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{{quote|''"FUMOFFU!"''|'''Bonta-Kun'''}}
''Full Metal Panic!'' is a hybrid novel/manga/anime series, which tells the stories of Sergeant Sōsuke Sagara, a young soldier of the mercenary anti-terrorism organization Mithril, and Kaname Chidori, the Japanese high school student he's assigned to protect.
Unbeknownst even to herself, Kaname possesses special knowledge that numerous organizations would like dearly to control for their own means. As such, Sōsuke is assigned to infiltrate her high school in order to protect her while pretending to be an ordinary student, and without her knowing that she's in danger. Sōsuke, unfortunately, has no social experience outside his military life, having been literally raised as a soldier, and thus has no idea how to properly act in civilian life.
[[Hilarity Ensues]] but before long Kaname will be drawn into Sōsuke's world as well when the forces that want her for their own make their move to seize the girl, kicking off a globe-hopping plot as Sōsuke balances his bodyguard duties for Kaname with his duties as a member of Mithril's military forces.
''Full Metal Panic!'' originally debuted as a series of [[Light Novels]] in Japan, books with interspersed illustrations. The series proved so popular that it was adapted first as a serialized manga in ''Newtype'' magazine, and later as an anime by Gonzo Animation. Two more series, ''Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu'', and ''Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid'' were made by Kyoto Animation. While the original and ''Second Raid'' are both more serious action stories, ''Fumoffu'' is much [[Lighter and Softer]], in that it focuses on Sōsuke's misadventures in school.
Despite the multiple formats, ''FMP!'' has actually managed to remain rather consistent between the novels themselves and the media that adapt them, with only minor changes. The twelfth novel (which is set to be the last full-length volume, though more short stories have not been ruled out) was released recently, while the anime itself has adapted the storyline of the first five. There was brief talk of a live-action movie adaptation in 2009, but that died down quickly and no more is expected to come of it.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[The Abridged Series]]: [http://www.youtube.com/user/xexyzl And it's highly reminiscent] of the early episodes of hbi's ''Berserk''.
* [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]]: Between Hayashimizu's negotiation tactics and Sousuke's overkill.
** Handwaved as the Principal specifically not wanting to interfere in their decisions. The way she says it, we are definitely led to believe that she could if she wanted to. (The generous donations that Mithril makes to the school appear to have something to do with her attitude.)
* [[Accidental Pervert]]: Sōsuke. Happens so often that Kaname has become [[Genre Savvy]] about it.
** Happens to Mardukas in episode 8 of Fumoffu. He accidentally opens a door to a girl's locker room, then excuses himself immediately, but a rumor of a pervert running around the school causes Sousuke to apprehend him. [[Hilarity Ensues]] after Sousuke realizes who it is, and the mission Mardukas has for him, which adds more difficulty to a sleep-deprived Sousuke.
* [[Action Survivor]]: Kaname is one at times, particularly when she got the jump on an assassin with nothing but a taser and a bathrobe.
* [[Actor Allusion]]: The English dub created one by casting [[Spike Spencer]], the English voice of [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Shinji Ikari]], as Takuma, who protests that he doesn't want to climb into a giant mecha and is told that he mustn't run away.
** In ''Fumoffu'', Kaname muses that she'd like to install a device in Sousuke's brain that would let her zap him whenever he did something embarassing. Kaname's voice actress, Satsuki Yukino, also voiced Kagome from ''[[Inuyasha]]'', who did much the same to the title character via his [[Restraining Bolt]] necklace. The allusion is lampshaded when Kyouko protests that Sousuke isn't a dog.
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: ''The Second Raid'' mostly adapts the 5th novel, ''End of Day by Day'', significantly expanding the smaller plot of the traitor in the novel, and doing sufficient justice to the story... and changing the male chinese twin assassins to girls, for added fanservice and emotional impact when they die.
* [[Almost Kiss]]: When pulling Sousuke out of the water near the end of episode 8 in Season 1, Kaname thinks he's going to kiss her, so she closes her eyes and puckers up. Then the next scene occurs, and Sousuke is merely getting excess water off his clothing, while Kaname is still in a kissing mode. She later angrily storms off when he thinks her red face is from sickness.
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* [[Bond One-Liner]]: One line of Sousuke's becomes this in the English dub. When asked "Who are you?!" during his infiltration of the enemy base during the school trip, his answer in Japanese is simply, "The garbage man," but in the dub it becomes, "I take out the garbage."
* [[Boy Meets Girl]]: The first novel and first episode is ''literally'' called "Fighting Boy Meets Girl".
* [[Breather Episode]]: ''The Second Raid'' episode 6, "Edge of Heaven," the haircut episode.
** Episodes 8 and 13 in the first season, which are rather light-hearted compared to the previous episodes where a lot of intense action takes place.
* [[Bridge Bunny]]: When first meeting Tessa, Kaname (trying to be [[Genre Savvy]]) assumes she couldn't possibly be the captain of the De Danaan and must be one of these instead. Tessa plays along, just to mess with her.
* [[Brick Joke]]: During the Behemoth Arc, as Sousuke and Kurz make their way to A21's ship, Mao trails them in her M9, and keeps running into highway signs. Mao remarks that at least it isn't as bad as Hong Kong, with signs everywhere. The endgame of ''TSR'' takes place in Hong Kong.
* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: Mao
** Tessa can seem like this, at least in the first few episodes of the anime. Her clumsiness is [[Played for Laughs]] in ''Fumoffu''.
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'''Al''': Affirmative. }}
* [[Death Seeker]]: Gauron, Gauron, Gauron. Extra irony in that, for the majority of the entire series, [[No One Could Survive That|he just can't seem to.]]
* [[Depraved Homosexual]]: Again, Gauron. He wants Sousuke. He ''really'' wants Sousuke. So much so that he will describe his fantasies to Sousuke.
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: {{spoiler|At the end of season one, they plug Kaname into a machine that was never mentioned up until that point, have her control the ship in ways that were never mentioned to be possible prior to that episode, and pretty much have her save the day with absolutely no warning.}} Wonderful.
** To be fair, it's explained better in the novels. But since it's done mostly through inner monologues, it was difficult to do in the anime.
*** Not to mention, the Deus Ex Machina was kinda the ''point'' (almost literally). Kaname herself doesn't know what she's doing at the time, and it is a valid plot point that they keep seeking an explanation for during several books, and is only truly revealed in the last 2 novels. So I'd say they get a pass with this one. Now, ''Gauron'', on the other hand...
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: In the novel, it mentioned the existence of the Canadian SAS as if it did still exist in the 90s. This is not true as it disbanded after the end of World War II. JTF-2 is one of the special forces created in the 90s, which has capabilities similar to the modern British (and Australian/New Zealand) SAS.
** This could arguably be justified, as the series is an [[Alternate Timeline]], although it apparently deviates from [[The Eighties]]. Perhaps in-universe circumstances spurred its reformation rather than replacement.
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* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Sousuke. Duh.
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Kaname
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: A ''hair cut'', of all things. The entire scene is treated with a large degree of intimacy, and afterwards Sousuke and Kaname are basically acting as though they just got it on.
** Well, ''normally'' this definitely would sound ridiculous... but since it's ''Sousuke'', [[It Makes Sense in Context|it actually makes sense]], unfortunately. On Sousuke's part, that act was probably the equivalent of them making out, taking into account his [[Chaste Hero|intimacy]] [[Asexuality|issues]] and the fact that appealing to his [[The Power of Trust|trust issues]] turns him on more than anything else (including [[Stripperific|skimpy outfits]] or [[Completely Missing the Point|overt flirting]]). And on Kaname's part, this act was pretty much ''the most intimate'' that they've had. And seeing how their relationship thus far had strictly been on a [[No Hugging, No Kissing]] basis, her standards of intimacy had probably been lowered considerably. So in other words, yes. The closest thing to sex with Sousuke was giving him a haircut.
*** To go further, even with ''Kaname'' being the one to do it, he ''still'' has trust issues about it that subconsciously bother him later on. He actually has nightmares about it, where she ''slits his throat with the razor''. So yes, to him, it was a bit ''too'' intimate and a ''very'' large sacrifice for him to allow her to do that. Guess she was moving too fast for him.
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* [[Enjo Kosai]]: Subverted ''hard'' with Kaname using this technique to borderline seduce an older man, then taser him and handcuff him to the bathtub, just to get a safe place for a moment.
* [[Even the Girls Want Her]]: Tessa, when she visits Sōsuke's class in an episode of ''Fumoffu''. ("She's so cute!")
** Also applies to some of the female fans of the show, expressing the same sentiment ("She's so cute!" indeed.)
* [[Even the Guys Want Him]]: Sōsuke. Along with being a total [[Chick Magnet]], he has Gauron as a crazed [[Stalker with a Crush]], (in the manga) the school swim team instructor [[Hot for Student|has the hots for him]], (in an episode of ''Fumoffu'') a [[Camp Gay]] trio of bullies are ''way'' too eager to see him swim naked in a lake, and Zaied's attachment towards Sōsuke could very well be in the realm of [[Ho Yay]].
* [[Evil Gloating]]: A lot of the villains like to do this, notably Gauron.
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* [[Extended Disarming]] - See [[Hammerspace]] below.
* [[Everybody's Dead, Dave]]: {{spoiler|The end of the Rising Wind in the Homeland arc.}}
* [[Fan Service]]: Many examples throughout the series, mostly focusing on the female characters. One bit for the ladies that particularly stood out, however, was Sousuke walking out of the shower... not wearing his towel.
** Also, in The Second Raid, when Kaname was giving Sōsuke a haircut, she had told him to turn to the right. He then moves to the left, prompting her to say "No, your other right." He then gets a clear view of her cleavage.
** Mocked in ''Fumoffu''. In the seventh episode, next-episode teaser, Chidori accuses the show of using Tessa for fanservice.
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* [[Hostage Situation]]: Handled by Sōsuke in a typically insane way.
** Of course the best one is in the 3rd episode of Fumoffu when Sousuke is only imagining it. Ironicly, Souske's vision in that episode is the only time in the anime when Kaname is kidnapped on screen.
* [[Hot Springs Episode]]: In "Fumoffu," complete with the antics of Kurz Weber, {{spoiler|where he desperately attempts to peep within the girl's bathhouses.}} Although his plans are foiled each time by Sōsuke.
* [[Ho Yay]]: Gauron towards Sōsuke. Overlaps with [[Foe Yay]].
** It is now completely canon. Watch the [http://fmp-misha.livejournal.com/5090.html#cutid1 TSR comedy radio show] where Gauron acts as the school's "sensei." Gato is doing this on purpose. Gauron orders Sousuke to write on the chalk board "Kashim loves Gauron Sensei. Heart. ♥" as well as "Gauron Sensei's extreme attack makes Kashim's heart pound. I want to have children with him." Followed by what appears to be an attempt to rape Sousuke in front of the class. Yay for subtlety.
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** Also, Yu Fan and Yu Lan are first shown onscreen sharing a very intimate shower scene...
* [[Lethal Chef]]: Kalinin's late wife's special Borscht recipe requires on-the-second stirring, PH balance testing, Cocao powder, and Miso Paste. In the manga, Sousuke tries cooking rice in a rice cooker. Over a fire. Indoors.
** Of course, Kalinin seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that his wife intentionally made terrible food as her "revenge" for his being [[Married to the Job]].
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: ''Fumoffu''
** Also the OVA episode, "A Relatively Leisurely Day in the Life of a Fleet Captain", taking place shortly after the events of ''The Second Raid''
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* [[Mood Whiplash]]: The manga alternates between several chapters of hilarity involving Sōsuke's misadventures at school and longer, far more serious story arcs with more realistic battles involving giant robots and people getting blown up.
* [[More Dakka]]: {{spoiler|ARX-8 Laevateinn}}
* [[Motive Decay]]: Amalgam had good intentions back when it was formed. By the time of the story, roughly 50 years later, every leadership position in Amalgam other than Mr Mercury's had been replaced at least twice, with people who were invariably not as principled as the founders, resulting in the organization that is Mithril's nemesis. {{spoiler|In fact, Mr Mercury was so horrified as to what Amalgam had become that he ''created'' Mithril to stop them.}}
** It's stated that, given enough time, Mithril would suffer the same fate as Amalgam, as the original members would be replaced and their objectives would change.
* [[Multinational Team]]
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{{quote|'''Sōsuke''': "Kashim!... Kashim!?! We're not friends!! '''YOU SHITHEAD!!'''}}
* [[Prisoner Exchange]]: Sousuke has to make the decision of trading his hostage for either [[Love Interest|Kaname]] or Tessa. He picks Tessa, knowing that Kaname can protect herself just fine, and her [[Action Girl]] instincts means that she'll [[Spanner in the Works|mess up]] the bad guys plans by reacting in a way they [[Didn't See That Coming|don't expect]].
* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Kaname's increasingly paranoid and extreme precautions in episode 9 of ''The Second Raid'' are ''entirely justified''.
* [[Psycho for Hire]]: Gauron, and Gates in the <s>second</s> third season.
* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: Gates
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* [[Ramming Always Works]]: In the second manga series, ''Sigma''.
* [[Real Robot]]: Played "straight" with the Arm Slaves. The ones without Lambda Drivers anyway.
* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: [[Student Council President]] Hayashima. Almost a bit ''too'' reasonable, insofar he's perfectly understanding of Sōsuke's usual approach to school life and considers him a model student council member.
* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]]: Bonta-Kun.
* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: {{spoiler|Sousuke going after Kurama, in an old Savage that is falling apart, against 8 other Arm Slaves}}
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** Also note that he was reading a rugby guidebook for the entire episode...and still has no idea what rugby is.
** I don't know, he mentioned playing basketball with his buddies in Afghanistan, and nobody seemed to be throwing hand grenades...
* [[Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training]]: Sōsuke, if that was not clear by now.
** As a mecha example, we have the ARX-8 Laevatein, which sacrificed [[Invisibility|ECS]] and other basic sensory and anti-detection systems common to Mythril Arm Slaves for sheer strength, mobility and firepower.
* [[Say My Name]]: "KAAAAAASHIIIIIIIM!" "GAAAAUROOOOOOOOON!" "ZAIIIIIDOOOOOO!" "KAAAAASHIIIIIIM!"
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* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: {{spoiler|Leonard's not in it for [[For the Evulz]]; the man's got a plan. He wants to go back in time and prevent Black Technology from being invented in order to ensure a more peaceful world. Kaname/Sofia also joins in because without Black Technology, the Whispereds won't have special powers in the [[Alternate Universe]].}}
* [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]]: Sōsuke, after going through wars, becomes rather [[The Stoic|emotionless]] and ''very'' paranoid. He [[Defrosting Ice Queen|gets better]] with Kaname's help.
** After the events at Merida Island, Tessa is starting to show signs of this.
* [[Ship Tease]]: A simply classic one in Ep. 6 of ''The Second Raid''.
* [[Shirtless Scene]]: Sōsuke gets quite a few.
** One scene in Fumoffu stands out as pure [[Estrogen Brigade Bait]] and [[Fan Service]]. Sōsuke has just gone 4 days without sleeping due to schoolwork and his job and driven over the edge. Before passing out, he ponders on why he has to suffer like this. For ''no reason at all'', during the internal monologue, it shows a [[media:Sousuke_FANSERVICE.jpg|picture of Sousuke shirtless in a pose that would have any of his admirers absolutely screaming]].
*** The reason for the odd position was most likely because Sousuke (subconsciously) associated Tessa's behaviour with torture (well, emotionally, it sort of was). The stripping and tying upside down is a common procedure of putting the tortured person in a position of vulnerability before any sort of pain is involved. Honestly, it's a classic scene in all books that depict war and/or espionage.
* [[Shotacon]]: Gauron's been a creepy [[Stalker with a Crush]] towards Sōsuke since the latter was twelve. Yeah.
* [[Shout-Out]]: Mardukas is a [[Monty Python]] fan, as mentioned in the [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]] entry; since they couldn't use these references in the anime, they settle for a more subtle [[Shout-Out]] when, in a parody of the ''[[Psycho]]'' shower scene, the attacker wields a banana.
** In the English dub, whole quotes from a certain [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] from ''Full Metal Jacket'' are used for the Rugby team's [[Training From Hell]]. Even without that, near the end of their training, the Rugby team members started talking extremely... affectionately to Rugby balls that they were cleaning.
** In a later episode in which Shinji goes into [[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED|SEED mode]].
** In the first episode, the teacher searches Kaname's schoolbag and sees a copy of ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish|So Long And Thanks For All The Fish]]''.
** The OAV that comes after The Second Raid features an [[Affectionate Parody]] mashup of ''[[Future Boy Conan]]'' and ''[[Detective Conan]]'' called ''Future Detective Boy Conan'', depicting a famous scene from ''Future Boy Conan'' with the addition of glasses and a bow tie. The video box cover is also seen, and is a parody of the cover of ''Future Boy Conan''—Jimsy from ''Future Boy Conan'' is given the face of ''[[Detective Conan]]'''s Mouri Kogoro.
** Two major shout-outs to ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' in ''Always Stand By Me (Part 2)'': {{spoiler|Sophia/Chidori wearing a Rei-style plugsuit, and Al ''stopping an incoming nuke'' with an AT Field.}}
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* [[Talkative Loon]]: Gates, who tends to scream around and playact for long, ''long'' periods of time. Gauron, as well - especially considering that one word from [[The Quiet One|Sousuke]] can prompt him to ramble on and on nonstop.
* [[Take Off Your Clothes]]: In the last episode of ''Fumoffu'', after a seemingly deadly virus spread to the school, Sōsuke drags Kaname to the infirmary and asks her to take off her clothes. Kaname reacts all flustered, believing he [[You Don't Want to Die a Virgin, Do You?|wants to make love to her before they die]]. But Sōsuke learned that the "virus" only attacks synthetic fibers, including clothes, and he's just asking her to undress to save her school uniform before it'd disintegrate.
* [[Tanks for Nothing]]: Tanks are never a match for Armslaves.
** Actually, it's specified in the books that they are more powerful than the [[A Ses]], unless there is a Lambda Driver involved.
* [[Teach Him Anger]]
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* [[Twincest]]: Yu Fan and Yu Lan
* [[Unexpected Genre Change]]: The second season, ''Fumoffu'', served mostly to give the fans something to watch in between the more serious first and third seasons. As a result, it goes from gritty realism to off-the-wall slapstick comedy and back again.
** Occurs to a lesser extent in "filler" episodes, where it has an ALMOST ''Fumoffu''-like style to it. Such as using Arm Slaves for a school event.
* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: In the anime at least, Kaname and Sōsuke. Also, Mao and Kurz have a ''lot'' of this.
** Oh, Kaname and Sōsuke have a fair amount of it [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/full_metal_panic/c020/16.html in the manga], too.
* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: The Lambda Driver turns anger into physical power. And given the fact that it's implied that once they get the kinks worked out it'll make nukes obsolete pretty much gives enough of a reason why this trope applies.
** It's not ''anger'', per se. It's ''imagination'' and ''will''. It's referenced in the novels that Sousuke never really uses his unless he is pushed, usually to the point of despair, and rage is his way of dealing with that.
* [[Villain Takes an Interest]]: Gauron toward Sousuke.
* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Sousuke and Kurz.
* [[Welcome to My World]]: to quote Kaname's internal monologue in the first book
{{quote|''This is the real Sōsuke. You might be in charge at school, but here, you're a liability. One wrong move, and you'll be a bloodstain. Now, let's go walk through hell.''}}
* [[Wet Sari Scene]]
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* [[Wishful Projection]]: Kurtz Webber sees Kaname Chidori's picture; upon seeing the real thing he assumes she must be an angel, until Kaname chews her friend out for a horrible blind date and begins loudly yelling, causing Kurtz to become very disappointed.
* [[Yakuza]]
* [[You Don't Want to Die a Virgin, Do You?]]: In ''Fumoffu'', Mizuki tries this on Issei, and Chidori also mistakes Sousuke's behavior for this. She should know better at this point...
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Kaname, just look at her.
** She's actually an interesting case in that her hair is explicitly stated as being black in the novels, even though the cover art for those novels shows her with blue hair. When the first season was produced, the animators chose to go with the blue hair, but selected a relatively dark shade. This was changed to a lighter shade of blue in the second season. The new, lighter shade may be part of the reason some fans have had difficulty accepting that black is her 'real' hair colour.
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