Nope they are not related... Both are very good though.. if i were you i would satisfy my need with alchemist since it has easy access and while doing so go looking for Panic that should be more challenging in finding, unless you download from a dvd ripping group...

BTW there are two Full Metal Panic: 1 - Full Metal Panic! (action oriented)
2 - Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (sp?) (comedy)


You can get Alchemist and Fumoffu from http://a.scarywater.net/akeep/

For Full Metal Panic! you can get it here up to episode 21: http://anime-legion.bl5.net/track/mystats.php (but it's a dvd ripping group in .ogm format... if you need help in playing those let me know)