Full Metal Panic! Volume 1

Full Metal Panic!, Book 1

By: Shouji Gatou

Narrated by: Luci Christian, Chris Patton

Sagara Sousuke isn't your typical high school student.

He reads military enthusiast magazines; he responds to questions with "affirmative;" he brings grenades to school in his bag. Though everyone at school takes him for a hopeless military geek, Chidori Kaname thinks there might be something more to him. When their plane is hijacked in the middle of a field trip, Kaname's instincts will prove correct: Sousuke is an elite, mech-piloting mercenary... and he's here to protect her!

©2023 Shouji Gatou (P)2023 Podium Audio

True to the anime!

What I loved about this recording is that it stays very true to the anime, while providing more details that enrich the story (internal dialogue, visual descriptions, etc). Chris Patton and Luci Christian do a great job trading off the narration and voicing the supporting characters in addition to Sousuke and Kaname. Really hope they’ll record the entire series!

Amazing story with flawed acting

To start, I watched and read both the anime and the graphic novels before I found this, so my opinion is slightly biased in some aspects.

The story is fantastic, and the original VAs for the main characters is nice, but the acting for the some of the other characters is subpar. The other characters feel way out of place with no accents or change in tone like the Russian characters and Gauron. The whisper scream when they're supposed to shout breaks much of the immersion as well.

Truthfully, while the original voices are a nice touch, I think it would have been better had they brought in some actors who can actually play the role. That being said, I do feel like Luci Christian was a great fit for this role. Chris Patton on the other hand, really only did Sousuke, Kurz, and a handful of side characters well. Practicing different accents and different vocal ranges would do him well.

All of this aside, while I was disappointed with certain parts, it does offer a lot of details that the manga and anime does not.

Strong start!

I am a big fan of the way they set up the narration. Unlike other light novels, where different people just read their respective chapters, Luci and Chris made it more dynamic and pleasant by separating it by boy-girl roles instead. I hope that the trend of making light novels into audio books continues!

Beautiful return of a classic

Having two VA’s working together through the audiobook does wonders for my attention span. Even more so with Luci Christian and Chris Patton reprising these classic roles.

We may never get the adaptation finished, but this might be better?

Didn’t know I needed this

This is one of my favorite anime’s EVER and the fact the have Luci and Chris doing the reading makes this even better can’t wait for the next volume. I NEED ALLL OF THEM