Full Metal Panic? FUMOFFU: Full Metal Pandemonium (volume 1)

 

Reviewed By: Carla Land

 

ADV Films DVD

Review based on 1 disc (episodes 1-3)

Rating 13+

 

What it’s (basically) all about: Kaname and Sousuke from Full Metal Panic! are back. This time, however, there aren’t any terrorist organizations after Kaname- it’s all about the comedy. Saskue, ever the intrepid military soldier, still isn’t used to life in a regular high school. Whether it’s blowing up the school lockers or shooting his gun in the air in order to get to the bakery truck, Sasuke always seems to cause problems and drive Kaname crazy. Life in high school was never this much fun.

 

Nitty Gritty: Disc opens with advertising for Anime Network and Newtype Magazine. What sounds eerily like the theme to The A-Team plays over the menu, which is a little hard to decipher at first glance.

 

It helps if you have seen Full Metal Panic! before watching this series, as the characters don’t get a lot of onscreen development. Fortunately, the characters are strong and already well developed from the earlier series, so that makes things a little easier to understand. There also aren’t many references to the earlier series, so that avoids some confusion as well.

 

Language is a little colorful- sh*t, b*tch, and hell all make appearances- but it’s not too often used or used casually.

 

There’s some fan service, but no nudity. The teens go to the beach and are all in swimsuits; a young kid feels Kaname up in episode three (and gets hit for it); there are a couple of panty shots. Overall it’s pretty tame.

 

Extras include: a preview for volume 2; clean opening/ closing animation; character artwork; DVD credits; “The Mysteries of FUMOFFU” text screens explaining some discrepancies between the DVD and the original airings in Japan; and original Japanese TV spots. The previews are for : E’s Otherwise (kind of like the X-Men series); Maburaho (lots of fan service); Cromartie High School; Gravion Zwei (excessive fan service); Area 88; and Peacemaker (there’s blood splatter in this one.)

 

Survey says: Most teens are going to eat this up, and the show itself would be appropriate to show to a group aged 13 and up. Still, the slightly colorful language and the minimal fan-service might get under the collars of more conservative parents. This should probably be housed in adult collections, if only because later episodes have more fan service than the first few have.

 

Personal Ad: I know my review of Full Metal Panic! wasn’t very glowing, but I LOVED Full Metal Panic? FUMOFFU. I’m even willing to forgive the measly three episodes on the disc because I laughed so much. Chris Patton (the voice of Sousuke) literally had me falling out of my chair. The thin-pack collection of the whole series comes out on December 12th, and I’ve already informed my husband that I will be getting it for the holidays.