Full Metal Panic: 38/50; PG
Review by Windswept
Plot: 8
Sousuke's assigned to protect Chidori, has (quite hilarious) troubles fitting in at the school she attends, has to save her and her classmates, has to save the city from massive robot, has to save comrades from another robot, has to save entire submarine from the same robot...it's less repetitive than you'd think, honest. Gauron gets annoying as an 'even if this explosion was massive and nothing could possibly survive it--I did!' sort of villian, and Sousuke's complete obliviousness is kind of exasperating, the plot still has a nice flow to it. Nothing was rushed, or too slow...except, well, in the last episode. That could have been better.
Characters: 7
It definitely bugged me that alot of the characters' pasts were left untouched. The odd thing was that Sousuke's past was gone into more than the supposed heroine, Chidori. We know next to nothing about her, Kurz, Mao, and basically everyone else in the series. Which is really, really annoying. Despite that, however, the characters were still very well done and well portrayed. Sousuke and Kaname's relationship was pretty odd, though--around episode 7 you think 'okay, they love each other now, yay!', but the next episode you see nothing's changed. Actually, pretty much nothing changes through the entire series involving their relationship.
Music: 10
I have to say, I loved the music. The opening (Tomorrow) and ending (Karenai Hana) were the same throughout the series, simply changing verses and scenes at points. Both are quite amazing, the ending especially, in my opinion.
Design: 7
The mecha were pretty decent, but it was sort of hard to distinguish between the different types. The thing that really dropped the scoring was the character designs. Okay, breasts that look almost like taped-on balloons are good for some people, but I much prefer realism. Other than that, the art was pretty damn good, especially the underwater scenes with the de Danaan.
Censorship: PG
Mostly explosions and not-so-subtle fanservice. It was limited to the occasional 'we'll show this panty shot for no apparent reason', however. There were also shots in the last couple episodes with a naked Chidori, but that wasn't so much fanservice as a way to show she's immersed in the de Danaan (uh-huh). Also the tiniest bit of blood and swearing at times.
Opinion: 6
Being raised on Gundam Wing fanfiction, I found it quite interesting that Sousuke's character is the exact likeness of a fandom Heero Yuy, right down to the 'ryoukai's. Just for a random observation there. Back to the anime, I really enjoyed it, despite all the hangups. My main problem with it was the lack of going-into-pasts-ness. I like seeing what made the character and what drives them. Which we basically don't get for *any* of the FMP charas. It was still a great anime--but it could have been so much better.
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