Ive watchd the anime and loved it ,but I thought maybe the manga wouldn't as good because it's not that popular ,even the comments here said its like that.....I have to say I'm shocked not only is the manga's story as gripping as the anime it's art is spot on.every chapter leaves u starving for more ...highly recommended.

Let me start by saying that I was not originally a huge fan of Full Metal Panic. The juxtaposition of Sagara's wacky hijinks in civilian life and generic mecha stuff was always a little hard to swallow. It was made even worse (in my opinion, anyway) by the total deus ex machina nature of the lambda driver. It always struck me as a lazy plot device.

But this? This I like.

Sure it's just a continuation of the same story, but it has taken on a completely different tone. The change of artist is part of it, and I actually think it's a change for the better. But the biggest change is how the story itself has become much more serious. The fact that Sagara is basically a professional killer is actually acknowledged and even emphasized for once. The enemies that Mithril is fighting have become much more aggressive and it is no longer possible for them accomplish their objectives while keeping everything squeaky clean. It just feels a lot more realistic overall.

I can see why long time fans might be put off by the change in tone, but as somebody who was never really crazy about the earlier style (didn't love or hate it, was just kind of blah), this definitely feels like a step in the right direction.

its style reminds me a bit of the work for Until Death Do Us Part. i don't think it's cartoon-ish at all. i read the original manga first so this style was a bit jarring- you have to get used to familiar faces now being made-over. still, the anime and this have the same look and i actually think its more adult generated than the first. less ecchi. less everyday school interaction as well, which i miss. i was surprised by the focus shift from Chidori to Sousuke in this sequel. i'm enjoying it, though.

... Last updated on October 6th, 2009, 4:50am

saw the anime for this and read the manga so far...it sucks that its only up until v.1.....but its ssssooooooooo awesome! the fight scenes are kick a** and there are a whole buncha twists and turns....very enjoyable

Ok major fanboy here.
As the series as a whole
For me almost every aspect of the FMP universe is perfect. The comedy parts, the action parts and the more dark part are well spread so you do not get that choppy feel of it trying to be everything at once and just fail horribly in every aspect. When it tries to be funny it usually is funny and when it is trying to be serious it is. The romance part is there and it is a big part of they story but it do not turn it into some sappy mish mash and overshadow the rest of the story, all parts of the story good pretty much the same attention and time, which is a good thing. The author do not forget where the story came from or where it is headed.
The plot is well thought out and nothing is really off.
Almost all of the characters are IMO great. Sousuke is a nice male lead. While he has major troubles in what normal people would call everyday life, he is very good at what he would call everyday life. He makes a very good contrast to the regular school life and, in a humorous way, the character Sousuke shows what might happen to kids growing up in a warzone without it turning into some emo bull. Kaname is well Kaname, all in all a good take on a heroine, sometimes shes weak, and sometimes she is strong, yet so do not just give up because something is hard or difficult, if Sousuke is not around to save her, she will at least try to get out of a sticky situation herself. The chemistry between the two characters are also very good and they compliment each other, so the romance part do not get choppy or totally unbelievable. The rest of the characters are all great, well except for Tessa, yeah I hate her too
The mecha part of the story is also very good. Yeah they are very powerful, but strategy can still take them out and they are not invincible with or without the lambda driver.
And while I remember it they lambda driver is so very well explained further into the story and it sounds less overpowered

Now for the manga. As someone said before, it makes a hell of a leap in the right direction by recognising that Sousuke is a killer and he is not just a retard that can not do anything beside screw. The art on the other hand, personally I think it is okay, but there is just something wrong with the characters heads.
As I love it I will only focus ont the bad parts everything is just awesome
The manga has three major problems. First of all the pacing. It is just so very bad everything happens so frickin fast that you do not have any clue what is happening and what is important and what’s not. The second major problem is the attention to detail. In the manga it just sucks some things are not explained well other things are just not explained and you have to do guess what, where and when. If I had not read the novels I would just be lost and skim. It is very bad at conveying the characters’ feelings and thoughts hence, they look stiff.
Yet despite all of this I give it a 10, fanboy


Conclusion, if you like the darker twist on the story and you want to learn more about the characters and well see an ending, go read the novels! Everything Spearsmen620, rightfully, complained about still happens, but you actually know why and they do not look like complete morons.
The novels are better in every aspect. The manga honestly looks like a cheap knock off compared to the novel.

... Last updated on September 28th, 2011, 12:36pm

I just love the sousuke kaname love team. Yea and they matured a lot in the manga. I realized that i like weber when a specific part of the manga was about him. And i still dont like tessa. Whenever i read where she appears, somehow her small, annoying voice kept on reverberating in my eardrums. She better find another man lol. I just love the story how the main characters developed and i like the art too. I like sousuke in the first fmp manga but this artwork is still great but sousuke doesnt look mature as with the first fmp. I love really sousukeeeee he is the best mercenary!!!!!!! He is funny and clueless but is an expert during missions. Just read it to find more about kana and sousuke, i will not give any spoiler ^_<

The original FMP manga had quite a bit of comedy, of course not all of it was great humor, and it had some serious moments especially towards the end but the seriousness or realism did not dominate. This sequel reverses that as its more serious and a bit darker. Its all played a bit more straight as we no longer have Sousuke using rubber bullets, but the real stuff. Some real questions get asked like what do mercenaries really do, and how many people have our favorite mercenaries actually killed. This is not bad.

Unfortunately, besides the reversal of seriousness over comedy we have the art flip as well. Its particularly irksome in the first 3 or 4 volumes. Many of the characters now look younger than the first series. Sousuke for example, does not look like he grew up in a war zone, that is visually he lacks a certain maturity instead he looks like any stereotypical shonen teenage punk. Instead of 17 he looks more like 13 at times. Hands and feet are drawn poorly sometimes. In some panels, not all which tells you its inconsistent, the shape of thighs and calves are not differentiated. This means the legs are just drawn as long tubes. This extends down into the ankles as characters like Tessa no longer have ankles but instead "skankles". I find the expressions and the emotions that the characters are supposed to portray coming across as stiff visually and not particularly convincing. Visually the action in the first volumes is not great. However, around volume 4 or 5 the art does improve overall and its not as distracting as it was (for me) in the first few volumes.

I think story wise its better than the original. Its not all "what did Sousuke blow up at school today?" It also has some character development and growth for Sousuke, Chidori Kaname, and Tessa. Now, I do think there are some weaknesses with some of the motivations of the characters, a few contrived moments, and a plot hole or two. But still its a pretty good story. I would say read it for the strong story, not so much for the art.

Oh, and Tessa FTW. I prefer her to any tsundere out there.

So, what the heck was all this exactly? The characters' personas are destroyed, because some genius decided they should be "rebooted", "remade". The story is complete and utter bullshit, if they decided to bring a delorian in there, I would *not* be surprised.

Ohhh and apparently there just had be a ton of ass shots, tits shots (no nipple), front shots, sex positions completely out of the blue, for some mysterious reason only the author knows. I guess the team thought, since the story is non-existent let's throw a bunch of asses and boobs in there.

They should have taken the hentai path and not drag F.M.P through the mud.

Anyway, I'll soon forget I've even read this. I'll stick to the original F.M.P which has actual story.

Sigma is Uber fail.

as much as i loved the first one.. the art for this one was a big turnoff. It seems the author changed artists, so i guess the one drawing the characters chagned which is a great loss...I prefered the last aritst's drawings, not that the new one is bad, but you get a different feel from this artist, like it's more of a comedy than a serious character during the fight scenes. Though it seems the artist for the mechs are still the same, though i would have rather have it the other way aorund...

The Save the world theme and all the screwing around by Chidori in this work have actually made me wish to not have read it. Just watch the anime and the previous manga and skip this one, where you'll find a completelly different tone. While in the original FMP they were kids trying to survive something greater than them, in this work they are actually in, the thousand times seen, change/save the world red lining, besides characters have gotten a complete illogical reboot of their personalities. There are a ton of saving the world, bad guy kidnaps girl manga and novels, FMP was not one of them, now it is. Also, the art is sometimes sub par.