Giant Robot Anime Done Right - Full Metal Panic! Review

Giant robot anime's have followed the same track ever since the original Gundam series launched in the 70's. It always involves state of the art machines, piloted by teenagers, and lots and lots of boring and poorly written political machinations. The plots always circle around the trials of war (especially scarring considering the pilots are almost always teenagers) and have melodramatic teenagers act like...melodramatic teenagers despite being military personnel. And finally, the show is way more about the robots themselves rather than the characters. But wait! Theres a giant robot anime that subverts these tropes? One that has colorful and interesting characters? That isn't just about big robots beating the tar out of one another? This is where Full Metal Panic! enters the fray and boy is it a breath of fresh air.

Full Metal Panic! originally debuted as a series of light novels back in 1998. The series actually concluded in November of 2011. Like any light novel that succeeds in Japan, an anime adaption of the series debuted in 2002 to rave reviews as well. So well in fact that it has spawned a sequel series and spin off. The plot of the original series follows Sergeant Sousuke Sagara, a member of a covert anti-terrorist organization known as Mithril. In the show's first episode, Sousuke is charged with the task of protecting an excitable Japanese high school girl named Kaname Chidori. To do so, the hardened military man must go undercover as a typical high school student. As a reults, the first couple episodes are treated almost like a romantic comedy. Sousuke, as a soldier, has had a lack of normal social interaction. Because of this he treats normal, everyday high school situations like combat situations. This leads to some absolutely hilarious moments as Kaname herself at first doesn't know that Sousuke is a soldier. The audience isn't given much to go on as why she needs the protection of such a powerful organization. Mithril themselves are a mercenary operation that possesses weapons and technology beyond any country in the world, including the United States. Their most powerful weapons are the giant robots, called "Arm Slaves" here.

After 2-3 episodes of absurdity and social awkwardness, the plot begins to shift in a more serious direction. It turns out the Chidori is one of the "whispered" that possesses the secrets to the super advanced "black technology" thus making it of the utmost importance that she doesn't fall into enemy hands. As attempts to kidnap her begin to stack up, Sousuke and his friends from Mithril leap into action. The plot unfolds in the form of mini-arcs each lasting about three episodes each with filler episodes thrown in to break up the pace. The plot doesn't fall into the same traps as other giant robot animes, theres no poorly written political plots or lame teenage angst. The action is also really well done, ranging from the standard giant robot fights to some really solid hand to hand combat. The plot is definitely compelling but I was actually surprised that the times when the show wasn't so serious actually turned out to be my favorite parts. It will throw many viewers through a loop when they watch the first couple episodes. "Wait! I thought this was going to be a serious and action packed robot anime! Instead I'm stuck with some dating sim with SOUSUKE SAGARA!!!" Yes, the comedic and silly first couple episodes are a bit confusing on the first watch but even so, you can't avoid laughing at them. For instance, Sousuke's apprehending of a fellow student who was breaking in to Kaname's apartment to steal her panties was an absolute riot. Who couldn't laugh at watching a hardened military soldier interrogate a pantie thief in the same way he would an actual terrorist?

Kaname's (right) typical reaction to Sousuke's (left) shenanigans

Full Metal Panic! has a solid plot, but the real strength of the anime is it's characters. Sousuke's lack of social skills in particular is the show's best aspect. That adding to the fact that he's an ace pilot and killer soldier. There not much to dislike with Sousuke. His two other Mithril counterparts are awesome characters as well. Sergeant Major Melissa Mao is basically a way more badass version of Misato Katsuragi from NGE (she's even voiced by Allison Keith). Sergeant Kurz Weber is the typical flirtatious soldier but he backs up his foolish actions when he gets on the battlefield. The best part is that these soldiers aren't lame and angsty teens. Sure, they may be 16 years olf but they're war-hardened mercenaries so they cut the melodramatic bullcrap and leap right into action. Originally, I wasn't too sold on Kaname, as she only really seemed to be there for fanservice. Even when her relevance to the main plot is revealed she still seemed to be a weak character. However, the show redeemed her through her relationship with Sousuke. It doesn't take the viewer very long to realize that Kaname is hopelessly in love with him but what makes their relationship really click is how clashing their characters are. Their best moments are whenever Sousuke has made some abomination of a social situation or does something ridiculously out of the norm. It's really awesome when two characters bounce off of each other and make each other better. Kaname actually ended up being a really awesome character by the end of the show. This isn't to say that the show does well with all of it's characters. Mithril's Captain Testarossa is the exception to the rule here. In a cast full of unique and colorful characters it really sucks when you make a girl desperate to be in a harem anime your freaking CAPTAIN!!! She's supposed to be a respected military official and actually the highest officer that the characters report to and yet all she does is spend her time pining over Sousuke. Of course, she does manage to redeem herself in the final episodes where she actually manages to do something and pull off some badass tactical maneuvers. Unfortunately this all comes a little too late and makes me wonder where THAT badass genius was lurking the entire series. Instead the writers jammed her into an awkward love triangle with Sousuke and Kaname and expected us to care (and I certainly didn't give a frigg). She even got her own episode where she got to spend time alone with SOUSUKE-KUN which was probably the weakest episode of the series by a long shot. Testarossa notwithstanding, the core cast of characters are phenomenal and separate Full Metal Panic! from most giant robot animes.

From left to right: Kurz, Melissa, and Sousuke. Each character bounces off each other with awesome chemistry and NO ANGST!!!

The mechs that the characters do most of their fighting in aren't all that spectacular...which is actually a good thing! Most of the mech's look incredibly similar and actually fight alongside contemporary vehicles of warfare such as tanks and helicopters. Sure theres a couple of super models (Sousuke's Arbalest is a gamebreaker along with the enemy's Venom mech) but other than that, the "Arms Slaves" look pretty plain. Mithril's are pretty sweet looking, not going to lie, but none of them really stand out from one another. The enemy frequently employs Arms Slaves called "Savages" which look like giant toads with guns. This puts much more emphasis on the characters themselves. Most giant robot animes (cough cough GUNDAM) focus way too much on the mechs and not nearly enough on the characters. Or they get caught up way too much on having one mech be incredibly broken and invincible. In Full Metal Panic the pilots are very skilled but you never feel that they're invincible. They have their limits and the show isn't afraid to emphasize their shortcomings when necessary.

Visually, the show is very early 2000's in it's animation style. The characters themselves in terms of their looks alone aren't overly impressive but the animation in general is very well done especially when you consider how far animation has come since then. Occasionally theres some weird clashing when the animators try to integrate 3D objects into the 2D scenery but it's not as if these scenes are frequent. The mech battles are really something to behold as well. As I said before, the mechs are awesomely unspectacular in the fact that most of them don't have superpowers. However, the battles between the souped up mechs, like Sousuke's Arbalest are really incredible. Sound-wise, Full Metal Panic! succeeds despite it's soundtrack sounding like it's still in the 90's (not necessarily a bad thing). It's voice cast is another Funimation work with the familiar voices of Vic Mignogna, Luci Christian, Chris Patton, and Allison Keith turning in solid performances. Have to give them loads of credit for making each of their characters memorable. Special mention goes to Allison Keith for the character of Melissa Mao who was easily my favorite character in the series.

Everyone's mechs are the same which makes for a more fun playing field

Full Metal Panic! was a real treat. I went into the series thinking that it was just going to be just another Gundam rip off and found something really unique. It's ability to balance humor and a serious (sometimes especially dark) plot. Aside from it's slow start and some dud filler episodes (I'm looking at you Testarossa) Full Metal Panic! is definitely now on my watch list of anything that concerns giant robots. Anime is full of colorful characters but Full Metal Panic! definitely caught me off guard with it's fresh and lively characters. If you're looking to get into anime, this series is definitely a good place to start.

My Score: 4/5