Full Metal Panic!

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.

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.

The sequel to Full Metal Panic, this series takes a new approach to the story. This time there are no mechs, and the Mithil organization takes a step back. Though nothing is truly cut completely, many characters make guest appearances and generally cause general chaos. There are many new characters as well, several of which are never fully explained. This doesn't matter too much, as they are the main source of new situations for Kaname and Souske. I found that the series started off well, and got better and better as it went on. The first episode was probably the closest to the original Full Metal Panic style comedy. From there however, the stories get more and more outlandish. The series actively states that it's worried that fans of the original might not like how outlandish it becomes. However, with the soon to be released third sequel series, it shouldn't be a problem. My biggest question is, where can i get the chemical from the last episode?

In Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu! the episodes are shorter and more comical with less action and suspense involved, though some opinions may vary about how good it is. I myself like the military aspect of the original plot. But if you seen the first Full Metal Panic? at the end it talks about insurance at the last episode and just ties into Fumoffu. Though its more about high school life with Sousuke being Sousuke and with Kaname keeping him in line, though there are action parts its not really as suspenseful as the first but there are newer weapons and greater laughs. In the first few episodes Teletha Testarossa appears for vacation and goes to school with them and later goes away with. With those facts in mind I hope you can come up with your own conclusion by yourself. My opinion on the matter is its a fair show that is comical and pleasing to any anime fan. The only smack about it is that its short shows are well to short. Its basically like any second season of any basic anime show. I do like the original and the TSR which in my opinion are a little bit better then Fumoffu.

I've got to say, what I've seen of Fumoffu was a bit plot-light, and even the first series had its duller moments, but at thirteen episodes TSR packs so much in! Expect to see more action, faster AS battles, scarier bad guys (seriously... Gates has *issues*).

Unfortunately for fans of Fumoffu, neither Hayashimizu nor Ren Mikihara have speaking parts in this series, although Ren can be seen briefly in one scene. Much of the story takes place aboard TDD-1, and that means more Kurz and Mao, and even a little background on Tessa's family!

The animation is wicked smooth with clean, sharp lines and plenty of background detail. Voice actors for this series are excellent (my personal favourite being Miki Shinchiro, who plays Kurz =^_^=) and towards the end of the series it's hard to believe that the anguish played out by Souske is line drawings and a voice actor in a studio. Completely convincing- good job that man. According to native speakers of Chinese, the voice actors in this series sound a little stiff, and the same is presumably true for Italians, but for the rest of us the diversity of this series is great. (I personally have issues with Mao's pronunciation of the words 'Rock and Roll'... probably not the best choice of words for a Japanese voice actress). ~_~'

Anyway, wicked plot, great pacing, good character expo, awesome character development, particularly for Souske. Spectacular animation. The background music won't survive more that one or two listens out of context, but the energetic and heartfelt 'Minamikaze' (South Wind) of the title theme is excellent, and the slower closing theme has plenty of fans. Look forward to this!

*~Pips~*