I'll admit it: this is a blatant excuse to promote the Anime & Manga section of our forums. It's also part of an effort to have more content, not necessarily in the computer hardware and software part. How does reviewing an anime DVD have to do with anything here? Well, it's popularity tends to be with people that are already computer geeks/nerds. I know that's the case for me. ADVision, or simply ADV, while mostly puts out Anime DVD's, they do some live action shows, the biggest being Farscape. ADV is responsible for bringing over hits like Neon Genesis Evangelion. What they do is essentially translate from the original Japanese for subtitles, and also provide voice acting for the characters, which I'll expand on later. Now to get into the actual DVD itself. I've seen Full Metal Panic! (yes, the "!" is part of the title) before DVD...but those were fansubbed (subtitled in English by people doing the translation and other stuff on their own time). Having the DVD is nice as you can't always get the higheset quality you'd like...nor with English dialogue. Anyway, FMP! is a very good anime, and doesn't get really all that strange. It's a mecha anime, meaning there will be big robots fighting. As far as the plot goes, it revolves around Souske Sagara,a member of MITHRIL, an independent military organization with no country behind it. There are people that subconciously have a library of knowledge about a so-called "black technology", and are called "the Wispered". Souske and two others are assigned to watch over a possible Wispered girl named Chidori Kaname without her knowledge. Souske is the only one out of the 3 people assigned that has daily contact with Chidori. That's at Jindai High School, as a new student. While Souske is a very adept soldier, he's an absolute bomb in social skills, which leads to embarssing moments trying to protect Chidori and quickly landing him on her bad side with the label of a military fan-boy. Episode Plots Episode 1 The Guy I Kinda Like is a Sergent: Soon after rescuing a Wispered girl, Souske is assigned the duty of protecting Chidori Kaname. Along with Lt. Melissa Mao and Sgt. Kurtz Weber and the use of a single Arm Slave (mech), the three are sent into Tokyo. Souske's social skills (or lacktherof) quickly show, as well as his training in an attempt to protect Chidori. Episode 2 I want to protect you:The 2nd day of class as a student proves to be another day of comic mayhem. He saves Chidori from being run over, and after some talking, gets on Chidori's good side. Elsewhere, a shady character appears in connection with former KGB members discussing the Wispered. Episode 3 Lingerie Panic:Aboard Souske and company's submarine, Tessa orders a strike on a facility working on info about the Wispered. Meanwhile, someone suspicious is seen sneaking up to Chidori's apartment. While it turns out to be one of Souske's classmates in a panty raid, they start discussing Arm Slaves and are discovered by Chidori...and her softball bat. Orders are given for Souske, Lt. Mao and Kurtz to pull out, but Souske is ordered to go enjoy himself on a class trip to Okinawa, citing the pre-paid expenses. Episode 4 Kidnap: Although the Wispered facility was destroyed, the information was not, and the plane with much of Jindai High School onboard is highjacked and set down in a small inland Asian country boardering Russia. Chidori is taken away much to Souske's horror. To make matters worse, the leader of the highjackers is the ruthless Gouran, whom Souske believed he'd killed several years earlier. Souske slips out of the grounded airplane only to discover the very grave situation he's in. The Other stuff Way too often, voice acting on anime is poor, possibly because the Western part of the world (North America, Europe) view anime as cartoons for kids. In Japan, animated shows make up a much larger percentage of TV, and is watched by all ages. In FMP!, the voice acting is probably the best I've heard from any ADV release thus far. This series makes use of some CG animation, but there is a pretty small amount used, and the way it's used works well. The work is done by Gonzo Digimation, which has done work on other anime's such as Hellsing and Vandread. The studio is highly regarded as a top notch CG company as well. Summary If you're looking for a good title to get into anime, this is a solid pick. You have a nice blend of mecha, action and comedy. The plot will keep you waiting for the next episode, and the hand drawn animation is well done. Like, I've said, I've seen this before ADV liscened it, and it's great to be able to get it on DVD now. With the current release schedual, I expect the last DVD of the series to hit sometime in December. If your one that likes extras, I'm afraid, that this DVD comes up short in that department, but it does include a foldout poster and a reversible cover. Try it and see that not all anime has to be like Pokemon.
