Full Metal Panic!

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: FMP

Japanese: フルメタル・パニック!

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Information

Type: Light Novel

Volumes: 12

Chapters: 72

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 9, 1998 to Aug 20, 2011

Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

Themes: Love Polygon, Mecha, Military, School

Serialization: None

Authors: Gatou, Shouji (Story), Shiki, Douji (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.12¹ (scored by 2,756 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #550²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2429

Members: 8,891

Favorites: 227

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Wikipedia

8.12

Ranked #550Popularity #2429Members 8,891

Light NovelGatou, Shouji (Story), Shiki, Douji (Art)

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Volumes: /12

Chapters: /72

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Synopsis

Jindai High School was a relatively safe place, right up until Sousuke Sagara transferred there. A total nut, he wreaks havoc on the school's student body and gets into a world of trouble with the teachers! But there's more to Sousuke than meets the eye—not just a hell-raising student, he's actually a member of an elite military unit, on an undercover mission to protect the beautiful schoolgirl Kaname Chidori from the KGB.

(Source: TokyoPop)

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Background

Full Metal Panic! was published in English by TokyoPop from September 11, 2007 to February 1, 2011. 5 volumes were released before publication was discontinued. The fourth TokyoPop volume is a compilation of the original fourth and fifth. The series has been published digitally in English by J-Novel Club from May 4, 2019 to June 25, 2021, and in print as 3-in-1 omnibus volumes from February 4, 2020 to July 19, 2022.

The series got 1st place on the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! ranking under Best Light Novel category in 2008.

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Reviews

May 27, 2009

Master10K

Recommended

Preliminary (50/72 eps)

Spoiler

These reviews are for novels 4-9 and are mostly spoiler free however the review for “Burning One Man Force” will contain major spoilers. ^_^

~ END OF DAY BY DAYS : 9/10 ~
A Mecha, Sci-fi, Action, Romance, Drama light novel that’s a very exciting read. Those who enjoyed the anime adaptation for the story would certainly enjoy the slightly different experience this novel offers.

The story continues some time after the events from FMP! Into the Blue; with the main focus, this time being on the Mithril organization itself and the relationship between Sousuke & Kaname. There’s plenty of exciting action that is easy to ...

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Dec 23, 2023

abystoma2

Not Recommended

Funny

Full Metal Panic is one of those novels that have an intriguing premise, but then failing to capitalize on it.

The premise here is a boy who grew up in a war-torn environment as a mercenary, but is suddenly thrust into a Japanese high school with little social knowledge. It’s a solid premise, and I have mostly enjoyed the first volume.

Herein lies the problem though – if you want to go the more serious route, this should get at most 4 volumes. Or come up with some ideas for the arcs. What we got instead was the usual LN hijinks of having to have over ... 10 volumes just for the volumes sake. This causes both the plot progression and the character progression to go at snail pace as otherwise the story would get resolved too quickly and less volumes would be sold. It’s a quantity over quality industry after all. The other option would be to turn it into a full gag comedy, which would lessen the requirements for solidly thought out story. Well, at least this later came into reality in the form of a spin-off, though at this point I should probably clarify that the novel was my first exposure to this franchise. I haven’t seen the anime or read the manga, so this review is wholly unaffected by how those fare.

Another waste of opportunity is the main pairing. A fish out of water who’s expert in his specialization, and a girl with unusual interests to an extent that her classmates consider her too weird to be dateable. A match made in heaven you could say. Unfortunately, the girl gets turned into an obnoxious tsundere at the nearest opportunity, one who does her best to sabotage any possible relationship progress and retain the status quo, resulting in a very underwhelming finale regarding the relationship. The story could have been so better if they started actually dating early on so the full potential of the dynamic of two kinds of weirdo could have been realized.

Regarding rest of the cast and the story, unfortunately nothing managed to grab my attention. I would have even dropped the novel within the first 3 volumes if I wasn’t a completionist. Even them, I caught myself zoning out often, especially in the later half. So if you’re a fan and you have an objection in the form of “but there was this cool scene that you didn’t mention at all!” you might very well be correct, there is a real possibility I could have skimmed over it. Don’t blame the reader for being unable to devote attention to the work though. I’m a certified bookworm, it isn’t exactly difficult to make me interested in reading a book. So if I find myself in a situation where I have to constantly force myself to keep paying attention to a book, I’m 100% blaming the author’s lack of skills for that. It’s not just the story that lacks interesting points, Full Metal Panic also unfortunately falls into the common pitfall of light novels which is incredibly bland writing style. There is no author’s personality to be detected, there is no creativity with the medium, there is absolutely nothing of literal value in this book series.

Overall, it feels like the author had all the right cards to write a good story, yet still managed to fumble all the opportunities. This could have been a romcom Metal Gear Solid, which sounds awesome. Instead, it’s an attempt at slice of life drama military mecha romance comedy sci-fi story which fails to execute any of those genres in a satisfying way, let alone combining them in an intriguing way.

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LIGHT NOVEL SEQUEL TO FULL METAL PANIC tsumetaipasta - Oct 24, 2024	0 replies	by tsumetaipasta »» Oct 24, 2024 11:16 AM
The ending was lackluster.Spoilers. xsilicon9 - Dec 8, 2013	6 replies	by DarkHumor04 »» Nov 16, 2023 3:58 PM
Where to pick up after the anime? CLADDAN - Apr 19, 2022	2 replies	by CLADDAN »» May 2, 2022 4:26 AM
Poll: Full Metal Panic! Vol. 3 Into the Blue Discussion removed-user - Jun 30, 2017	0 replies	by removed-user »» Jun 30, 2017 11:19 AM
Poll: Full Metal Panic! Vol. 2 One Night Stand Discussion removed-user - May 7, 2016	0 replies	by removed-user »» May 7, 2016 10:59 AM

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