FULL METAL PANIC!
Would I like to be on a ship with her...
Review by: Richard "sadsack" Martin.
Length: 26 episodes, 25 minutes each.
Genre: Romance, drama interlaced with comedy.
Watched: All, subbed
Well, this was one anime I loved when I first saw it. Not only was the soundtract truely fantastic,
The opening and ending themes were excellent, but also it had the best animation quality I had
seen at that time, mixed in with CG animation. The animation is about three main characters,
though there are other characters as well who get a decent look in from time to time and a little
development even.
Plot synopsis: One of these characters is Kaname Chidori, a totally awesome high-school chick
with a fiery temper, who is often at loggerheads with Suguru Sagara, a soldier who lives for war
and conflict, who was given the task of protecting her. Chidori is a "whispered", which means
that she has exponential intelligence on classified forms of technology, like the mecha combat
suits (AS's) that we see alot of during the series. This makes her vunerable, as she is wanted by
many people because of this ability she doesn't even know she has. One person in particular
being Gauron, a terrorist who has many agendas, one of which is to capture both Kaname and
Tessa Tesstarossa, who is this incredibly beautiful captain of the undercover organisation
Mithril's main submarine, the Tuatha de Danaan, who is also a whispered.
Artwork: The animation quality is excellent, and there is only a little drop-off through the series.
The incorporation of CG for the submarine and the AS's also works a charm, and they look better
than ever. The fight scenes are especially good.
Music: A bit of a power ballad to start of with. Quite a song to begin and end with; it sounds
great even in Japanese. The rest of the songs where quite neat too, I might add.
Characters: Well, there are the three main characters: Suguru, Kaname and Tessa. Then there are
Kurz and Melissa, who work as soldiers in the same assignment as Suguru. There are also a few
characters who go to school with Kaname, like her friend Kyouko, her supposed rival Mizuki and
the besotted Satoru. There are also, among others, two supporters of Tessa as pilots of Mithril's
most powerful defensive submarine, Cmdr. Richard Mardukas and Lt.Cmdr. Andrey Kalinin. On
all parts there is a fair amount of character development for all these characters, though not as
much for the supporting characters as the main ones.
Plot: It manages to get a good balance between humor and the serious aspects of the story, and a
lot of the characters are likable, and you get to know them as they develop. One thing which a lot
of anime lack is giving any back story to the characters, but thankfully we get to learn lots about
the lives of these characters, so they become fleshed out and realistic. Perhaps the only person
who had no character development was Gauron, which could perhaps have been beneficial, as we
never learn just why exactly he was doing all these things. There is also a war scene where all the
charcters Suguru is introduced to get killed off one by one like some cheap horror movie. It could
have been beneficial if those characters had been developed more, so that it would have been
more heart-wrenching when they were killed, to give the whole scene more feeling.
CHICKS!: Well, here there are three real sweet thangs to choose from. There is Kaname, who
works for some people. She's definately a looker. Then there's Tessa, who is really cute and
sweet, and then there is Melissa Mao, who works as a soldier in the same force and Suguru, but
is not as much of a military nut as he is. All I know is, I will have Tessa for my bride, oh yeah.
Overall: The Full Metal Panic! anime is simply a blast, I'd definately recommend it to anyone who likes to watch a good anime in their spare time, I found it to be a real treat.
IN A NUTSHELL
+ Good balance of themes
+ Good, developed storyline
+ Memorable soundtrack
+ Excellent animation quality
- Not to everybody's liking
Rating: 9/10
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