[OTAKU] Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory

[Zen]

For those of us who are fans of this classic series, this is an important day! Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory was broadcast in Japan and simulcast on Crunchyroll (for subscribers) today. It will be available dubbed on the Funimation web site (funimation.com) on May 6, 2018.

This is the fourth anime series based on a series of 12 light novels (as well as 9 short-story collections and 2 side-story collections) by Shoji Gatoh published between 1998 and 2011 in Japan, with the first five of the volumes published in the US as well, though as four volumes instead of five. Gatoh has also been involved in the production of both the manga and anime adaptations of the story.

The first anime, Full Metal Panic!, was produced by the anime studio GONZO for release in January 2002. At 24 episodes, it stands as the longest running of the seasons to date. This series, IMO, is one of the finest blends of action, humor, and romance ever to be drawn and put in motion! I consider it a masterpiece.

The franchise then switched studios to Kyoto Animation and Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu came out in August 2003. This series, unlike its predecessor, is almost entirely humor. It is essentially a gag anime, almost spoofing itself. However, in July 2005, Kyoto Animation also gave us the third installment in the anime series: Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid.

TSR, as it is referred to in the fandom, is entirely based on books 4 & 5 of the light novel series, Ending Day By Day, which were published as one book by TokyoPop in the US. This series is almost the diametric opposite of Fumoffu, as serious and intense as the other is frivolous and silly. It has some fantastic action sequences, intensely emotional moments, and one of the best "Heroic Blue-Screen of Death" sequences I've ever witnessed on screen. It's really awesome!

But, for the fans of the series, leaving the story here was like torture! There is SO MUCH MORE in the light novels and so much of it is merely hinted at up to this point...

Now, 13 freaking years after the last anime, it is getting another series produced by a new studio, Xebec...

That's the good news...

The bad news? It has been announced as only 12 episodes...

Twelve... 12... FREAKING 12!!!!

There are seven books left in the main storyline novels... Sure, it is possible to skip some parts and still tell the story... In fact, I expect that the anime will be likely to more closely follow the manga adaptation Full Metal Panic! Sigma than the light novels. (19 volumes published between 2005 and 2013 covering the novels after Ending Day By Day... the same period that this series is covering...) In that manga, there were large sections of books 7, 8, and 9 that were skipped altogether, and, at first, book 6 was skipped entirely, only to be covered near the end as a flashback... which actually turned out to be a BRILLIANT way to introduce a bit of levity into a very heavy story and get the scenes that the creative team realized were essential to understanding character motivations in front of the readers eyes. (It also had the an added benefit of giving a bit of foreshadowing about something coming up in the story in a very subtle way... it was really an ingenious way to do it.)

But to do all of that in twelve episodes? No Flippin' WAY! I just don't see it happening. What I see as much more likely is them doing, say, the contents of books 7, 8, and 9 in this series, then announcing the final series that will cover the final three books in the series, and the flashback of book 6, which will be fast or, maybe even an OVA. Actually, i think they might have done book 6 as a radio drama, now that I think about it... (I read something that leads me to believe that episode 1 begins beyond that story...)

Anyway... if you haven't seen the first three series, I suggest you watch the first and third before watching this one. They are available on Crunchyroll with subtitles or dubbed on funimation.com. (I don't know if you need a subscription to watch all of the episodes on funimation.com, but I'm pretty sure you can at least watch the first series without one... probably with ads...)
So people know which books go with which series:

The first episode of Invisible Victory is available on Crunchyroll now for subscribers, or in a week with ads for everyone else.

For reference, here is the info about the various anime series and the light novels:

Full Metal Panic! - Books 1 though 3 (Japanese and US publications)
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu - Various short stories and possibly side stories most likely. I have never seen anything definitive.
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid - Books 4 & 5 (Japanese publication) Book 4 (US publication)
Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory - Book ? through ? (Japanese publication) [no further publication of FMP! novels in the US... so far...]


FMP! Light Novels:

Full Length Novels:

1-1. Fighting Boy Meets Girl
1-2. One Night Stand
1-3. Into the Blue
1-4. Ending Day by Day [Published as one book in the US]
1-5. Ending Day by Day
1-6. Dancing Very Merry Christmas
1-7. Continuing On My Own
1-8. Burning One Man Force
1-9. Come Make My Day
1-10. Approaching Nick of Time
1-11. Always, Stand by Me: Part 1
1-12. Always, Stand by Me: Part 2

Short Story Collections:

2-1. The Lone Wolf I Can't Leave Alone
2-2. Can't be serious at Two Outs, Bases Loaded?
2-3. The Unenviable Triple Crown Winner?
2-4. No Sympathy for the Surrounded on All 4 Sides?
2-5. Helpless and Lost in 5 Miles of Fog?
2-6. The Undependable 6 Statute Books?
2-7. The Uneasy Seven Tools?
2-8. Can't Worry About Being Trapped On 8 Sides?
2-9. Seriously dangerous narrow escape from death?

Side Story Collections:

3-1. Side Arms - A Sad (Tonal) Range, A faraway (Firing) Range
3-2. Side Arms 2 - Voice From the North

[Zen]

Quick update... The Anime News Network Preview Guide reviews for the first episode of the season has two reviews up, both rating the episode 4.5 out of 5. It looks like it is a quality piece of work, at least according to the professional reviewers...

[Zen]

Well, I watched the first episode and it was really good! I can confirm that Book 6 was skipped in its entirety in this episode. Whether they intend to let the radio drama version stand as covering book 6 or will try to do it as a flashback later in the story (or skip it altogether) remains to be seen. Frankly, it never fit, thematically, with the rest of the books after #5... It was a brief moment of humor before the world went to hell in a handbasket.

[Zen]

It is official, Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory covers books 7 through 9. That's the GOOD news, they didn't try to rush the story and finish it in 12 episodes. The BAD news? The final end-credit screen says that they HOPE to be back with more of the story sometime soon... So, in other words, they haven't been green lit for the final season or a movie to finish the story... (A final 12 episode season would do very nicely, thank you very much...)