Full Metal Panic!

Full Metal Panic is a series that tries to please two kinds of viewer, and as a result, succeeds at neither.

The problem with it, in general, is that Full Metal Panic is both a serious militaristic action series and a high school comedy at the same time. Now, I've seen quite a few things over my years that should not go together, but do anyway. This, however, is not one of them. The two of them are essentially a massive clash, rather than a well-mixed combination.

The premise of Full Metal Panic is this: Kaname Chidori is one of the "Whispered", a group of people who ... have the power to generate information... or something along those lines. The details are kept vague, for the most part. As a result, terrorist organisations are after her, leading the military superpower Mithril, belonging to no particular government, to send Sosuke Sagara, our main character, into her school disguised as a student to watch over her. Hijinks ensue.

The high school comedy side of the series is lacking, to say the least. It's mostly the standard material you would expect to see in that kind of series, mainly humour based around comedic misunderstandings, very little of which is really funny at all. Played for laughs most of the time is Sosuke's complete maladjustment to normal society, which is usually more cringeworthy than it is entertaining.

The military half of the series is considerably more interesting, and are very true to a military style of series, and certainly fit the scene, whatever it may be. They use the perfect blend of dialogue, action, drama and realism to keep those episodes afloat. One of the things I like more about the series is the antagonist Gauron. The pure nihilism of his actions is always entertaining, if questionable. While the questionableness of his actions is, in one way, a good thing, what I refer more to is that you really have to wonder why in the hell he's doing them. One does not simply kidnap, murder, maime, hijack and possibly rape just for the fuck of it, and his reason for doing so isn't given passing mention in the series. The sequel, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid clears a bit more on the subject, though it is still annoying to watch the first season without his motives brought into question.

A big problem with the series is the pacing. As one might expect, the constant switching every other episode from wacky comedy to serious action doesn't really work very well. Interesting parts of the story are kept few and far between, and a large number of the episodes in the show are thoroughly pointless.

Finally, my biggest complaint is the characters. Sosuke Sagara, as of the first season, is a character some enjoyed and others hated, and I have to say that I'm in the second boat with this. His actions, as said before, are generally quite cringeworthy for the comedy side of things, and in the more serious parts of the series he is as much as you would expect of the perfect soldier: a complete tool devoid of personality. Thankfully, the series that follow the first fix these problems and then some, but in the first season he can be really painful to watch. The supporting cast is also horribly one-dimensional. Kaname Chidori is the tsundere, Kurz Weber is the handsome lecher, Melissa Mao is the action chick, and Teletha "Tessa" Testerosa is the moe-girl. While Gauron is an excellent antagonist, he really doesn't outweigh the bad cast on show here.

In technical terms, Full Metal Panic isn't terrible, but not particularly great. The animation is OK, but there's a lot of CG scattered around the place. The music is unremarkable, and the voice acting isn't particularly great in either language. I wouldn't particularly recommend either track over the other. I'd say this kind of show works better in dub (the military side of it, anyway), so that would probably be a good choice, but if you generally prefer subs then you really aren't missing anything.

Overall, despite being pretty clearly flawed, it's hard to call Full Metal Panic outright bad. It's watchable on its own, in particular with the help of Gauron, and the series that followed (Fummofu and The Second Raid) are more than excellent enough to make this season worth watching just for the sake of watching those.

Final Words:
By no means a bad series, but very hit-and-miss. Worth watching if only to see the sequels.

Animation/Graphics: 5/10
Story/Plot: 5/10
Music/Background: 5/10
English Dub: 5/10

Overall: 5/10

I'm strongly of the opinion that Full Metal Panic is a wasted opportunity. It takes an interesting universe and an interesting political situation which would later be modified and evoked by Gundam 00, and then doesn't quite know if it wants to be a real robot show, a super robot show or a high-school comedy.

My main problem with the mech combat is the "gimmick" of the main units - the Lambda Driver. Essentially it's a thing which makes the impossible possible, acting variously as a force field, an energy weapon, a TRANS-AM style turbo boost and more. It doesn't work too well in my opinion. ... Take it out and you've got the potential for exciting mecha fights ala Front Mission or Armored Core, which is an angle not really explored. Leave it in and fights tend to devolve into shouting, clashing barriers and stalemates.

The main villain for much of the show is an easily hated psycho in the vein of Yazan Gable, Ali Al-Sarshes etc, (female equivalents of course being Anemone, Cynthia Lane and Marida Cruz) with the added bonus of him being smug as hell and very powerful. The parts where he's scheming and fighting are generally very good, although as mentioned before the Lambda Driver makes the fights a little predictable by removing any chance of it being a fair fight.

However, for a roughly equal amount of the show FMP is a romantic comedy about a socially inept boy and a tsundere schoolgirl in the vein of Asuka Langley Soryu. It's not as funny as it thinks it is (it takes the second series, Fumoffu!, to really make the comedy work by removing the mecha parts) and it sometimes seems interminable, relying on a couple of jokes that don't really go anywhere.

If you really like high school comedy, you'll probably like these parts. I found they went on a bit long and ultimately weren't as funny as they could have been - and when the comedy mixes with the serious plot it simply leads to characters acting in completely ridiculous ways that sometimes make horror movie victims seem smart.

What does make FMP enjoyable are the side characters on the mecha half of the show. Tessa and the submarine crew, as well as Sousuke's wingmen, are consistently awesome. There's a good character dynamic set up and I found myself looking forward to their screentime more than the main plot until the very final arc, in which all hell breaks loose.

I think if FMP better balanced the Kindergarten Cop-esque high school parts with the mecha fights, and got rid of the Lambda Driver's ludicrous capabilities in order to make fights more interesting, it would be a good show. However, for me, the slightly dodgy pacing caused by the inability to smoothly mix the two genres and the at times uninteresting mech combat make it only an above average show.

Full Metal Panic! is the light-hearted story of a military teen with aspergers syndrome who teams up with a high school girl with ADHD and hilarity ensues.

At least that would be the story if there were no robots in it.

This anime fits the bill of being your typical high-school-romantic-comedy with the only major difference being that it's also a mecha anime. The story mostly revolves around the two characters Sousuke Sagara and Kaname Chidori.

Sousuke I-got-a-stick-up-my-ass Sagara is a mercenary working for the top secret military organization MITHRIL who has been assigned to protect Kaname from a host of terrorists and governments who want to ... kidnap her. Part of what makes the comedy in this story is the fact that as a hardened military veteran at the age of seventeen Sousuke's understandably unable to cope with civilian life in a High School setting. Though when it comes to social etiquette and cues he seems so dense that light appears to bend around him. Not only that, but his military discipline seems to make him so uptight he'd shit diamonds if you fed him enough coal for a week. The writers on this series tend to overplay these two aspects of the character way too much unintentionally making him the most socially retarded protagonist since Shinji Ikari.

Kaname I-just-did-a-line-of-coke Chidori is the ala cart Tsundere girl in the series. So high-maintenance that she crosses into total-bitch territory a few times, her job is to adjust Sousuke to the peaceful life of Japan while making sure both of them don't get killed in the process. She is selfish, vain and very self-conscience. So, basically your typical high-school girl. Her manic behavior would be a major turn off if it weren't for the fact that she is also extremely good looking. Like Sousuke, the novelty of her character runs out of steam quickly and almost makes you wish Sousuke would just throw her to the wolves so as not to deal with her incessant harping.

Though I do give this anime a lot of shit I will concede the fact that the concept is pretty decent as well as the terrorist sub-plots throughout. I'll also mention that I do in fact like the manga which is what got me to watch the anime in the first place. However, Sousuke and Kaname, two of the major pillars that make Full Metal Panic! an action-comedy both fail to deliver on the comedy part (no thanks to the writers). The jokes eventually become self-referential and go from being the selling point to the crutch of the show, much like a dog gnawing on it's own leg to get out of a bear trap.

I give this one a five out of ten if only for trying to combine mecha, romance and high school comedy into one show, despite in my opinion failing at doing both and unfortunately creating a total mediocrity as a result. This also is because it falls into the category among anime fans of either being totally awesome or a bag of shit. Truth be told it's somewhere in the middle. Love may bloom on the battle field with this one, but watch out: it's a flower that comes with thorns.

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 have ... a 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 normal ... reaction 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 will be a quick overview on this show. So ill give my general statements on it. A more detailed one may appear at some point in the future. I wont give a synopsis cause there's already one provided. Spoilers ahead so be warned. With that out of the way, grab a seat. let's have a chat.

*Infinite Ryvius OST- nowhere plays*

Full metal panic tries its best to mix an overarching militaristic plot with SOL comedy antics. However the later is a lot more poorly handled than the former. I will say this, it can potentially be a way for us to delve in the ... dysfunctional psychosis of our protag and also have him endear us to those around him, but not only are the jokes generally unfunny(only about two ever are) and are too big and overplayed to the point where it somewhat undermines his plight and also the lengths where this show wants you to take it seriously when it decides to not be grounded by reality. One minute its metal gear solid, the next Ranman 1/2. Couple that with the school cast being generally simplistic and cliche compared to the guys over at the Tuathe de Dana and you have a show that mostly has somewhat of an identity crisis. Which is especially disheartening seeing as how this is the shows MAIN SELLING POINT. It would be better if that stuff was a bit more downplayed, the jokes were more clever/subtle, and if it was coupled with clever dialogue to helps us get endeared to the characters in Sosuke's school life and how they impact his character, *inhale* but we got what we got. We'll come back to this later.

Now with the SOL aspects out of the way, how does the plot stuff stack up? Pretty alright. Most of the "arcs" in the show have to do with the MC dealing with terrorists threats and keeping bitch queen Chidori safe almost episodically over the course of a few or more episodes each and they are pretty tense and high energy. They pretty much are the best parts of the show. In fact the third arc of the show is the one that gives us a good understanding of Sosukes identity and why he is the way he is better than the comedic shit does and puts him through certain struggles that make him develop as the show goes on. However the one flaw i see is that a couple of them are mostly rather pointless in terms of how they develop the characters creating somewhat of a pasing issue. But these are at least somewhat effective and largely inoffensive.

*Gun X Sword OP*

I am a simple man who loves his mech battles. While many of the fights in the show are mostly passable, i wouldnt lie to you if i say id rather see gundam F91 for its action than this(as much as i hate that movie). The animation is fine, but not detailed enough to give you the sense of battle most of the time and can be quite janky in certain places, making it seem like some corners were cut in the production value in the mech fights. Especially in times when the MC and villain uses the Lambda driver, showing mostly unmemorable particle effects. They dont really get better until the half way point, where startegy, use of environment and militaristic tactics are used. Not to mention generally better fight choreography. The designs of the characters and mechs arent bad though(my fave being the main mech Arbelest).

Now we move to the characters and since i've already stated how the school side characters are practical pointless, uncharismatic and add nothing to our main duo, we'll move on to the guys that matter.

*Big O OST- Sure promise plays*

Sosuke Sagara is a boy who spent most of his life as a mercenary and knows practically nothing of domestic life, which causes him to have sporadic instances where he mistakes something normal for a time where he needs to "YOOOOOOO JOE!". This is the fundamental driving force for all his SOL antics, which i remind you is the least good part in the show for the reasons i stated above. I understand that those moments are design to showcase this aspect of his character and maybe have him go through a mid life crisis deal where he questions his own purpose and existence in life and if he can even be his own person let alone a force for good(a la Guts from berserk) and to be further enveloped by the new life he has made and the non combat experiences to creating a sort inner struggle within him. However his plight gets played too much for comedic effect and escalated a tad too much for us to take it seriously and since those moments barely advance his character at all, those moments are rendered pointless. When the show takes him out of the role of a highschool student, he might not become the most complex protag, but he's a lot more competent seeing as how he is in his element. Of course the fact that you become so comfortable within that state kinda goes against the general purpose of taking him out his comfort zone. And like i said, things do get revealed about in the later part of the show, which gives us an opportunity to show us whats in this G.I.jokes head. But the way he develops overall is mostly subpar and sporadic. He still has some moments that are pretty endearing despite how much of a socially inept straight faced hick he is. Just wished that showed off more often.
Now he does have a super special awesome mech (cause why wouldnt he) which has a hidden system that when activated can produce energy powered by Sosuke's will, and if your're wondering yes this does deus ex save his ass a couple times in the show. Of course Sosuke himself has a sort of love hate relationship with the machine that only works when it wants to. Kinda hard for someone as stiff as he is to rely on a machine that almost unscientifically powers you with your inner mojo, so he doesnt use it other than his important battles. He aint OP like Kira Yamato or nothing but it does make fights lack tension seeing as how all Sosuke needs to do is awaken his chakra G Gundam style and use shining finger. Overall Sosuke is an alright protag.

*Undertale OST Dummy Gooseworx cover*

Kaname Chidori ladies and gentleman. She's the main female lead of the show. A popular above average high school chick. She's the target for the terorists who want the secrets of super technology and psychic prowess in her head; as well as the target of my discomfort. She's basically every bratty teenage tsundere you can find in anime. Now admittedly i will say that her attitude towards our local MC is somewhat justified seeing as he somewhat is responsible for all the dumb shit happening around her and generally flipping her whole life upside down despite his aims to protect her from harm. This would be fine if the jokes were funny and... well you know the drill. So it kinda makes her come off as irritable at times. I get its only natural for her to be this way in this case but there are times in the show where its too overplayed and she makes outright dumb decisions where it does not justify her being a petulant cunt. She does use her hidden mcguffin powers to help the heroes and she does get a chance to understand sosuke better later on, including one charming scene in the last episode. Other than that, general personality isnt all that endearing and neither is her interactions/relationship with Sosuke. So yeah, this chick who looks like the descendent of Marth from Fire emblem is unlikable. Dabu Dee dabu die, bitch.

*Nadesico OP*

On to the characters who are a part of Mithral. Tessa is a pretty good supporting character. She's clumsy but still very charming. Despite her young age and demeanor she is a very effective captain of her group and made pretty sound decisions throughout the show(if you can ignore the probability of it). Other than that one pissing contest she had with another female character Mao in one episode, but it was mostly to have her understand the hardships and struggles her subordinates go through when they enter battle. She also has a crush on Sosuke (oooooh love triangle. Drama~) for actually understandable reasons. Given how somewhat of an awkward person she is and her environment and the fact that Sosuke is the only other person her age around, it would make sense for her to gravitate towards his military charm. She admires him for his strength and resilience which contrasts her own doubts about herself as well as the respect her crew gives her. And she doesnt come off as someone who exists soully for his sawed off shotgun, if you catch my drift. Plus she's a mcguffin like chidori so she's helpful in that area too. Which probably explains why she wouldnt have chidori put in a safe house somewhere under surveillance to keep her safe from the terrorists after her, cause she sympathizes with her plight to be a normal girl. Of course maybe sending Sosuke to protect her wasnt the best move. But overall she is a fun and effective character.

Others like Kurtz and Mao are fine. Mao is the no nonsense valkyrie bitch who has some okay dialogue and Kurtz is the charming pervert with very little actual charm. They both act as sort of besties to Sosuke in his soldier life and are very useful throughout the show. They've done little to damage their characters, but not too much sticks out. they do have some funny moments though despite not really changing throughout this season of the series.

*New Getter Robo OST- Deep Red*

The main big bad is Garam and he is a pretty entertaining villain to a point. He is a constant threat throughout the show, rival and nemesis of Sosuke, and has some pretty endearing dialogue that lets him shine. He's kinda like Kenpachi Zaraki from Bleach but evil and in a mech. Also he acts as a parallel to Sosuke's identity, him being mad and battle hungry and Sosuke trying his best to appear as less of a savage like him despite his upbringing. Although the one thing i have an issue with him is that he always has a severe case of the not deads throughout the show and it only took the last ep for the heroes to finally "kill" him. The unstoppable killing machine angle can work but its too overdone here. Seeing the same guy die over and over mostly cause of the Lambda driver thing protecting him is kinda tiring to see. If he had only appeared in two arcs in the story preferable the first and last , he wouldve been much better handled and his final fall would have more impact. But he is entertaining and formidable villain throughout the show overall.

So overall Full metal Panic season 1 is an alright semi-real mecha show that is kinda bogged down by its main gimmick that being its SOL aspects and occasional fanservice. If the show managed to integrate both of these aspects seamlessly it wouldve improve a lot and there wouldnt be near constant tonal whiplash. But the action is okay, plot inoffensive, and has a few likable characters. So I'd recommend it.

If you liked this review, ill be making one for Second Raid soon. Its been cool. Kaiser Shounen, LAUNCH!

*Mazinkaiser OP*

Another review brought to you once again by that drunkard Dion bloke.Warning to all that my reviews are full of mature language and some other shit.

So FMP! what has it brought to our little world of moe and cute and huge eyes with glitter in them?Well it brought chaos and death and blood pooring from the screen and.....What?Wait a minute?Did i get this wrong?School?Romcom?What the fucking hell?What is this?Mr Jimmy and Dr Jim?

I should point out that i'm not in any way unfit to write a review it's the anime itself that is bipolar.One min it's a romcom another min it's an all guns blazing ... military mecha punch in the fez.

How's this for a story?A top secret top of the pops unit has been assigned the protection of a high school girl(my my what a surprise)who yada yada doodly has info in her head that is top secret and terrorists want them and so the 3 of the best guardians of the galaxy venture to protect the blue haired hottie.Sagara,Kurtz and Melissa are the chosen ones.They're the best,the deadliest the most fearsome team.And not only that,they can also handle the so called "arm slaves" mechs.So you expect at this point to hear me saying that all hell breaks loose right?Nope...They send Sagara the military nut,as we're kept reminded through the series,to fuckin school so he can be close to Chidori,his protectee.This was supposed to be funny cause Sag has no concept of real life much less school life.But take it from me this ends up just like any other ecchi harem anime you've ever seen.Everyone "hates" Sagman but also loves him big time..That's women for ya right there:"I want him,no i don't,maybe i do i don't know leave me alone i need time to think"...This also holds true for our little Tsundereness Chi.

After some seriously bad attempts at comedy we stumble upon the strangest transition known to man.They thought:"We have this military nut,we have mechs...Why don't we use them?".....And in an instant the anime becomes an Arnie Schwarzenegger-esque one.Where bullets fly like there's no tomorrow and shit explodes and blood poors from your hard drive.Or that's is exactly what they wanted you to think..The thinking behind the scenes was well thought of,the planning,the execution all that stuff was good...But the on screen result was a bit lifeless.It didn't grab me by the balls and make me stand up and sing songs of praise.I can summarize it like this..They wanted to please 2 audiences and in the process failed at both.Comedy was cheap,action was mostly an afterthought and the switch between the 2 was as unnatural and disgusting as seeing Weinstein jerking off!

The indecisiveness between action and comedy ultimately is the main issue with FMP!.It feels like two separate shows with a weak connection between the two.Had it focused on Sousuke and Mithril and kept to being a mecha military anime,that would be fine.Or if it instead concentrated on Sousuke's inept attempts to adapt to a normal high school,that too would have been fine.But given the separated layers of mecha action and high school comedy,the result is a half great parfait.

Animation was for the most part good.Nothing outstanding but still pleasing to the eye.The characters were nicely done as were the mecha and the military stuff like choppers and jeeps and shit.As for the movements they were jiddery at best,especially when it counted the most.In the fight scenes.There were some details that were absolutely sweet,make no mistake,but the actual scenes themselves were not quite as good as i expected.As for the use of CG,it isn't as bad as most people say they are.They are comparable or even better than modern ones.Or at least they feel like so,maybe the dark tone of the anime helped a bit there.

Soundwise nothing stood out i'm afraid.The songs used were not fit for the tone of FMP!.In any other anime they would be fine but that was like using kids music in a porn film.VA was subpar.It could have been tons better,but like the anime itself it was medium.

Onto the chars.Most of them are there just to fill the space.No apparent reason why the exist and when taken off screen you don't really miss them or even remember who they were.That's 70% or so of the cast rendered useless and one trick ponys.As for the main cast..Sagara is a man on a mission,an emotionless robot.Granted it is fixed later on but it wasn't anything to celebrate either cause the way it's done is stupid beyond belief.I mean this is a merc who has killed countless people from the sweet age of 8,he has witnessed the death of many loved ones.But that doesn't show in his attitude.It only shows later on in the series where some people in his team die.So we're led to believe that all of a sudden he went from I-Robot to Ms Robinson by the deaths of people he met some days ago?

Then is her Tsudereness Chidori.who somehow falls for the robot and wants all the attention to herself.What do you mean you're off fighting terrorists who want to kill thousands of people?I want some Sagman candy and i want it now...Oh what?You are sad people died?I WANT MY ATTENTION!Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch Bitch like someone famous said once.As for other aspects of her personality..She also switches from missshelteredtoLaraCroft in an instant.Must be the drugs she took.

Kurtz is the womanizer of the series.That's it..Melissa as i can recall smokes more than a VW and drinks like a fish and has a hot body.

Then there's the Cap...Tessa...This was the one character that didn't contribute almost anything trivial to the story.And she was the fuckin captain..I had to wait until the very last eps to see some signs of life or personality from this one,to see as to why she has the title of genius.She also has a crush on Sagman for no apparent reason other than we needed a love triangle.

So a failure at romcom,a failure at action and in between some very very good moments.But i can't stand here and say it's all bad.I really enjoyed it,i don't know why and i can't explain it but the damn thing is good.The eps really flew by and it didn't feel like it overstayed it's welcome even though it was 24 eps long.Sure there are better animes out there that can deliver much much more but still i do recommend watching it.

Also i'm really sorry if this review was a mess but the whole anime is a mess of idon'tknowwhatiwanttodoorbe.This is the best i could do with the things presented to me.But watch it for yerselves,draw your own conclusions.

I really enjoyed the start of this series, but as I got further into it the shine wore off. I thought they tried to incorporate too many elements (mecha/military, magical girl, high school comedy) and didn't pull any of them off especially well. Things were brought up early in the series only to be completely forgotten about until near the end. I also thought that the series could have been half as long and would have benefitted from the faster pacing.

-- WARNING THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILER --

I was scrolling through 9gag and I find a funny anime GIF. Though I don't know what anime it is, a captain appears and kind enough to tell me the title is. Full Metal Panic, I was hoping this anime to be a comedic series it is not. It was like 10% comedy, 80% mecha fights, and 10% nonsense. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating this series but I'll try make this review as objective as possible.

[Story] 6/10
Story is not the strongest point in this series. I got tired watching the main characters fighting the same enemy ... the entire time. And yes, the bad guy -Gauron- is the only antagonist in this series. This smiling bastard -Gauron- always crawl back from the River of Styx and the protagonist -Sagara Sousuke- is kind enough not to confirming his kill. Gauron's evil deeds knows no end, I just wondering how a human can be so evil. I thought he was a businessman but he was doing nothing but evil. And the main characters don't even realize that they had been playing on Gauron's palm the whole time.

[Art and Animation] 7/10
Don't expect too much, it's a 2002 anime don't compare it with the latest anime (believe it or not lots of people doing this). But I've seen better quality animation for an early 2000 anime, Full Metal Panic is just average.

[Music] 7/10
I like the music and the music videos are so classic, love that!

[Characters] 5/10
The characters are too shallow! They don't develop the characters much in this entire series. In my opinion they added too many fighting scenes (and the fighting scenes is not great either). The main protagonist, Sagara, is a skilled Arm Slave pilot and a military-freak. He's really straighforward and easily misunderstood. Lacks common sense always appears expressionless that somewhat makes him funny. Sagara mostly associated with Chidori Kaname, a short-tempered girl that can't deal with Sagara's stunts. Nothing else make her special, just average character with a special power to make the plot going. Though she can still crying and pouting nonsense in a critical situations while the others are risking their lives to fight Gauron and saving her sorry ass. And the other main character is Testarossa "Tessa" Teletha. She's a 16 years old genius and the Captain of the fleet. Tessa is kind enough to cry over her subordinate (underling) death. But she can't deal with Mao Mellissa very well. She always playing with her hair while thinking. This one simple thing makes her characters stands out from the rest, the other characters don't have this unique feature as Tessa. As for Gauron he's simply too evil, I won't be surprised if his middle name was "Evil". The other extra characters such as classmates disappear after the first half of the series. The marines are incompetent, they can't even shoot a gun from a mere 10 meters distance. And last but not least is Kalinin Andrei Sergeivich a Lieutenant Commander of the fleet. I know from a glint of his eyes that he's a true veteran of war. Unfortunately he didn't get much screen time in this series.

[Enjoyment] 6/10
I really enjoys the story about the characters especially when Tessa appears. But the action is kinda boring and repetitious and the fighting animation is not that great. The main plot is not really enjoyable, I just wondering when will Gauron die the entire time.

[Conclusion]
If you're looking for a retro action military anime then Full Metal Panic maybe perfect for you. But if you're not, give FMP a try it's worth to watch :)

WARNING BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS IS THE OPINION OF ONE INDIVIDUAL. WHETHER GOOD OR BAD YOU SHOULD NOT LET IT DETERMINE YOUR FEELINGS OF THE ANIME. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE ON THIS SITE I WILL NOT WRITE A GOOD REVIEW JUST BECAUSE IT IS ANIME. THE ANIME HAS TO BE GOOD IN MY OPINION.

Full Metal Panic! With this weak, cliche story line... you should panic. Full Metal Panic is an anime that came out in 2002 as a military, school life comedy. It is rated PG-13 for some references to sexual content, a little adult language, and ... violent scenes.

For starters, I watched this as a dub. I am the type of person who will watch the anime as a dub first if it's available. If the dub is not good I will stop watching the dub and continue in sub. The fact I did not stop watching in dub is because the dub voice acting was actually good. The female lead voice Chidori Kaname was voiced by Luci Christian and like all of her works she made the emotions of the character shine. The male lead voice Sousuke Sagara was voiced by Chris Patton and his serious, professional voice is what saves the anime from being a totally flop.

The story line for the anime follows soldier Sousuke Sagara as he and two others are assigned the task of guarding another "Whispered" Chidori Kaname. In the anime the whisper knows stuff that enemy armies want so they are in danger. I felt the plot was played out and not original. I have watched so many animes about a guy guarding a girl with mystical powers that quite frankly it is getting old. You must keep in mind that this is a trend of anime, so it's not a big surprise. It's successful usually, so it's okay. To make the plot even more unoriginal is how they try to throw comedy in the mix. They make Sagara a military nut that does outrageous things in Kaname's school. It acts as a double sword making the anime unique, but at the same time corny.

The characters are not original either. The male lead is another serious type, the only thing that is original about it is that he is too serious. The female lead comes off as a dismal in distress, but is another loud, abusive female lead. Other characters include Weber, Kurz (Vic Mignogna) classic perverted male, Testarossa, Teletha(Hilary Haag) classic quiet person who creates the love triangle for Sagara.

Nothing pops about the art style. It makes you feel as if the mangaka was playing it safe by not being different. Overall this anime can be amusing if you are a person who likes school comedy and military antics. If you are looking for something original this is not the anime for you. If you are looking for something that will keep you being bored, anime for you. This anime keeps you tuned in, but in the end feeling empty instead of begging for more.

It was a mediocre anime, while the first arc was quite good and succeed in having a blend of comedy and action, what came next was either boring, confusing and at times just frustrating.

To begin with, what the anime does well, the characters while being quite generic, are likable and have some good interaction, the main duo (Chidori and Sousuke) works really well both in the comedy and more serious scene. The world introduces is interesting and believable (at least at the beginning) and the comedy is quite good but that subjective.

The problems begin to appear in the second arc (from ep9), mainly because everything ... is really confusing:
- we know nothing of the enemy but some character are for strange reason connect to them
- the terrorist goal makes no sense
- for some reason the commander is left without any protection
- ...
But while that arc is confusing it's far from being as annoying as that pile of shit that is the third arc.

First, the enemy of the arc is again Goron. Second, what should have been an elite team from mithril is a group of morons unable to listen to the info they are given or the man added to their team because he is a specialist.
They have tactics on par with a shonen protagonist (attack from the front, without cover and without knowing where their target is), and to add to their stupidity they know of the borderline magic lambda drive and that the enemy as one but don't act accordingly.
Unfortunately, Sousuke isn't better, and never uses the lambda drive outside of the final battle when it would have been very useful against his former friend. And obviously, he never confirms the kill, so that the final arc villain can be Goron.

I will be short for the fourth arc because: it's like the third but a little less retard, and with some development on the plot.

Overall it was mediocre with a good start and a really bad third and fourth arc, in fact, the filler episodes, more focus on comedy and characters were way better than the regular episode in the second half of the series.
To conclude the author should have stick to comedy where he is quite good, which is confirmed by Full metal panic fumaffu being way better.

Originally watched this show because I heard Full Metal Panic: Second Raid! was very good, and I wanted some fully fleshed out characters. I don't regret watching it, but it's very much a mediocre show.

[b]Story[/b]

The story framework follows seventeen year old, Sousuke Sagara, and "Whispered" candidate Kaname Chidori. "Whispered" candidacy is essentially a MacGuffin-- an excuse for Sousuke and Kaname to hang out, while later it'll be used to explain/elaborate on the "deus ex machina" of the series: the lambda driver. For some reason (it's never really explained), only certain people can use the lambda driver. Sousuke is one of them. The main ... villain is the other.

I'm not really sure what else to say here. There really isn't much of a cohesive plot. It seems that random missions, or "fate", just happen to bring Sousuke, Chidori, and the villain together. At first, the Villian is after Chidori. Then he's just smuggling cargo. Then he has some sort of suicidal, "let the world burn" motivation. It's hard to really understand the underlying conflict in this series. He also only appears within three main parts of the series, while the rest is essentially filler, or poor exposition.

My main critique of this show is that we never fully understand anyone's motivations, or how anything works. Who does the villain work for throughout the series? Are they different people/groups? Where is he getting all his influence/money? What's his motivation? What's his relationship with Sousuke (this is supposed to be a key factor between their struggle).

Who is Sousuke? We learn a little of his past, but not much. We get that he's very dutiful and stiff, but why? His struggle is almost more clear at the beginning of the series than the end.

Why do Chidori/Tessa like Sousuke? Can it all really be summed up to, "There's just something about him"?

Who is Kalinin? What's his relationship with Sousuke? They never flesh this relationship out.

These relationships are written as if they drive the plot, but they are never fleshed out, and we never fully understand them. It's all very flat.

5/10

[b]Art[/b]

The art's fairly good. It's a bit inconsistent. Sometimes an action scene/character interaction is extremely fluid and dazzling. At other times, it's blurry, vague and simple. Overall, it's OK.

7/10

[B]Sound[/b]

I actually like the music of the series. Nothing amazing, but the light themes were light and quirky, and the action music was thrilling but not distracting.

8/10

[b] Character [/b]

As I said before, the characters are written as if they're the ones driving the plot, but we never really get to know any of them. Chidori is just the popular girl at school. Sousuke is just a life-long, dutiful soldier. Kalinin is the father figure. Mao is a spunky female soldier. Weber is a laid-back foil to Sousuke. And other than his relation to Sousuke, we never learn anything about Zaied, who was supposed to have such a profound influence on our main protagonist.

The only character I really liked was Tessa, the captain of the submarine that Sousuke is stationed on. She's a soldier, so she is just as dutiful as Sousuke. She's also quite talented, for semi-secret reasons. But there are many episodes that brush over her worries, sense of humor, jealousy and compassion. If only all the other characters were as well layered as she is.

5/10

[B] Enjoyment [/b]

The characters are pretty much flat tropes, but they're still fun. For the most part, the filler episodes are silly, and the humor is actually pretty good. There's lots of fan-service, but I enjoyed it's tongue-in-cheek nature (mostly). It almost seemed as if the filler episodes were really at the heart of the show instead of the main conflict, which felt like an excuse to keep airing.

6/10

[b] Overall [/b]

All in all, the characters are flat but enjoyable. No deep, rich themes. No complex, interesting characters or relationships. But the humor is good and the story/characters are simple. If you want to something easy to digest, this anime would be the perfect amount of simple, yet suspenseful.

6/10

Story: 6

The Story is very simple. There is this girl Chidori who is a special kind of breed. She possesses knowledge about some crazy technology and she herself isn't even aware of it. And the baddies are after her. This military organization sends souske sagara to protect her. There is where the Comedy comes in. i really liked this idea. it's a mixture of Mecha action and comedy. But its more serious than funny. even though i found the concept quiet unique, the story overall was mediocre

Characters: 7

We get a large cast of characters. We have the 2 MC's Kaname and Souske.
seeing souske ... being placed in normal day life was quiet humorious. with kaname we have a pretty strong female lead. Than there are the military crew mates and the captain tessa. what i found stupid was, why did they put a 16 years old girl as captain. i don't get it. Then there is the villain. he was charismatoc and enjoyable to watch. What is also a plus is that our MC's get chaaracter development.

Art: 7

FMP! came out in 2002 and for this the art is pretty good. there was some CGI used and it was okay. The mechafights animation was also not that bad. Thwre was never a moment where the animation got crazy good.everything was kept low.

Sound: 5

The OST was pretty forgetable OP and ED are mediocre.

Enjoyment: 7

At first i was at first skeptical but the more i wachted the more i got invested in it. it had mediocre mecha fights. it was more serious than funny and the main cast and the villain were good.

Overall: 6/10

After being torn over season two of Sword Art Online I was hoping to watch something I could clearly review as either bad or good, something simple to talk about. Full Metal Panic! came up as a recommendation and I figured I’d really enjoy it, especially given how funny the first couple of episodes were. But as it progressed it got a little muddied as it was balancing two genres and couldn’t find a focus. This review is going to give my first impressions of this show as a whole but I do want the reader to know that it’s a show I want to ... watch again in the future now that I know that the initial impression it gives isn’t what you’re going to get.

Sousuke Sagara works for a mercenary group known as Mithril who operate out of a giant submarine and have made it their task to save people with a certain ability. These people, called the Whispered, have minds chock full of tech terminology and can also pilot and operate equipment with a certain driver installed.

This takes us to Kaname Chidori, a regular Japanese high school girl until Sagara shows up. She slowly learns of him and his pals being part of this military group as a bad guy comes after her hoping to unlock the secrets in her mind.

The series starts in a very comedic way, offering us a unique situation with Sagara. He’s a military guy who cannot adapt to civilian life in the least. Becoming a high school student in order to protect Chidori, he gets into all kinds of really funny situations from bringing a gun to school to saving Chidori by holding up a guy on her balcony who just wanted to steal her panties. The high school setting and Chidori’s tsundere character are all familiar but Sagara is that outstanding character that shines as a comedic entity. So I felt that the series was going to follow through as a comedy with a small amount of military action here and there.

Around episode four or five the class goes on a trip that leads to the plane being hijacked and Sagara having to save Chidori from the bad guys. This is where the show slows considerably. First of all the action for much of the show is weak and boils down to very shonen-esque. These sequences take far too long and the one or two episode comedy tease between these military-centered episodes are so out of place, yet the best part. Where Full Metal Panic! shines is the unique comedy. The dynamics of Chidori and Sagara work well to set up a romance, the situation works well to create the funny. But the show is so indecisive on what it wants to be that these glimmers of genius are shadowed by the mediocrity.

The bad guy Gauron is…well, a bad guy. He wants the Whispered because…well, they’re there. The reasoning behind Gauron being there is pretty shaky. We’re given a small glimpse of why he wants the girls but he’s otherwise there to be the antagonist. It’s one of the biggest problems with the show and especially considering FMP focuses more on the action than the comedy. If I were to be invested in the action, I’d want to be invested in seeing the bad guy get his come-uppance, right? But with Gauron, I could care less.

There are four big action arcs in this show, one of which is boring as hell, two of which are eh, and the other is kind of neat. The first two arcs of the show are the eh ones. Much like the bad guy, they’re just there. The third arc, which takes Sagara to his home country, is the weakest one. I was so bored I actually fast forwarded through it. The final action arc is overlong but has some unique action.

Did I mention the giant robots? This is one of those shows where I feel like the robots don’t need to exist. Don’t get me wrong, giant robots are always tactically stupid and make little sense in a real world situation, but watching these robots pull puny knives as weapons and start having CQC fights was pretty hilarious.

Let’s add to those complaints with a few more concerning the characters. Sagara as a lead is hilariously clueless and entertaining in the school setting. In the military setting he’s rather boring; just another cold, calculating military kid like Lelouche from Code Geass. And the accompanying characters are truthfully no better.

Chidori is a tsundere. Pretty cut and paste overall. In situations where she’s opposite Sagara, she can be cute and funny but on her own she’s hopelessly two-dimensional. As I keep saying, if this were a romantic-comedy these two would be perfectly acceptable characters and fun to watch play off each other. But on their own they’re pretty dull.

Tessa is worth a mention. She’s the sixteen year old captain of the submarine Mithril operates out of. She’s well-respected by the crew who also seems to see her as fap bait as much as the writers did. A strong female lead she isn’t. An adorable moeblob who acts strong only when the situation calls for it then cries into the arms of Sagara (who she loves, opening a pointless love triangle) when things get tough, she is. Tessa is a girl I only wish had been given a lot better treatment because there are moments toward the end where she seems a genuine badass.

Other characters include a womanizing sniper and a female sergeant whose character I can barely discern aside from “drunkard”.

Also, how can a show have some of the best animation I’ve seen in early-2000 anime yet some of the most mediocre at the same time?

Full Metal Panic! is all over the place and suffers from not having a singular direction. If it had focused on the comedy or the military action instead of jumping back and forth it would have worked. But as it is, it’s a very average piece with a lot of potential. I can only hope that later seasons nail the balancing of elements to leave me with a more satisfying experience.

Full Metal Panic! features two distinct styles in its storytelling. The first is comedic, starting with Sousuke's struggles to fit in at school and moving on to other topics. The second is the harsh reality of a Mythril soldier, which includes political intrigue, terrorism, sci-fi weaponry, and mecha action. If these two elements had been better integrated, Full Metal Panic! could have been an award-winning series. However, the two styles never really blend well, and the story progresses in awkward chunks as it switches between them. Although both styles start out strong in their respective sections, it's unfortunate that they soon become mediocre. The comedy ... stops being funny, and the seriousness is mostly dull, except for a few moments and a reasonably strong finale. As the series comes to a close, I am still unsure about what "Whispered" and the "Lambda Driver" actually are, leaving many unanswered questions that could have been easily resolved.

I really like how diverse and vibrant the cast of characters is, particularly in the dynamic interactions between them. The central focus is on the relationship between Sousuke and Kaname, which ranges from humorous (often due to Sousuke's social awkwardness) to more profound as Kaname is introduced to a world she is unfamiliar with. Sousuke's connection with the primary antagonist, Gauron, is also intriguing as it delves into Sousuke's past, although it could have been further developed. The pairing of the lecherous Kurz and the more serious Mao is another standout aspect. Even Kaname's school friends, who contribute little to the plot, possess unique and enjoyable personalities. The only weak link is Captain Tessa, who is the closest thing to an annoying character in the show but still manages to undergo significant character development in the final few episodes.

This show also showcases a considerable amount of mecha action. The Arm Slaves are quite plain and military-like, but they do provide a good understanding of the type of combat the show portrays. This also means that when the Arbalest and later the Venom make an appearance, they stand out more, making it easier to follow the action. I find the animation somewhat outdated, but the character design and action sequences are still as impressive now as they were long ago.

This was not a terrible series. However, it bothered me how much the show attempts to blend two distinct genres and only manages to strike a decent balance at the outset. The initial comedic episodes are excellent, and the first serious story arc is interesting. However, the comedic episodes that follow tend to fall short, while the serious episodes are mostly uninteresting, except for a few intense action scenes. The series concludes with many unanswered questions, and without a strong cast of characters (and the knowledge of two additional seasons in hindsight), watching all 24 episodes would feel like a chore. While the show has the potential to be great, it never quite reaches its full potential.

Have you ever put up with something you really didn’t like, just because there was a singular, redeeming aspect that made the entire experience worth it? Maybe it was the pain relief that came with getting a tooth filled. Maybe it was the degree at the end of a long four (or five, or six) years in college. Or maybe it was Full Metal Panic S1, a show that I found so unenjoyable but stuck with entirely because of one character.

This show, specifically S1 but the entire franchise in general, is a black sheep for me. I don’t like military shows, mecha shows, or ... anything with blood or extra violence. I don’t like shows with predominantly weakly-developed characters, annoying characters, or flat characters. I don’t like shows with wildly varying animation quality, questionable directing, or fanservice. Somehow, Full Metal Panic has all of this, and I’m giving it what’s close to an average rating. If you’ve read any of my other reviews in this franchise or know me personally, it’s no mystery what I’m hinting at. I watch this show for the MC, Sagara Sousuke, alone. Is it hilarious to put up with a show I sincerely dislike just because of a single character? Hard to understand? Cringey, even? Sure. But it’s equally funny, nonsensical and cringey to write a review of an anime only discussing one character, and that’s exactly what I’m about to do.

Like many others, I was born on KyoAni works. A few years after starting, I decided I would watch all of them, starting from the beginning – FMP Fumoffu. Being a context-driven person, I decided it would be reasonable to start with watching the first season, released years earlier and directed by Gonzo. What a shock for someone, having seen little beyond slice-of-lifes, to be thrust into a really mediocre military mecha show. Trust me, I wanted to drop it, but the male MC somehow kept me interested. Why? At first glance, Sousuke really isn’t an interesting character. He’s absolutely stereotypical in so many ways. He’s a military kid, orphaned (obviously), raised in war and a mercenary working for a mysterious organization. He has a complete misunderstanding of society and social cues, exacerbated by suddenly being thrust into a high school setting. His character is all focus, all the time, completely ignorant to social propriety for the sake of his mission and his duty. Most of all, Sousuke is apparently extremely flat, showing only this front of his character. Why then, would I be so attracted to such a character, and stick with the show (and franchise) despite its many shortcomings? I’ve got two theories – the first is what I’ll call “suggested development” and the other “admirability.”

First, I’d like to look into “suggested development” first, and to do this, I’ll have to take a look at some other means of characterization. One way of developing character is to do so explicitly. This occurs when character traits are either shown or explained directly, meaning that the audience does not need to work out the details on their own. And this, if done correctly, isn’t a bad thing! Lucky Star is an excellent example of this – all of the characters are more or less explicitly developed. Rarely does one have to sit and deeply weight how a scene impacts each individual player’s characterization, instead, it’s obvious from the beginning. Another way of characterization is implicit. Character traits are suggested, but not directly stated, and are not always obvious from the beginning. In this way, implicit character development takes more skill from the producer and more effort from the audience. Very good producers can also use implicit character development as a means of dramatic tension, where the audience is left questioning whether their interpretation of a particular characterization is correct. Serial Experiments Lain is perhaps the best example I have of implicit characterization, with regards to its titular character.

Where does Full Metal Panic fall on the characterization spectrum? The answer is actually surprisingly complex. At first glance, it may seem obvious that explicit characterization dominates. From the first few episodes, it’s no mystery that Sousuke exhibits traits such as social ineptitude, commitment to duty, and a worst-case-scenario outlook on life. That’s obvious, and I’m not debating it. However, I also feel that implicit characterization plays a small and subtle role. However, due to the extreme prevalence of the explicit method, the implicit method is much more difficult to distinguish, and that’s why I call it “suggested development.” Some examples: Sousuke demonstrates apparent inability to recognize social cues due to ignorance, being raised in and around war. True, but the second thoughts he sometimes exhibits seem to suggest that this social ineptitude is bolstered as much by personal choice as it is by ignorance. Another: Sousuke’s commitment to his job and his mission drives his incredible preparedness. True, but his interpersonal relationships almost suggest that he is subconsciously driven by loyalty rather than blind duty. Again, these suggestions are subtle. They lie beneath the surface and are absolutely up for debate. But they, for some reason, made me deeply interested in the character of an otherwise-flat character. If Sousuke is somehow hides a modicum of implicit characterization, could it also be possible that he hides a bit of roundness in his flat character?

The second theory is that of “admirability.” I think that while not necessary to create a good story, many excellent piece of media involve a character that is somehow admirable in one way or another. And I’m not merely talking about a surface-level impressiveness that makes you say “wow” at huge explosions, but a deeper sense of appreciation that actually influences you as a viewer. Sure, maybe you’ll never train as hard as your favorite Shonen hero, but doesn’t something about their commitment to kicking their nemesis’ butt leave you with a sense of motivation? This ties into a much more complex personal theory that I have regarding the relationship between fiction and reality, but I think it’s obvious that admirable fictional characters can inspire real-world audiences in meaningful ways. And even if you don’t buy that, it seems to me that an admirable fictional character is much easier to root for than one who lacks anything to look up to. For me, Sousuke is that character. I’m never going to spend my life fighting terrorism, but something about his commitment to duty and others is personally inspiring to me and turned the entire watching experience from unbearable to even enjoyable at parts. It was enough that I could overlook my revulsion for the genre and even the other characters while watching the show, and it’s why I’m going to watch S4 if any foolish studio decides to pick it up.

Weird review? Sure. Am I greatly overstating Gonzo’s ability to subtly sneak in implicit characterization and admirability? I guarantee you I am. Is all this stemming from a bizarre and somewhat creepy over-obsession with Sagara Sousuke? Maybe. Is this review 1000% reading too much into things? Just wait until you hear my theories on some of the KyoAni shows.

There is no main story arc. The main villain almost always facing off against sagara but for reasons unknown. We never know what are the villians intentions to the very end of the show. His intentions are inconsistent such as with his infiltration of the submarine. He first said he will kidnap Chidori because she is made out to be a person with special abilities but in when he gains control of the ship he just tries to kill himself?

Characters are also inconsistent. The greatest example could be made with the supporting character Weber. He is made out to be the comic relief of ... the cast but goes out of character during the final last few episodes. His personality is depicted as being a perv but instantly changes to being a white knight for Chidori when Sagara makes her cry.

There is no characterization or growth of the main character. Sagara who is a socially inept military nut stays that way through out the entire show. There is no growth to try and connect with others. The only instance we can see any actual growth is when he invites Chidori to the island but is only given the last three minutes of the last episodes to show that Sagara is trying to connect with her. Due to this moment only being given a few minutes we cant tell if is intentions are genuine or if he is just doing it to get Chidori to trust him again which would make his job of protecting her much easier.

Character conflict and how it is handled is laughable. There are two main conflicts that the main characters face. In the first instance, Chidori says that she hates Sagara but is resolved by her visiting him and saying sorry which concludes the conflict instantly. The second conflict is when Sagara tells Chidori that she doesnt know him at all. This is also concluded with a sorry from Sagara.

Thinking of what genre to put for this series is difficult. You want to put it as action but the movements are very stiff and it feels like a fight between two cardboard boxes. Putting this as a romance is inacurate as we cant even tell what the chemistry is like between Sagara and Chidori since Sagara also had a heated moment with Testarossa or if he is even ok with having a relationship with someone since in the first few episodes he says that having a relationship would cloud judgement. The comedy aspec is there but is only provided by Chidori and Weber. Chidori provides it by giving Sagara a hard time about is social ineptitiy which confuses the audience about when she is actaully angry with Sagara if she is like that 24/7.

In the end there is no lesson that the main character learns. He doesnt become anymore socially capable, he doesnt start anything with Chidori, he doesnt become a different person from the affects of the story, he just remains a static character. This would be fine if the actual plot was good but it just feels like playing a side quest. There really is no main goal or challenge for Sagara to overcome plot-wise.