Full Metal Panic - Mission 1 - Episodes 1-4 (Animated) (Dubbed) (DVD)

...introduces a very good Anime, Full Metal Panic is not the only series that has been produced. There is also Full Metal Panic: Fummofu and Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. If your looking purely for a comedy anime this series isn't really for you. If you want action and adventure and one of animes finest none starting romances then this is the series you should enjoy. I personally like the first half of this series, but greatly prefer Fummofu and ...
...information regarding to the specific Full Metal Panic disc in question is placed above this. While some people believe this to be against the site rules, I did check this out beforehand. Given the situation for sets of DVD's it is considered perfectly acceptable by ciao staff to use such a section.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------
more

This DVD contains the first four episodes;

• The Guy I kinda like is a sergeant
• I Want to Protect You
• Lingerie Panic
• Kidnap

As you would expect these are the basic introduction episodes. Only by episode four is the series really beginning to show its plot.Episode 1
We are introduced to the main characters in the series, initially to a group of mercenaries known as 'Mithril'. Sousuke Sagara, Melissa Mao and Kurz Weber, who are sent to protect Kaname Chidori, a Japanese high school student. The reason being that she is one of the 'whispered', a group of people who have access to a great supply of technological knowledge from the future. It is never explained how this came to be. In this episode the main story plot doesn't reveal itself, but the love story between Sousuke Sagara and Kaname Chidori starts to come into focus. The comedy in the first episode, as with most of the other episodes, is played around the idea that Sousuke Sagara is a mercenary pretending to be a high school student, the joke being that he doesn't do a very good job of fitting in.

Episode 2
The story starts to unfold. In this episode we are introduced to the people who wish to use the knowledge of the whispered to their advantage and the fact that they want to get their hands on Kaname.

Episode 3
Class preparations for a trip to Okinawa start with Sousuke becoming the class bin man. All is not lost for our brave hero though, later in the episode he is caught by Kaname holding her underwear hence the episode's title. The class sets off for its trip without further incident.

Episode 4
The students get kidnapped. I suppose you could have guessed that from the title though. Good episode, some nice lighting in places and some quite satisfying explosions.

All in all this DVD is pretty good, it introduces a very good Anime, Full Metal Panic is not the only series that has been produced. There is also Full Metal Panic: Fummofu and Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. If your looking purely for a comedy anime this series isn't really for you. If you want action and adventure and one of animes finest none starting romances then this is the series you should enjoy. I personally like the first half of this series, but greatly prefer Fummofu and The Second Raid simple because they are far funnier and in the case of The Second Raid have more explosions.

Unfortunaley for the people who like to listen to the English dub rather than read the subtitles this is one of the examples of a genuinely awful dubbing. The series has some very adult themes, such as kidnapping and terrorism and some how an endlessly perky American voice doesn't do this justice.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
After reading some of the comments made by members im going to add this tag section to my reviews. It contains information about the series itself - a general gist, a quick character introduction and some general information about the state of the DVD, the quality of the animation etc. This is to be regarded as background information and any information regarding to the specific Full Metal Panic disc in question is placed above this. While some people believe this to be against the site rules, I did check this out beforehand. Given the situation for sets of DVD's it is considered perfectly acceptable by ciao staff to use such a section.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Metal Panic Premise;
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It turns out that Kaname Chidori, a Japanese High School student is a 'whispered', meaning that she has access to great technological knowledge from the future from inside her mind. A group called Mithril is trying to protect her by sending a mercenary, Sousake Sagara to protect her and the information lodged in her head from terrorists who wish to use the information for evil. The series itself is part comedy, part action and part romance. Its Anime too. Just in case you where wondering.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick Character Introduction;
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sousake Sagara - Our hero, a mercenary employed by a group called Mithril (Yes it is a Tolkien reference) his main duty is to protect Kaname Chidori but he is also charged with defending the world in general.

Kaname Chidori - the Heroine, she is a 'whispered', a group of people who have some knowledge of technology from the future, where this knowledge came from is never explained, however its usefulness for terrorists is a given and thats why they want to get their hands on her. As a side not she is a young Japanese High School student, who lives on her own for some unexplained reason. She is also the main love interest for Sousake.

Tessa Testerotha - A Secondary heroine, she is Sousakes commanding offer, she also comands Mithril's submarine and uses it to attack terrorists. She is also a love interest but I think purely to make a nice love triangle.

Melissa Mao - Crazy, hotheaded mercenary, who is Sousakes direct commander, she shoots at things mostly.

Kurz Weber - Sousake's comrade in all of this, a sniper by trade, he also mostly shoots at things. He is however deeply perverted.

Gauln - The enemy for this series, he is linked with shady KGB types from the former Soviet block, he has one mission from them but also a personal wish to kill Sousake Sagara. When Sousake was younger he was involved in a failed assassination plot against Gauln, hence Gauln's scar.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
General DVD information;
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*The presentation of the DVD itself is good. It comes with a nice little printed episode guide and an advert for ADV.

*The discs menus are very professional, they look excellent and are well animated along with being very easy to use. The only bad thing about the menu system is that there are no episode titles and only episode numbers, this is a little annoying when your trying to find one specific episode.

*The subtitles used are ADV's standard fare, this means that the subtitles are small and sometimes difficult to read when tired or far away. Also its sometimes hard to get the subtitles to work well on wide-screen TV's as if you try to change the aspect of the video they fall off the bottom of the screen.

*The English dub is quite frankly appalling, however this is usual for ADV and many American anime importers. They don't put in any emotion and American accents don't really suit Japanese Anime and to be honest after watching it in Japanese first the American dub sounds ridicules.

*The quality of the animation is as with most ADV releases excellent. Its certainly better than any quality you could find on the internet downloading the anime illegally and better than recording it if it ever came on Tv.

*I also liked the music, very nice and happy - just a shame it was sythesised really. 

...less