Full Metal Panic!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yet another recreated topic.

Anyways, this is a discussion thread for the various FMP anime series/seasons, all of which were based off of the light novel series.

I myself finished reading the final 2 volumes earlier this year, and was generally satisfied with the ending. It made up for the convoluted plot twist of the 10th book.

Overall this is one of the very few mecha anime series that I ever enjoyed, and that's primarily because it would be just as a good of a series without the mecha. That's primarily because it has such great characters. The characters are absolutely hilarious when the show is focused on comedy, and get some great depth and character development during the more serious and dramatic parts of the series. The 3rd season (known as The Second Raid), also has stellar action sequences with actual good animation, in contrast to all of the boring fights that plague a lot of mecha anime that are pulled down by tight budgets. I really love how they incorporate martial arts style combat into the melee-based mecha battles that take place in the series. By contrast, the shooting portions are usually standard-fare, and can be rather boring to watch, but the series once again makes up for it with its great characters.

Overall its one of my favorite series from Japan, period.

[Foggle]

I still need to finish the last batch of novels. Don't know why I haven't yet, I absolutely love this series!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So far I haven't met a single person who didn't like the ending. There was a certain aspect of the general end of the series that me and a bunch of other people were ticked off at, but on the whole it was great.

It just really pisses me off that the chances of the rest of the series getting picked up for animation are really low.

BTW, Foggle, weren't we going to do some joint-review of FMP at one point, or some sort of double-feature (like we both give our individual opinions on the series)? We should definitely consider that in the future, seeing as how we're both fans of the series. I'm not sure if Avaitor wanted any involvement in the FMP feature, but it'd be cool to have him on-board for that too. At any rate I have a couple of other projects to get finished, first, so perhaps we can consider that later on.

[Foggle]

Once I finish it, sure. That sounds swell.

[Angus]

If you get a chance, maybe publish a review of the light novels and a recommended sequence for watching the anime series? I've seen just a volume or two of the graphic novels.

[Foggle]

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=295590 Sounds cool to me.
Still haven't read the last novels, and I'm not sure why.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Every time I see this thread bumped I keep thinking they're going to make a new anime of it. But then I remember that no one makes anime like this anymore and I sigh.

[Avaitor]

ESPECIALLY not KyoAni.

[Dr. Insomniac]

ESPECIALLY not KyoAni.

Yeah, hopefully somebody like Bones or Production I.G. can do the job.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You know, for as much as I can't stand most things done by KyoAni, especially since they are largely responsible for popularizing the whole moe trend, FMP: The Second Raid is a sharp contrast to anything that they have ever done before or after it, and surprisingly when they actually have good material to work with they actually proved to churn out something....well, quite freaking good. Its one of my personal favorite anime and it says a lot for me to say that despite my hate for KyoAni on the whole. Still, I wouldn't mind if a fourth season went to Mad House or something like that.

As for the announcement, I always did want to see a proper epilogue to the series, but a whole novel for it? I'm not sure what they would do for it unless it were a bunch of short-stories or something. I don't want to spoil anything, but the way that the final novel ended (and, I must say, I don't know why Foggle hasn't read it yet, either ) there isn't much that you could do in the way of plot unless this was....oh wait, they said it was a "spin-off" novel. Alright, I guess that makes some sense, but I'm still curious to see how they can do a spin-off story that's big enough to take up an entire novel, even if its just a light novel.

[Foggle]

I'm gonna' start a full run-through of FMP soon. I'll watch all three anime series, then read all the post-anime books, finally finishing up with the last three, which I have not read yet. I'll post my thoughts on each at their respective conclusions.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I may give my own reviews of the post-anime novels sometime, myself. I think my least favorite one is "Nick of Time" (the 10th main story volume), because of that convoluted Evangelion-esque plot-twist (I have no problems with NGE, but for FMP it feels really out of place), but it only makes the final 2 volumes feel all the better since they manage to work over that fault and still bring the story to a successful and (IMO) very satisfying and climactic conclusion. Now if only the rest o the story would get animated (granted that, I wouldn't mind if the anime took a few liberties to change some of the weaker parts of the story for the better), I'd be fully content with all of the FMP material out there.

There is that spin-off novel that takes place 10 years after the end of the main story, but being that its written by a different author and will only be a spin-off, I can't say I'm really all that excited about it or even looking forward to it. I don't want to spoil anything, but I don't see how there could be a continuation of the main story in any regard after how tightly wrapped up all of the plot points were by the end of the 12th book, but I suppose I'll have to wait until its translated to see for myself and find out.

Also, Foggle, as far as the anime goes, I'll be curious to hear your true opinions on the first season after watching it again. I can admit it has faults and is not as good as TSR (though IMO its about as entertaining as Fumoffu on the whole, though for different reasons), but really I never got why it gets so much negative opinions either. On the whole, its certainly not bad, especially with a memorable villain like Gauron, and I really feel that aside from some pointless filler episodes (which even then I don't find to be that bad like most people do) and some weaker episodes, it has some pretty good stand-out moments and I still love the characters in it quite a bit. Did I also mention that it has Gauron....I mean, if that doesn't automatically forgive it for 90% of its faults, then I don't know what constitutes as awesome anymore, but Gauron to me is the definition of an awesome villain (or an awesome character in general).

[Avaitor]

I think after I finish my rewatch of Higurashi, I'll get around to rewatching all of FMP, and will aim to read the novels as well. It's a shame that the last few novels may not be adapted, but considering the state of KyoAni, it's probably for the best.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Sounds like a great plan!

I need to get around to re-reading the novels, myself. Its such a shame that the 2nd half of the story was never adapted as, with the exception of ANOT which I don't quite like too much, its the highest quality of story-telling and characterization that the story has ever really achieved. Granted that, a certain character has to take a major back-seat in all of the action and only gets to be seen much later on, but considering how annoying that character could be in the beginning of the series (and season 1 of the anime) it may not be such a bad thing, but then again TSR actually made that very same character into quite a likeable character that you wanted to follow against all odds, so in that regard it kills their chance for further great character development.

BTW, I typed that paragraph up in such a way that it would technically be spoiler-free, but if you know anything about FMP you'll already know exactly who I'm talking about, anyways.

[Foggle]

It's Mardukas, isn't it? Damn it, man, don't spoil things for him!