At this year’s Fantasia Bunko Daikanshasai (Fantasia Bunko Big Thanksgiving) held on Saturday, a special stage event announced that a new Full Metal Panic television anime series will be broadcast in Fall 2017 with the title Full Metal Panic IV. In attendance at the event were several staff and returning cast members including voice actors Tomokazu Seki (Sōsuke Sagara), Satsuki Yukino (Kaname Chidori), and Yukana (Teletha “Tessa” Testarossa), as well as franchise producer Atsushi Itou, and original novel author Shoji Gatoh. The new series will be produced at studio XEBEC (the previous installments were made at Gonzo (Full Metal Panic!) and Kyoto Animation (Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid)). The schedule for the stage event had teased back in August that there would be an “important announcement” for the franchise.
Katsuichi Nakayama (series director for planetarian, episode director for numerous series) will be directing the series. Full Metal Panic! original novel author Shoji Gatoh is handling the series composition and scripts. Osamu Horiuchi (Full Metal Panic!, Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid) is returning as the character designer and chief animation director and Aya Yamamoto (animation director for My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO!) is the sub-character designer.
The stage event also announced that Odoru Very Merry Christmas (Dancing Very Merry Christmas), the sixth Full Metal Panic! novel, is getting an audio drama. The onstage guests also revealed a key visual for the audio drama:
That a new anime adaptation for the light novel franchise was in the works was already announced last year.
Gatoh’s original novel series, illustrated by Doug Shiki, published by Fujimi Shobo (a Kadokawa imprint) ran for twelve volumes between 1998 and 2011. ADV Films and FUNimation previously released the anime material with FUNimation currently holding all the rights for it. FUNimation have since released the original series as well as the Fumoffu series in priced-down format.
Property concept: Jindai High School was a relatively safe place, right up until Sousuke Sagaka transferred there. A total nut, he wreaks havoc on the school’s student body and gets into a world of trouble with the teachers! But there’s more to Sousuke than meets the eye—not just a hell-raising student, he’s actually a member of an elite military unit, on an undercover mission to protect the beautiful schoolgirl Kaname Chidori from the KGB.
[Source: ANN]
