Forum - View topicREVIEW: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Blu-ray Part 2 BLURAY
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jrnemanich
 Posts: 238 Location: Denver |
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wow, what was funi thinking? I love watching dubs with the subs on. the only possible reason i could think of is to discourage reverse importation back to japan. |
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hissatsu01
 Posts: 963 Location: NYC |
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Only for the sake of nitpicking: it's not hardsubbed. Hardsubbed would mean the subtitles are part of the video and are always visible no matter what you do. Instead they've disabled switching audio/subtitles except through the menu and force subtitles when Japanese audio is on. This is most likely a license demand to make reverse importation less desirable, since they've only done this for FMA:B so far. If you happen to be watching the blu-ray on a PC with software that removes protections (like AnyDVD), you can watch it in Japanese without subtitles or English with subtitles.
Edit: I now remember there was just one more Funimation blu-ray that did the same thing. The FMA movie blu-ray. Which makes it seem all the more likely that this was a demand of the Japanese. Last edited by hissatsu01 on Thu Sep 02, 2010 5:32 am; edited 3 times in total |
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Keyl
 Posts: 144 |
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Damn that's some awesome box art. It tops the other one which also had a great box art.
but regarding the whole question whether which FMA is the better one, if you've only seen these 2 you won't know, better to see the whole thing. I love the first one but the new one's so better especially it's last 14 episodes. Also Theron, you forgot to talk about Mustang. not that you don't have to but he gets a big role in Brotherhood and the first sign of that came in this set. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4426 |
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This was a well-written review. I especially liked that Theron commented that while it would be nice to not have comparisons between the two versions, it's unavoidable. It isn't that easy to just enjoy something without comparisons when 1) it still has a lot in common 2) the two are only a few years apart. I'd say Theron definitely described how I feel about Brotherhood. It definitely has a leg up on action, and probably the same can be said about the overall visuals, but it hasn't hit me emotionally the way the first did.
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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My favorite episode of Brotherhood, 19 ("Death of the Undying") is on this set. I was glad to get it on Blu-Ray, even though the subtitles are hardly visible at points.
I can't agree that the music is better than in the first series, though tracks like "Battle Scherzo" certainly gives Oshima's score a run for its money. I don't think much of either English voice for Scar. Dameon Clarke sounded like a generic baddie character and J Michael Tatum speaks too softly, without any power. But he improves before the end of the episodes on the set. But I guess I'm weird, because though I think Brotherhood's dub is decent, it's not great. I think the Japanese cast is noticeably better (especially when it comes to characters like Edward and Envy). I never understood the love for the FMA dubs. There are some good performances, and a load of mediocre or poor ones. The English dub commentaries are always horribly inane, but at least I could hear Monica Rial in one of them. I never liked the Xingese characters much, but the bits with the homunculi and Roy's crew are great. |
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Greed1914
Posts: 4426 |
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I don't think Theron was saying definitively that one is "better" than the other. He made some valid comparisons and left it largely open to the reader to decide which sounded more appealing. Also, he did qualify his assessment by saying that it's based on what was on this set, which makes sense since this is a review of just the second set. |
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Greed1914
Posts: 4426 |
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I'm with you on the bit about the music, and definitely with you on Tatum's performance. However, I'm not with you on the last part. People love the FMA dubs because they think they're good and enjoy the actor's efforts. You might consider something mediocre or poor, but others don't. I certainly can't think of any that I'd describe as poor. Just as you might not understand the love for the FMA dubs, I don't understand what you're expecting of them. |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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The main themes of the manga/Brotherhood where humans from all classes, and race banding together for a common cause, and that you need to redeem yourself for past actions. Both themes where taken out because well Shou Aikawa was the writer, like the guy who wrote Angel Cop would ever write about those themes.
Also those themes you where talking about are mentioned in the rivalry of King Bradley and Ling Yao. Ling Yao tells King Bradley that a King without followers is no King. As for Brotherhood vs. the first series, the difference lies in story, while the first series rarely had a bad episode the plot was also quite slow, and several of the plot points are so vauge that they don't even answer them. Are Homunculi an spoiler[entirely new being with small memories of their past, or are they the dead brought back to life with Amnesia]? They state the first but imply the latter. Then theirs the whole Philosopher's stone what is the difference between an incomplete Philosopher's stone and a complete one? They never say. Also the main villain of the first series is to put it bluntly so flawed that it's her minions that are frankly far more developed, interesting, and threatning than her. As for character development, frankly the first series would frequently give more character development to a character that appears in one episode than characters who appear throughout the series. Just compare how much character development the older Ishvalan brother gets compared to Riza Hawkeye. Everything known about Riza Hawkeye's past comes from the manga/brotherhood. Just compare Van Hohenheim's past to the past he gets in the first series which presents Envy as the good guy. Also the ending of the series is far better, I mean it's already won an award for best proposal. The first Fullmetal Alchemist is a good anime, but Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is one of the greatest anime I have ever seen. Everything about it is stellar, the fights scenes are amazing, the music is incredible, the animation is almost always good, and some scenes are some of the best ever seen (two already showcased are King Bradley vs Greed, and Mustang vs Lust). The characters are fully fleshed out, and the last arc is simply incredible |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Performances with some emotional dimension to them might be nice.
This was a major theme in the first series, too. But let's not turn this into a first series vs second series thread. We get enough of that over in my blog. |
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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Not really the characters that needed to be redeem just tended to die, or it was never made a big deal of like with Major Armstrong. I don't think you can really talk about one series and not the other at least when rating one. It's the same with any other remake, I mean you wouldn't just ignore Tenchi Universe when talking about Tenchi in Tokyo, you wouldn't ignore the Hellsing tv series while talking about the quality of the ova would you? I guess if it's the same reviewer you might bring it up with in one review but Hope/JesuOtaku reviewed part one. Oh and something that really needs to be said that this is where Yoshimichi Kameda made a name for himself. His work in episode 19 and his work in episode 61 are some of the best animation ever. |
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teh*darkness
 Posts: 901 |
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I come down firmly in the "they're both great series" camp.
The original series was based off of, iirc, two volumes of material, and then studio written after that. Considering what they had to go off, they did an amazing job crafting a believable and gripping story. Brotherhood is the entire story of the manga, in animated form. You could almost call it a "Creator's Cut" version. Like Toei is doing with DBZ and Kai but one-upping them at the same time, they clipped out all the filler from the first 26 episodes of the original series, THEN reanimated it, and are animating the content which they didn't get a chance to do the first time around. Yes, there will inevitably be comparisons, as we do have two anime based off the same manga, but they are so different in presentation, writing and storytelling, that we really have two different anime. I like to enjoy them as such. |
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Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
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I'm wanna drop the ball on a certain question I want to ask you because it'll bug the crap out of me if my thoughts are left unanswered. Do you feel you're in anyway a purist when it comes to Japanese audio in anime? Do note, this isn't meant to start any long-winded arguments about subs or dubs or stuff like that. I'm merely asking for clarity because you never seemed to admit so, but with most of your commentary that I see on the internet (including your blogs), you seem to be usually displeased with dubs that don't reflect the Japanese track in terms vocal range or emotion with certain characters. Not only that, but you seem to praise dubs with a great amount of fidelity applied to the script (i.e: Animaze and the Cowboy Bebop dub). As for the review itself, I will first of all admit that Lan Fan is definitely an appealing woman right to the point where even though I'm not a huge Metroid fan, she reminds of Samus Aran. Beautiful yet badass and fairly indifferent. As for the music, I always felt that the highlights of the music in Brotherhood were suspense, action and triumphant willpower while the original FMA music's highlights were more on sympathy, struggle, turmoil, and peacefulness. And what I would love is if Akira Senju and Muchiru Oshima somehow collaberated on say the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood movie. I doubt it'll happen, but that to me would be REALLY incredible! As for Theoron mentioning about how the parts of the plot feel like they fit into a bigger picture, I remember reading in a thread about one of the later FMA: Brotherhood episodes and someone said that Brotherhood felt similar to the TV series "24." Now I haven't much of "24" yet, so to those who have seen both 24 and Brotherhood, are the ways both plots unfold at all similar? |
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pachy_boy
Posts: 1323 |
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I'm one who says both versions of this series are great in their own ways thus far. The first series was a wonderful phenomenon, there's no denying that. As of right now, this new series has me most hooked and intrigued, but that's mostly because of the new direction the story is taking and that alone is making it exciting for me, and we're only a quarter of the way through. It hardly matters because it's just more Fullmetal Alchemist and it's fun and entertaining regardless. And I think the dub's great overall.
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rabrek
 Posts: 188 |
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I have a soft spot for manga!Barry and his joie de vivre. Jerry Jewell's take on him in the anime hits all the right notes for me, and I'm really enjoying Brotherhood!Barry in the dub. (I'd note that Jewell's ANN Encyclopedia link is person#10063. The link in the review is to a placeholder page.)
While I like the Brotherhood score, it hasn't excited me the way the first anime score did. I had those CDs pre-ordered well in advance. The new OSTs are solid, and I'll certainly pick them up eventually, but I don't feel the urgency and anticipation I did the first time around. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
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I dunno, to me the original seemed more graphic at times than the newer one. Yes, the new one might have more blood spilled overall, but spoiler[Bradley strangling Selim to death] in the original anime seems more brutal than anything exclusive to Brotherhood.
To me, both the original anime and manga are dead even, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Brotherhood I have to rank slightly lower, the early parts are too rushed (I don't care if it's material already adapted, each adaptation should stand on their own) and the music, while good, is not the masterpiece music of the original and was misplaced a few times in earlier episodes. Also, I don't think Brotherhood was a full 1080 show, I remember hearing it was more like 540 or something, so that might be why the video isn't as good as you might expect. Also appreciating the Lan Fan love around here, I definitely considered her the most attractive woman in the series (once the mask is off, of course). Charred Knight: Envy as the GOOD guy? Are you serious? spoiler[Being abandoned by your father (but keep in mind Dante never left him) justifies killing countless people, Hughes, Ed himself (temporarily), Hohenhiem (a father who abandons their children sucks but does not warrant death), and revenge against Ed and Al for petty reasons (they were abandoned too, though for better reasons this time, and had nothing to do with Envy's past)? The guy was the biggest ***hole in the original anime, and a weak sob story near the end was hardly going to make me feel for the guy. It shows him in a new light, sure, but he's still nowhere near justified and is just a murderous psychopath.] |
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