While Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory may only be an old anime, it’s one of the anime that I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Is it because of how memorable the story is?

Well, sad to say that’s not the case at all.

But I will say that one of the scenes in the anime does indeed memorable. And it’s memorable for the wrong reason too.

Don’t get me wrong. I do find the premise in Full Metal Panic! in general, to be interesting.

My only issue with Full Metal Panic! is that I barely remember what the whole shenanigan is all about considering that the first season of the anime came out more than 15 years ago.

And it doesn’t help that I didn’t watch the second season of the anime, causing me to have a hard time recalling the story even further.

Funnily enough, that doesn’t stop me from watching the anime despite my vague memory of the story.

If it’s not the story that makes Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory the anime that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, then what is?

Just like this particular scene in the anime, this is the very season that makes this anime hard to forget.

And that is the anime having such a poor quality to the point where it’s so unbearable to watch.

I’m so not kidding when I say that.

I must have high expectations for the Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory anime

Believe me, I’m not the kind of person who cares so much about the quality of the animation.

Yes, it sure is mesmerizing to see anime that has top-notch animation quality. But it’s not going to get me to stick with the anime long enough if it has a terrible story.

Having top-notch animation quality can only go so far. It’s the story that gets people to stick with the anime till the end.

I’m no different in that sense. I can tolerate the anime having a not-so-stellar animation quality as long as it has an amazing story.

But that’s not the case at all with Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory.

It’s the only anime that I wish will end soon. I just can’t bear to watch the anime any longer because of how terrible the quality is.

The beginning of everything in Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory

At first, I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me when I noticed that Sousuke’s face looks disjointed.

How disjointed he looks, you ask?

He looks as if plastic surgery went wrong in one of the scenes.

If you think that’s the only time you’ll be seeing the anime having such poor animation quality, wait till you see the scene where Chidori was only swimming in her underwear.

Just so you know that she was swimming with her dress still on at first. It was only after a while that she got rid of her dress and swims with just her underwear.

She felt that her movement in the water was somehow restricted when she had the dress on. Thus, her reason for getting rid of her dress and swimming with just her underwear instead.

Any longer than that, I bet that she’ll get rid of her underwear as well and swims with nothing at all.

I’m sure that she feels more liberated that way even with so many people watching every single of her move.

Even if she does end up going skinny dipping, it’s still unbearable to watch when the quality deteriorates this much.

And it feels awkward too when the scene feels like it’s coming out of nowhere.

Sad to say, I’m not the only one who finds that the animation quality was terrible and the swimming scene does nothing other than it’s a form of fan service.

Some even stop watching the anime altogether because of that.

What causes the animation quality to deteriorate this much

When you see the animation quality of the anime deteriorate this much, it can only mean that the production committee decided to reduce the budget for whatever reason.

But it can also be that the anime itself doesn’t have a large budget, to begin with.

You can guess what happened when you only have a small budget to work around.

It’s either you have to reduce the animation quality or you have to skimp on the cast.

Or it could be the other way around too, just like what Crunchyroll did with the Noblesse anime.

Since the cast from the previous season is reprising their role for this anime, then that leaves the studio to make do with whatever leftover budget they have.

That explains the poor animation quality in Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory.

Well, that could be the case if the series has a decent fan base.

But I don’t think that they have the heart to do such a thing to Full Metal Panic! considering that it’s a popular franchise. Pretty much many people who’ve already watched Full Metal Panic! before are so looking forward to watching the anime when it was announced the year before.

If the problem doesn’t lie in the production committee cutting the budget or allocating a small budget for Full Metal Panic!, then what’s causing the anime to suffer such a cruel fate then?

Sad to say, it’s the studio in charge of the anime that causes the anime to be in such a hellhole, Studio Xebec.

Why does it have to be this one, not the other one?

No creative guidelines between the original creator and the production team. And the fact that the studio is afraid of experimenting with new styles, causes the animation quality looks a decade old.

That sums up Studio Xebec’s business practice and capability in general.

What I say here is only the tip of the iceberg. If you want more dirt on Studio Xebec, then I highly recommend you to read this amazing blog post by Netizengalreviews.

If they already know that Studio Xebec isn’t a good fit for the anime, then why do they still choose Studio Xebec to produce the anime?

It can’t be because they’re cheaper than any other studios, can it be?

Assuming that they do have a large budget for Full Metal Panic!, I don’t think that’s the reason why they pick Studio Xebec out of many studios out there.

I will say that it’s more likely that Studio Xebec is the only studio that is available for work at that time.

Keep in mind that anime has such high demand even back then, with most of the high demand coming from broadcasting companies and streaming services.

With such high demand, it’s no surprise here that most studios are already swamped with so many anime projects.

And if they want to take on a new project, they can take on a new project after two to three years due to the backlog.

Sure, they can always wait until their preferred studio is clear of any backlog they have. That would be the ideal situation.

But with such a short timeframe until the release date, they can’t afford to wait until the studio has the time to work on the anime.

And with deadlines on the horizon, that doesn’t leave them much choice other than to let Studio Xebec take the job instead.

Will I give the original source material a chance then?

While I did say that you’re better off going straight to the source material if you’re not too happy with the anime, this is the one series that I may not bother that much to give a try.

Don’t get me wrong. I do find the story in Full Metal Panic! interesting.

But it’s still not enough to warrant me to give the light novel a try. And it doesn’t help that I tend to recall the awkward swimming scene every time Full Metal Panic! comes to mind.

What a strange way to remember Full Metal Panic! if you ask me.

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