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NEWS: Fullmetal Alchemist Wins Amazon Critics Choice


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Eruanna



Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 451
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:19 am Reply with quote
Wow thats pretty impressive. Especially since compaired to the series, the FMA movie wasnt really that great.
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JoshuaStChristopher



Joined: 20 Jan 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:39 am Reply with quote
Eruanna wrote:
Wow thats pretty impressive. Especially since compaired to the series, the FMA movie wasnt really that great.


I have to agree. I keep seeing this film getting all kinds of awards and stuff, but for the life of me I can't figure out why that is. I'm not trying to knock FMA at all, but I can't really understand how such and underwhelming movie was so well received, seeing as not only have you had to see a 51 episode anime series to even understand it, but it just wasn't very good compared to the anime (which I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of, but the series was worlds better than the follow up film).
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Deltakiral



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:40 am Reply with quote
Good for FMA, I thought the movie did a good job with closing the chapter on a great anime series. Although some characters needed some more development, but overall I am happy to hear that it made the top 100.
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JoshuaStChristopher



Joined: 20 Jan 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:52 am Reply with quote
Deltakiral wrote:
Good for FMA, I thought the movie did a good job with closing the chapter on a great anime series. Although some characters needed some more development, but overall I am happy to hear that it made the top 100.


I suppose I'm kind of conflicted. On one hand, it's really nice to see anime and manga getting more mainstream recognition, and moving away from the "violent porn" image of the 90s, but I just honestly didn't feel that the FMA movie was really that deserving. It's more of a service for fans, not a fantastic milestone in animation.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:00 am Reply with quote
While I do agree with JoshuaStChristopher in that the FMA movie was largely unnecessary fan service for those enamored with the series, I enjoyed it quite a bit and think that it is worth awarding.

It's the same thing with the Cowboy Bebop movie from a few years back. Was it neccesary to the storyline? No. Was it awesome? Yes. (Actually, the CB movie was probably a little more accessible to new fans than the FMA one.)
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JoshuaStChristopher



Joined: 20 Jan 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:26 am Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
It's the same thing with the Cowboy Bebop movie from a few years back. Was it neccesary to the storyline? No. Was it awesome? Yes. (Actually, the CB movie was probably a little more accessible to new fans than the FMA one.)


I think it was definitely more accessible than the FMA film, but I didn't find the Cowboy Bebop movie all that great either. It wasn't bad, but it felt too much like a weaker, longer episode of the TV series. It lacked a lot of the great, dry humour of the TV series, in my opinion. It was very nicely animated and had some great action sequences, though.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:31 am Reply with quote
JoshuaStChristopher wrote:
penguintruth wrote:
It's the same thing with the Cowboy Bebop movie from a few years back. Was it neccesary to the storyline? No. Was it awesome? Yes. (Actually, the CB movie was probably a little more accessible to new fans than the FMA one.)


I think it was definitely more accessible than the FMA film, but I didn't find the Cowboy Bebop movie all that great either. It wasn't bad, but it felt too much like a weaker, longer episode of the TV series. It lacked a lot of the great, dry humour of the TV series, in my opinion. It was very nicely animated and had some great action sequences, though.


That was what was so brilliant about the Cowboy Bebop movie - it was like a long episode of the television series, but on a more epic, detailed scale. That's why it was so great - they weren't trying to make it into something that was too heavy-handed or overscaled.

I felt like it was a very strong "big episode", and that's what I liked abou tit. And it did have a lot of the great humor of the series, just not as much because the plot was of a more serious nature.
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JoshuaStChristopher



Joined: 20 Jan 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:51 am Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
That was what was so brilliant about the Cowboy Bebop movie - it was like a long episode of the television series, but on a more epic, detailed scale. That's why it was so great - they weren't trying to make it into something that was too heavy-handed or overscaled.

I felt like it was a very strong "big episode", and that's what I liked abou tit. And it did have a lot of the great humor of the series, just not as much because the plot was of a more serious nature.


See, I wanted it to be a long episode of the TV series, and in a sense it did that, but I felt that it was a long episode with the charm kinda pushed into the corner to incorporate too much "epic", large-scale stuff, which I never felt Bebop should've been. It wasn't by any means a bad movie, and I enjoyed it plenty, but I would of rather had a less serious story and a smaller scale. I suppose they didn't want to do that for a big theatrical film, but aside from a few key episodes, Cowboy Bebop, to me, was always about the little things.

I suppose I could say the one advantage FMA had over CB was that it was a continuation of the story. With CB, we have a big epic plot, but it's stuck in between TV episodes, so fans of the series lose a bit of the tension. We know how CB ends, we know that nothing in the movie will have any big effect on the plot, and all that. Of course this is a double-edged sword seeing as the FMA movie requires you to have seen the TV series in its entirety to understand the movie. Personally, maybe the Bebop film could've included some more detailed explanations of spoiler[Spike's time with the Red Dragons], and we could have learned more about his past, coupled with the film's plot, but on a lesser scale, perhaps? Either way, I'm not trying to say it was bad at all, it just felt to me that it could've been more than it was.

As far as FMA winning awards, I'd really care more to hear how the manga is doing regarding awards and sales.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:06 am Reply with quote
JoshuaStChristopher wrote:
penguintruth wrote:
That was what was so brilliant about the Cowboy Bebop movie - it was like a long episode of the television series, but on a more epic, detailed scale. That's why it was so great - they weren't trying to make it into something that was too heavy-handed or overscaled.

I felt like it was a very strong "big episode", and that's what I liked abou tit. And it did have a lot of the great humor of the series, just not as much because the plot was of a more serious nature.


See, I wanted it to be a long episode of the TV series, and in a sense it did that, but I felt that it was a long episode with the charm kinda pushed into the corner to incorporate too much "epic", large-scale stuff, which I never felt Bebop should've been. It wasn't by any means a bad movie, and I enjoyed it plenty, but I would of rather had a less serious story and a smaller scale. I suppose they didn't want to do that for a big theatrical film, but aside from a few key episodes, Cowboy Bebop, to me, was always about the little things.

I suppose I could say the one advantage FMA had over CB was that it was a continuation of the story. With CB, we have a big epic plot, but it's stuck in between TV episodes, so fans of the series lose a bit of the tension. We know how CB ends, we know that nothing in the movie will have any big effect on the plot, and all that. Of course this is a double-edged sword seeing as the FMA movie requires you to have seen the TV series in its entirety to understand the movie. Personally, maybe the Bebop film could've included some more detailed explanations of spoiler[Spike's time with the Red Dragons], and we could have learned more about his past, coupled with the film's plot, but on a lesser scale, perhaps? Either way, I'm not trying to say it was bad at all, it just felt to me that it could've been more than it was.

As far as FMA winning awards, I'd really care more to hear how the manga is doing regarding awards and sales.


Heh, well we were obviously looking for different things in the CB movie, and only one of us was satisfied. A fundamental difference of opinion. It's okay.

Yes, and I'm also interested in how the FMA manga is doing. From what I remember, I believe volume 10 won some kind of award.
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Kouji



Joined: 01 Oct 2005
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:57 pm Reply with quote
All I know about the FMA manga's popularity was that volume 1 was the highest selling graphic novel, manga or otherwise, of 2005. I'm not sure about any awards it''s one, though. While FMA is my favorite anime and I enjoyed the movie a lot, it hardly deserves to be in the top 100 of any list and I don't think it deserves any awards, either. I enjoyed it simply for the chance to see the FMA characters one last time and I liked how the movie had more closure than the series, but it's not as emotionally involving as the TV show and that was one of the things I loved about FMA. I also thought the movie had a lot of plot inconsistencies and sometimes it just didn't really make a lot of sense. The animation was much more smoother and detailed than the already impressive animation of the TV show, but it kind of got cheap at the end. Rather than actually animating spoiler[Hitler trying to escape, they just show static images of it and that just kind of annoyed me, but the rest of the movie looked fantastic.] I guess I can't complain too much though because it's great that anime is getting a lot more attention in a positive light. It's just that even though I'm a diehard FMA fan myself and enjoyed the movie, I don't think it's that good of a film.
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Eruanna



Joined: 05 Sep 2006
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 12:46 am Reply with quote
I have never seen the Cowboy Bebop series, but I saw the movie and it didn't take too much of a mental stretch to understand what was going on and who the characters were. I doubt you could say the same for Full Metal Alchemist. I adore the show, and I did quite enjoy the movie, but the movie is defonatly not good for mainstream in that you kind of need to have seen the entire 51 episode long series to make much sence out of it.
Also, while FMA does as a series stand out above the crowd of mainstream steriotype anime, the movie really just... dosnt. The movie was a good action flick, but it really didn't live up to the high expectations I got from the series. I dont know, as far as a stand alone movie goes, it just isnt that great, certainly nothing to write home about. I do think its awsome to see anime getting more acclaim, and I love FMA, but I think they could have chosen a better anime movie to start giving awards to.
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fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9193
PostPosted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 12:08 am Reply with quote
Well, if it's something that's anime, then that's good to me. Though I guess I should start checking out these movies so I don't fall back on the times.
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I_AM_L



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 9:40 am Reply with quote
If I read the manga instead of watched the anime, would I understand it?
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jousha



Joined: 16 Jan 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:23 pm Reply with quote
I_AM_L wrote:
If I read the manga instead of watched the anime, would I understand it?


Not as much as those who've seen the anime because FMA took a turn away from the manga halfway through the series. You'll just be up to par by knowing some of the characters involved, really.
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Murasakisuishou



Joined: 22 Jun 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:40 pm Reply with quote
jousha wrote:
I_AM_L wrote:
If I read the manga instead of watched the anime, would I understand it?


Not as much as those who've seen the anime because FMA took a turn away from the manga halfway through the series. You'll just be up to par by knowing some of the characters involved, really.


Yes, the FMA manga is almost completely different from the anime after spoiler[Hughes dies]. If you're going to watch the movie, I would say at least watch the last three episodes or so, so you understand why spoiler[Ed is in Germany and not in the alchemy world where he belongs.]

I loved Conqueror of Shamballa, but compared to many other anime and even the FMA TV series, it really wasn't that great. The ending was really abrupt and ultimately the movie was just a two hour excuse to show Ed being emo and make more money off the franchise. The animation was kinda cool, but ultimately we didn't learn anything new about the characters or gain any new insight into alchemy or anything interesting. I can think of tons of other stuff that deserves more recognition. spoiler[Props to Alphonse Heiderich for *almost* making FMA yaoi work, though. And why the heck would they spend time animating Hitler when the movie is about Ed and Al? O.o]

It's sort of funny now, actually, because I've had my copy of CoS since it was released in the US, and I just got most of the actual series for Christmas. Now that I'm rewatching, I realize that I'd almost forgotten how amusing the anime is sometimes since the movie is such a downer x)
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