Review of Full Metal Panic!
I had originally watched Full Metal Panic! (FMP) 5 years ago and at the time I had thought it was a nice watch. Then during summer of 2007 I decided to rewatch FMP. I had marathoned the series instead of watching only 2-3 episodes a day. As I was watching I thought “wow, was FMP this entertaining/fun to watch back then?” I guess the reason for this is because FMP is a fun show to watch, especially one to marathon. By “fun” this also means the anime is pretty light hearted and doesn’t have too much complexity. The storyitself contains several plot holes, inconsistencies, and a flat villain. What annoys me to no end is that FMP uses a few resets. Ahh! wasted so much character development only to reset things. However, it really isn’t that noticeable until you start looking at it more deeply (ie not marathoning it…). In addition, the structure of the series also lends to this marathonable nature. The series is divided up into arcs, similar to anime with no predetermined episodes count. Each of these arcs are pretty self contained, however this leads to pacing/flow problems. First you have the start of one arc, a serious military story and once that’s over you have light hearted high school comedy. Next, you reset and repeat for the next arc. Also, some episodes were simply out of place and really broke the flow of the series. For example, the episode devoted to how Mao recruited Sousuke and Kurts. For an anime series with no preset episode count, yes this can work, but not with one that’s set for 24 episodes. This can simply be due to the source material, a series of light novels. Perhaps it could have been better if they had simply animated one arc per season.
Most of the characters are pretty interesting and fun to watch. This is part of what made the show for me. I personally like the interaction between Chidori and Sousuke. Not much else to say here, just remember to accept things like a 16 year old as a captain of a nuclear submarine and whatnot.
As for the animation, Gonzo did a pretty good job and had very little inconsistencies. In addition, the CG work was pretty nice as it blended in quite nicely. Of course the action scenes did not disappoint. The BGM was ok, nothing that really stood out for me. Voices for both the Japanese and English had their strengths and weakness however, nothing really worth going into. Hmm, actually, I was quite annoyed by Tessa’s voice in the English. Mamiko Noto as Shinji in the Japanese dub just didn’t work for me, she still sounds like a girl.
My only other complaint is with the very open nature of the ending. What I mean by this is not the story is left unresolved it’s the relationships between the character that left quite open. However, there is a sequel, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid done by Kyoto Animation and hopefully they will release another FMP soon.
Despite all the flaws FMP remains a solid enjoyable watch without too much complexity. It may appear as if I didn’t like FMP, as I talked about many of the negatives but, taken as a whole I found it undeniably entertaining. Just remember not to think too hard and you’ll probably get plenty of enjoyment out of it as I had.