Full Metal Panic!

Full Metal Panic! Another anime that let me down, i had high expectations towards this anime because how well praised is, and from the beginning to the end this was just fine but not what they say it is. Story The setting of the anime is kinda interesting, the problem is that is not well developed and not to mention that the bland characters didn't help at all, with an annoying MC Chidori Kaname who has constant angry problems that comes out of nowhere, and her mood doesn't make sense, why bitch to the person is trying to protect you, and she acts like if he doesn't havea military job, poor Sousuke, he's sent to protect her because she is somehow special she's a ''Whispered'' and they explain a little what they are, but not what we want to know and they didn't explain how and why they exist, a lot of unexplained topics and the problem of the why wasn't explained is that there are a lot of filler boring eps, a lot of inconsistencies are found in this anime and again Kaname is really annoying, i hate that kind of characters, i like tsunderes but to the extent of being stupids, no thanks; There's a guy also, Gaul (whose reason of being a bad guys isn't explained) he's hard to kill even when he explodes, it's stupid how he always survive without any hint on to how he did it, i don't know why people are saying this is romcom, i don't see the romance in here, an attempt, yes but i don't get why people say they liked that aspect of the anime, makes no sense. The story is ok but not well presented. Art & Animation The animation sometimes can be good, but it has something that i didn't like, and i don't know what it is, the mouth and sound sync was weird, almost all of the time there were weird camara angles and unrelated shots for example when Sagara was fighting other AS mechas and all of a sudden shots of Chidori in the beach (?) but i think overall is ok. Sound The VA is good but sometimes sounds bad, maybe because of the animation of the mouths being looped to do the same movement, the OP is bad and skippable just like the ED and the background music wasn't fitting at the beginning but after 10 eps. it gets a little better and good and to mention that one song reminded me of an A-Team song, overall it was fine. Character Most of the characters you don't care if they could be taken away from the anime and never appear again, because you won't miss them. -Chidori Kaname is a meh character at the beginning but with her attitude becomes a bad one, she is useless and doesn't stop to be angry at Sousuke for some reason; She all of a sudden gets angry or gets angry at stupid reasons and even gets angry at him just because he's working on a mission where people die and that affects him but she doesn't ask him how he feels rather than that she gets mad at him, she doesn't have a background of any kind, what a bad character. -Sousuke (Isegar) Sagara is a person that doesn't have social skills and that can be conflictive most of the times, but he's like that because he's a soldier since he was a kid, he has little background, just flashbacks; He's a good character but nothing amazing, i liked that he finally got angry at Chidori and somehow at the end he had more social skills. -Tessa Testarossa is a sweet girl that wants to save everyone and she in fact is the captain of Mithril or was it just the Ship with the weird name? i don't remember, i liked her more than Chidori who in fact falls in love with Sousuke too and is more open than Chidori about it. Then there's the rest of the cast that are meh, nothing special worth the mention, i thought the characters were ok jus for Sousuke and the Cap. Tessa. Enjoyment There were good eps. that i enjoyed but the enjoyment was just fine for me, i wanted to finish the anime already, too much eps. and no explanations.

Story: This anime is about a highly trained military commando/mecha pilot with no social skills named Sagara. He gets assigned to pose as a high school student to protect a large-breasted female student from being abducted by terrorists. As silly as the plot is, it creates room for interesting challenges. How will he blend in? How will he avoid suspicion? How will he protect this girl without blowing his cover? Etc. Well this anime chooses to brazenly ignore all of those concerns and have the Sagara act about as conspicuous as possible. It really requires that the audience suspend all disbelief. Example: What’s a normalreaction when you see a student holding a submachine gun on school grounds? Run? Warn the students? Call police? Nope. It’s to scold him playfully and then forget about it. Well that’s the way it works in this anime at least. It’s hard to build suspense when the audience isn’t sure what’s supposed to be taken seriously and what isn’t. However, if you decide to beat yourself over the head with a snow shovel until logic stops being important, FMP does become kind of endearing (it took 106 consecutive hits for me). The story has a lot of relationship/romance undertones which gives it quirky but cute feeling. Sagara is like a retarded Terminator sent to protect the prepiest and most volatile girl in school. It’s a recipe for a lot of odd and funny (often ecchi-related) misunderstandings. Over time, the audience gets to watch these characters interact and evolve…albeit very slowly. Unfortunately, they do tend to throw in useless arcs which distract from the overall plot and stall character development. I’ve read good things about the sequel so I watched S1 with that in mind. The action isn’t bad. There are some intense scenes that I think are pretty well done. At the same time, I finished the anime without a good sense of how the mecha worked, why certain (let’s call them mecha techniques) were used in some battles but not in others, how some characters managed to cheat death, and why the mecha insisted on fighting with little chode-like chainsaw daggers. To each his own but these were problems for me. Art: I’ve seen a lot better but it’s still pretty decent. I don’t have anything against it. Sound: Soundtrack wasn’t bad…they’re not going on my ipod but they weren’t bad. Characters: As much as I hated the simplicity and stupidity of the cast, it was that exact flaw that allowed this anime work. Instead of building a narrative based on complicated characters who have multiple layers, each character in FMP basically represents the extreme of a single, very simple concept. We as the audience get to see what happens when these extremes come together. It’s not pretty but it does get the job done. Sagara: He is essentially an Unsullied from Game of Thrones. No real personality, curiosity, sex drive, independent thought…nothing except an unwavering devotion to duty. Of course, one of the main conflicts in the series (evident from the TITLE of the first episode) is whether he is capable of forming human feelings and relationships. Narrative-wise, it’s not the worst place to start; it lets him be a blank slate. Who knows what sort new things he’ll learn and experience. Wouldn’t that be fun and sweet? Like watching cyborg Arnold bond w/ John Connor. The problem is that the pacing was off. I’ll say that in S1 his character evolution is generally plodding, erratic and subpar. Chidori: She was actually the most likeable character in my opinion despite being 100% anime cliché. Basically the chirpy, sassy hot girl who does the whole tsundere thing. I can think of half a dozen characters from other anime who have the same personality. As a main, she stands out only because she contrasts so heavily with Tessa…*sigh*. Tessa: She’s a 16 year old attack submarine captain in charge of most of the military operations. Maybe it’s a sign of watching too much anime but I’ve gotten completely used to seeing teens in super powerful military positions. The impossibility of it doesn’t even bother me anymore. What did irritate me was her personality and the way she interacted with the other characters. It’s just really inconsistent. FMP wants to have a teen genius plan a military assault? No problem, L and Lelouch were awesome. But a crying, meek, swooning, scatterbrained little girl? That’s just pushing it for me. It also gave FMP a weird ecchi vibe…like they needed to insert a shapely female somewhere to hit a quota but didn’t know where to put her so BAM she’s the captain. Overall: Overall it was watchable. I am looking forward to S2 in hopes that it can pull things together more. Blood/Gore: Sagara actually shoots people lol. It’s a weird mix of goofy high school antics a violence. Love/Romance: It’s a little disappointing. I think it’s the love triangle dynamic. I’m still trying to figure out what the appeal of LTs are. School Days was the only one that made sense to me. In order to make them interesting or plausible the guy/girl being fought over has to be either really dumb/oblivious or extremely indecisive and douchey. I guess I’ll find out in S2. Sex/Nudity: non-nude shower scenes, panty thieves, unintentional awkward sexual situations…

This is going to be my first review, but bear with me. You're in for a treat. Story: (9) For the story, I'd say originality is a key term for FMP. It is a brilliant, well layed out plot and to say that it's nearly perfect is an understatement! The story goes about a young, yet skillful 17 year-old MITHRIL sergeant, Sousuke Sagara. In his bare nature, he is military-obsessed and also clueless of normal civilian conduct. As a sergeant under command of the military, Sousuke is instructed to look after and protect Ms. Kaname Chidori. Kaname, for one, is very unique. As onewould prejudge that she would be a timid, typical school girl, she can be almost the exact opposite. Kaname is clever, daring and also very beautiful, but what you don't expect is her impulsive and slightly obnoxious personality. As part of Sousuke's mission, he is to relocate and transfer into the same school and class as Kaname. This is when the series takes off to be more enjoyable. As i've mentioned, Sousuke is military obsessed and does not take his job lightly. So you can see how what conflicts are being set out; both internal and external and to a great extent, often humorous. (: BUT, being the great anime that it is, that is not all that goes on. I will not disclose this information, but I can tell you that BIG things will happen (quite literally aswell) and you will be glad that you've watched this anime. ____________________________________________________________ Art/Animation: (10) The animation quality of this anime is quite a looker! I mean the animation is astounding! Vast, vibrant colors with perfect saturation. I know there has to be some CG animation in this series, though I really don't remember seeing it. Know why? Because the CG is so perfectly blended with the animation! (; All in all, this is some Top-Shelf animation. ____________________________________________________________ Sound: (9) To be honest, the opening song, "Tomorrow" is one of my favorite tracks of any anime soundtrack. It is a very nice Japanese-Rock and the voice is just beautiful! As for the sound in the series, like the animation, it just does wonders. Both the Japanese and English audio are incomparable, and if you're an English dub kind of person, the voice acting for english is very well acted and the sound quality is at it's finest. (unlike some emotionless dubbing I've heard) boom. Top-Shelf audio. All I can say. ____________________________________________________________ Character: (10) When you have a good anime, you have a good cast of characters aswell. I can credibly say that there is outstanding character development throughout the series (which can prepare you for the next series) You will definitely 'feel' for all the characters in the series even if they're just supporting. I strongly believe that you will enjoy and accept the characters. (except for the bad guys, duh.) boom. Top-Shelf cast. ____________________________________________________________ Enjoyment: (10) As for the enjoyment, I GUARANTEE you will absolutely enjoy this series. This is one of those series that you just can't go wrong with. It's story, art, sound, and cast is just so perfect. I certainly enjoyed watching every second of Full Metal Panic. I STRONGLY recommend you watch this series. For people who don't watch anime, I'd say FMP is the best start. After completing this series, all the other anime will just seem sub-par. Again, you will definitely enjoy this anime to it's fullest potential. _____________________________________________________________ Full Metal Panic is ultimately my favorite anime of all time. Why you ask? Well in my personal opinion, I'd say that FMP is a masterpiece that has integrated a vast variety of genres into one. It has aspecs of Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Military, a little Romance, and a hint of Ecchi! What is not to like about this series? Again, this is my first time submitting a review and I am certainly glad that I have started with Full Metal Panic!

I had originally watched Full Metal Panic! (FMP) 5 years ago and at the time I had thought it was a nice watch. Then during summer of 2007 I decided to rewatch FMP. I had marathoned the series instead of watching only 2-3 episodes a day. As I was watching I thought “wow, was FMP this entertaining/fun to watch back then?” I guess the reason for this is because FMP is a fun show to watch, especially one to marathon. By “fun” this also means the anime is pretty light hearted and doesn’t have too much complexity. The storyitself contains several plot holes, inconsistencies, and a flat villain. What annoys me to no end is that FMP uses a few resets. Ahh! wasted so much character development only to reset things. However, it really isn’t that noticeable until you start looking at it more deeply (ie not marathoning it…). In addition, the structure of the series also lends to this marathonable nature. The series is divided up into arcs, similar to anime with no predetermined episodes count. Each of these arcs are pretty self contained, however this leads to pacing/flow problems. First you have the start of one arc, a serious military story and once that’s over you have light hearted high school comedy. Next, you reset and repeat for the next arc. Also, some episodes were simply out of place and really broke the flow of the series. For example, the episode devoted to how Mao recruited Sousuke and Kurts. For an anime series with no preset episode count, yes this can work, but not with one that’s set for 24 episodes. This can simply be due to the source material, a series of light novels. Perhaps it could have been better if they had simply animated one arc per season. Most of the characters are pretty interesting and fun to watch. This is part of what made the show for me. I personally like the interaction between Chidori and Sousuke. Not much else to say here, just remember to accept things like a 16 year old as a captain of a nuclear submarine and whatnot. As for the animation, Gonzo did a pretty good job and had very little inconsistencies. In addition, the CG work was pretty nice as it blended in quite nicely. Of course the action scenes did not disappoint. The BGM was ok, nothing that really stood out for me. Voices for both the Japanese and English had their strengths and weakness however, nothing really worth going into. Hmm, actually, I was quite annoyed by Tessa’s voice in the English. Mamiko Noto as Shinji in the Japanese dub just didn’t work for me, she still sounds like a girl. My only other complaint is with the very open nature of the ending. What I mean by this is not the story is left unresolved it’s the relationships between the character that left quite open. However, there is a sequel, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid done by Kyoto Animation and hopefully they will release another FMP soon. Despite all the flaws FMP remains a solid enjoyable watch without too much complexity. It may appear as if I didn’t like FMP, as I talked about many of the negatives but, taken as a whole I found it undeniably entertaining. Just remember not to think too hard and you’ll probably get plenty of enjoyment out of it as I had.

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