Full Metal Panic!

Anime is truly a genre of its own, but it should not to be mistaken as a linear or uniform genre. Fullmetal Panic is an all out anime with the distinct contrast between the more serious action related and the more humorous and everyday life orientated. The contrast is well told due to the story's plot. Kaname Chidori seems to be the average school girl, but there is more to her than meets the eye. Sagara Sousuke including his team from Mithril are set out to protect her because she is of great importance. Due to this Sagara is transferred to Kaname's school and has to deal with an environment that is quite unfamiliar to him since he is mostly used to be in the battlefield and lacks social abilities. It is Sagara's interaction with the school environment and his duty of protecting Chidori that creates the very charming and engaging contrast that is in the series. It has enough mystique to engage the viewer and enough humor and interesting details that leaves a feeling of hungering for more. It is definitely a series worth watching and a good series to start of with for persons who consider Manga and/or anime as a breath of fresh air. Full Metal also has some aesthetically beautiful scenery especially in the first episode, but it is not overambitious in any way and it has a very clean and simple look to it. The intro and ending themes are also very catchy and are both in the typical Japanese rock/pop genre. The instrumental music supports the different scenes as well. Maybe it is a bit of a risk to buy the complete collection at first, but if one wants to give it a chance then either buy Mission 01 or try to look it up at you-tube. It cannot be promised that the series falls in one's favor, but this certainly is a part of what Manga and Anime is all about.

First off, I haven't written many reviews on IMDb this way, so if I do, that means the piece I'm writing on is really impactive. Full Metal Panic is to me, more or less, amazing.

The show is a perfect blend of high school romance, slapstick comedy, hard-pressed drama and balls-out action. It follows 17-year-old military sergeant Souske Sagara (pronounced "soh-skey") as he is assigned to protect 17-year-old Japanese high school student/orphan with the body of a goddess, Kaname Chidori (pronounced "kuh-nah-may") from unknown dangers. The dangers become apparent throughout the series as a bad guy with a scar on the side of his face, Guaron (pronounced "Gar-on") hijacks a field trip plane their class is on to kidnap Kaname and use her for mysterious reasons. You soon find out Kaname is part of a secret and extremely rare breed of people known as "The Whispered". Exactly what The Whispered are or who, we find very little out throughout the series. But it leads to some extraordinary events in the show's 24-episode run.

It's almost impossible to compress the series' events in a single review, so I'll just stop right there and let the viewer learn for his or herself. But know that if sounds like a typical weird explosion/sex Anime, you're pretty wrong. Yes, there does seem to be a focus on the guy genre (lots of robot action and hot half-naked babes, etc) but I know plenty of women who enjoy the show as well. And, it's not a "cutesy" Anime that the other half of the population seems to generalize it as. It has plenty of warm-and-fuzzy moments, but it's not what the show is based on.

The show is such a wide mix of emotions, I don't know how it could be done. And all in all, the show hooks any viewer into wanting to know more. The story arcs are excellently put out, the character work, though a little scrappy, is raw and enjoyable, and the dialogue (both original Japanese and the English dub) are very well-written.

I wasn't too big of an Anime person before I started watching this show. Before it I LOVED Miyazaki films (still do) and I thought Ghost in the Shell was a good movie. I caught a few episodes of this show's spin off series, "Full Metal Panic? fumoffu" (which is more romance and comedy, and almost completely different from this series) and thought it was enjoyable. When I bought this series on a whim, I was blown away.

And you will too! Just make sure you watch them from the beginning. You don't want to miss an episode of this legendary Anime series.

one of the funniest shows ever and you have to see it to understand. This is the classic story of boy meets girl, except the boy is a child solider lacking the most basic of social skills, and the girl is for some reason targeted by many government institutions, and said boy is assigned to guard the girl. Oh and the catch is that Souske (the boy) is not allowed to let anyone discover that he is actually a bodyguard not even Chidori (the girl).

Some people complain of how Gonzo changed the storyline (they really didn't), but with the exception of episodes 15-17 all of them are actually part of the original novels, which are also very funny.

I also suggest the side story series, "Full Metal Panic Fumoffu?!" and the main story continuation "Full Metal Panic the second raid". I would also recommend the novels which are still being written and translated. You really have to see them all.

Wow, a very funny anime series that has a lot of stuff, action, comedy, romance, drama, a little psychological theme ala Evangelion, but not too much of it, but a bit similar, and the main character who acts a little bit like Heero of Gundam, except crazier! In this one, a secret military organization serving no certain country, with technology and military equipment that years advanced and is ahead of Japan, US and Russia, deals with dangerous situations and rescues people from terrorist attacks, now has to protect someone, a Japanese student who is said to be a "whispered" the ones who have knowledge about secret technology, and is said to be targeted by terrorists, so they send someone, a 16 year old of Japanese descent to be the one to protect her, the 16 year old, who is Japanese, was raised in Afghani deserts and was trained as a child soldier, has had a lot of training, from unarmed combat, to piloting the M9 mechs, but has one problem: he doesn't have a clue of how to live in a normal environment with people his own age. So this maybe a tough mission for him. Overall a very funny show and perhaps one the best new giant robot animes out there, cool characters and beautiful animation, and intense action, and great comedy, especially the school scenes with Sagara, who still doesn't know a thing about high school or Japan. Sad. The only problem is that some of the characters, especially the bad guy, had very little character development, that the origin and explanation of their background was too vague. But overall a decent show recommended to all otaku, even to those who non or open to this type of animation.

I was half dragged into watching this series, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Much as the great title suggests, the series is mech based. It revolves around a special force called special "Mithril", and an elite specialist soldier named Sagara. Add to the mix a schoolgirl named Chidori and you've got the title - Full Metal Panic!

The mechs used in the show are far from the standard fare. They're unique enough and the Mithril force is unique enough that it manages to feel fresh. Sagara is a dead clone of Heero Yui, but that's not a bad thing. Sagara is described as the most "professional of the professional", an elite soldier through and through. Taking this pure military mind and placing him into a urban highschool situation is actually quite funny. There's some hilarious moments that alone make the series worth watching.

Chidori bugs me a bit, but she serves her purpose in the series. I just find her about impossible to like early in the show. I'm quite sure this is purposely done though, and as the series goes on she becomes much more likable.

The action sequences is where the show really shines. Elite forces, big mechs, guns, explosions, tanks... lots of fun for all. It's very well animated and very well timed. Being from GONZO, I would certainly expect this. They've done every bit as good as they did with the Vandread series.

If you like the title, you'll probably like the anime. It's really as simple as that. A Heero like main character, plenty of fan service, GONZO's wonderful artists, and a storyline that makes you want to watch just one more episode every single time. It's a refreshingly well put together show.

• Rirath_com