Probably the most enjoyable anime i've ever seen: it has it all... super badass battles with, in my opinion, the best mecha designs(mecha looks really realistic if you know what i mean... nothing like Code Geass's mecha(which i don't really like)); great and very funny comedy; heartwarming school romance; brilliant characters; wonderful music; a rather simple(compared to Evangelion) but very catchy story-plot. With this in mind i am NOT saying that this is the best anime ever but it's definitely one of the most enjoyable. Both original Japanese and the English dub are very well done (the Italian dub is also very good too). i recommend this to all the people that are new to anime (great start for newbies: nothing too complex or hard to watch) and obviously to all the anime lovers that haven't watched it yet. I also recommend the other two series: FMP Fumoffu?(comedy and romance mostly) and FMP The Second Raid!(action based and a bit of drama).

I liked this anime very much and I checked it out on DVD when a friend recommended it to me and it was one of the best science fiction action comedies I ever saw in my life.Its full of great characters and having mechas (in this anime called Arm Slaves) in an alternate time-line is a great twist. Its got plenty of humour and not just in the fish out of water humour regarding the male lead character Sousuke Sagara who has no social skills outside of being a soldier.All in all great action with a terrific storyline with excellent characters!

I've had Full Metal Panic! turn anime haters into anime lovers, but most said that they loved how FMP wraps everything up with an EXCELLENT....feel. Put the plot, characters, scenery in the back of your mind...and focus on the overall feeling of the series. Sure, the other stuff is great, and they're done very well...but a lot of other anime series have that. FMP! has the FEEL of something interesting...something worthwhile...something just plain enjoyable. I could sit down and re-watch it over and over again and pick up something new every time...it's like watching a good actor play his part.Maybe that's what I'm trying to get at...these characters don't feel like drawings with people reading their lines. They don't do something so predictable that you already know the next scene. This anime feels original because the characters feel original...as if they were real people. They're people that you could imagine meeting on the street, but know that you never will. They all have personalities, consciences, etc...facial features actually show what mood they might be in...it's something that could be easily converted into a real-life acted movie, just because it's so apparent that the storyboard operators went down to every excruciating detail of what everything needed to look like...I'll stop rambling now. Just go watch it. And make sure to keep, in the back of your mind, a mental note of what Sousuke's eyes look like between each episode...it may come in handy when you watch The Second Raid

I was half dragged into watching this series, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Much as the great title suggests, the series is mech based. It revolves around a special force called special "Mithril", and an elite specialist soldier named Sagara. Add to the mix a schoolgirl named Chidori and you've got the title - Full Metal Panic!The mechs used in the show are far from the standard fare. They're unique enough and the Mithril force is unique enough that it manages to feel fresh. Sagara is a dead clone of Heero Yui, but that's not a bad thing. Sagara is described as the most "professional of the professional", an elite soldier through and through. Taking this pure military mind and placing him into a urban highschool situation is actually quite funny. There's some hilarious moments that alone make the series worth watching.Chidori bugs me a bit, but she serves her purpose in the series. I just find her about impossible to like early in the show. I'm quite sure this is purposely done though, and as the series goes on she becomes much more likable.The action sequences is where the show really shines. Elite forces, big mechs, guns, explosions, tanks... lots of fun for all. It's very well animated and very well timed. Being from GONZO, I would certainly expect this. They've done every bit as good as they did with the Vandread series.If you like the title, you'll probably like the anime. It's really as simple as that. A Heero like main character, plenty of fan service, GONZO's wonderful artists, and a storyline that makes you want to watch just one more episode every single time. It's a refreshingly well put together show.Rirath_com