Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu

Publisher
ADV
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
11 Episodes/ 25 Minutes
Year
2003

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu volume 1 Full metal Pandemonium!

By noghri
10th Mar 06

I have awaited this series since I first heard that the was going to be a follow up to the TV series Full Metal Panic, the Manga and anime of this story are truly brilliant. With an equal balance of silly humour, romance and action this series really grabs your attention and never fails to entertain. I was hoping for something of equal entertainment value.

I didn’t know that much about the new series but I knew this time, there are no giant robots and no Mythril. Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu puts all the elements about the Whispered and their secret on the backburner for this short series, and focuses more along the High School comedy element. With Sousuke Sagara in the classroom, the most socially inept teenager in Japan, you know something hilarious is going to happen.

Many of these stories are straight from the Manga, also released by ADV. From Sousuke's first love letter, to the summer at the beach, scenes are carried over very well and translate well into the animation. The animation essentially brings the pages to life, as Kyoto Animation has done a great job taking over the animation that GONZO animation originally started.

The dub is once again top-notch. Chris Patton and Luci Christian reprise their roles as Sousuke Sagara and Kaname Chidori, and they have not missed a beat since playing these characters last. If anything, they've learned from their previous experience, and made the characters even better. Sousuke's deadpan tone has become even better, and Kaname's yelling has gotten more intense.

But through all the violence and yelling a possible love story is developing, much to the supprise of the clueless sousuke..

Here is what ADV had to say

Kaname and Sousuke are back in action!

And this time, the battleground is the school ground! High-yield explosives and hilarity come together with a bang as the sombre soldier and his unwitting target brave everything from lovesick "terrorists" to an unforgiving teacher who is bent on revenge.

But as good as he is with guns, Sousuke is one clueless commando when it comes to girls - especially Kaname! Don't miss the hilarious antics of everyone's favourite military maniac - and Jin High's most fiery female - as the full-throttle action begins!

The first thing that hits you is the music, it is an obvious parody of the A-team’s theme tune. I found this to be quite entertaining in itself and I was bopping away quietly on the sofa until asked to stop.

Where was I, oh I remember the story starts when the principal from Jin Dai high is approving the repairs for the school. They equate to 435,000 yen for one week and it is all due to Sousuke Sagara a rather adept way of introducing his character I thought. Meanwhile, In the locker room of the school a school girl decides to declare her new found love for Sousuke by way of a letter, of course nothing goes simply in this school and when he finds his locker has been tampered with he detonates the lockers in case of a possible letter bomb.

The fragments of the letter cause concern for Sousuke and her sets about solving the possible threat to the school Kaname sets about trying to explain that she thinks the letter is nothing more than a love letter, but Kiyoko believes that she is jealous. The student body president believes Sousuke’s actions were justified and so no repercussions comes about.

The second part of the episode sees sousuke pull a gun on a video game machine and a machinegun on a gang of youths. To avoid a hostage situation, he turns the tables on the hostage takers by kidnapping or threatening loved ones or blackmailing each of the members involved. A note to point out is the translation, by the student body president, between Sousuke and a gang member responsible for delivering the demands, it is hilarious.

The next storyline is when the bread stand at school is destroyed by Sousuke, the students set up a temporary bread stand at the suggestion of the student body President. This is to last for two weeks while the bakers heal their wounds, a normal situation and if anywhere else in the world I’m sure that it would be, but this in Jin Dai High and so the gym teacher tries to poison and sabotage the sales of bread everyday to teach the kids a lesson. This escalates to ridiculous levels when Sousuke keeps setting traps to protect the bread, even though he is completely unaware of the teacher’s attempts.

Another plot points include Sousuke leaving vital notes borrowed from Kaname at home and a mad rush to run home and get them before the next period starts at school. This includes a nice parody of you’re under arrest and results in the manic traffic cop totalling her car while trying to catch the two for riding double on a bike.

The final storyline is a full-length episode about a trip to the beach and a young, rich, housebound boy who has sufferend from unrequited love earlier in his life. Sousuke sets bombs to stop theives from stealing their wallets while swimming. He also is blindfolded to split the tradional watermelon on the beach, he descides that the most efficient way to do so is with a shotgun.

This episode reminds me of Love Hina quite a lot, except that is, for the scaling of a cliff top mansion to rescue the unwilling Kaneme, from the specialist body guards of the young boy. The situation is worsened when kename advises the body guards that sousuke is a pervert who has been stalking her. As it turns out Sousuke actually turns around and helps the young boy over come his psychosematic sickness.

This blend of short short stories and full length episodes is a little weird to be honest and Im not really sure what to make of it, the pacing seems a little mismatched, but this may just be me. Perhaps by the second volume I will have made up my mind how I feel about it.

Overall though this is a series to be recommended to fans of the original or of the hilarity found in the likes of Love Hina, Azumanga Daioh and Magical Shopping Arcade.
I think that it would still be enjoyed by people who do not know much about Full Metal Panic, but some of the more quirky jokes especially about Sousuke might be missed or not fully apprecieted.
I don’t however see this an a big issue and I doubt very much if it would interfere with someones enjoyment of the series, I may even recommend this as an introduction to Full Metal Panic depending upon how the series pans out.

All signs are good for this first volume of four and its definitely a hit for me as a fan of the original TV series and Manga. I also recently read the Full MetalPanic Overload manga and though very similar to this humour, personally I think this is preferable to the Manga, but both are worth picking up.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English 5.1 Japanese 2.0

Release information: ADV 5/10/05

Notes: The Mysteries Of Fumoffu, Clean opening and closing, Original Tv Spots, Character Artwork, Bonta-kun Board game. The Special features on this anime are worth a look, but with no commentary and only a little insight given in the mysteries of the Fumoffu, i found them a little lacking to be honest. The one saving grace is the Bonta-kun board game which made my day, its really nice when these kind of unexpected extras are just thrown in, nice touch ADV.

-- noghri 10th Mar 06

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu Images