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Format FAQ
last update- 10.28.02 1. How was the story of Full Metal Panic! first published? Full Metal Panic! began in 1998 as a fictional text story. This story now consists of multi-volume novels. 2. What are the different formats Full Metal Panic! is published in? In addition to the novel volumes, FMP! is also 2 manga series and an anime series. NOVELS 1. What was the first FMP! publication? Currently unknown is which of these ran first. The first comedic short story ran in (monthly fantasy) Dragon Magazine (DM) when?. The first novel was full length, published in 9/1998. 2. What, exactly, do the 'novels' consist of? To date, 11 volumes. The five drama novels are full-length stories that tell the dramatic/action events and contain the majority of the serious plot. The short stories serialized in DM are collected in six other volumes, and mostly tell of the funny incidents that occur to the characters. These contain some elements of character/relationship development/discovery, but don't develop the serious plot. To clarify, these are *text* stories, and the first telling of the FMP stories, upon which everything else is based. 3. But they have pictures? Yes. There are illustrations (by Shiki Douji). Unfourtnately, when the short stories were collected, many illustrations that had appeared with them in D.M. did not appear in the collected novel volumes. Each short story averages 3 or 4 illustrations per story, but the only way to get them with the context of the story in the DM issues. Some 'missing' illustrations can be found in other FMP! publications, without the context of the related chapter. 4. Are novels still being published? DM is still running new short stories, so at least one more novel collection of short stories is expected. Unknown if there will be another full length volume, or if that telling of the story is complete. MANGA 1. And then came the manga right? But there are two series?? Yes. There are two manga series. 'Full Metal Panic!' is the primary FMP manga that fans of the anime will recognize. It is serialized in Comic Dragon. CD is a monthly phonebook style manga publication. This manga series is also being published in tankoubon (collected) form. First volume was released 9/2000. The most recent, #4, was published 4/4002. 'Ikinari! Full Metal Panic!' is a manga series that has been serialized in Comic Dragon Jr., a 'little brother' publication of CD, and as such, the Ikinari! manga is geared to a younger crowd. CDJr is also a monthly phonebook manga publication. Ikinari! is currently available in 4 tankoubon volumes (began 2/2001, most recent 4/2002). Both series are currently on-going. 2. What are the differences between the two manga? They are both written by the author of the novels, but drawn by different artists. 'Full Metal Panic!' series contains the serious plot that the anime and full-length novels contain. This series also includes alot of the comedic bits that the anime skipped. 'Ikinari! Full Metal Panic!' skips most of the serious plot. To best enable this, some minor character facts are different. The Ikinari! series is mostly comedy focusing on Sousuke's troubles (and the trouble he causes) in protecting Kaname from a threat that never seems to fully materialize. It's very slapstick, with tons of very bloody/painful-looking violence, but none of it intended to be taken very seriously. For example, Sousuke constantly suffers extreme injuries and a few 'deaths', not to mention spending a whole chapter as a dog. A very exaggerated version. And just an additional difference (minor)- chapters in the regular FMP manga are 'Missions', and in Ikinari, they are 'Bombs'. Appropriate... 3. Which manga is being brought to the USA? The primary manga series, 'Full Metal Panic!' will be serialized in NewType USA magazine, beginning October 2002. The Oct 2002 issue contains the first two chapters. 4. Will there be any other way to get the FMP manga in english, other than NewType USA issues? Currently unknown if there will be collected volumes (graphic novels) released. ANIME 1. How is the series being released in Japan? Across 12 DVD and VHS volumes- each containing 2 episodes. 2. Is there special/limited editon releases? Yes. Each volume (both DVD and VHS) has both a regular edition release and a limited edition release. 3. What's the difference between the regular and limited edition releases? The video content is the same. The limited edition is packaged in a box and comes with a character figure. The covers differ as well- the regular editions sport character covers, and the LE covers are of arm slaves. The box that the LE comes in has the character image used on the regular cover. 4. Do the DVDs have any extras? As of Volume 9, other than Volume 1, no. Volume 1 DVD has the first opening and ending sequences without credits. I don't know if the VHS volume 1 also has this. 6. What is Volume 0 EX? A preview DVD released by Gonzo to promote the series before it aired. It was sold with the collector's box, and was re-released after the series finished airing. The DVD is 9 minutes. A 3 minutes series preview (with scenes from both series beginning and end) A 3 minute gallery of production sheets (some characters. Mostly mech and locations- many of which are not in the production design book) A 2 minute preview of episode 1. (left over time were credits) a note- there were a few scenes/shots in the series preview that never made it into the anime 5. What information is there about the collector's box? A box to hold 13 DVD volumes, made of cardboard of the usual sort for boxes. There were 2 press runs of the box, one in january and one released in august (I assume the second run was due to fan demand as the first release was reputed to be a quick seller.) From what I can tell both boxes are the same, image wise. The first box has the appearance of being made of brown wood, and the second one of silver metal slats (both like crates). 6. When will the series be released in R1 (North America), and how will the DVDs be like? ADV is bringing the series here. They have not yet made any info public yet, and have only confirmed the series in 'in production' and on their 'fast track'. Unlike other release comanies, they do not post release dates until a disc is finished production. This means their upcoming dates, when announced, may be 'later' than other companies' for the sane release date, but the disc is pretty much guaranteed to be released on time. Speculation and hope make many believe the first volume may be here in the first half of 2003. Story Format Comparasion How does each format compare to the others? The novels are the 'complete' version, and contain many plots, events, characters, and ...stuff... that the other formats don't have. The anime, which you are most likely familiar with, focuses on about half of half of everything. To explain- the anime does not include much of the comedic adventures, it sticks mostly to the dramatic half. And then the anime cuts hat short, in a sense, telling only about half of the serious part of the story. The novels continue the serious story beyond the point at which the anime stops. The anime also leaves out a number of details and explanations- the anime is really very 'bare bones', compared to the novels and even the manga. (although the anime does tell the story in a way that is mostly well contained- the anime ending is an effective and mostly acceptable ending) The 'Full Metal Panic!' manga is considerably slow moving, compared to the anime. It includes a number of different events, and does work some of the stuff in the anime differently. The changes are very noticeable, but don't really change the primary story overall. After 2 years and 4 volumes, the story is only halfway through the story plot in anime episodes 9-12. A noticeable difference between the manga and the others is the way the manga begins- instead of the story starting from Sousuke's POV (like the anime), and manga starts with Kaname's POV. Sousuke's odd behavior is known to the anime audience, it isn't supposed to be as well understood, initially, to the manga audience. The 'Ikinari! FMP!' manga does not really align itself with any of the other formats, as it consists of mostly very not-serious situations involving Sousuke and Kaname, with Kyouko, the class teacher, and a little annoying brat-thing as the primary support cast. Kurtz does make an appearance in volume 4, but his role is extremely comical. Tessa does start showing up in #4, but she has yet to play a character role (she sort of 'appears' every now and then, and clearly doesn't want to be noticed.) |