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The Beginner's Guide to Full Metal Panic!


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Joshua Zarate



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 2062
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:02 pm Reply with quote
Sorry if I’m wrong, but in season 1 spoiler[didn’t Kaname say that her parents were dead, not traveling in America as the bio in the article explains?] I just finished watching the 3 parts in time for this new one and I’m wondering if I’m remembering incorrectly or if the article made a tiny mistake.
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Ouran High School Dropout



Joined: 28 Jun 2015
Posts: 440
Location: Somewhere in Massachusetts, USA
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:19 pm Reply with quote
Ah, Fumoffu...I still laugh when I recall how much mayhem a love letter can cause...
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invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2484
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Nice job, Theron. The clarity of this article is really helpful.

I was always intrigued by FMP back in the day, but it was in the buy-before-you-try era, so I never got into it.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3450
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:56 pm Reply with quote
While I liked all the FMP, I never felt like it was a big deal, just a solid B tier anime. I just watched fumoffu and it was funny, but pretty quickly it got repetitive, with the same 3-4 gag just being repeated endlessly. The love story between Sosuke and Kaname also never really felt that good, like they didn't have much chemistry together (at least romantically speaking) but there the two main characters so what else are they going to do but fall in love?

The more serious stuff also felt a bit jarring next to the silly stuff and Gauron is just impossible to take seriously which always deflated any tension whenever he was involved in something, which was in pretty much everything.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18494
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:47 pm Reply with quote
Joshua Zarate wrote:
Sorry if I’m wrong, but in season 1 spoiler[didn’t Kaname say that her parents were dead, not traveling in America as the bio in the article explains?] I just finished watching the 3 parts in time for this new one and I’m wondering if I’m remembering incorrectly or if the article made a tiny mistake.

I thought so, too, until I started doing research for this article, as what Kaname says in the Behemoth story arc isn't as clear as it could be.

Her mother apparently actually is deceased, but her father and younger sister are in America. I'll tweak the wording in the article to reflect that.
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xXInfinite026Xx



Joined: 04 Feb 2011
Posts: 63
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:23 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
While I liked all the FMP, I never felt like it was a big deal, just a solid B tier anime. I just watched fumoffu and it was funny, but pretty quickly it got repetitive, with the same 3-4 gag just being repeated endlessly. The love story between Sosuke and Kaname also never really felt that good, like they didn't have much chemistry together (at least romantically speaking) but there the two main characters so what else are they going to do but fall in love?

The more serious stuff also felt a bit jarring next to the silly stuff and Gauron is just impossible to take seriously which always deflated any tension whenever he was involved in something, which was in pretty much everything.


The first series has it's charms and holds up decently, but the direction Gonzo went with the series leaves something to be desired overall. It certainly has plenty of well done scenes, with episodes 6 and 17 being the most well directed of the bunch, but falls a notch flat in terms of both comedy and drama. KyoAni's direction, along with the more symbiotic relationship they had with Gatou, proved much more effective in both comedy with Fumoffu, and more the serious, violent TSR. If you haven't already, I recommend watching TSR to get a better feel for what this series has to offer. For myself (granted this was over a decade ago) it blew away my previously-established expectations and made me become much more invested in the series than I already was.

As for IV, It's been an extremely long wait for both the pre & post announcement of this new series. With the delay in the initial air date last year, I hope Gatou and the team at Xebec used all of the time they could to surpass KyoAni's take on the franchise and finally resolve the many story elements/character moments that never got to see the light of day. They've stated that it's going full-throttle from the get go, so I can't wait to see what they have in store!
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Joshua Zarate



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 2062
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:09 pm Reply with quote
xXInfinite026Xx wrote:
meiam wrote:
While I liked all the FMP, I never felt like it was a big deal, just a solid B tier anime. I just watched fumoffu and it was funny, but pretty quickly it got repetitive, with the same 3-4 gag just being repeated endlessly. The love story between Sosuke and Kaname also never really felt that good, like they didn't have much chemistry together (at least romantically speaking) but there the two main characters so what else are they going to do but fall in love?

The more serious stuff also felt a bit jarring next to the silly stuff and Gauron is just impossible to take seriously which always deflated any tension whenever he was involved in something, which was in pretty much everything.


The first series has it's charms and holds up decently, but the direction Gonzo went with the series leaves something to be desired overall. It certainly has plenty of well done scenes, with episodes 6 and 17 being the most well directed of the bunch, but falls a notch flat in terms of both comedy and drama. KyoAni's direction, along with the more symbiotic relationship they had with Gatou, proved much more effective in both comedy with Fumoffu, and more the serious, violent TSR. If you haven't already, I recommend watching TSR to get a better feel for what this series has to offer. For myself (granted this was over a decade ago) it blew away my previously-established expectations and made me become much more invested in the series than I already was.

As for IV, It's been an extremely long wait for both the pre & post announcement of this new series. With the delay in the initial air date last year, I hope Gatou and the team at Xebec used all of the time they could to surpass KyoAni's take on the franchise and finally resolve the many story elements/character moments that never got to see the light of day. They've stated that it's going full-throttle from the get go, so I can't wait to see what they have in store!

Basically in short summary, Gonzo being Gonzo and KyoAni being KyoAni. Smile

I’m with you on your last paragraph, xXInfinite026Xx, so not much else to say on my end other than Spring is looking to be quite dandy.
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pwnagemaster



Joined: 09 Dec 2017
Posts: 89
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:11 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
the new series would begin with volume 6


I remember we weren't quite sure what he meant by this.

We've all been pretty sure that the new season is going to start with Continuing on my Own, which is book 7, since book 6, Dancing Very Merry Christmas, has a much more light-hearted tone than the remaining story and since the PVs all seem to be showing stuff from COMO. Basically, does Ending Day by Day (which is split into parts 1 and 2) count as volume 4 or volumes 4 and 5?

On a side note, still really hoping DVMC gets animated at some point. We need to see maid Tessa.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5522
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:13 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
While I liked all the FMP, I never felt like it was a big deal, just a solid B tier anime
B tier has it's charms, that rough around the edges, charm of season 1 is almost a quality in its self. Fumoffu may not be the best comedy ever, but looking back now, it has that silly and wacky madness you used to get from comedies in the 90s and 00s. TSR is the one that really nails that retro style American espionage TV show feel.
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Zeino



Joined: 19 May 2017
Posts: 1098
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:34 pm Reply with quote
I'm both anticipating and dreading FMP: Invisible Victory. On the hand, I really did deeply enjoy the previous series back when I watched them in the late 00s and have wanted to see it get a conclusion. On the other, having been given a preview of what comes next in Super Robot Wars V, I know that the plot goes Code Geass R2 level crazy in the later novels and that Leonard Testarossa is going to be a very lame main villan...
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CatSword



Joined: 01 Jul 2014
Posts: 1489
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:39 pm Reply with quote
Fumoffu may be the only comedy spinoff anime that's better than its original source.
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Actar



Joined: 21 Nov 2010
Posts: 1074
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 8:25 pm Reply with quote
Till today, FMP! remains one of my top favorite mecha anime. It has heart and soul, two things that are sorely missing from many more "competent" series. Even for the second season, I have never laughed that much when watching an anime comedy. Some stellar writing and killer comedic timing especially with regard to the rugby episode and the bioweapon episode. I love the chemistry between the characters. I adore the mecha designs and action sequences. I simply cannot get enough of the world that they've created.

Looking forward to the new season. Unlike all the other nostalgia bait properties, this one is an actual adaptation of existing material, so I know I have nothing to remember about. (^o^)
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Mojave



Joined: 07 May 2017
Posts: 178
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:18 pm Reply with quote
I'm excited that it's coming back, but I'm afraid that nothing it does this season can ever beat Sousuke failing miserably at a dating sim. Still one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen in an anime.
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Zetabag



Joined: 30 Mar 2009
Posts: 206
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 11:33 pm Reply with quote
CatSword wrote:
Fumoffu may be the only comedy spinoff anime that's better than its original source.


But isn't fumoffu mostly based off a short stories that Gatou wrote?
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MJKS



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 3:24 am Reply with quote
After I got my hands on the fourth volume of Funimation's release of TSR in June 2007 and finally finished the last episode, I remember thinking two things:

1. That's kind of weird, I haven't heard anything about a sequel yet. Oh well, what's a couple more years?
2. Oh man, I'm going to have to survive waiting an extra year-and-a-half or two until Funimation puts out their home video release so I can continue to watch it dubbed as I have so far. It's not like English dubbed anime is suddenly going to become available immediately after episodes air in Japan, right?

So... better I was wrong on both than right about one or the other? Assuming FMP isn't about to be grabbed by the talons of Netflix, that is.
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