Full Metal Panic's New Anime Series Has Probably Been Delayed

A new Full Metal Panic! series was announced last October and was set to release this fall, but it seems like that is now unlikely. The new series is officially titled Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory had been listed to release in the Fall but has been removed from many sites as of the end of April. Not only has the show been removed from streaming sites, but the official website for the anime itself removed its "this fall" listing from the series as well.

Since the show has been removed from the listing on multiple streaming sites, as well as on the official website itself it can be assumed that the show is being delayed. If you are not familiar with the franchise, it centers around a mercenary group called Mithril on a parallel Earth in which the Cold War did not end in 1991.

Fujimi Shobo first debuted Full Metal Panic! as a light novel series in 1998, and published the series' 12th and final novel in the main series in 2010. The popular novels have more than 11 million copies in print. The novel spun off many anime series, such as the original TV anime series Full Metal Panic! which released in 2002. There is also the Full Metal Panic? series, and Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid.

Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory, has an impressive staff behind it, including the following:

• Katsuichi Nakayama is directing the series at studio XEBEC
• Shoji Gatoh (The original novel author) is taking care of the series composition and writing all the scripts
• Osamu Horiuchi is the character designer and chief animation director
• Aya Yamamoto is the sub-character designer
• Takeshi Yoshioka is the small arms designer and animation director
• Kanetake Ebikawa and Toshiaki Ihara are the mechanical designers
• Takayuki Yanase is the set designer
• Masanori Nishii is the mechanical director.