First off, I haven't written many reviews on IMDb this way, so if I do, that means the piece I'm writing on is really impactive. Full Metal Panic is to me, more or less, amazing.
The show is a perfect blend of high school romance, slapstick comedy, hard-pressed drama and balls-out action. It follows 17-year-old military sergeant Souske Sagara (pronounced "soh-skey") as he is assigned to protect 17-year-old Japanese high school student/orphan with the body of a goddess, Kaname Chidori (pronounced "kuh-nah-may") from unknown dangers. The dangers become apparent throughout the series as a bad guy with a scar on the side of his face, Guaron (pronounced "Gar-on") hijacks a field trip plane their class is on to kidnap Kaname and use her for mysterious reasons. You soon find out Kaname is part of a secret and extremely rare breed of people known as "The Whispered". Exactly what The Whispered are or who, we find very little out throughout the series. But it leads to some extraordinary events in the show's 24-episode run.
It's almost impossible to compress the series' events in a single review, so I'll just stop right there and let the viewer learn for his or herself. But know that if sounds like a typical weird explosion/sex Anime, you're pretty wrong. Yes, there does seem to be a focus on the guy genre (lots of robot action and hot half-naked babes, etc) but I know plenty of women who enjoy the show as well. And, it's not a "cutesy" Anime that the other half of the population seems to generalize it as. It has plenty of warm-and-fuzzy moments, but it's not what the show is based on.
The show is such a wide mix of emotions, I don't know how it could be done. And all in all, the show hooks any viewer into wanting to know more. The story arcs are excellently put out, the character work, though a little scrappy, is raw and enjoyable, and the dialogue (both original Japanese and the English dub) are very well-written.
I wasn't too big of an Anime person before I started watching this show. Before it I LOVED Miyazaki films (still do) and I thought Ghost in the Shell was a good movie. I caught a few episodes of this show's spin off series, "Full Metal Panic? fumoffu" (which is more romance and comedy, and almost completely different from this series) and thought it was enjoyable. When I bought this series on a whim, I was blown away.
And you will too! Just make sure you watch them from the beginning. You don't want to miss an episode of this legendary Anime series.
