Full Metal Panic

Original Title: フルメタル・パニック！
Romanized: Furumetaru Panikku
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

Sagara Sosuke may look like a high school boy, but he is anything but your average teenager: hardened by years of battle, he is now one of the most skilled (and humorless) operatives of the secretive and powerful paramilitary MITHRIL organization. All this changes, however, when he, along with the lecherous sniper Kurtz Weber and ornery commander Melissa Mao, are assigned to protect pretty young Chidori Kaname, who may be one of the mysterious and sought-after "Whispered". Trained assassins, mech-piloting psychopaths, and booby traps, Sagara can deal with... it's infiltrating a Japanese high school and trying to blend in that's the real challenge. And he will learn that an enraged girl can be the most lethal opponent of all.

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-10-02

Full Metal Panic is an all around enjoyable series that combines the disparate genres of mecha war story and wacky high school comedy. It still fails to be very original: the genres alternate but rarely mix, leading to bit of a scattered feel, and despite a lot of grit and gorgeous Gonzo animation neither genre ever breaks from their respective cliches. The comedy end is the stronger half (in part because the dramatic story is left entirely unexplained and unconcluded), but looked at as a sort of two-series-in-one package, it's still fun on the whole. A very strong Japanese voice cast rounds out the picture.

The collection of likable and creative characters and comedy with an edge are enough to make Full Metal Panic memorable and fun, and it's definitely worth a shot if the idea sounds at all appealing.

US DVD Review

ADV's US-release DVDs are functional but little more; the video and audio (not surprising for a Gonzo production) are very crisp, but extras are limited to clean opening and endings, a few Japanese piracy warnings featuring the voice actors, and some production sketches. The complete set has the same material as the individual discs, but is packaged Thinkpak-style, with extra-slim individual DVD cases.

Content Guide

A range of dirty-ish humor and lots of violence account for ADV's 15-up rating.

Violence: 3 - Little unnecessary gore, but several episodes are largely on the battlefield.

Nudity: 2 - A bit of fanservice, but not a great deal.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - Light romance and the occasional heavier joke.

Language: 2 - Some swearing.

Notes and Trivia

ADV's official site has extensive character bios, artwork, and episode information.

I don't usually do this, but since I happen to have run across them I'm going to mention that Full Metal Panic, as with most popular TV series, can be found in a dirt-cheap import DVD set in addition to the official release. Aside from the fact that if you're going to steal it you might as well just download a copy for free instead of paying someone else for the same material, the FMP set is a prime example of English subtitling so atrocious it renders the series almost unwatchable, from unintelligible grammar to hilarious vocabulary mistakes.

Availability

Originally available from ADV on 7 individual hybrid DVDs (the first disc came with or without a box to hold them all), which was supplanted by a complete 7-disc boxed "Thinpak" set.

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