Forum - View topicManga vs. Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist
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TamenishDragon
 Posts: 43 Location: Australia |
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Honestly I love every version of FMA. I watched the original first and loved the political and social commentary. The ending disappointed me, however, so Brotherhood was a great pleasure to watch. I enjoyed the way all storylines are inevitably brought together. Political and social commentary are still present, however, the tone is far less dark and the scale more epic. I'm now reading the manga and loving it - the art style is charming and the characters don't come across any differently - They're the same creations you get to know in the anime. If you watch the anime first you also get the bonus of imagining the character voices and music whilst you're reading along (if you're up for the challenge).
My suggestion would be to watch the original FMA, then have a break before tackling Brotherhood and finally reading the manga. One of these days I'll put together a perfect watching and reading order that makes the most of each element of the FMA story. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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I'm usually a firm believer in "don't like it, don't read it", but seriously, how many Orignal FMA vs. manga /Brotherhood discussions does one need in a lifetime (or this site)?! The debate only "rages to this day" because of articles like this one...*sigh*
With that out of my system, the manga/FMA:B are vastly superior in every way (plot, character development, resolution...) in my opinion, the manga is probably my fave shounen series ever and while i enjoyed the 2003 anime, putting it on the same level as series like Utena or Paranoia Agent is truly baffling. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2245 |
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I'll be honest, while there are a lot of things I prefer in the 2003 version--for example, I think it has a much stronger climax, as opposed to Brotherhood's/the manga's weird and fast take-back on the spoiler[summoning of God] that just gave me a "well, that was a thing that happened" kind of vibe--Brotherhood wins out every time because of what happened to Rose in the 2003 version. At least the manga never resorted to using one of the laziest, cheapest tactics on the list of spoiler["Bad Things that Happen to Women in Media"] even with all it's sharp focus on war crimes.
Granted, that's my personal beserk button, but I also didn't feel like she nor her circumstances added anything to the climax. If it had served some kind of thematic or narrative purpose (aside from cheap drama), I might've been more okay with it, but I felt like it just happened because...well, just because, really. |
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Pipoko
Posts: 165 |
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Personally I've tried the manga multiple times, the farthest I got was 18 chapters, but it all felt kind of weightless. I felt nothing. So, for the longest time I just kind of looked past the series, till I finally decided to give 2003 a try because I've heard about the praise for it and from impressions that it was different. Also, that it was more character-focused and complex from some impressions so I thought it might be more up my alley.
Turns out it was, it's one of my favorite anime now. It was a story which aimed for a complete whole in the long run, but not in the way the FMA manga seems to do from the article's description. I'm all for both, lighter and darker stories. Sometimes I'm in the mood for something lighter, sometimes for something darker. I love One Piece and My Hero Academia for their strengths just as much as I do FMA 2003 and Attack On Titan, though I guess a little part of me has grown to lean towards FMA 2003 and AoT-like stuff because I find grey morality and a little more grounded characterization much more interesting because they are much less common in my eyes. Feel-good escapism is everywhere, but sometimes I want something with more bite. |
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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See, I disagreed that it was a lazy, cheap attempt to add drama or bad things to the story. Here's my take on that plot element (spoilers obviously, and also for season 5 of Game of Thrones since I use the infamous rape scene there as a point of contrast): http://olennawhitewyne.tumblr.com/post/120265192221/thinking-about-rose-after-fma-rewatch Looking back at it, apologies if it seems a little snippy: it was in response to the way I've seen this debate develop on Tumblr for years, often in ways that are very aggressive and condescending to people who disagree with the fan consensus. |
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Dop.L
Posts: 714 Location: London |
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I watched the first series on DVD before having read any of the manga. I didn't even finish reading the manga until after Brotherhood had finished.
But after watching Brotherhood, I took my old series DVDs off the shelf and put them in the cupboard under the stairs with other DVDs I thought I'd probably never want to watch again. If I had the time, though, it might be time to dig them out and give them a re-watch out of curiosity. |
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Wingbeats
 Posts: 272 Location: Boise, Idaho |
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I love all three versions, really.
In the end though, FMA: Brotherhood and the manga are tied for favorite. I like the direction the characters go in, and the tighter plotting of those two. I also enjoy the broader world. That said, the comedy filler ep from the original anime still makes me die laughing every time. A+ funnies there. (Another note, I wish I could find somewhere to obtain the complete soundtrack of the original anime. Are import cds the only way to go? I need Ready Steady Go back in my life.) |
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jppcouto
 Posts: 103 |
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I have to say, this was an interesting analysis. However Manga/Brotherhood is much more profound then what you talked about here.
Without doubt, both versions are masterpieces but the manga version has much more to offer. The symbolism, well-written characters, the war: where are those topics about the manga that destroy almost every japanese story? Last edited by jppcouto on Wed May 11, 2016 11:53 am; edited 3 times in total |
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Lactobacillus yogurti
 Posts: 845 Location: Latin America |
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I seem to share the same opinion as some of the other posters. I simply love it all. manga, anime, movies... I just love FMA
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2245 |
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No apologies needed! I've always regarded you as one of the more well-versed and level-headed posters on this site. I can absolutely see where you're coming from in that post, but for me, if you're going to go that route, I feel like it should be because there's something that only rape can bring to the table. Jessica Jones, what little I've heard about it at least, seems to head in that direction, as it's as much about overcoming trauma as it is about revenge. But I have a really hard time figuring out what that specific brand of personal tragedy brought to Ed's perspective of the world that any other kind of war-related tragedy wouldn't. And the fact that Rose was rendered mute after the fact just really didn't sit well with me; if nothing else, I wanted to hear more from her, how she felt about it, if she blamed Ed for it, that kind of thing. I think it's particularly galling to me because a lot of 2003's anime feels very deliberate with its plot choices, and this (while a perfectly logical extension of war crimes), didn't feel like it had the same kind of weight and consideration levied behind it. And it felt just the tiniest bit like fridging. :/ |
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Eddy564
Posts: 340 |
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Full metal Alchemist is simply one of the best shounen series of all time. It's really that simple. I can't even articulate how wonderful it is because the scope of the series is huge. It's the first series I actually cried upon finishing because not only I was sad it was over, it just was the perfect ending for the main cast (manga/brotherhood). The manga and brotherhood just have a more cohesive plot and don't try to do too much. That's why FMA is a cut above other shounen manga because it always stays within a realm of believability and never compromised itself for wide appeal accessibility.
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SailorTralfamadore
Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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I think to me, it was the fact that this is something that a boy would not consider as a possible consequence of this type of war. It had to be something utterly foreign to Ed's experience, that would not (likely) happen to him. And I appreciated that in war stories, the rape of female civilians is actually underrepresented, other than in works that specifically focus on rape or women's stories (the moment in The Vagina Monologues about Bosnian women comes to mind), so it felt thoughtful that the writers would include that alongside the many other horrors of war. But I see what you mean, that they could have included other things that are even less represented in fiction, and have a less fraught history in their media representation.
Yeah, I agree with both of these criticisms. It's really frustrating to see how gutsy and outspoken Rose is earlier in the anime, and then compare it to how she is afterward, 20 episodes later. I do think the choice for that plot decision is very deliberate, and there are other parts that seem to me like the writers put a lot of thought into it (like where Ed gets angry at Scar and spoiler[Dante] for exploiting Rose's circumstances). But in their exploration of how Ed's privilege as a male Amestrian blinded him to the horrific consequences of his decisions, I think the male writers and director's might similarly have prevented them from giving this a better portrayal. |
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Parsifal24
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The original Anime adaptation came out when I was "out" of Anime fandom for a couple years and I only interacted with FMA through the Manga so not haveing seen the orginal Anime adeptation I could not really comment on wich is better. I tend to prefer the orginal source meteral as a rule over adeptations though.
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2245 |
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Those are both excellent points I had never considered before; I'll have to keep them in mind if I ever do a re-watch. But I think you've hit the nail on the head about its execution. If it had been pulled off more successfully, I think it'd probably go down easier for me. But thanks for posting your thoughts! This is probably one of the few "agree to disagree" conversations I've had that's actually been productive. 
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Cynical Bibliophile
Posts: 7 Location: United States of America |
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I watched the 2003 anime after having finished the manga and honestly, I can't decide between the two versions. I love them both equally. Yeah, some of my favorite characters in the manga don't show up in the anime, but some of the homunculi felt more relatable in the anime than they did in the manga. I like both endings to the story equally too.
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