Full Metal Panic!
Full Metal Panic! ( Japanese フ ル メ タ ル ・ パ ニ ッ ク! Furumetaru panikku! ) is a Japanese light novel series , an illustrated novel by Shōji Gatō ( 賀 東 招 二 Gatō Shōji ), illustrated by Dōji Shiki ( 四季 童子 Shiki from Dōji ), die Published from 1998 to 2011.
In the West, on the other hand, the manga drawn by Retsu Tateo ( 館 尾 冽 Tateo Retsu ), more recent editions, such as B. Full Metal Panic! Σ by Hiroshi Ueda ( 上 田 宏 Ueda Hiroshi ) and the anime series (four seasons so far) based on it.
content
background
The series takes place in an alternate world story in which the Cold War is not yet over. Secret organizations such as the KGB still exist and are up to mischief.
The plot follows the protagonist Sousuke Sagara, an overly disciplined member of the secret organization Mithril ( ミ ス リ ル Misuriru ), which often operates under the guise of the UN, and Kaname Chidori, the high school student he is supposed to protect.
Kaname is apparently one of the Whispered , meaning that she has an innate understanding of so-called black technology , which is 10 years ahead of its time. This knowledge is genetically implanted after birth, which Kaname is initially unaware of and which she only has access to in a near comatose , ecstatic state (which is usually triggered by fear of danger).
An example of black technology is the Lambda Driver , an extension for arm slaves (combat mecha , a tall , robotic fighting machine) that allows the pilot to express intense desires in offensive and defensive maneuvers (e.g. the desire to to protect someone).
Understandably, such technology is of interest to both terrorists and the authorities of various countries.
action
The young sergeant Sousuke Sagara is commissioned by the international organization Mithril ( ミ ス リ ル Misuriru ) to protect high school student Kaname Chidori from terrorists.
Since Sousuke was already a mercenary in Helmajistan in his childhood (the equivalent of Afghanistan in Full Metal Panic ), he lacks common sense. So it happens that Sousuke, who is an excellent arm slave pilot in the military , often misinterprets situations and tries to solve them with armed force or explosives. The plot shows again and again the contrasts of Kaname's world, school and "normal" life, and Sousuke's world, the military and the war . While Kaname is often of great use in Sousuke's world (due to her extraordinary talent), Sousuke has massive problems finding her way in the "normal world".
However, school life is only part of the anime and will be featured in the follow-up series Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu depicted as being heavy on the comedy. The more important part of the series is Sousuke as a soldier and pilot of the Arbalest, an arm slave equipped with a Lambda driver. In doing so, he repeatedly meets Gauron, an opponent whom he fought in Helmajistan as a child and who has an arm slave who is equally equipped. In the end, Gauron Mithril's command submarine succeeds in taking over the Tuatha De Danann (named after a legendary Irish people, the Túatha Dé Danann ), which, under the command of Teletha (Tessa) Testarossa, serves as a mobile base. However, together with his team - Sergeant Weber and Sergeant Major Mao - and the help of Kaname, Sousuke manages to regain the submarine and ultimately defeat Gauron.
Characters
- Sousuke Sagara ( 相 良 宗 介 , Sagara Sōsuke )
- Sōsuke Sagara is the protagonist of the story. As a child he already gained war experience as a mercenary in Afghanistan. Life in peaceful civilization is rather unknown to him, which is why he tries to solve everyday problems in his somewhat "own" way. It also happens that he detonates his locker because someone has left a love letter there that he thinks is a letter bomb . So he sees dangers everywhere and places explosive charges to protect them and greatly exaggerates these safety precautions. This exaggerated concern of Sōsuke is increasingly getting on Kaname's nerves, even if she is clear inside that he only means well. As the story progresses, Kaname and Sōsuke grow closer, but for a mercenary like Sōsuke, who literally understands flirting as the “hunt for women”, this is anything but easy.
- Sōsuke is an excellent arm slave pilot and is the only member of Mithril able to control the ARX-7 Arbalest and thus make use of the so-called Lambda Driver .
- Kaname Chidori ( 千 鳥 か な め , Chidori Kaname )
- Kaname Chidori is the main female character in the story. She lives alone in an apartment because her mother Shizu succumbed to cancer about 3 years before the action (1998) of the 1st season (2001) and her father Shunya and her younger sister Ayame live in America. She has a very “tough” attitude, but in some intimate moments it turns out to be a facade.
In the school Kaname is the class representative and together with Sōsuke in the student council, which leads to the constant clash of the main characters.
Gauron
- Gauron is the main culprit in the series, who also has a lambda driver. He won't stop at anything and has mastered the art of survival in hopeless situations perfectly. Gauron's plan is to kidnap Kaname Chidori in order to get at the information of the so-called "black technology", to earn money with it and to abuse it for his own purposes.
Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa
- Teletha Testarossa, like Kaname, is a so-called "Whispered" and has information from black technology. With this information, she has designed and built a large submarine - the Tuatha De Danann - in which she acts as a captain. Over the course of the series, she falls in love with Sousuke and a fight ensues between her and Kaname.
Kurtz Weber
- Kurtz Weber is a sergeant at Mithril and fights side by side with Sousuke as a born sniper and rather unsuccessful womanizer. However, it cannot be used in close combat.
Melissa Mao
- Sergeant Major Melissa Mao leads the three-man Mithril group consisting of Sousuke, Kurtz, and herself. Kurtz's behavior gets on her nerves in the long run, which in part contributes to the humor in the series. She fights mainly in her arm slave, unfortunately no major features in the fighting style are known, except that she can throw knives accurately.
Anime
| Television broadcast | |
|---|---|
| German title | Full Metal Panic! |
| Original title | フ ル メ タ ル ・ パ ニ ッ ク! , Full Metal Panic! |
 | |
| Country of production | Japan |
| original language | Japanese |
| Year (s) | 2002-present |
| length | 25 minutes |
| Episodes | 49 + 1 in 3 seasons |
| genre | Romance , shons , action series , mecha , comedy |
| Theme music | Mikuni Shimokawa |
| production | Koichi Chigira |
| First broadcast | January 8, 2002 - June 18, 2002 on WOWOW |
So far, 3 animated offshoots of the series have been published, each of which is a mix of several issues of the light novel .
The premiere of the broadcast had to be postponed for both the first and the second season due to unforeseeable events.
In the first season (which should start immediately after September 11th ), this was justified by plot sequences at the beginning of the series, in which there should be a plane hijacking. It is also spicy that the protagonist (Sousuke Sagara) was a mercenary in Afghanistan as a child.
Season 2 has been postponed for 3 weeks due to news of kidnapping and school food poisoning incidents to redistribute the episodes. In the end it was decided not to broadcast the two episodes that dealt with such incidents and to publish them on DVD .
Full Metal Panic!
- 2002, Gonzo Digimation , 24 episodes
- Opening music : Tomorrow by Shimokawa Mikuni ( 下 川 み く に )
- Ending music: Karenai Hana ( 枯 れ な い 花 'immortal flower' ) by Shimokawa Mikuni
The unscrupulous terrorist Gauron tries to kidnap high school student Kaname Chidori in order to use her for military purposes. What Kaname doesn't know herself: She is one of the Whispered, i.e. H. she has knowledge of military technology ( black technology ) that is 10 years ahead of today's.
In order to protect them from terrorists like Gauron, the secret military organization, Mithril Sousuke Sagara, together with his comrades Melissa Mao and Kurz Weber, instructs Chidori to protect them, which is not that easy, as the terrorists do not even shrink from hijacking an airplane.
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu
- 2003, Kyōto Animation , Fuji TV, 12 episodes
- Opening credits: Sore ga, Ai Deshō ( そ れ が 、 愛 で し ょ う 'That must be love' ) by Shimokawa Mikuni
- Ending music: Kimi ni Fuku Kaze ( 君 に 吹 く 風 'Wind blowing on you' ) by Shimokawa Mikuni
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu tells the little intermediate stories of the plot of Full Metal Panic! that had no place in the first season . These intermediate stories have little to do with the actual story of Full Metal Panic! to do and show how Sagara Sousuke finds her way in the world outside of the military. Is that why Full Metal Panic plays? Fumoffu exclusively in Kaname's world, but Sousuke's colleagues and superiors also have a guest appearance and Bonta-kun is finally introduced.
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
- 2005, Kyōto Animation , 13 episodes + 1 OVA Wari to Hima na Sentai-chō no Ichinichi ( わ り と ヒ マ な 戦 隊長 の 一日 ; May 26, 2006)
- Opening music : Minami Kaze ( 南風 'South Wind' ) by Shimokawa Mikuni
- Ending music: Mō Ichido Kimi ni Aitai ( も う 一度 君 に 会 い た い 'I want to meet you again' ) by Shimokawa Mikuni
The plot of Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid picks up where the first season left off and thus covers the plot of the light novel Owaru Day by Day ( The End of Everyday Life ) Issues 1 & 2, whereby the implementation of the anime (as well as the manga) again easily distinguished from the original.
During a mission in the civil war-torn republic of Balic , Mithril encounters unexpectedly fierce resistance from the military dictatorship, which was just about to execute insurgents. Apparently the Balic military has technology that allows them to bypass the ECS stealth mode of arm slaves and attack helicopters - but where does a poor country like Balic get this technology from?
Sousuke, who is more and more overwhelmed by his double life, begins to hate himself, but especially the prototype ARX-7 Arbalest , as it is unreliable and does not always work the way he wants it to. Sousuke's grades continue to plummet, so Kaname begins to worry.
In Hong Kong, the terrorist organization Amalgam (possibly an allusion to the name Mithril), together with the excellent Chinese fighters Yu Fan and her younger sister Yu Lan, are causing unrest. You seem to be well informed about Mithril's actions - too well.
Finally, Sousuke is withdrawn as guard Kanames and forbidden him any contact with her - and that just when the two have finally come closer.
The situation escalates when Sousuke meets an old acquaintance with whom he would certainly no longer have expected.
Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory
- 2018, Xebec , 12 episodes ( フ ル メ タ ル ・ パ ニ ッ ク! Invisible Victory)
The fourth season is essentially based on the 7th volume of novels. The first 10 episodes were broadcast from April 13 to June 29, 2018 on AT-X, as well as on Tokyo MX, Sun TV and BS11 with an offset of up to one day. The two final episodes followed on July 18, 2018 on AT-X, and up to a week later on the other channels.
Crunchyroll streamed the series as a simulcast in English-speaking countries.
Voice actor
| role | Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) | German speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Sousuke Sagara | Tomokazu Seki | Marius Clarén |
| Kaname Chidori | Satsuki Yukino | Melanie Hinze |
| Kyoko Tokiwa | Ikue Kimura | Marie-Luise Schramm |
| Shinji Kazama | Mamiko Noto | Patrick Baehr |
| Andrej Kalinin / Andrei Kolinin | Akio Ōtsuka | Hans Teuscher |
| Melissa Mao | Michiko Neya | Tanja Geke |
| Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa | Yukana | Magdalena Turba |
| Short Weber | Shin'ichirō Miki | Julien Haggége |
| Gauron | Masahiko Tanaka | Bernd Schramm |
| Richard Mardukas | Tomomichi Nishimura | Reinhard Scheunemann |
Web links
- Full Metal Panic! in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Full Metal Panic! in Anime News Network (English)