A covert international force protects an average high school girl from a terrorist kidnapping threat in Full Metal Panic.

Full Metal Panic, V.1 - V.7
TV series (24 episodes), 2002. Director: Koichi Chigira. V.1-3, four episodes/100 minutes, v.4-7, three episodes/75 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: A.D.V. Films

This is an interesting variant on the anime TV series formula of starting off with light humor and gradually becoming more grimly dramatic. The setting is a sci-fi parallel world variant of the present in which the Soviet Union still exists, "giant robot" battle armor (called arm slaves) is common military hardware (to the extent there is a Jane's Arm Slave Recognition Guide handbook), and instead of (or in addition to) the U.N. there is a covert international force named MITHRIL, secretly supported by most nations, which uses superior technology to ruthlessly eliminate terrorist bases, the military materiel of warlike nations and some international criminal activities such as large narcotic cartels.

Kaname "Kana" Chidori is a 16-year-old high school student; a high spirited sports star but otherwise seemingly average. MITHRIL is aware that those who oppose a global police force have joined forces, either led by the Soviet Union or by a secret clique within the Soviet leadership that is using the KGB for its own purposes. This enemy is kidnapping select people around the world for unknown scientific experiments, and MITHRIL learns that Kana is high on their list.

Three MITHRIL sergeants young enough to pass as high school students are assigned to secretly guard her. Sosuke Sagara, who is transferred into her class as an exchange student, has been living in a military environment since he was a child guerrilla fighter in Afghanistan. He can fieldstrip and reassemble an automatic rifle in record time, but he is clueless about how to act like a high school student. His heavy-handed attempts to watch over Kana at all times, including when she is in the girls' gym shower, get him a reputation as a pervert and a demented weapons/mercenary groupie.

The first three episodes are nicely plotted comedy. Sosuke tries to get a clue about how he should behave in high school, and Kana grows increasingly furious at her "stalker." Episodes four through seven are a grim serial in which the enemy kidnaps Kana's entire class (planning to kill everyone else to mask her disappearance), and Sosuke with his teammates must rescue everyone in a bloody commando attack. After this, Kana cannot deny that she has a deadly enemy. But since Sosuke and his companions cannot reveal who assigned them to protect her, and nobody knows yet why the enemy wants her, she is left angry and frustrated.

Instead of slowly evolving from comedy to drama, the series alternates between comedy and drama. In the humorous episodes at the high school, Sosuke slowly learns to fit in and a personal relationship develops between him and Kana. In the dramatic episodes, the enemy makes new attacks to seize Kana, who is forced to witness her maybe-boyfriend as a cold-blooded soldier/killer, and more details about MITHRIL become evident.

Other MITHRIL personal, such as father figure Commander Andrei Kalinin and big-sisterly Capt. Tessa Testarossa, gradually develop into supporting characters. Kana eventually realizes that she is becoming emotionally more closely attached to them than to her schoolmates.

Full Metal Panic (24 episodes, Jan. 8 through June 18, 2002), one of Studio Gonzo's high class blends of 2D and CGI animation, is especially notable for the detailed realism of the military hardware from handguns and commando knives to attack helicopters and nuclear submarines (the sci-fi battle armor blends in convincingly), and the realistically staged (for an anime drama) battle action. Suggested age is 15+ for graphic military violence.