Review of Full Metal Panic!
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 mainvillain 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