Full Metal Panic!

[Foggle]

I thought you were serious for a second and almost jumped off a bridge.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Well well, I guess you should never say never after all. Cool news! Also reminds me I still need to finish reading the light novels and Sigma sometime, which I might do before the new anime starts (since it should still be a while).

[Avaitor]

Whoa.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Ummmm....

New anime announced.

I got that part. I was wondering what was with all of the hentai on that site....

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

And yes, this is great news. This is automatically my most anticipated anime (and show in general) of (presumably) next year.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well well, I guess you should never say never after all. Cool news! Also reminds me I still need to finish reading the light novels and Sigma sometime, which I might do before the new anime starts (since it should still be a while).

If you liked TSR, I really think that you'd enjoy COMO and BOMF, the two best light novels in the series. CMMD and ANOT are also great, though mostly set-up for the end-game rather than being stand-alone arcs. And then there's ASBM,  which has its flaws, IMO, but definitely gives the series a strong climactic final showdown and a satisfying overall conclusion.

And then there's FMP Another, which from what I've read of the manga, is the Goliath Chronicles or GT of the FMP series (as in I don't like it, and consider it non-canon).

[Foggle]

The only downside to this is that they won't have the same dub cast. Funi owns the rights to FMP now and Chris Patton vehemently refuses to work for them, Mike Kleinhenz is sadly no longer with us, and Gauron isn't in the later novels - meaning no Mike Macrae, either. While the other performances are also great, there's not much reason to watch the English dub over the sub without those three, as far as I'm concerned.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If they adapt A Voice From The North, then Gauron would have a cameo at least (but I doubt that Mike Macrae would come back just for that). I can't imagine another English voice for Kalinin other than Mike Kleinhenz, who sadly passed away, but while the character has a big role to play in the later novels, he isn't present in that many scenes, so you could kind of get away with recasting him, as jarring as that would be.

Chris Patton's absence is a problem, though. I never knew that he wouldn't work with FUNimation. Do you know exactly why that is?

At least they still have Luci Christian as a regular VA. And Vic Mignogna, as well. I think that he does a great job as Kurz, who incidentally has a lot more scenes in the later novels.

[Foggle]

Kleinhenz was soooo gooood as Kalinin. His voice and tonal inflections managed to command both respect and adoration in a way few actors can, let alone dub actors from early 2000's anime. (Speaking of which, The Second Raid is over a decade old now. Good lord.) I couldn't believe where Gatoh took his character in the LNs... I wish I could hear Kleinhenz say those lines.

Apparently Chris Patton refuses to work with Funi because they controversially sued Sentai a few years back.

"Oh Funimation shame on you," he said via Twitter. He was then asked by a fellow fan if he still has to work for FUNimation. "Hell no, I don't have to work for them, and you can be damn sure I never would again."

To me, Patton is Sousuke, so a lot will be lost without him. That said, I'll probably still watch the dub, unless they do a really poor job with it, if only to hear Vic as Kurz again.

And who knows, Sentai seems to have gotten pretty much every KyoAni series recently, so even though Funi owns the first three seasons, maybe Sentai will still be the company to license the new one...

[Spark Of Spirit]

Just because FUNi has the first three series DOES NOT mean they'll get the new one. They've let acquired licenses expire before (Higurashi, anyone?) without doing anything with them beyond the bare minimum, and that may be the case here. On the other hand, they might bend over backwards to get the old cast back, as other series like the Slayers revival a few years back showed so maybe they might convince him to come back if they're really nice. Who knows?

I wouldn't throw in the towel yet.

Oh, and I am excited for this even if it isn't a moe reboot where nothing at all happens.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Spark posting on a Saturday? How rare! 

There's been cases where FUNi hasn't picked up licenses to stuff related to what they have, like how they have the first season of Mushi-shi, but Aniplex got the rights to Zoku Shou, and they have The Woman Called Fujiko Mine but Discotek has Jigen's Gravestone. It could fall into someone else's hands. However, considering that FUNi recently re-released the first season and Fumoffu on blu-ray as part of their Anime Classics line, the series must still sell decently for them, so I'm leaning towards them getting this over them not.

Much like with Slayers Revolution, I'd assume they'd try and get back as much of the original cast as they possibly can. But even with SR, they weren't able to get David Moo to reprise his role as Xellos and had to re-cast him, so if Chris Patton actively refuses to work with them, then Sosuke will probably be as well.

[VLordGTZ]

I loved TSR, so I'll definitely be looking forward to a new FMP adaption.   

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Kleinhenz was soooo gooood as Kalinin. His voice and tonal inflections managed to command both respect and adoration in a way few actors can, let alone dub actors from early 2000's anime. (Speaking of which, The Second Raid is over a decade old now. Good lord.) I couldn't believe where Gatoh took his character in the LNs... I wish I could hear Kleinhenz say those lines.

Oh, I agree 100%. My dream of seeing that epic final exchange between Sousuke and Kalinin, his life-long mentor and father-figure, in the glorious dub is now dead. That said, if Kalinin alone had to be replaced, it'd hurt like hell, but not exactly kill the dub for me. His character goes in a hugely important direction later in the story, but oddly enough has a huge presence by his lack of appearances outside of really big moments. So, he wouldn't have that many lines, as awesome as it would still be to hear Mike Kleinhenz deliver them.

Apparently Chris Patton refuses to work with Funi because they controversially sued Sentai a few years back.

That's a damn shame. I really hope that they could put tgeir differences aside for this, or at the very least FUNi could let Sentai pick this up so that we could have as much of tge original voice-cast present as possible. Replacing Kalinin is hard enough. Replacing Sousuke's VA is absolutely unacceptable for me. Chris Patton makes the character, for me.

[Foggle]

Some more info:

• Shoji Gatoh and producer Atsushi Itou (FMP season 1-3) are developing the new Full Metal Panic! Anime. They've probably been at it for the past couple of years.


• The animation studio will be Tokyo based. This would mean that Kyoto Animations (the studio behind Fumoffu and TSR) will not be involved. Some have speculated that KyoAni might actually be branching out to form a new studio in Tokyo.


• The new Anime will cover the Light Novel material post-TSR. Basically Full Metal Panic! Sigma The Anime. It has also been said that they are planning for the new Anime to finish the story.


• Shoji Gatoh will work on the scripts.


• Hand drawn mechas. From what has been said at the conference they are aiming for hand drawn mechas instead of the nowadays more common CGI ones.


• New character design. It can also be assumed by the promotional art work that the character design will be updated. They've already been slightly altered between season 1 and Fumoffu. The new changes can be attributed to changes in the industry over the past decade as well as the new animation studio and staff.


• The original japanese voice cast will return.


• We might have to wait for some time. Now here comes the salt. Yes, we are getting new Anime. This is incredible! I never thought this day would actually come. This is the best news i've heard all year for sure. But we might have to wait for it. One comment suggested they hope to be done before the Tokyo Olympics. Which could mean waiting about four more years. Now this sounds scary. And likely they were only joking. But it was said that they're not planning to rush this. They want to do it right.

Amazing! It all sounds too good to be true.

Oh, I agree 100%. My dream of seeing that epic final exchange between Sousuke and Kalinin, his life-long mentor and father-figure, in the glorious dub is now dead. That said, if Kalinin alone had to be replaced, it'd hurt like hell, but not exactly kill the dub for me. His character goes in a hugely important direction later in the story, but oddly enough has a huge presence by his lack of appearances outside of really big moments. So, he wouldn't have that many lines, as awesome as it would still be to hear Mike Kleinhenz deliver them.

Since he doesn't have as many lines after DVMC, I could see a good stand-in working, I suppose. I'm mostly worried that they'll pull a Ghost In The Shell: Arise and bring back some of the old actors to play completely new characters while also getting bizarre replacements for the main cast.

That's a damn shame. I really hope that they could put tgeir differences aside for this, or at the very least FUNi could let Sentai pick this up so that we could have as much of tge original voice-cast present as possible. Replacing Kalinin is hard enough. Replacing Sousuke's VA is absolutely unacceptable for me. Chris Patton makes the character, for me.

Agreed. Chris Patton is the heart and soul that drives not only the dub, but the series as a whole as far as I'm concerned.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

First off, Shouji Gatoh working on the scripting of this series, combined with the fact that it's a direct sequel, really does amp up my excitement to 500%. Do you know why TSR is superior to its source material? Because Gatoh was head writer on that as well, and he knows his source material and how to make it better. The guy is a terrific dramatic writer moreso than a comedic one; and I actually like his comedy, being one of the few on this board who really likes Fumoffu, and I warmed up to Amagi after a re-watch and with a different mind-set going into it. So that's saying a lot.

Secondly, while I fucking love TSR (easy top 5 for me), the fact that this is not a modern KyoAni production washes away any potential worries that I might have had.

Thirdly, if that new promo artwork is indicative of the new character designs, then I'm definitely OK with the update, myself.

Fourthly, FUCK YES to hand-drawn mechas!

Lastly, having to wait a bit longer for this to come out actually instills me with the confidence that they are trying to get this right.

Now....that's assuming that all of this is true, and I hope that it is.

Anyways, I'm up for a re-read of the light novels, now. It's been five goddamn years since I read the last book, and over a year since I finished Sigma. I need to jump back into this shit!