Full Metal Panic!-Mission.07 (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 (2:13) Unseen Footage-Japanese piracy warnings (1:06) Trailer-ADV Previews (5:46) Reversible Cover Booklet DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	68:33 (Case: 75)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kôichi Chigira
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Satsuki Yukino Luci Christian Tomokazu Seki Chris Patton Yukana Nogami Hilary Haag Masahiko Tanaka Mike McRae Michiko Neya Allison Keith Shinichiro Miki Vic Mignogna Mike Kleinhenz
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Toshihiko Sahashi

    The final disc in this series is Full Metal Panic! Mission.07. In proper military manner we have a full muster of the previous reviews:  Full Metal Panic! Mission.01, Full Metal Panic! Mission.02, Full Metal Panic! Mission.03, Full Metal Panic! Mission.04, Full Metal Panic! Mission.05, and Full Metal Panic! Mission.06.

    The episodes on this disc are:

    These three episodes comprise the thrilling ending to the series. Although I was a little disappointed in the way that they left a few important plotlines unfinished, this is generally quite a satisfying ending.

    There is very little comedy in these episodes, because they are winding up the serious story arc. That's OK, although I'd have enjoyed a comedy episode after the final serious one. Not a big problem, though.

    The underwater shots (which are 3D CGI) are really gorgeous. The character animation (which is conventional 2D) is high quality, and quite attractive, too.

    Looking back, this has been a thoroughly entertaining ride, with an unusual, but effective, assortment of serious and silly episodes — rather than attempting to blend both into a single episode. This technique is one I'd like to see used more deliberately in other series. It lets them concentrate on being funny without compromising a serious moment.

    This series is another which bears repeat watching. One of the best parts about having bought the series is that it's sitting there waiting to be watched again.

    A decent conclusion to an enjoyable series. There is a shorter follow-up series, called Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu — I wonder when / if we'll see that one appear?

Video

    This DVD transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced. That's the original aspect ratio.

    The image is clear and sharp, almost all of the time; there are a few moments that are a little softer, such as at 3:53 in episode 23 — it's not ugly, but it is noticeably soft. There are no problems with film grain or low-level noise.

    Colour is excellent, with high quality and consistent rendering of a wide range of colours. There are no colour-related artefacts.

    There are no film artefacts.

    It is almost inevitable that we see some minor aliasing on pans, but it's never troubling. There is no moiré and no MPEG artefacts.

    The usual two subtitle tracks appear: both in English, the first being a "signs and song lyrics only" track, the second being full subtitles. These subtitles are yellow, easy to read, and seem at least as accurate as usual. There are some odd little errors, such as in episode 22, when an order is given in voice as applying to the "forward" half, but the subtitles read "aft" — this is not the only error, but it's probably the most blatantly wrong.

    The disc is single-sided and single layered. That means no layer change, and there's no issue with capacity, because there is not a heap of content.

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 224kbps. The 5.1 soundtrack is Dolby Digital at 448kbps. I watched all the episodes in English 5.1, then again in Japanese 2.0. I sampled the English 2.0 soundtrack, mostly just to check that it existed — it does...

    The English dialogue is easy to understand, well-acted, and matches the animated "mouth flaps" well. The Japanese dialogue sounds clear enough, and seems equally well-matched to the "mouth flaps".

    Music adds considerably to the experience of this series. Toshihiko Sahashi has done an excellent job of the score.

    In these episodes, the English 5.1 soundtrack doesn't provide any significant directional sound effects, but the surround channels are used to deepen the soundtrack. The subwoofer sees some use, but is well integrated so it's less noticeable. The Japanese 2.0 soundtrack offers some decent stereo imaging, and is full range with some decent bass — good for a TV track, but not as impressive as a full 5.1 track.

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, and are themed nicely to the show. 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 one featuring Kurz Weber, the other member of Sousuke's team), and the front cover and spine are (mostly) in Japanese. It has episode summaries instead of an overall blurb. The reverse covers are in much lighter colours than the originals.

Booklet

    This is an interesting touch. Tucked into the case is a a folded strip of paper that equates to 8 pages, each carrying a single image. The images are the same as the reverse covers of all seven volumes, plus a cover for the whole series.

Clean Opening (1:31)

    The opening theme, in letterboxed form, without credits. Where did we see this before?

Clean Closing (1:31)

    The closing sequence without credits. Fairly sure we've seen this before too — maybe six other times?

Production Sketches (2:13)

    This is a free-running montage of images with music (kind of tinkle-tonk music).

Japanese Piracy Warning

    Only one warning here, but it's a long one (1:06): this one is from the Commander who is XO of the Tuatha de Danaan.

ADV Previews (5:46)

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

• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Azu Manga Daioh
• Voices of a Distant Star
• Spriggan

DVD Credits

    This page lists the American team who were responsible for assembling the DVD.

    The Region 1 version of this disc was released at the start of 2004. As far as I can tell, their disc is essentially identical to ours, even to the reversible cover. They get a mini-poster that we don't, but that's not an important difference.

    The R1 is reported to have a very good transfer, and I'd estimate that the two are pretty much equivalent.

    Looks like another draw between the Region 1 and the Region 4. My collection contains the R4s, and I'm happy to have them.

    The conclusion to a superb anime series that is thoroughly entertaining. Presented well on a good DVD

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The extras are somewhat limited, but the copyright/anti-piracy warnings (both the English and the Japanese) continue to be varied and fun — so far they are the only warnings I've ever watched willingly!

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall