Review of Full Metal Panic!
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, andviolent 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.