Forum - View topicIn Defense of Fullmetal Alchemist 2003
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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Apologies for the lack of spoiler tags in my previous post; I'm writing on my phone. I edited them in just now (and fixed some typos).
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2430 Location: Germany |
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FMA 2003 has better music and an art style i like more. The changed and elaborated parts that adapt the manga mostly improve (!) on it so that is all very nice as Brotherhood treated the already adapted material with a lack of respect and rushed too much. Had the creators stopped and waited a few year to give us another season(s) then we would have a rare 10/10 on our hands. Yet they didn´t and thus the original anime has no right to exist form a creative standpoint after Brotherhood came along. Only the first 7 (of 27) volumes were adapted and the gecko ending betrays the intent of the source material big time. Let´s not get me started on the misuse of rape, random Nazi nonsense and what they did to Mustang. (Look up the head writer has his backlog incudes some of the worst anime on earth.) I don´t hate FMA 2003 it as i also saw it before i picked up the manga but i immediately noticed that something was up when the mood changed towards the finishing line and the world rules suddenly stopped to matter.
I gave the show a 8/10 here and over @ IMDB jet i have discouraged all my friends from watching it and even the superior Brotherhood is inferior to the manga. The definitive version of the tale is once again the source material. Brotherhood´s The Sacred Star of Milos can stop existing though as it has no redeeming features. Even the animation is unfinished in parts so no defense there. Now go and read the manga. |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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I very respectfully submit that that those who attempt to compare '03 with Brotherhood are quite missing the point. These are apples and oranges that are being compared: The two have their own unique pros and cons that that I'm not going to bother getting into since the essay is exclusively about '03 and rather consciously does not cover Brotherhood.
EDIT: I will say that that Al's ending monologue is flippin' epic: Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth. But the world isn't perfect, and the law is incomplete. Equivalent Exchange doesn't encompass everything that goes on here, but I still choose to believe in its principle, that all things do come at a price, that there's an ebb and a flow, a cycle, that the pain we went through, did have a reward, and that anyone who's determined and perseveres, will get something of value in return, even if it's not what they expected. I don't think of Equivalent Exchange as a law of the world anymore. I think of it as a promise, between my brother and me. spoiler[A promise that someday, we'll see each other again.] Last edited by nobahn on Wed Aug 05, 2015 11:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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I watched them back to back, in like 2011. As a very visual person, I think I prefer Brotherhood for it's animation, but story-wise, I think it is sort of hard to say that one is better than the other. They are two different shows which tackle their subject matter in a different way. Like it or not, Brotherhood is more interested in being an awesome shonen action show, while 2003 is a little more interested in being a character drama. That doesn't make either better than the other. They are what they are and some people prefer one over the other. It's pretty obvious to me though, that most people prefer Brotherhood. Within my friends, forum people, ratings, everywhere I've been FMA 2003 gets kind of shat on.
I have to totally disagree with the comedy part. Slapstick is not for me at all and this show is loaded with it to the gills. |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2460 |
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After watching Brotherhood I've read the manga and I felt like Brotherhood was a tad bit better. There were very few changes, one in particular that I remember being something that made me like the anime more is spoiler[Mustang prioritizing curing Jean's legs before his blindness]. I didn't find Brotherhood rushed while watching the show nor did I notice a particular shift in pacing in the manga compared to it. As for 2003, I've always been sort of interested in it but after having watched 64 episodes of Brotherhood and reading 27 volumes of the manga, I feel like I'll probably just get tired of the same story/same characters parallel that'll happen, especially since everyone says the story only really diverges from the mid point on. My least favorite characters were also Ed and Al for most of the show, and the apparent focus on them being stronger on 2003 isn't really something that draws me in. |
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heerocobain
Posts: 2 |
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I feel that 2003 had a way of getting the viewers more attached to the characters so when spoiler[Nina becomes the chimera and Hughes dies] it invokes an emotional response that FMAB doesn't deliver on. I've got a friend who has never seen/read any FMA and want him to watch 2003 first for that reason alone.
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Videogamep
 Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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That was actually one of the few things where I prefer the original's approach. I haven't read the manga, but the humor in Brotherhood was sometimes poorly timed. Mood-killing humor can work, but it needs to be done well. Armstrong was hilarious in both, though. |
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Apashi
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I've seen quite a bit of talk about '03 FMA on ANN lately. If it was any other show I'd be annoyed but this one is my all time favorite so I'm just happy. I can never get enough of this Fullmetal Alchemist!
The article was great. It's great to see how much this show is appreciated this show even today. Imo the only short-coming it has is that it was made in 4:3 and thus can't stand the test of time. I'm older so I don't mind, but I can imagine it would be hard for a kid to get into nowadays. I did want to expand on one part of the article I found interesting. It was mentioned that bad guys are given more depth than most other shonen series and they are never just bad guys. Actually many shonen series give depth to evil characters. I've noticed when a bad guy is given a backstory in a shonen, it tends to act as an excuse for their behavior. Fullmetal Alchemist doesn't do this every time. It leaves the choice up to the viewer as to whether or not they are bad. That's actually kind of the point of it all actually, to make your own decision. Also one more thing. The dub is the best dub ever! Watch it dubbed too! (edited because that random spoiler tag appeared o_O) |
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SailorTralfamadore
Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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Yeah, I'd at the very least take a long break from FMA if you did those things recently. Too much of anything is burnout! But while it follows the same basic plot beats in the first half, there are differences from early on in the show that set the tone for where it's going to go. Ed and Al are more the emotional center of the show, but there are also more episodes that barely focus on them at all, unlike Brotherhood which keeps tabs on everyone in every episode. Like there's an entire episode about Lust's backstory where it only checks in on Ed and Al (who are traveling with Winry) a few times as relevant to Lust's plot. The comedy one about Mustang's team doesn't have Ed and Al in it at all. They're also different characters in the 03 anime--especially Al. So that might be an issue for you, but it might not? |
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Apashi
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It's funny you said that because I actually did the same thing for a while. I watched the second Nina ep when it aired and it definitely traumatized me! I didn't watch the show for a few years but coming back to it was a great decision. It became my favorite anime when I watched the 2nd half. 
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Bow howdy am I a fan of FMA 2003! I first attempted to watch it in high school, but dropped it at three episodes due to lack of commitment. I started it again last year, and I managed to go all the way through. Needless to say, Brotherhood is going to have a very difficult time emotion-wise beating out it's 2003 cousin. Heck, it's one of my favorite anime of all time. I'd personally rank it right next to Fate zero, due to my having similar reactions to both while watching.
I should also mention that I read a couple volumes of the manga (which I no longer own.) before watching the anime I say this because if there is one thing FMA 2003 did much better than the manga or Brotherhood, it was the Nina Tucker subplot. And why? Well, I'm going to spoiler-tag it! spoiler[One thing I think the first anime did for the better was adding an additional episode and lengthening the timeline, so we could get to know the Tuckers, as well as the Elric brothers' relationship to them, a lot better. In the original manga, Ed and Al's time with the Tucker family was, I don't know, two? Three days, tops? In the anime, it was more like three or four MONTHS. We watched the Elrics and Nina grow closer over the course of two episodes. Now, let's put in the Elrics' backstory. Hohenheim left very early in the boy's childhood. Edward only remembers their father as a no-good deadbeat. Alphonse barely remembers Hohenheim, having been so young when he left. So when they end up with Shou and Nina, they fill in the holes that Hohenheim left behind. And then comes Night of the Chimera's Cry, which when you consider everything I said, makes Nina and Alexander's situation even worse. So, let's imagine that you've decided to stay at a friend of a friend's house while studying. Over the months, you form strong bonds with the family. It's almost to the point where you do consider them family. And now the closest thing you've got to a father just turned your surrogate little sister and dog into a monster that's barely conscious and in horrible pain. And the damage is so great that said little sister is killed off, because there's nothing else that can be done. Unlike the manga, Shou survives right to the end. However, he's mutilated and mutated himself to where he can only speak in whispers. And why? Because he knows what he did was wrong, and wants to make up for it. Unfortunately, Shou's trying to atone in all the wrong ways. By the time of the first anime's conclusion, he's been driven to complete madness, fated to be alone, with only a hollow shell of his daughter to keep him company for what is hinted to be what little is left of the rest of his life.] Hmm. That's kind of impressive. Maybe I'll make that a future topic for Akane Analyzes. Maybe... |
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ZiharkXVI
Posts: 364 |
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Rather than do a comparison, I will address the one major fault I find in the 2003 anime, which even at the time I really thought was both odd and disconnected from the anime. The ever popular twist ending. I am not sure why they did it, quite frankly, because as a character drama the 03 anime didn't need a twist - but my goodness is it distracting. And I've heard a lot of people like the idea over the years, which is fine - opinions are what they are. But let's admit straight up that first off, the intent just wasn't there. The anime copied from the manga in the general story arcs from the beginning, and we know the manga author didn't envision the whole two worlds idea. It morphed into this almost at the last second. While I watched the 03 anime we were dealing with a lot of the same internal conflicts, but towards the end it just stopped. Here is the issue. For example, Ed was trying to get his brother back, get his body back, dealing with the rather hopeless prospect of redemption and questioning ideas of sin and suffering. Suddenly, all of that is pushed to the side and Ed is dealing with the two worlds, how to get back, some weird barely expained relationship with the minor character Rose, and saving the world from Dante? The worst sin the show had was at the end NOTHING WAS RESOLVED. Remember, Ed gets stuck in Europe and Al is still in the other world. The fact that we had to have one of the quickest put-it-all-in movie wrapups with Shambala is a testemant to how weird that ending felt. What we really cared about in terms of AL and Ed achieving success got shifted aside for a lame twist ending where the boys got half of what they wanted and yet really in no better position than when they began. Different curse. Maybe it might have worked if the twist had been more subtle, but they hit you over the head with witch trials and world wars. You're left puzzling this out. Is it supposed to mean something that Dante and Hoenheim were actually magical? I mean it sounds really deep when Dante is walking down the old city paths and talking about church oppression...but then you realize this has nothing to do with anything that is going on right now. Dante is just a crummy crook who wants to live forever, and she has her own unethical plot to switch bodies. Big deal. When you think back to the beginning of the show, we figured there was a villain, but what we care about is Al getting his body back. We don't care that Dante was from our world and discovered a flawed method to live on. And then tell us all about the connection between world's at the last second. The ship has sailed. This isn't science fiction it's character drama! If we're being technical, it wasn't even that we'll thought out since I didn't get the idea that only two people figured this out, and the exchange due to dying was really just another way to make it sound deeper than what it really was. In short the 03 anime was remarkably well done for all the reasons others have stated, but from a storytelling perspective it fumbled the ball. Perhaps not as bad as it could have been, but it needed to stick with what it did best.
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adorkable013
 Posts: 4 Location: Washington |
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Thats exactly it too! I was going to post, but I saw this instead and you said exactly everything I wanted =P |
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WashuTakahashi
 Posts: 415 Location: Chicago, IL |
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As someone who has watched both series and read the manga, I'll say I love every version. Yeah, you can say brotherhood is the "true" anime series since it follows the manga, but I enjoyed the 2003 version as well. It's fun, and takes a lot of the 4 panel comics at the ends of the mangas and animates them. If someone was only going to watch 1, I'd probably have to recommend brotherhood, but if they're willing to watch both, it's definitely worth it.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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It saddens me that there even needs to be an article like this at all. The first FMA was leagues better than Brotherhood, so it's a darn shame that it gets so much flak just because its older and didn't follow the manga as closely.
Last edited by dtm42 on Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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