Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu Volume 1 DVD Review

By sothis Published: May 1, 2005

PACKAGING AND MENU

8 / 10

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu volume 1 comes in a standard case, covered primarily in shades of blue and orange. The front cover is easily the most unfitting part of the artwork, with a bikini-clad picture of Chidori and her friend. Admittedly, these images are fitting for the third episode of the series, but undoubtedly give the wrong impression of the show in general. FMP Fumoffu is primarily a (hilarious) random comedy, but this image gives it the appearance of being yet-another-ecchi show with girls. Had I known nothing about the series and been browsing DVD covers at the store, I probably wouldn’t have checked this out for that reason. Then again, it could interest the guys out there! I understand this image might have been chosen due to lack of artwork to choose from, but still, I think something else would have been more appropriate if possible. Specifically, maybe an explosion in the background with a picture of Chidori being pissed at Sousuke, or something related.

The back of the DVD is filled with jagged pieces of imagery, including a few screenshots and some mechanical panels. The text is written diagonally as well, which is a nice touch. The side of the DVD (and the front) has a little bear guy on it (the mascot of the series, it seems, though we haven’t seen it yet in these episodes), and is covered in the same orange and blue. The side has the same issue as the front, though, with the bikini ecchified picture of Chidori on the top (promoting the wrong sort of theme for the series).

There wasn’t an official insert this time around, but was instead substituted with a fantastic game board (discussed in the features section). In addition, there’s a full color coupon for 50% off the cost of the new digipak FMP box set. The artwork on the DVD itself is crisp and pleasing to the eye.

The menu is very unique and interesting. Mechanical panels fly onto the screen and form a giant... panel (sorry for the repeat word). A small... panel (AHHH!!) then swings down on top of the other panels and shows bits of the series with a green tint. It's a cool system, but there's one major problem: the highlight color. I stared at the screen for a good 30 seconds trying to figure out where the cursor was, until finally hitting the down button on the remote to try to see it visually. As it turns out, the highlight color was blue, which conveniently was almost the exact same color as the background. For future releases this color really should be a bit more noticeable and should stand out more.

FEATURES

7.5 / 10

While this DVD wasn’t as jam packed as others I’ve seen, it still had a nice variety of features to choose from. First and foremost, one of the inserts (I’m discussing it here since it was listed on the back cover as a special feature) is a wonderfully created game board for the series. A lot of thought and effort clearly went into this, and will amuse fans of the franchise. Besides this, my favorite feature was definitely the write up on the issue with two of the half-episodes not being aired in Japan. This was one of the most confusing things for fans during the time of FMP Fumoffu’s airing, and it’s great that ADV spelled it all out nicely. In addition, there’s a bit of text explaining who chose the title of the series, and why. Other features include the seemingly mandatory artwork slides, clean opening/closing and Japanese TV ads.

VIDEO

7 / 10

In general, the video was clean and sharp, and had bright vibrant colors that came across nicely. On the other hand, there was also a fairly major problem with dancing lines that conveniently were prevalent in every scene, in every episode. Generally most DVDs have a small amount of dancing lines, but these were so prominent that it managed to completely distract us from watching the plot and action, a good amount of the time. Though the rest of the video was well done, these dancing lines were so distracting that it warrants a lower score. Aliasing didn’t seem to be that much of a problem, but then again, we might have just not noticed due to the dancing lines mangling the images. In general, good video, good colors, and a good viewing, with really, really distracting dancing lines.

AUDIO

8.5 / 10

In what might be a rare case, the English audio on the DVD was actually better than the Japanese! Boasting 5.1 surround sound, the English audio proved its worth in scenes that had gunfire or explosions. These scenes tended to make use of the full 5.1 sound stage, though the rest of the scenes tended to stay across the center stage with no major directionality. The Japanese audio was decent, but in a large amount of the scenes, the characters sounded like they were talking into a tin can and/or like they were speaking into the microphone from 5 feet away. A very distracting echo in general that I’m not sure was prevalent in the original airing, or if it was the cause of the transfer to DVD. Other than that, due to the Japanese audio being stereo and not 5.1, there wasn’t much directionality.

CONTENT

8.5 / 10

Saw Full Metal Panic and want more action, more suspense, and more intrigue? Think again. Fumoffu is not, I repeat… not a sequel to the original series. Quite frankly, you don’t have to have seen the original to appreciate the slapstick random humor of Fumoffu, so don’t think of the first series as a prerequisite by any means. I really disliked the original series, for that matter, but loved the hilariousness of Fumoffu. Basically, it follows Chidori and Sousuke through high school as they become involved in various hijinks. Sousuke is super serious and wants to protect Chidori, and is always doing inappropriate things such as setting dangerous traps and blowing up lockers galore. Chidori just wants him to be normal, and always tends to slap him across the head for his idiocy.

I’ve seen plenty of random comedy, but most of them don’t do much for me (except Cromartie). Fumoffu really came out of nowhere to surprise me, with a good blend of randomness and action, with just a small dab of romance. Sousuke seems almost dumber than the original FMP, which just makes his character more hilarious. Chidori doesn’t fall into the stereotypical Love Hina style role (as in, always hitting someone for no reason), since her reasons for being pissed are usually quite genuine to say the least. A varied cast of other characters make for good background fodder, including the gym teacher who is determined to get past Sousuke’s traps by whatever means necessary.

Animation is top notch with rich, vibrant colors and very humorous angry scenes. Explosions are plentiful and well done, and the backgrounds are beautiful with a good amount of lighting (this includes times where the sun actually appears to be reflecting off of the camera). A lighthearted soundtrack accompanies as well, lending a hand to the pleasant tone of the series.

In general, quite (surprisingly) funny, and holds plenty of potential for disc 2. I can’t wait!