Full Metal Panic!

Full Metal Panic! (フルメタル・パニック!) is an anime based on the Light Novel of the same name by Shouji Gatou. It's very famous for mixing school, Mecha, war and political themes and repeatedly shifting from comedy to action and drama. The story is about a militaristic young soldier named Sousuke Sagara who is ordered to protect Kaname Chidori and thwart the plans of the infamous terrorist group Amalgam and its leader Guaron. It was originally licensed by ADV Films and is now acquired by Funimation.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The concept of it mixing school life, war, comedy, action and Mecha political drama is very interesting and well executed and it starts to get darker as its progress with development for its story, characters, romance and drama gets higher.
 * 2) Very likable characters especially Sousuke Sagara who is a very protective, sympathetic and caring man who'll do anything to protect his friends and loved ones from terrorists, criminals and war criminals.
 * 3) The romance chemistry of Sagara and Chidori is very well-written as Sagara cares and wants to protect her while Chidori does find him weird and suspicious, she starts to trust him and save him the same way as he does and will be together for each other and others.
 * 4) Very good animation as it gets better from season to season, visuals and art style is also very well detailed for its time.
 * 5) Great Japanese and English voice acting which both captures the comedy, action and drama such as Melissa having a humorous profanity ridden meltdown in the dub and does well with Sagara's militaristic nature.
 * 6) Very well written story as it gets more interesting and darker as it progresses with a great balance of comedy and serious moments.
 * 7) It tends to parody the clichés and tropes of Mecha and school life in a great and impressive mix which its Spin-Off season Fumoffu does it even more and it even parodies itself for them.
 * 8) Very good character development which it's shown even more in the second season such as Chidori starting to also fight for herself and protect Sagara at any time the same way he does.
 * 9) Guaron is a very well-written and intimidating villain who possesses most of the villainous traits terrorists and war criminals tend to have. He also has a great backstory with Sagara and shows how evil and threatening he truly is and will do anything to corrupt the world.
 * 10) Very well composed soundtrack that switches from slapstick/school life to classic-like war music at anytime the mood changes in the series.
 * 11) The Arm Slave designs are very well done and there's even a cute teddy bear-like Arm Slave called Bonta-kun in Fumoffu and while it's not as powerful as the usual ones. It still can take down many enemies and has a voice changer to give the pilot a cute voice and humorous personality when using them.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Chidori can get overreactive and a bit unlikable at times though is shown in a realistic sense mostly.
 * 2) The anime seems to struggle to adapt the full story as it got some hiatuses (took 2 years for Kyoto Animation to adapt the fourth and fifth novels for the second season) and then again until 2018 with Xebec skipping the sixth novel (which instead got adapted into a radio drama) and adapting novels 7-9 as the 3rd season called Invisible Victory.
 * 3) Leonard Testarossa is a very lackluster and unlikable villain who only wants to steal Chidori from Sagara and betrays his sister Teletha. Though his past is tragic and was indoctrinated by Amalgam, he could still fix this by redeeming himself by betraying Amalgam, join Mithril and apologize to his sister.
 * 4) The pacing is sometimes slowed down by the comedy and school Slice-Of-Life themes, though forgivable as it's intended to be a mixture of action, Mecha, comedy, school life and drama.

Trivia

 * The creator Shouji Gatou wanted to have the females in the second half have their damsel-in-distress roles toned down and actually portrayed as strong women also saving others and fighting for the protagonist Sagara.