Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu Volume 4

FMP? FUMOFFU reaches its end with three full-length episodes that feature down-and-out yakuza, a dubious school club challenge and misplaced biological weaponry”¦a normal day at Jindo High School for Sousuke and Kaname, then.

With only three episodes on this disc and the individual stories taking up the entirety of each one, there’s a slight feeling of being short changed in terms of quantity of material on offer here. To its credit though FUMOFFU is, and always has been, pretty consistent in terms of quality. Comedy is a subjective thing of course (making it all the trickier to review at times), but this outing offers more of the same that we’ve come to expect from the series.

“A Fancy Without Honor or Humanity’ is something of a retread of the rugby team episode’s premise in which Sousuke, in his now-familiar Bonta-kun guise, tries to whip a bunch of down-and-out tough guys into shape after Ren’s family gets caught up in a Yakuza turf war. This time the formula is spiced up with the gang rivalry and a butt-kicking finale when the girls are held captive. And you thought one Bonta-kun was bad enough”¦

“Uncontrollable Bluebird’ doesn’t offer as much in the comedy stakes though. Sousuke’s inability to interact normally on a social level is one of the core themes of FUMOFFU but this sketch doesn’t really make as good use of this idea as many of the others; an appearance of his Mithril buddies wouldn’t have gone amiss here. As predictable as the more manic scenes are, it is a more tender moment towards the end that is this episode’s highlight: Sousuke’s uncharacteristically emotional reaction is utterly priceless.

Fortunately “5th Period Hot Spot’ ends the series on a high. It looks like the end of Jindo as well as the series when an unidentified canister is left in a classroom by Sousuke, only for some hapless student to open the lid and expose everyone to the unseen horrors within. Remember kids: don’t take your WMDs to school! This episode was downright hilarious – Sousuke tries in vain to calm his confined friends, as he seals the threat in a packed classroom with only one dose of the antidote. Despondency gives way to panic, then murderous revenge”¦

In Summary

This was a suitably slapstick end to the series and just about manages to maintain the levels of hilarity that the earlier episodes did, with the absence of Sousuke’s Mithril comrades being my only disappointment. Nevertheless, it delivers the laughs and even throws in a more romantic moment between its two leads and somehow teases more comedy out of Bonta-kun. It seems that the comedy value of a gun-toting cuddly toy and Sousuke’s reliance on military tactics to get through everyday life never gets old!

Final thoughts

I’ve always considered the comedy side of FMP! to be little more than filler so it was a pleasant surprise to discover that this “filler’ is entertaining enough in its own right. With the conflict and conspiracy storylines disregarded entirely, the writers were able to play around with the characters and place them in situations too outrageous to fit into the FMP! universe otherwise. It also turned out to be the perfect length too: had there been any more episodes than this, the gags would have been over-used and predictable. As it is, FUMOFFU was an absolute blast that didn’t outstay its welcome; it doesn’t deliver the character development that FMP fans were craving but succeeds in being very funny indeed.