Review of Full Metal Panic!

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 towatch 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.