Full Metal Panic Novels to End
Shoji Gatoh, the author of the long-running Full Metal Panic light novel series, has announced on his blog that he is currently working on the final book in the series. The first novel was released 12 years ago, when the concept of light novels were just beginning to take off in Japan. The first anime series of FMP debuted in 2002 & is pretty much considered to be the first truly popular anime series based on a light novel.
It's currently been two years since the last novel came out, which concluded on a cliffhanger of sorts with the climatic battle just beginning. Gatoh certainly took his time releasing the final book, but he promises that it'll now be out this Spring. Long-delayed releases seems to be a trend among light novel authors, so it would seem. Gatoh does say that further short stories aren't out of the question, which he has written a lot of over the years. In fact a new one comes out just this month in the latest issue of Dragon Magazine.
After the final novel comes out, it's possible we may see the rumored new season of the anime adaptation, now that they can finally end the story properly. The following is a translation of what Gatoh had to say:
Well...then.
I know what you visitors wish to know the most.
Yes, the finale for Full Metal Panic!.
Actually, I'm working on it right now. It's quite a difficult job, but the book could be delivered by spring.
You might have thought that I had given it up. Really, I have kept writing the final part. Just before posting this, I was working on a scene of Sosuke talking with Al about ***********, Tessa doing *********** at control station...and such. I keep writing and deleting the whole part over and over again and that's why I made you waiting for such a long time.
Source: http://en.gigazine.net/index.php?/news/comments/20100106_fullmetal_panic