surprisingly
the story is very cool and very likable,
it has a pleasant mixture of fan service and serious plot, the serious plot compares to a game of chess, with both sides more or less evenly matched, and the winner gets the strategic "prize", unique bimbo characters born with a special understanding of the higher functioning of any machine.
The characters were a disappointment for me, the easiest way to describe the main character is assbergers, and with every assbergers character in anime there is a "model potential" girl character who caters hand and foot to the assberger laden main character to try and get his attention. Other characters follow the cookie cuter code of anime, the seductor pretty boy that fails at everything except comic relief for the viewer and the older "lady" that secretly cares about all of her crew mates even though she's a cunt and finally the emotionally unready to command "prize piece" higher functioning 16 year old.
The best character is the bad guy, he is a dick, he will kill lie cheat steal and stab you in the back to get what he wants and he will have fun at the same time.
The art was able to demonstrate the awesomeness of the tide shifting battle abilities that the rare mech's had. The underwater fight scenes are also very detailed and cool.
There are times when the setting just goes out into left field, yet because I did enjoy the story so much , I will simply assume that it is because I am not a high ranking military official that I don't know of the secret american chemical warfare base 10 miles off the coast of Japan.
In Conclusion, Full Metal Panic was good, I would happily recommend it to anyone because even though it lacked depth it was a very enjoyable anime over all.
