The schedule for Fantasia Bunko Daikanshasai 2016 (Fantasia Bunko Big Thanksgiving 2016), an October 22 event for Fujimi Shobo's Fantasia Bunko imprint, teases an "important announcement" for the event's Full Metal Panic! Special Stage session. The schedule for the event's main stage lists voice actor Tomokazu Seki (Sōsuke Sagara), voice actress Satsuki Yukino (Kaname Chidori), voice actress Yukana (Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa), producer [Atsushi] Itou, original novel author Shoji Gatoh, and others as guests. The event's website adds that the Special Stage session is a "must-see for Full Metal Panic! fans."

Last year's Fantasia Bunko Daikanshasai event announced that plans for a new anime adaptation of the Full Metal Panic! light novel series were underway.

Full Metal Panic! centers around a mercenary group called Mithril on a parallel Earth in which the Cold War did not end in 1991.

The original Full Metal Panic! light novel series debuted in 1998, and Fujimi Shobo published the series' 12th and final novel in the main series in 2010. The novels have more than 11 million copies in print. Tokyopop published the first five volumes before the company shut down its North American branch in 2011.

The franchise inspired the 24-episode Full Metal Panic! TV anime series in 2002, the 12-episode Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu TV anime in 2003, and the 13-episode Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid TV anime series in 2005. Additionally, the light novels inspired the Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid video anime episode in 2006. Gonzo animated the 2002 anime series, and Kyoto Animation animated the two sequel series and the video anime.

Funimation has released all three TV anime series and the video anime on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, and ADV Films released the first two anime series on DVD before Funimation relicensed the series. Kadokawa released all three television series and the video anime on Blu-ray Disc in Japan with an English dub in 2013 to celebrate the franchise's 15th anniversary.

The original novel series has also inspired several manga spinoff series, as well as several light novel spinoffs (including Another ) and short story collections. Naoto Ōkuro published the Full Metal Panic! Another spinoff novel series from August 2011 to February 2015. Shikidouji illustrated both the original Full Metal Panic! series and Full Metal Panic! Another .

[Via Yaraon!]