|
 |
| 
Buy
now at RightStuf.com!
-Running
Time: 300 Minutes (complete series)
-Screen Format: 4:3 Fullscreen
-Number of Discs: 1 per volume (4 total)
-Special: Collectors box available with
vol. 1
|
|
| Sousuke
and Kaname are back in action! And this time, the battleground
is the school ground! High-yield explosives and hilarity come
together with a bang, as the somber soldier and his unwitting
target brave everything from lovesick "terrorists"
to an unforgiving teacher who is bent on revenge. |
 |
|
So
what do you get when you remove the mecha action from Full
Metal Panic? You get Fumoffu, another series based on the
Full Metal Panic characters/universe. The original Full
Metal Panic series followed many of the stories in the original
Manga for its material, however what they skipped on were
the rather comedic chapters from the Manga, focusing more
on the mecha action and intrigue. Full Metal Panic!? Fumoffu
seeks to correct this by giving you just comedy and does
it well.
If
you are just getting into the Full Metal Panic universe
and expecting some background on the characters, you are
bound to be disappointed. Fumoffu does little by way of
showing the development of the characters in anything other
than their comedic side stories. Anyone looking for a deepening
of the Kaname/Tessa/Sagara love triangle, prepare to be
disappointed. This series forsakes most of this to instead
give us the Manga chapters we missed in animated format.
They still skip some of the stories, but with Fumoffu the
Manga is almost entirely animated.
Episodes
include a trip to the beach, Sousuke training the Jindai
High rugby team, Sagara training Ren's "family"
in the ways of military arts (the Bonta-kun episodes are
as close to mecha action seen in this series), Sagara and
Kaname's class art project, a haunted hospital, a biological
weapon and more. One also can't forget the unforgettable
trip to the beach and that damnable rubber duck!
There
isn't much to say about the ending to the series as every
episode was basically a one off episode that carried nothing
but the characters over from the previous episode.
If
you like slapstick style comedy, Fumoffu will be right up
your alley. If you are looking for a series that follows
up the first series with a furthering of the plot and relationships,
prepare to be disappointed. Overall this is a highly enjoyable
series. |
 |
| The opening animation
plays out to Mikuni Shimokawa singing "Sore ga, Ai deshou"
or translated to "This is Love, Right?" The animation
itself is well chosen and works to give a viewer an idea on
what the show is all about.
The
ending animation plays out to Mikuni Shimokawa singing "Kimi
ni Fuku Kaze" or translated to "A Wind That Blows
You." The credits scroll over a black background in
the center of the screen, while super deformed characters
walk along the top and bottom of the screen. Occasionally
an image pops up to replace the credits and super deformed
characters that shows characters from the show. I think
the pictures that are interspersed throughout the ending
are what makes the ending worthwhile. The super deformed
characters do nothing for me. The ending theme is also not
one I enjoy. |
 |
| The audio on each of the
Fumoffu discs is presented in the original presentation format
of Japanese stereo encoded in Dolby Digital Stereo format.
The English language version is presented in Dolby Digital
5.1 surround sound. Since I generally watching everything
subtitled in the original language format of Japanese, I usually
spot check the English language versions to check for any
issues. The only thing anyone could possibly complain about
on the English side is that 5.1 audio on a comedy, with very
little by way of action requiring rear sound channels, is
kind of over kill. In both audio tracks there is no drop out
or any other issues.
The animation, this time provided by the
talented folks at Kyoto Animation, fits the style originally
given to us by Gonzo in the first series. The character
designs match those of the Manga, with the exception that
the Anime character designs are quite a bit cleaner and
defined. The animation is digitally painted 2D animation
with little to no 3D CG merged into it. As there is no real
mecha action besides Bonta-kun, 3D CG for this series was
unnecessary.
One issue of note on the ADV release is
that the series is riddled with what is known as dot crawl.
While the show suffers a little of this on the legit Taiwan
R3 DVDs, and as I've come to understand it, on the Japanese
R2 DVDs as well, ADV's version literally looks alive in
places and is rather disappointing over all because of this.
One scene of note would be the red Ferris Wheel scene. The
dot crawl is so severe that the Ferris Wheel almost looks
alive. This is not the case on the R3 or R2 versions. Speculation
is that ADV was given composite masters which have been
known to cause these sorts of issues. For some the problems
are barely visible or not visible at all, while for others
it is highly visible and extremely annoying. I would fall
into the latter category as I feel problems such as these,
while acceptable when Anime was first being produced on
DVD, are not acceptable in the market today, especially
considering the cost likely involved in licensing a big
name show such as this.
|
|
