Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Full Metal Panic, vol. 2

Original Author: Shouji Gatou, Illustrator: Retsu Tateo
Published in the U.S. by ADV Manga



Slugline: A mecha adventure story disguised as a high school relationship drama.


We have also reviewed Full Metal Panic, vol. 1: Fighting Boy Meets Girl, the light novel that this manga based on.

Kaname Chidori has had a mad stalker guy following her around. He is heavily armed, but somehow or another she writes him off as a harmless eccentric who has decided, for some odd reason, to dedicate his life to 'protecting' her.


On the other hand, this weird high school drama transforms into a mecha action adventure in the second volume when Sosuke Sagara, a merely psychotic high schooler, is revealed to be a psychotic mecha pilot so that he can rescue Kaname and the rest of the high school. Their class trip to Okinawa has been plane-jacked to the ever-friendly North Korea. The hijackers are led by Gauron, a terrorist that Sosuke thought he had dealt with by putting a round into his head.

Throw in a stealth submarine that fires ballistic mecha, mecha who have psychic attacks and defenses, and the MacGuffin that Kaname apparently has some sort of secret knowledge buried in her mind that everyone wants, and was the real reason behind the hijacking, things get interesting.

In the simplest possible way...


Things go boom, prettily.


A good action/adventure bit, with mecha to maximize property damage. Always a plus!




Full Metal Panic!, vol. 2 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

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