The first volume of Full Metal Panic! Family, the new Full Metal Panic! light novel series, became available in Japanese bookstores on January 19 JST.
Full Metal Panic! Family is the sequel to the original Full Metal Panic!, which started in 1998 and ended in 2011 with 12 main volumes, some side stories, and numerous short story collections. The new series is set around 20 years after Full Metal Panic!‘s climatic battle and focuses on the lives of a married Sosuke and Kaname, as well as their two children Nami (a high school girl who is skilled in battle like her father) and Yasuto (an elementary school boy with incredible hacking skills). Author Shouji Gatoh and illustrator Shikidouji both returned for this follow-up, which was first teased in May 2023.
The previous Full Metal Panic! series was a sci-fi mecha action-comedy with Sosuke and Kaname as teenagers. It inspired a few anime series, including 2002’s Full Metal Panic!, 2003’s comedy-focused Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu — which is the first TV anime produced by Kyoto Animation — 2005’s Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, and 2018’s Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory. There are also a number of manga and games.
J-Novel Club describes the first Full Metal Panic! volume as:
Sagara Sousuke isn’t your typical high school student. He reads military enthusiast magazines; he responds to questions with “affirmative;” he brings grenades to school in his bag. Though everyone at school takes him for a hopeless military geek, Chidori Kaname thinks there might be something more to him. When their plane is hijacked in the middle of a field trip, Kaname’s instincts will prove correct: Sousuke is an elite, mech-piloting mercenary… and he’s here to protect her!
Full Metal Panic! Family is published by KADOKAWA under the Fantasia Bunko label.
Sources: @fantasia_bunko, Famitsu