News
J-Novel Club Licenses Full Metal Panic! Light Novel Series
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
J-Novel Club announced on Sunday that it has licensed Shoji Gatoh's Full Metal Panic! light novel series. While Tokyopop previously published four volumes of the novels (pictured right), J-Novel Club stated that its release will be a "complete retranslation." J-Novel Club added it has licensed all 12 volumes of the main novel series, and stated that the release will "hopefully ... be successful enough to support the sequel AND spinoff series."
The novel series centers on Kaname Chidori, a girl who enjoys fame and notoriety in her high school for her striking personality. She is unaware that numerous groups are targeting her due to her being suspected as one of the "Whispered," a group of people with special abilities. The counter-terrorist unit Mithril sends elite soldier Sousuke Sagara as her bodyguard, posing as a high school student the entire time.
The original Full Metal Panic! light novel series debuted in 1998, and Fujimi Shobo published the series' 12th and final novel in the main series in 2010. The novels have more than 11 million copies in print.
The franchise inspired the 24-episode Full Metal Panic! TV anime series in 2002, the 12-episode Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu TV anime in 2003, and the 13-episode Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid TV anime series in 2005. Additionally, the light novels inspired the Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid video anime episode in 2006. GONZO animated the 2002 anime series, and Kyoto Animation animated the two sequel series and the video anime. A new television anime titled Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory premiered last May. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan, and Funimation streamed an English dub.
Funimation has released the first three TV anime series and the video anime on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, and ADV Films released the first two anime series on DVD before Funimation relicensed the series. Kadokawa released the first three television series and the video anime on Blu-ray Disc in Japan with an English dub in 2013 to celebrate the franchise's 15th anniversary.
The original novel series has also inspired several manga spinoff series, as well as several light novel spinoffs (including Another) and short story collections. Naoto Ōkuro published the Full Metal Panic! Another spinoff novel series from August 2011 to February 2015. Shikidouji illustrated both the original Full Metal Panic! series and Full Metal Panic! Another.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history