Sarah

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu

To carry on with last weeks post I decided to continue with the Full Metal Panic! This week I enjoyed another adventure with these enchanting characters in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu.

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu involves the story of Sousuke and Chidori at Jindai High School. This series takes you through the daily encounters of these two characters and their friends. Sousuke is still struggling to fit in with ‘normal’ people. He continues to make wrong observations and add dramatic comedy to the situations. Chidori tries to help Sousuke act less like he would on the battlefield but it seems he might be hopeless, since he has only known the battlefield and nothing else for nearly a decade

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu
4 & 1/2 Stars

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu involves the story of Sousuke and Chidori at Jindai High School. This series takes you through the daily encounters of these two characters and their friends. Sousuke is still struggling to fit in with ‘normal’ people. He continues to make wrong observations and add dramatic comedy to the situations. Chidori tries to help Sousuke act less like he would on the battlefield but it seems he might be hopeless, since he has only known the battlefield and nothing else for nearly a decade.

In Fumoffu, you do not get to see the regular (Transformer like) Arm Slaves, but Sousuke uses a version he helped create that looks like a stuffed teddy bear, Bonta-kun. Turns out his childish looking, Arm Slave comes in handy and is used in several episodes. Although it says in the anime, only the United States bought the Bonta-kun Arm Slaves, so it turned out to be Sousuke’s job to figure out what to do with the extras.

The lives of the characters are shaken up daily with Sousuke’s constant military methods, Captain Tessa deciding to visit, and antagonists popping up here and there. The majority of the problems around the school involve the school’s club organization and Chidori and Sousuke have to find a way for all the clubs cooperate peacefully.

When Captain Tessa comes to visit for two weeks, she upsets the life of everyone around. Sousuke’s mission is to protect Captain Tessa by any means necessary. Tessa puts herself and Sousuke into situations where he has to put his all in to save her, but she is not necessarily always in trouble. It just so happens that when Captain Tessa decides to visit, Sousuke is incredibly exhausted but he still gives it his all. Sousuke has a knack for turning something simple into an intricate process.

In the end, Sousuke causes a bacteriological scare at the school and makes everyone fear for their life.

If you want to know anything more you will have to watch it for yourself. I highly recommend. The major storyline is not twisted, sick or anything of that sort. This anime is simply one for the dramatic folks out there. However, do not let the drama discourage you; it still keeps you interested until the very last second, with a minor twist at the end. Moreover, with only fourteen episodes, it is a breeze to get through.

Full Metal Panic!

Sarah / October 31, 2007 / Uncategorized

I am a member of several different anime and manga fan forums, and someone suggested I take a look at Full Metal Panic! Full Metal Panic! is a twenty-four episode series that has two sequels: Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu and Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.

Editor’s note: A big RF welcome to Sarah and the first of what will be many looks into the strange world of anime.

Full Metal Panic!
4 Stars

The story starts out with Second Lieutenant Melissa Mao, Sergeant Kurz Weber and Sergeant Sousuke Sagara are given a mission to protect one of the Whispered. Without any other knowledge of the mission, they are sent off to Jindai High School where Sousuke is to blend with the students. Sousuke, a mysterious military teen, becomes somewhat of an open book as the episodes slowly dip into his past. Sousuke, as a hardcore mercenary, has a hard time adjusting to the high school territory, which makes it hard for him to blend.

In the mission at hand, they are to protect the Whispered, Kaname Chidori. Kaname is an orphaned high school student who has special knowledge that causes her to get into trouble.

In the series the main antagonist is Gauron, he seeks the Black Technology that Kaname inherently posses. Sousuke is the only one who can stop Gauron, but only with the help of Kaname’s Whispered knowledge.

Quick character analysis:

Sergeant Sousuke Sagara: also known as Urzu 7 in battle. Sousuke, now approximately seventeen years old, got his start in the military as an eight-year-old guerilla. He then joined with Mithril about two years prior to meeting Kaname Chidori. Sousuke is squad mate to Sergeant Kurz Weber and their squad leader is Second Lieutenant Melissa Mao.

Kaname Chidori: One of the Whispered. Before Sousuke and Mithril came along Kaname was a normal high school student. Now she is burdened with military involvement. Her Whispered abilities are in advanced mathematics and science. She often helps Sousuke in battle so he can better understand the Lambda Driver in his Arm Slave.

Second Lieutenant Melissa Mao: Urzu 2. She is the squad leader to Sousuke and Kurz. She is approximately 25 years old. Melissa Mao accepted Sousuke and Kurz into her Special Response Team after seeing spectacular marksmanship from Kurz and a particular battle between Sousuke and an Rk-92 Savage.

Sergeant Kurz Weber: Urzu 6. Sousuke and Melissa Mao’s squad mate, he is an exceptional marksmen, and usually is seen fighting from long distances with a sniper rifle. Kurz is a big flirt who hits on all the women, including his Captain Teletha Testarossa.

Captain Teletha Testarossa: also known as Tessa. She is also a Whispered. Her and Kaname become friends after Kaname aids Sousuke and a battle with Behemoth. Tessa is in love with Sousuke, which creates a love triangle between Sousuke, Kaname and Tessa.

Personally, I believe this series is one to look into. I enjoyed every single episode. If you are into the action animes mixed with love stories then this is your anime. But keep in mind that it is the stereotypical anime where the boys are all lechers [no matter what]. Also another thing to remember is that when the protagonist is in battle they cannot fight their hardest unless they are saying a woman and they use their most powerful weapon in the nick of time to save the day.

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