Full Metal Panic Fumoffu Vol 1 : 3 of 5

Full Metal Panic was such a great anime because it had a wonderful balance of drama and humor, switching between exciting battle scenes and silly high school semi-romantic situations. Fumoffu focuses entirely on the antics, telling short stories that supposedly happened while Sousuke was undercover as a high school student to protect Kaname, and so far it's a lot of fun! I actually saw the first episode on my very first NewType sampler DVD, but at that time I hadn't watched the original Full Metal Panic, so I had to see all of it to appreciate this show. I'm glad I did, because now Fumoffu is twice as funny, and it's cool that it fills in the cracks and shows more of the daily craziness (as well as more of the developing feelings between Kaname and Sousuke). Some of the episodes are divided into two short stories, with simple plots like Sousuke blowing up his locker when someone puts a love letter in it, or a high-speed chase to get Kaname's homework turned in on time. The funniest scenes are when Sousuke pulls a gun since he just has no concept that carrying a gun isn't normal (since a military childhood is all he knows) - he even shoots up a video game screen because he runs out of ammo in the game! I hope some of the future episodes focus on Kaname's friends, and hopefully some of Sousuke's fellow soldiers, too (I'm sure they will get Tessa in somehow). Fumoffu is a cool idea for a series, so I'm going to enjoy it!