Full Metal Panic!-Mission.03 (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Audio & Animation Credits-Clean opening (1:31) and closing (1:31) Gallery-Production sketches (1:54) Unseen Footage-Japanese piracy warnings (1:04) Trailer-ADV Previews (5:32) Reversible Cover DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	91:19 (Case: 100)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (45:39)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kôichi Chigira
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Satsuki Yukino Tomokazu Seki Yukana Nogami Michiko Neya Shinichirô Miki Akio Ôtsuka Masahiko Tanaka Luci Christian Chris Patton Hilary Haag Allison Keith Vic Mignogna Mike Kleinhenz
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Toshihiko Sahashi

    If you read my reviews of Full Metal Panic! Mission.01, and Full Metal Panic! Mission.02, then you've had the full mission brief and may proceed. Otherwise I recommend you gather that intelligence before continuing.

    The episodes on this disc are:

    There is almost no fan service in these episodes.

    This disc starts with a voice-over from a female voice (Hilary Haag — the English language voice for Teletha Testarossa) over the copyright warning statement. It's not an exact repeat of the Japanese piracy warning from Captain Testarossa, which was on the previous disc, but it's fairly close. These have to be the most tolerable copyright warnings I've ever encountered.

    This disc is almost self-contained. These four episodes are a complete adventure, and a bit of a change, with Teletha Testarossa playing a much larger role than we've seen before. We learn more about her, although we still haven't learned how a 16-year-old (I thought she looked young, but...) is commanding an advanced submarine.

    These episodes are mostly drama, but there is more than a little comedy thrown in to leaven the mix. Kaname's softball match is good, although I pity the other team.

    These episodes don't add much to the longer storyline, but they do add to the characterisation, and that's a good thing. There's an off-hand remark about Kalinin and Sousuke which has me wondering about the past they share, and an image that we see occasionally.

    It's quite obvious to us that Kaname and Sousuke have feelings for each other, but Kaname seems ambivalent about that. There are several legitimate reasons for her concern, but I suspect that hers may not number among them. Their relationship doesn't get any simpler during these episodes.

    We get to see some different mecha designs in these episodes, including the rather chunky efforts belonging to the Japanese SDF.

    Even though this volume is mostly drama, there's enough comedy content to satisfy. Now I'm really keen for the next one.

Video

    This DVD transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced. This is, I believe, the original aspect ratio. The opening credits are letterboxed, but the show itself is full-frame.

    The image is almost always clear and sharp; this disc is rather better than the last one, which was too soft on night time and rain shots. There are moments when focus goes in and out at the start of episode 9, but this is a deliberate effect. There is no film grain, and no low-level noise.

    Colour is rendered very nicely, and there are some vivid colours on show, including the deep red of the Behemoth. There are no colour-related artefacts.

    There are no film artefacts.

    There is still a fair bit of low-level aliasing, but I didn't find it troubling. There is no moiré and no MPEG artefacts. There is some interleaving, but you can only see it when single-stepping, not when playing at normal speed.

    The usual two subtitle tracks appear: both in English, with the first being a "signs and song lyrics only" track, while the second is full subtitles. These subtitles are yellow, attractive, and easy to read. The subtitles don't have any significant errors.

    The disc is single-sided and dual layered, RSDL-formatted. The layer change is invisible, placed between the end of episode 10 and the start of episode 11.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The soundtrack is provided in English (both 5.1 and 2.0) and Japanese (2.0 only). The 2.0 soundtracks are Dolby Digital, not surround encoded, at 192kbps. The 5.1 soundtrack is Dolby Digital at 448kbps. I watched all the episodes in English 5.1 first, then again in Japanese 2.0. I didn't listen to the English 2.0 soundtrack.

    The English dialogue is easy to understand, well-acted, and synced well with the animation. The Japanese dialogue sounds clear enough, but there are numerous discrepancies between the dialogue and the mouth movements (mouths moving without sound, sound without mouth movements).

    Toshihiko Sahashi has provided a score that is well-matched to the action and pleasant to the ears.

    The English 5.1 soundtrack provides some good examples of well-mixed surround sound, including some neat rear sound effects. The subwoofer gets some serious use on a few scenes, but it is also active supporting the low registers of the score at times. The Japanese 2.0 soundtrack is less exciting, but displays some decent stereo imaging.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menus are animated with music, with a neat introductory transition. They are easy to use.

Reversible Cover

    The cover slick can be removed from the case and reversed. The inside image has completely different cover art (this time featuring Teletha Testarossa  in uniform — very appropriate to this volume), and the front cover and spine are in Japanese. It has episode summaries instead of an overall blurb.

Clean Opening (1:31)

    The opening theme, in letterboxed form, without credits. Just as on the first two volumes...

Clean Closing (1:31)

    The closing sequence without credits. Just as on the first two volumes...

Production Sketches (1:54)

    This is not a gallery — it is a free-running montage of images with music. The sketches (and finished art) are presented in a different format this time, with no indication as to the artist.

Japanese Piracy Warnings (1:04)

    Two warnings about the legitimate use of this DVD; one features Melissa Mao (the sergeant major of Sousuke's squad), while the other is Seina (you'll find out who she is during these episodes). Both are rather fun.

ADV Previews (5:32)

    As seems common for ADV Previews, this is a series of trailers shown one after another:

• Voices of a Distant Star
• Angelic Layer
• Noir
• King of Bandit Jing

    The Region 1 version of this disc was released September 2003. As far as I can tell, it is identical to our disc (even to the artwork). Once again they get a mini-poster that we don't, but that's a small detail.

    The R1 is reported as having a very good transfer, too, although it has aliasing issues, just like this one.

    I'm calling this one a draw between the Region 1 and the Region 4. I'm happy to buy the R4.

    The third volume of an anime series that I'm really enjoying, on a rather good DVD.

    The video quality is very good, even with the aliasing.

    The audio quality is excellent, particularly on the English 5.1 soundtrack.

    The extras are varied. The opening and closing are getting repetitive (this seems to be a theme of Madman anime discs), but the production sketches are good, and the piracy warnings are entertaining.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall