Review of Full Metal Panic!

Full Metal Panic is a light novel series written by Shoji Gatoh and illustrated by Shiki Douji, and it was adapted into a 24 episode anime that was produced by studio Gonzo, and aired on TV in Japan from Jan 8 2002 to Jun 18 2002. The anime series was directed by Kouichi Chigira who's also directed shows like the Last Exile TV series. The story of Full Metal Panic follows Sousuke Sagara. Spusuke is a 17 year old sargeant within the paramilitary counter-terrorist force, Mithril. One day he and his team recieves a special mission, to enroll in a Japanese high school in order toprotect a girl named Kaname Chidori. She is believed to be what is referred to as a "whispered", and there are terrorists who are looking to kidnap her and use her. However, trying to protext Chidori without her knowing proves to be a lot harder than anticipated for Sousuke who has been raised on the battlefield and knows very little about how to act "normal".

This show has a huge cast of diverse characters, and we're not simply locked into the perspective of one character. Sousuke Sagara is one of the shows main characters. He's a 17 year old boy who since he was an 8 year old kid has known nothing but the battlefield. Now he's a part of Mithril, an organization dedicated to trying to stop terrorists.
Chidori Kaname is another of the main characters, and is at first what seems like your average popular high school girl. But there turns out to be more to her. She is also what is referred to as a Whispered, people with a lot of knowledge and the ability to create powerful devices and machinery. However, Chidori herself is not aware that she possesses this power and knowledge.
You also have the rest of Sousuke's team who joins him for this mission. First you have Kurz Weber who is a flirt and doesn't seem like he is serious about anything, but he is actually a very talented sniper. You also have Melissa Mao. She is SRT's (Special Response Team) second in command.
Lastly you have Teletha Testarossa also referred to as just Tessa. She is the captaion of captain of Mithril's TDD-1 submarine, despite only being 16 years of age, due to her being a genius.

Visually this show is fine. The character designs are pretty standard early 2002s designs and the backgrounds are fine. The animation in this show has it's high's and lows, but the longer the shows goes on, the more of a drop in animation quality we start to see. It's not like it's a poorly animated show or that it looks bad, but it is not consistent.

The music in this show was done by Toshihiko Sahashi who has also been responsible for the music to shows like Gunslinger Girl and the original Hunter x Hunter. Sadly the music in this show doesn't really stand out at all. It's not bad, but it is simply there. It works in the context of a scene, but you're probably not gonna come away from this show thinking a whole lot about the music.

The first thing that I'm sure people are gonna react to with this show is that it sounds like a lot of other early 2000s anime. I mean, how many times haven't we seen the trope filled high school anime? If you've been watching anime for a while, probably a few more times than you would have wished for. And this show is also guilty of being very much a product of it's time. A lot of the tropes that we have gotten used to are also to be found in here. However, what seperates this show from a lot of other shows is how it uses these tropes to it's advantage. You might think that this is a show about a weird guy trying to protect a girl and ends up enrolling in high school and hilarity ensues, and while you are not wrong, that's only one small portion of the show. You have also got the actual plot of the anime which is about a world of relative unrest, and where the slightest spark can set of a huge war. Also, the characters might seem very simple at first, but most of these characters are more than just their respective tropes, and get fleshed out more over the course of the story. In other words, this show is not trying to seperate itself from others by doing something completely different to what other shows at the tie were doing, but rather by doing a lot of the same things better than most other shows would, and it does succeed... at least to an extent. I would be lying if I said that there aren't times where the tropes pull the show down. Things like pointless bath scenes, and certain episodes that adds absolutely nothing to the story are also present in this show. But despite this, most of the episodes are still good and add something to the story, so rather the pointless episodes being a big part of the show, there are only a few of them.

So my overall thoughts on this show is that it's a good show. Sure, it has it's ups and downs, but for the most part it's a fairly solid show. I would not recommend this show to anyone though. If you are very tired of early 2000s tropes, then I'd suggest to stay away from this, at least for now, but if you are not that bothered by them, then go ahead and give this show a chance. It's an entertaining watch. Full Metal Panic has also got a sequel, and I will definitely be checking that out at a later date.