There is literally nothing about Full Metal Panic! that adds up to being anything more than derivative. It's filled with cliched characters and scenarios, the animation looks horrendous by today's (2011) standards, the voice acting is extremely hollow with only a couple exceptions, the writing is unintentionally laughable frequently, plot threads are started but never resolved, there's pointless filler episodes, etc, etc.
Never has the urge been so strong to stop watching an anime half way through, that exact point being a confoundedly stupid episode in which men in giant robots compete at table tennis and tug of war. Don't get me wrong, this show is actually best at its most lighthearted. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where the goofiness and seriousness are so awkwardly juxtaposed, that it ends up feeling like idiocy that takes itself very seriously.
Maybe there's something I'm missing here, but I can't find anything redeeming about this series. If it were older, I might be able to see as an influence to the giant robot genre, but 2002 really wasn't that long ago. It really kind of feels like a relic that would have been more at home in the early days of the genre, with the likes of Gundam, and Gunbuster.
I realize that maybe I'm being overly critical of something that is just meant to be casually enjoyed and not dissected and analyzed like the best anime can hold up to, but if every step of the way, you are wondering why you are bothering to watch, it's not worth it.
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