Pandemonium

For the second season of the popular comedy-adventure Full Metal Panic (2003), the filmmakers dropped the sci-fi elements and focused on the romantic contretemps. Kaname no longer commands psychic powers; Sousuke has been furloughed from Mithril. But that doesn't mean life at Jindai High gets any calmer. Sousuke remains highly trained, extremely suspicious and terminally dense. When a girl leaves a love note in his locker, he notices the locker has been tampered with and blows it up. Unable to get through the line at the cafeteria, he fires off a pistol and declares his order. When a gang member tries to threaten Sousuke, someone has to translate thug slang into military jargon and vice versa. Kaname's standard response to Sousuke's excesses is to belt him with an outsized paper fan. Winning performances by voice actors Chris Patton and Luci Christian make Sousuke and Kaname the most fractious anime couple since Ranma Saotome met Akane Tendo. (Rated TV PG V: comic violence, minor risqué humor, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon