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Comments

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Plot Synopsis

No plot synopsis or other information available for Full Metal Panic!

Story & Characters

The basics: The story revolves around the adventures/hijinks of renowned military nut Souske Sagara and his posse. On one hand there's Mithril, the extra-national mercenary group. Commanded by the extremely wussy looking Teletha Testarossa, Souske and his unit are the 'knights in shining armor' of the modern world. They're no ragtags- Although the lewd Kurtz and the outspoken Mao hail from opposite sides of the earth, they and Souske muster the most modern military equipment that the world has to offer. So what's a guy to do with a giant robot that can do everything up to and including slice bread?

Well... apparently his new job is to stalk teenage girls. The other half of the show is concerned with his protection of the beautiful (And again, outspoken) Kaname Chidori. They make quite a pair- most of the dynamics in the show involve Chidori's desire to do things in a normal, human way versus Souske's well-measured decision to shoot first and ask questions later. No. Wait. Shoot first and shoot later. I always get those two things mixed up. It seems like it would be easy to get tired of this, but it's actually not. In the 'main' two seasons, the high school humor frames the main conflicts- in which Souske, rumor has it, shoots someone in his robot. Excitement abounds, and we find ourselves with a host of different villains to hate- even if <a href="http://www.trip-machine.net/STFU.jpg" target="_blank"> none of them are as cool as Gauln. (I guess this link has swear words, so don't click it.)</a>

As far as the quality of the plot goes, it's really difficult to complain. This is not, say, Ocean's Eleven, where you only figure out exactly what the hell is going on when they directly spell it out for you. You know who is good and you know who is evil- and you have the sneaking suspicion that the evil guy is going to get shot by the good guy. Call it a <i>theory</i>. But in FMP's genre- Action/Comedy - there isn't a lot of mind-boggling that should be going on anyway. So don't worry... the plot is well-driven, if perhaps a bit simple.

Rating

8 (good)

Art

You might recall that the newest season of Full Metal Panic is actually on Japanese television, <i>Right Now</i>. This leads us to believe that the graphical stylings will perhaps be excellent, and they of course are. FMP season 1 and 3 feature the animation stylings of Gonzo to help out with all the giant robot bashing- Season 2 circumvents its lack of quality 3d animating by having no robots to speak of and focusing on FMP's comedic aspect. But let's not mock the ability of the in-house crew: The main production team for FMP has come up with extremely colorful and sharp designs for character and scenery.

Okay, so Tessa isn't really colorful. But she's sharp. Mmmm. Sharp.

As with the story, there isn't anything here that I feel really pushes the boundaries of anime, but that doesn't mean it isn't high quality animation with a good frame rate and excellent CGI tossed in. Sometimes the CGI feels a little sketchy - See Mithril's Sub - but this is me trying to mock someone who wants to make an enormous submarine using a 3d rendering program instead of drawing it like everyone else. It's interesting, and maybe a nice change of pace.

Oh, there's also a manga series out by, you guessed it, ADV Manga. The art style is different, and a bit more adult, but it's also of excellent quality and some issues come with super sexy pinups. Not to mention a bunch of random interlude art, which makes me happy to own everything. The excellent art that the manga features more than makes up for any misgivings I had about the artist's style.

Rating

8 (good)

Sound

Goddammit! The manga has no soundtrack! What a ripoff!

Let's talk about the anime, then. As an opening- all three seasons have opening and ending track that I find completely listenable. This is a minor miracle. I'm not too qualified to wax on about any of the other vocal tracks, but the soft rock tracks that make up FMP's intros and outros really are uniquely excellent. And guess what? The in-show music is well-timed and neat too. I'll grant you, it can get repetitive. But this actually plays to the show's advantage, since similarly themed scenes have the same music and this is established as the hip thing to do.

There are also, from what I understand, voice actors. I don't think I've ever seen an anime where the Japanese voice actors are worth disputing so I'll focus on the American set. As this is an ADV production, we get to deal with their in house crew- whom I have a pretty good opinion of. I personally feel that Hilary Haag (Tessa) is about five feet taller than the correct choice for Tessa's voice- But I also understand that ADV does not currently employ talking mice. I recognized Allison Keith playing as Mao this time around, which goes fine with my memory of her as Misato in NGE. Everyone was waiting to see if Souske's English voice actor had that odd 'wooden' feeling that Souske's social interactions have in the original language, and thankfully, they do. That might have ruined the show.

Basically, FMP continues the trend of having extremely strong elements while lacking in anything which makes me shout "OMEGZ WHAT". I like this.

Rating

8 (good)

Presentation

Do we have a long history of shows like this? No, not that I know of. Even though its elements are simple in their strength, I'm also pleased to report the originality that they sport. The central commodity of the show (The Whispered) is a completely fly concept which I don't think I've seen anything quite like- and it's a fantastic chance to show off the eye candy which Gonzo is somewhat notorious for. Sure, you might complain that some of the characters are stereotypical, but I would dispute that. They're not stereotypes. If you saw one of them in a dark room, you could <i>mistake</i> them for a stereotype, but the main purpose of some of the common anime stereotypes (Excessively violent and tomboyish? Chidori?) are to be funny. And they are.

An added note about DVD presentation: I have all the DVDs and manga out in America, and they're extremely likeable setups so far. ADV's DVD set has the expected count of trailers and whatnot; the additional bonus of the American voice actors reading the piracy warning is unexpectedly hilarious. (Do not use the packaging as a weapon! I'll hunt your ass down! Of course you will, Souske.) Oh! And the manga is nice enough to include detailed translation notes! If only all companies were nice enough to do this. Complaint: What the hell is this board game thing that's in the box set for Fumoffu? The original FMP box has an included T-shirt, for the bargain price of like eight extra dollars. Truly, the DVD extras are excellent, and I wish all series had a presentation this ironclad awesome.

Rating

9 (very good)

Final Verdict

8.33 (good)

Reviewed by Ezekiel, 3y 5wk ago