 |
   
|
14. Marshal of Manga 
The opening theme seems quite meaningful – what could be more so than finding the meaning of life? - so I was a bit disappointed by the series.
Sergeant Sousuke Sagara is assigned to protect Kaname Chidori, a high school girl targeted by terrorists. This means he has to give up military life to act as a transfer student in Chidori’s school so he is always near her… This gives rise to many ‘coincidences’ where Sousuke can be found two metres away from Chidori, which she always discovers. Being the active – some may say violent – girl she is, Sousuke’s life gets a lot more interesting.
Sousuke is part of MITHRIL, a global non-profit, politically independent anti-terrorist organization that has the financial muscle to produce the latest in high-tech machinery. How they get so much money while being independent is never answered so let’s assume they’ve perfected the ‘money growing on trees’ technique.
Chidori is apparently a member of the ‘Whispered’, people with strange powers that lets them know certain things they’ve never learnt, and certain terrorists want to harness this power for their own ends…
Full Metal Panic! (FMP) attempts to cram many elements into its 24 episode run – mecha action, romantic affairs, high school life, a strange phenomenon called ‘Black Technology’, a powerful mecha technology known as ‘Lambda Drive’, the mentality of a terrorist… the list goes on.
FMP centred itself on the easiest one – the mecha action – and left the others inadequately provided for. The high school life of Sousuke and Chidori was really fun but that gets scrapped away in the path of action. The continuing romance triangle between Sousuke and the two female protagonists never get a resolution.
A fuss was made about ‘Black Technology’ early on but this is almost forgotten in the later parts. ‘Lambda Drive’ is never elaborated upon except that it is a tool in combat. At times, the terrorists are portrayed as complex thinkers but this complexity is conveniently removed when they get killed, and the show moves on without exploring them further.
The story doesn't collapse, but the gaping holes prevent this good series from being great.
Overall, FMP is uncomplicated fun with great art and good music.
|
| 13. Iodine
 
There are some shows that lose the momentum of their plots
too early, or are tripped up by abortive endings, but never has an anime taken
such a spectacular nosedive in quality as GONZO's disappointing Full
Metal Panic. The first introductory episodes are perfectly good entertainment,
following the escapades of a teenaged supersoldier named Sousuke who's suddenly
forced to play a regular high schooler in order to protect his classmate, the
lovely, spirited Chidori. From Sousuke's classroom combat tactics to the antics
of his hidden support crew, humor is definitely the show's strong point. So, when
the plot suddenly switches gears to a serious military story, it loses the opportunities
for fun and mayhem, and most of the show's charm and appeal are lost. For the
rest of the series, we're dragged into endless mecha battles and tedious naval
maneuverings until the plot just falls apart. Technical mistakes and narrative
gaps that were passable in a comedy become painfully obvious with more serious
material. Also, the character dynamics are totally upended by Sousuke's insufferably
precious commanding officer, the teen-genius Tessa, pushing Chidori from leading
lady to virtual bystander. Animation is the usual
GONZO flash, that's decent for a television series. Designs are good, if
a little limited, and the rest of the technical elements do what they're supposed
to. Unfortunately, Full Metal Panic winds up being another example of the
studio's continuing inability to hold together a decent story structure, and wastes
its considerable potential. Hopefully the upcoming second season will manage to
correct some of these problems. |
| 12. Bugmaster
This show has a good blend of action, story and humor -- something
that few shows manage to achieve. There is also a love triangle of sorts between
the three main characters: Sagara Sousuke, a highly trained mecha pilot and special
forces operative; Chidori Kaname, his outspoken high-school classmate whose mind
houses the secrets of "Black Technology"; and Tessa Testerossa, a shy
young girl who is Sousuke's commanding officer and captain of the massive military
sub Tuatha de Danaan. Part of the reason that the
series works so well is the chemistry between the three main characters, and the
supporting cast. Sousuke was raised in the military; he knows nothing about actual
life. For example, he brings his weapon to his first day of school. When the teacher
pulls the gun out of Souske's backpack and demands to know what it is, Sousuke
earnestly replies: "This is a UMP submachine gun, capable of full-auto as
well as semi-auto fire. Please be careful with it, it's dangerous." To which
the teacher, of course, replies: "Whatever. We don't allow toys in the classroom,
you military otaku you". Sousuke's mission is to watch Chidori and to keep
her safe at all times; the confiscation of his weapon hardly slows him down as
he proceeds to guard Chidori in the womens' locker room. With predictable results. However,
the characters do develop as the series progresses. Sousuke begins to see Chidori
as something more than just the mission objective, as the other characters race
desperately to bring him up to speed on concepts such as "why shooting everyone
is not an acceptable solution" or "womens' locker rooms and you: the
meaning of privacy". Chidori also begins to care for Sousuke, but is too
proud to admit it to herself. On top of everything else, the "Black Technology"
rears its ugly head, and Chidori as well as Sousuke become targets for an experimental
mecha with reality-altering weaponry. Fortunately, the show never lapses into
total shoujo or total mecha action; there is a little bit of everything, mixed
in with a healthy dose of parody and humor, plus a bit of light fanservice now
and then. The high-quality animation provides delicious icing on this expertly-mixed
cake. |
| 9. Eso
This action packed series is quite the thriller from the "hype"
that I experienced from my peers. Sagara Sousuke is a top-ranking officer of the
secret military organization, MITHRIL. Sousuke is appointed to be a bodyguard
of Chidori Kaname, a regular high school girl. Or is she regular at all? Rumor
has it that she is one of the Whisper. To find out more, please watch the series.
This series certainly is not one that bores. It has mechs, explosion, hi-tech
machinery, all the macho-stuff. And then there's the main villain. One thing I
can tell you is that this guy never dies. He gets my vote for the perfect bad
guy. For all you romance heads out there, there's a slight hint of mushy stuff
in this title, but not enough to satisfy my cravings. The
opening theme music has a nice sound to it. The art is nicely drawn, with the
environments' details brought out. However, almost everything good has a bad side.
The ending left me hanging and the character development was done nicely, but
not to its full potential. I wanted to know what Sousuke is all about. I wanted
to see more of Tessa, one of Mithril's commanders. Either way, this series gets
a solid 4 stars. It left me with a good impression. |
| 8. VLeo
In tandem with the recent terrorist events, Full Metal Panic!
revolves around an independent, secret anti-terrorist organization that sets to
right the wrongs in the world. A lot of promise initially
and nothing foreboded the sort of mess it became towards the middle of the series.
It had great music, unique characters and mechs and even a storyline that left
much to the imagination initially. Looking back,
there were far too many irrelevant filler episodes in between and the battle scenes
were boring. My adrenaline must have been at an all time low at those times. The
ending left much to be desired with none of the complexities introduced in the
beginning of the series being broached upon. My
sister and I almost died watching this one. However don't give the music a miss.
|
| 7. 3rdEyeVision
This one had all the things needed for a series to piss me
off. Sagara Sousuke is your basic tight-ass, military nerd. Sadly, he is the main
character of this series, which might have been a factor in where is went wrong
for me. The main character is boring, not much to him other than he is a soldier
that does as he's told. And what he has been told is to protect the life of one
Chidori Kaname. The robots and the two leading ladies were really the only highlight
for me. Another great example of how a giant robot series can go so wrong. The
animation looks great , as all GONZO shows do , but we never really find
out who wants Chidori dead or why( if they did cover that , I missed it) . Rounding
things out , you got Gaul, the bad guy for no reason and some supporting kids
from school and soldiers, but nothing original. I would have liked this so much
better if they just would have put everything out there on the table by the end
of the show. Is that too much to ask people? A show as cookie cutter as this should
not waste me time trying to be deep and mysterious. Just show me the big fight
at the end where Good Guy A destroys Bad Guy B and everyone is happy. I feel this
show deserved an ending like that. It would have made it just another crappy giant
robot series, but at least it would have been in the top of that class. At least
.Hack//SIGN had an original story. I can't really put this into a catagory
other than " LET DOWN " |
| 6. Cross
Scars
Gonzo have certainly been busy over the last couple
of years with the large number of animation series that their studios have been
putting out. Some of these series have been better others but one constant about
Gonzo's works has been the slick style and animation they've used throughout.
As a result it's no surprise that Full Metal Panic is just the
same. The standard animation is vibrant and colourful and added on to this is
Gonzo's obligatory use of 3D animation which all makes the series very
nice to look at. Some of the 2D-3D mixing is done particularly well for an anime
series of this length. While such crisp presentation
has been a mark of all of Gonzo's recent works the content beneath the
graphics has not always matched up to the series appearance and FMP
just happens to be such a series. The plot is one area where the series doesn't
really go as deep as it needs too. The way the series actually runs is quite good
in that there's a succession of shot story arcs throughout which run onto one
another with an episode or two of unrelated filler in between and that's a nice
change from the typical sweeping, epic 26 episodes based plot. The problem comes
in the fact that several things within the plot aren't really explained as you
might expect. The black technology which is so important to the series is really
given next to no explanation as of what it is. The characters are similarly not
really developed or given backgrounds to cement their personalities and you'd
expect that for at least all the main characters. But
these problems are no way near as glaring as in another of Gonzo's works,
such as Hellsing. The two main characters, Sagara and Kaname
are the real focus of the show and without them the series would probably fall
apart. Kaname has a more human and understandable character than the typical anime
pretty girl and Sagara in his unflinching military behaviour is good to watch
simply because he's so persistent in his soldier like action and when they're
together it's even better to watch. It's largely thanks to them that the series
is so watchable despite the fairly obvious flaws that exist within it. Overall
it's a pretty good effort from Gonzo and it's certainly fun to watch
but it could certainly have benefited from another couple of episodes to flesh
out the plot and characters a bit more than what we got to see. |
| 5. cron
The series had promise at the beginning but the lack of a solid
story or plot really disapointed in the end. There were only a few episodes which
dealt with any character development and history of any supporting cast. The cast
is introduced with Sagara, a member of a fanatical military unit called MITHRIL
that has been assigned the task of protecting a suspected "whisper"
named Chidori. Ignore the plot of the "whispers" as it will never will
be developed to any serious potential. The series reminded me of a cross of Love
Hina and Dual without the characters you want to watch
the story play out with. Animation is Gonzo standard with crisp CG animation,
music is lackluster, and again I disliked the story. Highlights, Theresa Testarossa... |
| 4. Fencer
Hayato
When I first heard about this anime from a friend, and from
the title, I was a bit confused, but after the first couple episodes, I was hooked.
The story is about Sergeant Sagara Sousuke and his mission to protect this girl
Chidori. Sagara protects her by being her bodyguard at school, but because he
has horrible social skills (which cause him to say the stupidest/funniest stuff
at times) and stiff attitude, he is hated by Chidori. The story starts off really
good, with a bunch of comedic situations Sagara gets into trying to protect Chidori,
but near the end of the series I was unhappy that the supporting characters just
disappeared. Though all in all, I really enjoyed this show, it has pretty good
animation throughout the series, and the fight scenes are really well done. |
| 3. X-MAN
Best show of 2002! Full Metal Panic left me wanting
more and more. There are a lot of 3-4 parters so it's hard to stop watching. I
viewed it very fast because of that. The opening piece of music is very nice,
as is the closing piece. The voice acting is to my liking. Seki Tomokazu
does an awesome job playing Sagara Sosuke. Excellent animation, good mecha fights.
The story is original and so allows this anime to stand out. The
story follows MITHRIL, a group developed to prevent global terrorism. Mainly a
man named Gauln who is the leader of the terrorist group. Gauln isn't much of
a villain, more of a bad guy without a particular motive. Yet a good asset to
the show. Villains with cool voices and hair are good enough for me. Sagara Sousuke
and his two comrades are assigned to protect Chidori Kaname without even knowing
reason. They have to go to the extreme to protect her. Entering her school, watching
over her house from across the street and even following her where ever she goes.
Coincidence? You'll know what I mean by that when you watch the show. It's very
funny. Basically they have to protect her from Gauln. Not giving to much away
there. This series was raved about a lot. Not that
it's a bad thing. It must be that it's the best mech show to come out in a while
so it's bound to get lots of exposure. Full Metal Panic switches from an
action/mecha to romance quite often. It's serious one minute and not the next.
But it blends very well. I really liked the characters. Sosuke is so dead serious
it's hard not to laugh. Chidori is a hot head so there's great chemistry between
them. More character development would of been nice though I'm satisfied. But
I really enjoyed it and that's all that matters to me. Gonzo did a good
job with this one. Can't wait for ADV to release the DVD's! |
| 2. Prep_Styles
What does MITHRIL, an independent and highly secretive mercenary
group do when an unknown organization targets a beautiful high school student
for proposes of ill intent? Enrol one of their most elite Sergeant as her class
mate and order him to shadow her every move … of course. Take three parts
military drama, two part romantic comedy, add a few drops of fan service and you've
got Full Metal Panic. As promising as the
above formula may seem this is a title that is simply unsure of what it is trying
to be. Unfortunately by combing story elements from very different genes, none
of these elements are completed to satisfaction in this 24 episode series. This
show starts off with nothing but promise, the hygienist is hilarious, supporting
characters are strong, a potential love triangle is established, and for the most
part visually everything looks great. However the conspiracy which is supposed
to be driving all this fun takes a backseat, at least in the beginning. The shows
focus moves awkwardly in attempt to complete the underlining story, and in the
end feels rushed. There is definately a lot here to like, and is worth at least
one viewing. Hopefully this series continues in one form or another as it appears
that much of its story is yet untold. |
| 1. Corkscrew
Full Metal Panic! is a 24-episode show that is a mix
of a few different genres. Produced by Gonzo, who have also brought you
Vandread and Gatekeepers, this show is similar to those in many
ways; action, comedy, flashy animation and liberal use of CG... all are present
here. This series focuses on the independent mercenary group, MITHRIL, a force
dedicated to fighting global terrorism. From this group, Sergeant Sagara Sousuke
and two of his fellow soldiers are assigned to protect a Japanese girl, Chidori
Kaname, although they are not given a reason why. In order to do this, Sagara
is required to enter the school she attends as a student; however, Sagara is the
pinnacle of military order and discipline, which is to say he is completely unused
to dealing with civilians. Hilarity ensues. As the series goes on, we find more
out about the reasons for protecting Chidori, and the man that eventually comes
after her, Gaulin. Full Metal Panic! is a
somewhat uneven show at times. It moves between a comedy show and a military action/drama,
sometimes awkwardly. There are moments when the animation quality drops for an
episode, and the show does have a few points where it seems to retread tired ground.
However, it's high points more than make up for this, with beautifully animated
battles and a villain that you'll love to hate. The show wraps up at breakneck
speed, with frequents battles and treachery. The very end does feel a bit incomplete,
perhaps suggesting a short OVA or even a second season to follow, but if this
doesn't come to pass, Full Metal Panic! can stand on its own merits as
a good series. |
| 
 |
(3.5)