Markedly different in tone to the first series, Fumoffu emphasizes the high school romantic comedy aspects of Full Metal Panic! and focuses on the romantic tension between Sousuke Sagara and Kaname Chidori. It sometimes parodies itself on other anime stereotypes, and features none of the mecha combat and political intrigue which characterized much of the original Full Metal Panic!.
There is little ongoing plot, also contrasting with the first Full Metal Panic! series: most Fumoffu episodes can stand alone, needing very little recap if any. The only breaks from this pattern are a handful of two-part stories told over two episodes. Many of the stories in Fumoffu are adaptations of plots in the original Full Metal Panic! short stories that ran on the Dragon Magazine.
The name "Fumoffu" is the sound made by Bonta-kun, a fictional mascot in the series who resembles a giant yellow teddy bear. During the series Sousuke designs and places into production heavily modified Bonta-kun suits for the purpose of aiding in tactical situations. Except for only being able to move at normal walking or running speeds for a human, the suit is essentially a miniature Arm Slave - however, the suit's "voice changer" renders all speech into either "Fu", "Mo", "Ffu", or "Ru", and the F.M.M.F.O. OS will immediately crash if the pilot tries to deactivate it (as referenced in Episode 10). This results in Kaname needing to act as a translator via headset radio if Sousuke needs to make himself understood.
There were 12 half-hour episodes created, but only 11 were broadcast on Japanese television. The omitted stories are said by ADV's "Mysteries of Fummofu", --on the first American DVD-- to have not been broadcast because their plots deal with kidnapping and similar child kidnapping events happened in Japan in real life shortly before the planned broadcast.
The television series was animated by Kyoto Animation, replacing GONZO from the previous series. The English version was produced by ADV Films. The original broadcast in Japan aired from August 25-November 18, 2003, ran for 11 episodes, and 2 volumes of videos were released on DVD. To coincide with seasonal change of the last three broadcasts, the ending song images which were of summer at the beginning were changed to that of the fall.
While FMP? Fumoffu may seem to be a sidestory, many of the episodes were in fact taken more or less directly from the actual run of the FMP!light novels. It may have been that the producers sought to keep the core story straight during the FMP! series, but then wanted to explore some of the less important stories at a later time.
The president of the Jindai High's Student Council. He is in his third year. He often considers Sousuke's behavior a reasonable response to the kind of situations he finds himself in, much to the frustration of Kaname; this is why he assigns Sousuke the job of Security in the Student Council. His behavior is calm, and he is never seen angry. Sousuke and Hayashimizu share a mutual respect. On many occasions that involve the school, Sousuke tends to treat Atsunobu just as he would a senior officer in the military. Hayashimizu is also known for holding a white fan, on which various Japanese characters are written, with different words each time.
The Secretary of Jindai High's Student Council, friend of Kaname and daughter of a Yakuza boss, Ren is a yamato nadesico, an example of the Japanese ideal of femininity. She is beautiful, dependable and caring. She seems to have feelings for Atsunobu Hayashimizu, the Student Council's president. However, much about her is still unknown. Because the women in the time of Tokugawa were given names with two syllables only, usually adding the prefix "O-" to refer to someone who is considered honorific. That is why even if her full name is Ren Mikihara, Kaname prefers to address her as "Oren-san." In The Second Raid she is briefly seen from behind in Episode 3 and is mentioned in Episode 7 entitled 'Left Behind'.
Issei Tsubaki
The leader of Jindai High School's karate club, he is extremely skilled at karate. However, he is extremely nearsighted and can see clearly only when wearing his glasses, which leads to several comic incidents. His sense of pride cannot accept the fact that he was defeated by Sousuke, and is constantly challenging him to rematches - which Sousuke usually avoids - intentionally or not. He has a huge crush on Kaname, but in the short story Irrelevant Emotion accidentally indicates Sousuke when he is confessing his love for Kaname. Thus, it is thought throughout the short story that Sousuke and Tsubaki are homosexual. In the Fumoffu! anime, Mizuki falls in love with him in the last episode, but in Irrelevant Emotion she falls for him after he narrowly saves her from falling out a window. His character is similar to Ranma 1/2's Ryoga for his determination to defeat his rival, and Mousse (Ranma ½) for being a nearsighted rival.
References to Popular Culture
The trip to the hot springs has several pop-culture references:
Gundam SEED: When Kurz and most of the boys are taken down by automated sentry guns and a minefield Sousuke set up in anticipation of their sneak-peek, Kurz encourages Shinji to continue on. When Shinji runs into a horde of sentry guns, he goes into "SEED mode"; however, the shattering seed in Gundam SEED is replaced by a pair of boxers.
Naruto: Kurz wanting to sneak a peek at the girls through a hole in the wall is a reference to Jiraiya from Naruto. This is further proven by him convincing the boys to follow in his stead.
Episode 12, "Overdone Warcry": Sousuke's training (and belittling) of the Jindai High rugby team (and turning them from pacifist to near-psycho-sadistic) bears reference to Full Metal Jacket. Although most of the words are censored ("bleeped out"), you can make out most of the uncensored content by turning the volume up and listening closely.
Detective Yoko Wakana (and her driving of a Mini Cooper) is a heavy reference to You're Under Arrest; however, her aggressive demeanor is more reminiscent of Washu Hakubi (and her daughter, Ryoko Hakubi) from Tenchi Muyo.
