Shoji Gatoh



Shoji Gatoh (賀東 招二 Gatō Shōji?, born July 11, 1971), is a Japanese author from Shiga Prefecture, Japan. He is best known for the creation of the Full Metal Panic series that included light novels, manga and anime. He is not only an author but also an anime scenarist, for example episode "The Day of Sagittarius" of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and three episodes of Lucky Star.

Shoji Gatoh met with Koichi Chigira by accident when he bumped into him in Shinjuku when he was late for work. Later on, the two were shocked to meet with one another in the GONZO Digimation office. The two later teamed up to create the anime series.

English publication of the novels had begun on September 11 2007, licensed and published by Tokyopop. However, Tokyopop has discontinued publishing the English version of the novels soon after, to reboot them again in 2011, with the release of both volumes of Ending Day by Day (February 2011). This leaves only the first 5 out of 12 main story FMP! novels translated with no plans to translate novels 6 to 12. This is largely due to Tokyopop's US publishing operations shutting down on May 31, 2011.

English speaking fans of FMP! are therefore left to rely on fantranslated versions of the novels and the in progress FMP! Sigma manga (as of June 2013) in order to find out what happens after FMP! The Second Raid (which coincides with novels 4&5 "Ending Day by Day").

Update: Publisher J-Novel club has picked up the series and now has the rest of the light novel series either translated or soon to be - in digital format at least. By July 2021 (a mere 10 years later) the series should be complete.