... and illustrated by Shikidouji. I don't know who it was translated by, sorry. This probably doesn't make sense, but hey. I'll fix it later.
Jindai High School was a relatively safe place, right up until Sousuke Sagaka transferred there. A total nut, he wreaks havoc on the school's student body and gets into a world of trouble with the teachers! But there's more to Sousuke than meets the eye--not just a hell-raising student, he's actually a member of an elite military unit, on an undercover mission to protect the beautiful schoolgirl Kaname Chidori from the KGB. Discover the mystery as this comedy-action-science-fiction story unfolds! (I believe I pinched this from amazon.com. Given my track record, you probably believe this too.)
Now. Although I'm not particularly talented in the art of telepathy, I know what you're thinking. You're looking at your monitor with a disappointed expression, while you give a few subtle sighs of dismay. You're thinking something along the lines of don't inflict your misguided taste in literature on us! Perhaps you intend to fetch your sharpest gardening implements. Well, I say, from my position underneath the garden implement deflecting carpet, I'm sure that you'll be surprised to know that despite the cover, and the summary, this book isn't all that bad. On the contrary, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Why? Because, believe it or not, this book is good. Oh, don't look so surprised. And pick up your passed-out friend. It also has giant robots in it, and that might have been why it caught my roaming fangirly eye. Which is why I shall be mentioning infrequently the phrase GIANT ROBOTS. On a slightly unrelated note, it should be made apparent that this book has great multi-demographic appeal; giant robots, violence and other slightly manly or what I discern manly things to be, served along with a lighter, slightly more female oriented romantic comedy and other stuff that girls are stereotypes to like. Of course, everyone could just read it for the giant robots.
Now. Which is approximately five minutes after the last now, and my seventh minute under the carpet. I think someone just walked over me. I hope they don't decide to spit on me. Anyhow. This book comes with a selection of positive traits, such as it's skillful build up of the tension in suspenseful scenes, the subtle balance between action and comedy, an interesting concept with a few good ideas thrown in for good measure, some bouncy dialogue, and a narrative that was a bit like those sticky things that people lay down in museums that insects view as death traps and obviously avoid, which leaves said contraptions full of addled elderly women. I'd like to blame this on the government. Anyhow. I think I was talking about something. Oh yes, the book. Now, if one were to total up the amount of things that make reading Full Metal Panic! an enjoyable experience, then you would come up with a result larger than a large country's budget, the amount of lakes said country has, and the people intending to swim in them this summer. Needless to say, you come up with a rather large sum. I've forgotten what that metaphor was about now, so I'll just say that reading Full Metal Panic! was like curling up into a ball and resolving never to resurface ever again; highly satisfying, but not particularly ever-lasting. Somewhat like giant robots.
Now. Now is the time that came after the previous now, and it is the my sad and dreary duty to inform you of this books flaws. And there are some really prominent flaws. I may have mentioned that this book is about giant robots/mecha. Or rather, it isn't. We hardly get any explanation of the mech that is used, and the 'theme' of the book saturates about 14 pages. I suppose this isn't a flaw, as much a personal nitpick, because I wanted to see some violent mech fights. DON'T ASK ME WHY. In addition to that, the plot was overall quite simplistic, and many, if not all of the slightly less important, background characters were thrown into the pit where the side characters of The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove reside, brawling over scraps of personality, as they have none of there own. Full Metal Panic's characters were also like this, having very little development or distinguishing traits, which is why they are currently standing in the middle of the pits with gormless expression on their faces. A bit like zombies or your average tourist.
Now that I mentioned the characters who are currently fighting to their death a la Battle Royale, I will now talk about the other meat. I mean main characters, with layers and such. Sousuke, Sōsuke, or whatever romanisation you choose to utilize which doesn't particularly matter because however you spell it it may sound the same. Some kind of special agent, child soldier, mech pilot, trying to add perfectly ordinary high school student to his resume, Sōsuke was the kind of character that, despite his many short-comings, you can't help but like. I liked partially due to his socially inept awkwardness, which caused me to make noises like awwww and dwww while laughing my head off simultaneously. In retrospect, I must have sounded like a faulty refrigerator. Anyhow, his awkwardness added to his adorability. Sousuke also had the disadvantage of having really bad luck. And by really bad luck, I mean the kind of luck that people who continually get into train crashes, constantly are the victims of credit card fraud, and on top of that, once a week they have to run away from hungry loan sharks. It is this very bad luck that causes every single scenario, plan, action, slight movement of the pinky finger to go horribly wrong, make him look as idiotic as possible and give his slight screw up some larger implication in the long run. It was like fate was abusing him for it's own sadistic enjoyment. Anyhow. Overall, Sousuke made nicely layered character, with plenty of development over the story (goes from stiff, stuffy work-devoted hairbrush to a more passionate, slightly more caring comb).
Kaname was your average school girl, because apparently in Japan it is the norm for average school girls to have blue hair and demeanour's like a plate of three day old donuts soaked in concrete; tough and angry on the outside, by the soft, gooey jam inside remains in good tact. Either way, as a person so important to the series, she didn't get too much development. In fact, I have very little understanding of her actual role in the novel. She was an interesting(ish) character to have around, but she could really use some fleshing out. Now, onto Gauron, a villain who posed an actual threat. In fact, I actually found myself backing into corners and covering myself with a pile of blankets when he entered the scene. It must have been because his actions were so reminiscent of something real terrorists would partake in. Also, apparently he has a mortality rate a bit like a rubber band, because he will not just bloody die. Anyhow. An excellently realistic villain, corrupt and convenient, with some pretty dark ties with our main protagonist.
Now. It has been a while since the previous now. An assortment of unfortunately heavy creatures have just tramped over me. I wish said heard of cows would have more consideration for the people sheltering underneath the places they step when they step on them. Actually, the topics that I need to inform you off are a bit like that. An assorted mix of sweets, not stepped on. We were talking about sweets, right? Anyhow, we have three vaguely unrelated topics to discuss today, and they are very important. The relationships between the characters, my favourite of those characters and this third thing right here is a lie. Since the relationships in the book, or how I interpreted them, purpose was to humanize Sousuke (or, at least make him less soldier like; of which I don't really see the point, I mean, he didn't have a buzz cut), they were all really ... sweet, whether they had more depth than a shower, or actually went anywhere. Some were just used for comedic affect, but damn if they didn't work. Now onto my favourite character; Kurz, the lovable lech, although love-able is pushing it a bit. I liked him the most purely because of his idiocy, his hair, and his relationship with Sousuke. His idiocy was incredibly endearing (at times), his hair is nice and shiny and pretty and his relationship with Sousuke tugged at my heartstrings, as an totally unofficial shipper of the pairing, I read quite a lot into it. In fact, I was most likely hallucinating when I envisioned most of the actions between them. I will not elaborate, but they didn't quite fit in with the nature of the novel ...
Overall, Full Metal Panic! is a lot like candy; incredibly enjoyable at the time, but when analysed may caused your brain to melt into an some variety of industrial gloop, and then it will drip out of your ear and set out to create a name for itself in the continent. Sweets do that, no? What I was trying to imply that this book is a guilty pleasure, but it still managed to be rather good at the same time. It may not be for everyone, but I certainly enjoyed it. If one looks past the unorthodox summary and the brightly coloured cover, and the fact that it costs around fifty, thousands pounds to buy ... then it's quite likely that you might enjoy it. And besides, if one isn't satisfied with the book itself, there are also the pretty, pretty pictures. Now. I can finally crawl out from under this carpet.
☆☆☆☆
Jindai High School was a relatively safe place, right up until Sousuke Sagaka transferred there. A total nut, he wreaks havoc on the school's student body and gets into a world of trouble with the teachers! But there's more to Sousuke than meets the eye--not just a hell-raising student, he's actually a member of an elite military unit, on an undercover mission to protect the beautiful schoolgirl Kaname Chidori from the KGB. Discover the mystery as this comedy-action-science-fiction story unfolds! (I believe I pinched this from amazon.com. Given my track record, you probably believe this too.)
Now. Although I'm not particularly talented in the art of telepathy, I know what you're thinking. You're looking at your monitor with a disappointed expression, while you give a few subtle sighs of dismay. You're thinking something along the lines of don't inflict your misguided taste in literature on us! Perhaps you intend to fetch your sharpest gardening implements. Well, I say, from my position underneath the garden implement deflecting carpet, I'm sure that you'll be surprised to know that despite the cover, and the summary, this book isn't all that bad. On the contrary, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Why? Because, believe it or not, this book is good. Oh, don't look so surprised. And pick up your passed-out friend. It also has giant robots in it, and that might have been why it caught my roaming fangirly eye. Which is why I shall be mentioning infrequently the phrase GIANT ROBOTS. On a slightly unrelated note, it should be made apparent that this book has great multi-demographic appeal; giant robots, violence and other slightly manly or what I discern manly things to be, served along with a lighter, slightly more female oriented romantic comedy and other stuff that girls are stereotypes to like. Of course, everyone could just read it for the giant robots.
Now. Which is approximately five minutes after the last now, and my seventh minute under the carpet. I think someone just walked over me. I hope they don't decide to spit on me. Anyhow. This book comes with a selection of positive traits, such as it's skillful build up of the tension in suspenseful scenes, the subtle balance between action and comedy, an interesting concept with a few good ideas thrown in for good measure, some bouncy dialogue, and a narrative that was a bit like those sticky things that people lay down in museums that insects view as death traps and obviously avoid, which leaves said contraptions full of addled elderly women. I'd like to blame this on the government. Anyhow. I think I was talking about something. Oh yes, the book. Now, if one were to total up the amount of things that make reading Full Metal Panic! an enjoyable experience, then you would come up with a result larger than a large country's budget, the amount of lakes said country has, and the people intending to swim in them this summer. Needless to say, you come up with a rather large sum. I've forgotten what that metaphor was about now, so I'll just say that reading Full Metal Panic! was like curling up into a ball and resolving never to resurface ever again; highly satisfying, but not particularly ever-lasting. Somewhat like giant robots.
Now. Now is the time that came after the previous now, and it is the my sad and dreary duty to inform you of this books flaws. And there are some really prominent flaws. I may have mentioned that this book is about giant robots/mecha. Or rather, it isn't. We hardly get any explanation of the mech that is used, and the 'theme' of the book saturates about 14 pages. I suppose this isn't a flaw, as much a personal nitpick, because I wanted to see some violent mech fights. DON'T ASK ME WHY. In addition to that, the plot was overall quite simplistic, and many, if not all of the slightly less important, background characters were thrown into the pit where the side characters of The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove reside, brawling over scraps of personality, as they have none of there own. Full Metal Panic's characters were also like this, having very little development or distinguishing traits, which is why they are currently standing in the middle of the pits with gormless expression on their faces. A bit like zombies or your average tourist.
Now that I mentioned the characters who are currently fighting to their death a la Battle Royale, I will now talk about the other meat. I mean main characters, with layers and such. Sousuke, Sōsuke, or whatever romanisation you choose to utilize which doesn't particularly matter because however you spell it it may sound the same. Some kind of special agent, child soldier, mech pilot, trying to add perfectly ordinary high school student to his resume, Sōsuke was the kind of character that, despite his many short-comings, you can't help but like. I liked partially due to his socially inept awkwardness, which caused me to make noises like awwww and dwww while laughing my head off simultaneously. In retrospect, I must have sounded like a faulty refrigerator. Anyhow, his awkwardness added to his adorability. Sousuke also had the disadvantage of having really bad luck. And by really bad luck, I mean the kind of luck that people who continually get into train crashes, constantly are the victims of credit card fraud, and on top of that, once a week they have to run away from hungry loan sharks. It is this very bad luck that causes every single scenario, plan, action, slight movement of the pinky finger to go horribly wrong, make him look as idiotic as possible and give his slight screw up some larger implication in the long run. It was like fate was abusing him for it's own sadistic enjoyment. Anyhow. Overall, Sousuke made nicely layered character, with plenty of development over the story (goes from stiff, stuffy work-devoted hairbrush to a more passionate, slightly more caring comb).
Kaname was your average school girl, because apparently in Japan it is the norm for average school girls to have blue hair and demeanour's like a plate of three day old donuts soaked in concrete; tough and angry on the outside, by the soft, gooey jam inside remains in good tact. Either way, as a person so important to the series, she didn't get too much development. In fact, I have very little understanding of her actual role in the novel. She was an interesting(ish) character to have around, but she could really use some fleshing out. Now, onto Gauron, a villain who posed an actual threat. In fact, I actually found myself backing into corners and covering myself with a pile of blankets when he entered the scene. It must have been because his actions were so reminiscent of something real terrorists would partake in. Also, apparently he has a mortality rate a bit like a rubber band, because he will not just bloody die. Anyhow. An excellently realistic villain, corrupt and convenient, with some pretty dark ties with our main protagonist.
Now. It has been a while since the previous now. An assortment of unfortunately heavy creatures have just tramped over me. I wish said heard of cows would have more consideration for the people sheltering underneath the places they step when they step on them. Actually, the topics that I need to inform you off are a bit like that. An assorted mix of sweets, not stepped on. We were talking about sweets, right? Anyhow, we have three vaguely unrelated topics to discuss today, and they are very important. The relationships between the characters, my favourite of those characters and this third thing right here is a lie. Since the relationships in the book, or how I interpreted them, purpose was to humanize Sousuke (or, at least make him less soldier like; of which I don't really see the point, I mean, he didn't have a buzz cut), they were all really ... sweet, whether they had more depth than a shower, or actually went anywhere. Some were just used for comedic affect, but damn if they didn't work. Now onto my favourite character; Kurz, the lovable lech, although love-able is pushing it a bit. I liked him the most purely because of his idiocy, his hair, and his relationship with Sousuke. His idiocy was incredibly endearing (at times), his hair is nice and shiny and pretty and his relationship with Sousuke tugged at my heartstrings, as an totally unofficial shipper of the pairing, I read quite a lot into it. In fact, I was most likely hallucinating when I envisioned most of the actions between them. I will not elaborate, but they didn't quite fit in with the nature of the novel ...
Overall, Full Metal Panic! is a lot like candy; incredibly enjoyable at the time, but when analysed may caused your brain to melt into an some variety of industrial gloop, and then it will drip out of your ear and set out to create a name for itself in the continent. Sweets do that, no? What I was trying to imply that this book is a guilty pleasure, but it still managed to be rather good at the same time. It may not be for everyone, but I certainly enjoyed it. If one looks past the unorthodox summary and the brightly coloured cover, and the fact that it costs around fifty, thousands pounds to buy ... then it's quite likely that you might enjoy it. And besides, if one isn't satisfied with the book itself, there are also the pretty, pretty pictures. Now. I can finally crawl out from under this carpet.
☆☆☆☆
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