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Is Full Metal Panic worth it at this point?


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RedSwirl



Joined: 08 Feb 2006
Posts: 344
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:57 pm Reply with quote
As old and famous as it is I have never seen this show but have always had mild interest in it. Where does it stand among other sci-fi/war anime like Gundam, Blue Gender, Blue Sub 6, etc?

I'm pretty sure the last truly good war anime I ever saw was Gundam 08th MS. I guess after less enjoyable shows like Gundam SEED, Gundam 00 (I'll admit I've only seen two episodes but it doesn't look that interesting), and Code Geass, I kinda wanna go back to the old days before mecha anime was infected by moe and shoujo character designs.

Bonus Round: what about Nadesico? I caught that on Toonami's horrendous Giant Robot Week back in the day and was interested.

Bonus Round 2: Gasaraki?
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Kimiko_0



Joined: 31 Aug 2008
Posts: 1796
Location: Leiden, NL, EU
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:22 pm Reply with quote
I haven't seen the other series you refer to, so I can't really compare them to FMP, but you mention that you don't like modern cuter character designs. If that is a strong dislike then you probably won't like FMP.
Perhaps the old Macross anime might be more your style? Although in addition to transforming mecha, Macross has music and love triangles as its themes, so maybe not.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:35 pm Reply with quote
I like it, but I am not realy a big fan of a lot of mecha, I often get bored of just giant robots doing giant robot stuff. But I think that FMP definetly focuses on the people inside the machines and crosses over to school life and somtimes war breaking out there too especialy in Fummoffu which does a good job at focusing on the comedy side, where else does art class turn into a dangerous battle to stay hidden. The characters are definetly a pluss, they provide both light hearted banter off the field (except Sousuke) and all business on the field also Gauron and the guy in the third season are twistidly rememberal characters, they are rarely boreing yet quite disturbing. Guess I might also add that the second and third seasons are made by Kyoto Animation.
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larinon



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 992
Location: Midland, TX
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:48 pm Reply with quote
What the heck, Full Metal Panic old? What's up with that? You're making a lot of us feel old with that comment. I don't think any anime that was produced in this century can be considered old yet.

Seriously though, the age doesn't really matter. So what if the animation doesn't look as sharp as the latest series', and the computer animation is obvious compared to the rest of the show. You can still say the same thing about other series released much more recently, even by the same studio (Blassreiter...) The key point should be: do you feel like, reading a description of a show and what genres it covers (etc.), this would be a title that you would enjoy? Other than your own financial considerations, that should be the main question. And quite honestly, financially speaking, this is a good time to be getting into Full Metal Panic or any other series of similar age because nowadays you can find very reasonably priced collections.

You can find some discussion of the series you mentioned in the appropriate recommendation threads:
Action anime recommendations
Science Fiction anime recommendations
Philosophical/Psychological recommendations

Or, you could just look at how ANN users have rated the shows, if you find that meaningful at all. That's listed on their respective encyclopedia pages.

Full Metal Panic! (ranked #175)
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (ranked #67)
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (ranked #55)
Martian Successor Nadesico (ranked #367)
Gasaraki (ranked #2251)

Full Metal Panic! is also ranked as the 15th most popular series on this site based on the number of people who have watched and the ratings given.

Maybe it's indicative of my age that I feel that this is research people should be doing on their own.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:08 pm Reply with quote
RedSwirl wrote:
Bonus Round 2: Gasaraki?


You've never watched Gasaraki? Blasphemy. Well, actually, it is a very overlooked series, and it doesn't get the coverage it deserves.

It is the most realistic "Real Robot" Mecha show I have ever seen, if we ignore the artificial muscles (which are totally plausible in their design and function, if not their origin). Even the HAVWCs depicted in FLAG don't quite make it, though they come close.

Gasaraki also has a pleasing lack of cute girls (okay, it has a couple, but no Moe and no Lolicon). It has a very good plot, some good action (though the Mecha action is quite sparse), and quite a few interesting things to say about modern and feudal Japan (you may not agree with them, but some characters do make good points). Music is great (especially the OP and ED), and the animation is adequate.

Where the show falls apart is in its mysticism. This is a show with two sides; an incredibly realistic Mecha side, and the very weird Noh dancing and stamping side. Both can be found in the first episode (they actually take exactly half the episode each). It isn't like the mystical side is bad, and it is (tenuously) related to the Mecha side, but it doesn't fit in. Or is it the other way around?

Anyway, it is a good watch. But your mileage may vary, not just between people but between arcs, between episodes, and even in episodes.


Last edited by dtm42 on Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24160
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:28 pm Reply with quote
I highly recommend all the FMP series. They have it all: action, humour, romance (sorta), occasional fanservice and - especially in FMP: Second Raid - some truly whacked out villains. This is a franchise I will watch repeatedly over the years, I'm sure, and if they come out with another installment, I'd probably poop myself in delight.
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Mushi-Man



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 1537
Location: KCMO
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:38 pm Reply with quote
I didn't really get into FMP. It just didn't come off to interesting to me. I'm sure it's good if your in the mood for that type of anime though. If you want a good mecha war series I'd go with Flag. Now that's a really hard core mecha series.

P.S: If you don't moe and shoujo charatcer design then I wouldn't watch FMP. It wasn't a heavy aspect or anything, but you would be aware of it.
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happymoose



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:01 pm Reply with quote
snip

Last edited by happymoose on Sat Aug 23, 2014 4:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Kimiko_0



Joined: 31 Aug 2008
Posts: 1796
Location: Leiden, NL, EU
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:10 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for the tip re: Gasaraki, dtm42. After looking it up on Wikipedia (the ANN synopsis is a little too short), I've added it to my to-watch list Smile
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Mujaki



Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:55 pm Reply with quote
larinon wrote:
What the heck, Full Metal Panic old? What's up with that? You're making a lot of us feel old with that comment. I don't think any anime that was produced in this century can be considered old yet.


I find this all the more funny considering RedSwirl's icon is of Tenshinhan, a character from an 80's manga/anime. Laughing
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littlegreenwolf



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:10 pm Reply with quote
Nadesico is total Otaku awesomeness, be you mech fan or not. It's one of those anime that don't really take itself seriously, and great for a laugh, so I suggest it to any anime fan out there, espeically if you like some old retro anime cause there are a lot of great jokes in there. It makes me sad to hear anime fans now adays that have never even heard about it when back in the day of ADV's golden age (I'm calling the late 90s their golden age now Razz) it was one of THE shows to watch.

As to Full Metal Panic... I loved it when it first came out, but now I really couldn't muster up enough interest to ever re-watch it or even buying it. Didn't really stay in my mind.
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RedSwirl



Joined: 08 Feb 2006
Posts: 344
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:13 pm Reply with quote
I should probably just watch this Patlabor I got. Now THAT'S a mecha show people need to go back and watch.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24160
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:59 pm Reply with quote
happymoose wrote:


There is one aspect of FMP that bothered me though.. spoiler[I found the main antagonist was a little too unsympathetic and simply lingered throughout the series a little too long. But I may be alone in feeling that.]


You are not alone. I feel exactly the same way. However, I thought the villains who were introduced in Second Raid were much more interesting.
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12skippy21



Joined: 25 Nov 2008
Posts: 785
Location: York, England
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:46 pm Reply with quote
Personally I found the first two series to be...ok but I did like Second Raid. While the first season had its merits in terms of comedy and action I was just annoyed by the stereotyped romance. Making your lead female tsundere is always a problem and I cannot stand drawn out romances unless done effectively (NANA). Fumoffu I found funny but same complaints again, though I liked the rugby episode being a fan of the sport myself.
Second raid had a good story, it was more action oriented and I found, unlike before, the relationship aspect to be useful towards the plot with an adequate attempt at depth (haircut scene).

Overall I would say it's worth renting.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:56 pm Reply with quote
FMP is fairly good. Not anything brilliant but a reasonably fun balance of action, romance and comedy. I found it kind of goes down hill from there though. Fumoffu isn't funny. It has like a couple funny episodes and then the rest is just slight variations of the same few jokes repeated over and over. This stuff worked as a small part of the first series only because it was only used here and there. I didn't care for Second Raid either. It tries to be too serious and unfortunately, the entire series at it's core is too silly for this to work. It also makes the bit of comedy feel inappropriate.
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