect the procedure to be routine, but find it's anything but! Then, when Tessa turns to Sousuke for help, a seemingly jilted Kaname only increases the drama quotient. And the threesome's problems grow exponentially when they learn about the existence of a mammoth AS known as Behemoth, with which the terrorists plan on destroying the city... Will it be "sayonara Tokyo"?

Genres: Light Novel, Science Fiction, Manga, Japan, Romance, Action, Fiction

299 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 1999

About the author

Shoji Gatoh ( 賀東招二), born on July 11, 1971, is a Japanese author from Shiga Prefecture, Japan. He is best known for the creation of the Full Metal Panic! series that included light novels, manga and anime. He is not only an author but also an anime scenarist, for example "The Day of Sagittarius" of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and three episodes of Lucky Star.

Reviews

[Rebecca]

I'm always surprised by how much I dislike Tessa.

[Marty Preslar]

Fantastic sequel and translation

This second volume in the Full Metal Panic! series is just as full of action and comedy as the first , and steps up the romance and character development by quite a bit. Tessa, the 16 year-old captain and designer of the Tuatha De Dannan gets her first major appearance in the series and the mystery of "The Whispered" gets a little more details, yet is still an enigma. The story itself has some weak points, but the character development and sections with Kalinin and the leader of the terrorist group involved in the story far outweigh any of those.

[Cai]

So I forgot this particular arc and I never realized it actually happened in a span of a day. It felt longer in the anime.

Anyway, so I remember Tessa being introduced basically as described and I always thought her scenes in Sousuke's apartment were fanservice. But I guess not.

As always, I like reading the characters thoughts/internal monologue because it makes everything coherent. And I like it especially when they were shown effectively in the anime when there was no dialogue.

One thing I noticed was that they never really confirmed if Takuma was a Whispered. Tessa had a feeling but we weren't really shown whether him being able to use Lambda driver was due to Whispered abilities or the training plus drugs. Because Sousuke and Gauron were able to use the lambda driver and weren't Whispereds so it was possible Takuma wasn't. Or was I missing something?

This one felt so short compared to the first volume but I think it was as effective in progressing the storyline. Looking forward to the next one!

[Brian]

Full of action and antics! Technobabble, cutting edge military weaponry, stealth tactics, highschool hijinks, love triangles, and daring escapes; there is a lot packed into this volume. The first book in this series introduced the characters and world and this volume builds off of that foundation nicely. There's a good bit of time spent on characterization and romance subplots, but the action is never far off. The author does an excellent job of building tension in an action packed scene. The humor and teenage drama are well paced and there are some genuinely heartfelt moments from both the main cast and the antagonists. I appreciate that this series can effortlessly switch between conveying the trials of being a battlefield soldier to the woes of being a high school student. Well balanced, fun read. Can't wait for volume 3!

[Scott Mattson]

Full Metal panic really was a fun Anime series and the light novels the Anime was based on is pretty good itself. A terrorist group tries to Capture Tessa to help with their black tech. Kaname who is starting to have some feelings for Sousake, thinks him protecting Tessa is a sign they are dating.

This novel has quite a bit of action. From A/S fights to high school drama and Hijinks. It is fun to see Sousake try to fit in in high school.

[Chee Sheng]

Since I am writing all the reviews after I have completed all the books, but looking back all these books, it seems that each novel add an additional piece of puzzle into the grande finale... But this book mostly focus on introducing some troublesome mechanics that our protagonist will be crossing path in the coming books...

[Patrice]

While the writing is still a bit simplistic (although with translated books, it's always hard to tell if it's the writing or the translating), I really liked this. Having some insight to what the characters were thinking really drew me into a storyline that, in the anime, previously didn't hold my interest well. So, I'm glad that I read this.

[Lauren Priest]

2nd Mission

I enjoyed this second book in the Full Metal Panic series. I devoured it almost as quickly as the first book. They are so hard to put down once you start reading. I have a feeling I'll be consuming the third just as quickly.

[Alfresa trueno]

La primera parte era muy simple y presentaban personajes y stage este tomo mejoro y ya se volvió más acción y al ya ni estar sujeto a presentar el mundo y no ser aburrida explicación, va más al punto y las partes de acción mejoran, el romance creo que sobra pero igual no es molesto.

[Mushrooman]

One day

[pineapple on pizza]

Imma be honest. I kinda forgot about this story ark in this series lol. I had a good time reading this volume though!

[Taaresauce]

To be fair this is one of my least favourite volume plot-wise but i still like the depth of characterization given here.

[Kristalia]

Final rating: 3.5/5 stars

Full metal panic is a great series, different in terms of characters but this arc was the only one that was completely the weakest in the whole series. Sadly.

Anyway, I am surprised anime followed this arc well. In any case, it was interesting to read.

Great characters all in all, interesting storyline.

[[boredom.is.overrated]]

This sequel was great! I thought that this story arc flowed much better in the book than it did in the anime. Being a big fan of the anime, I kind of wish I could have read the book first (had no clue about light books until about a year ago). Gatou's writing (or at least the translation) seems to have improved; the writing seemed to breathe a bit more than the first and allowed for hilarious interactions between Kanama and Tessa. Recommend!

[Joshua]

Anoter Continuation on the original book fighting girl meets boy. It continues the story of the Mercearnary Souske and his awkward journey into high school while still working on the battle field in sci-fi mobile suits. A twist is added when when a new terrorist group appears to try and "paint the town red"

[Josh]

Ah, another satisfying chapter in the FMP world. I really enjoyed this one, though not nearly as much as the first. This one started to take a more sci-fi tone than the first book, but it wasn't a bad thing. We get to learn a lot about some characters in this one, though much is a set-up for following novels. Still, this is worth the time.

[Anthony Wendel]

Going back to listen to the audiobook version for these stories after finishing this series really helps to make you look at previous events in a different light. This is where it really starts to feel like Chidori and Sousuke truly are falling in love with one another. It's even more entertaining to hear it with the English voice actors doing the rolls. Highly recommended.

[Jessikah]

Hopefully the translator will do a better job with this one. Still love the story.

[Likaariputri]

Its a very romantic novellll... Love it...

[Dan]

Much like the first one, but with even more comedy and action! Souske is still clueless on how to live a normal life, while Kaname has to baby-sit him, when its supposed to be the other way around!

[WinterBat]

Romantic melodrama leads characters to act in dumb ways, but at least they call it out instead of playing it straight

[Tyas]

I think the story is simpler than the first book, and it's not as funny as the first, but the action and the flow are just so well-written and fun to read!