The following infos were originally posted back by me in 2004, but has since been recovered thanks to many helpful members after the crash. Thank you!
CHAPTER ONE: "FULL METAL PANIC!" IS A NOVEL.
What is "Full Metal Panic!" ?
"Full Metal Panic!" known in Japan as "fullmeta" and outside of Japan as FMP, is an anime based on a novel
What do you mean by novel? Do you mean graphic novels? Then it is from a manga right?
NO. When I say
novel I mean a
novel. The ones with letters in in which you actually have to read everything word for word.
"Full Metal Panic!" is a 'light' novel that is aimed for teenagers. Here in Japan, we have many novels that are targeted for teens. Many of these novels become animated when they are successful. Just to name a few, "Slayers," "Scrapped Princess," "Maburaho," and "Maria-sama ga Miteru" are all animes that are based on light novels. A broad definition of the term can be found on the
English wikipedia site.
These novels are initially serialized on a monthly magazine (just like mangas are initially serialized in a weekly/monthly comic magazine).
In the case of fullmeta, stories are initially run on Monthly Dragon Magazine - a magazine aimed at teenagers from the publisher Kadokawa Shoten. When enough stories are compiled to form one volume of a novel, they are placed into a book. The book is released by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko press - a subsidiary of Kadokawa Shoten.
A light novel consists of around 200-400 pages of text, with around 5-7 picture inserts in them. Light novels are a tag team effort between the author and the illustrator. The author writes up the story, while the illustrator draws cover designs and picture inserts for a specific scene. See example below:
Copyright: Fujimi Fantasia Bunko, Gatoh Shoji, Shiki Doji / "Houtte Okenai Lone Wolf" pp. 152-153
[right (pg 152)]: roughly 95% of the book consists of this
[left (pg 153)]: the other 5% has illustrated art
In the case of "Full Metal Panic!" the original author is Gatoh Shoji, and the illustrator is Shiki Doji. In all fullmeta anime that you see, you will see their names credited for main story and main character designs.