Most of the stories in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu are 25 minutes, but sometimes you will come across an episode consisting of two shorter stories.
Also, "Hostage Who Requires No Negotiation" involves a kidnapping plot which was uncomfortably similar to a kidnapping which happened for real in Japan at the time the episode was due to air. As a result, that story and "Hostility That Crossed Paths" were never aired - instead, "Lunchtime Of Futility" was cut together with "The Man From The South" which were aired together as one episode.
That means there are about four different ways to number the episodes of FMP?F, and makes figuring out which episode you are looking at a complicated task at best.
| Story name | By actual episodes | By airdate | |||
| Story # | Part of episode # | Story # | Part of episode # | Airdate | |
| The Man From The South | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 2003-08-26 |
| Hostage Who Requires No Negotiation | 02 | 01 | N/A | N/A | Unaired |
| Hostility That Crossed Paths | 03 | 02 | N/A | N/A | Unaired |
| Lunchtime Of Futility | 04 | 02 | 02 | 01 | 2003-08-26 |
| Summer Illusion Of Steel | 05 | 03 | 03 | 02 | 2003-09-02 |
| Artistic Hamburger Hill | 06 | 04 | 04 | 03 | 2003-09-09 |
| Stake Out Wholeheartedly | 07 | 04 | 05 | 03 | 2003-09-09 |
| Fetish Of Tout | 08 | 05 | 06 | 04 | 2003-09-16 |
| Patient Of Darkness | 09 | 05 | 07 | 04 | 2003-09-16 |
| Pure And Impure Grappler | 10 | 06 | 08 | 05 | 2003-10-07 |
| Trespass With Good Intentions | 11 | 06 | 09 | 05 | 2003-10-07 |
| Overdone Warcry | 12 | 07 | 10 | 06 | 2003-10-14 |
| The Goddess's Visit To Japan (The Ordeal Chapter) | 13 | 08 | 11 | 07 | 2003-10-21 |
| The Goddess's Visit To Japan (The Onsen Chapter) | 14 | 09 | 12 | 08 | 2003-10-28 |
| Fancy With No Moral Code | 15 | 10 | 13 | 09 | 2003-11-04 |
| Uncontrollable Bluebird | 16 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 2003-11-11 |
| Fifth Period's Hot Spot | 17 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 2003-11-18 |
I label my episodes using the first column - actual story # - as this is the most precise numbering method. If you encounter somebody using a different method, look up this chart to see what's actually going on.
