Geekatana Anime Review: Full Metal Panic (2002)

Full Metal Panic is a mecha military anime that sets itself apart from other mecha anime due to its focus on military story and a far more realistic approach on combat. I guess this was one of the appeal of the series for me and has gotten me hooked. As the series was pretty much akin to the Cyberbots or Front Mission games that came years before.

I was also already reading the Full Metal Panic manga before this one was turned into an anime. So already have a clear idea of what the anime was about before even going into the first episode.

Full metal Panic is a series of light novels written by Shoji Gatoh and illustrated by Shiki Douji. It follows Sousuke Sagara, a member of the covert counter terrorist private military organization known as Mithril, tasked with protecting Kaname Chidori, a hot-headed Japanese high school girl. It was adopted into a manga a few times and was later turned into an anime. It was aired back in 2002 and ran for 24 episodes.

The idea of the Whispered as being this special individual with Black Technology that has shaped humanity since time in memorial and individuals has hunted and exploited these individuals for military and technological gain is a nice touch. 

Full Metal Panic may look like a copy of other mecha anime but keeps its roots grounded on military and realism than most of its predecessors. Instead of laser swords and laser guns the Arm Slave mechs in the series carry large version of real life weapons like a shotgun or a rifle. The story focuses more on the individual character stories than on the mecha itself. Sure it has its usual fan service and the comedy aspect was a hit and miss at times but the series keeps a nice balance of romance, comedy and action throughout.

Visually the anime is well done and still holds up to this day in terms of quality including the cgi of the Mythril submarine that is the base of operation. The mecha Arm Slaves moves realistically too and the mecha battles are breathtaking yet easy to follow. And it juggles between the slice of life romance comedy of the main characters to the gritty action pact military mecha battles. And the cgi was impressive for something that was made in 2002.

A show this good isnt without it faults though as Full Metal Panic tries to stay true to the manga it does fall on certain anime tropes. For one the mecha battle great as they are isnt something anime and mecha fans haven't seen before even with the inclusion of the mysterious Lambda Drive machine that makes the Arbalest go into super mode when the plot needs it to.

Also the comedic aspect funny as it seems tends to be over the top and reduces the character into the typical tsundere and the stupid soldier thus making very little in terms in character development safe for a few key plot episodes. Also Sousuke blowing up school property in extreme fashion and the teacher still not getting Sousuke expelled regardless as being funny as hell is still stupid.

This crazy mix of comedy and action drama was remedied to some extent in the second and third season namely the Fumoffu and The Second Raid but I think is best be a thats a topic for another review altogether.

So is Full Metal Panic bad? Nope. It's quite entertaining and despite mixing its over the top comedy and its serious action pacts drama and mecha action it still manage to pull off a decent series. if you like comedy, action, sci-fi, drama, mecha, romance and comedy you will find something to like in this series. Just don't take the series too seriously as it has some over the top stuff.

As a whole Full Metal Panic is a series that mixes both mecha action, sci-fi, comedy and drama in a nice balancing act very few series can pull off. If you are a fan of these genre then you will find something to like here. Regardless I think its still a series worth viewing for any anime fan.