Forum - View topicFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV) (w/ index).
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Blackpeppir
Posts: 234 |
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I was really happy with the new episode, spoiler[Hughes Death] was indeed beautifully handled. I don't know if it was because of my anticipation or because it was genuinely done better than in the first series, but it just felt better overall. spoiler[The funeral was great and I felt Roy's anger a lot more this time around.] Again I don't know it actually was done better or I was just more prepared for it, but regardless really happy with the way it was done. The best bit was that they were able to properly apply the comedy, it was where it should be and was absent where it wasn't called for. I really appreciated them not trying to soften the blow, however the Rush valley arc next week, while I know it helps develop Winry, was never really my favorite part, in the first anime or in the manga. But you can be assured from the preview it'll be filled with SD goodness and Winry's borderline insane fangirlish addiction to metal prosthetic limbs.
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Wow. This was probably my favorite episode of the series thus far, I honestly enjoyed it quite a bit. Is it as good as episode 25 of the first series? Well, maybe not. Still, some consideration has to be made for the fact that I expected the events of this episode. Other than that, it was masterfully done, except for a few little nagging details.
But first, some positives. The scene at the beginning during the Ishbal massacre was awesome. It was actually from one of my favorite moments in the manga. I only wish that they had given the Fuhrer's thoughts like in the manga, and how he looked down at Roy and saw him staring not at him, but beyond him, seeing the fierce ambition in his eyes. But perhaps they'll revisit that in the future. The purpose of the Ishbal conflict was for the same reason episode 25 of the first series had that bit where Hughes finds Roy depressed and promises to help lift him him to the top position in the country. Whoever decided to add this flashback was very wise in doing so, because it had the same effect of showing the viewer just what a big supporter of Roy he was. I found the scene with the Fuhrer somewhat amusing, not because of the humor, but because in that scene were all voice talents that reprised their roles for the second series. The Elrics, Hughes, Armstrong, and Bradley were all the same voices that they were in the first series, and there they all were in the same scene. It made me smile. As for the humor of the scene, it was somewhat disturbted by the fact we clearly saw a different nature of the Fuhrer in the first episode, the anime-only episode with Isaac. I knew it would eventually have some consequences. I mean, even if I wasn't already aware of the Fuhrer's true nature, I think if this was my first exposure to FMA, I'd still be expecting something wicked every time I saw him. spoiler[The scene in which Hughes dies is done fairly well, except for a few things that bothered me. For one, they lingered over it for too long, and it took away from the suddeness of it. Not only did they add blood leaking over the family photo, but Hughes didn't die right away, he was dying and even had last words after being shot. It felt like they were dragging it out a tad. And while that was too long, on the other hand, the funeral was a little shorter and the episode spent a bit of time with the investigation, which should have been saved for the next episode or the one after that. Part of the impact of the first series' 25th episode was that it ended so shortly after the funeral, with that sort of ghostly appearance of Hughes at a train station, waving at Ed. If they had shown Roy talk with Riza and Armstrong after that scene, it wouldn't have meant as much. ] The next episode is Rush Valley, and while it was my least favorite part of the manga, I'm too much of a FMA fan to just skip it. Mercifully, it will only be one episode, then onto Izumi. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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For those who loved the first cast some good news & bad news (depending on your perspective).
Izumi's Seiyuu Shoko Tsuda will be returning. However Greed's seiyuu will now be Yuuichi Nakamura. As for other roles he played main roles in Clannad, Big Windup, and Macross Frontier so he certainly has a lot of experience. Anyways as for episode 10 Penguintruth I agree with you about Bradley's line. Quite honestly since the scene is so short I am hoping they will show it again with the line since I think it is pretty significant. I will be disappointed if they don't. I also agree with you that prolonging spoiler[Hughes' death was unnecessary. I think they tried to make it more tragic than the manga storyline since he is such a beloved character in the 1st anime but in the end they just should have stuck to how the manga did it because while in the anime Hughes is more of a major character and his death is meant to be tragic]. In the manga spoiler[his death is meant to be a catalyst for other things.] Quite honestly I would have only kept in spoiler[The funeral scene and maybe the flashback and I am not even entirely sure about the flashback. Hughes last goodbye to his family felt unnecessary to me in this series.] That being said I disagree with you about the spoiler[investigation because this to me was a demonstration that this series is handling the Hughes death in a different way. In the first series ending on the funeral was a wonderful scene but in that series Hughes death is more focused on Hughes himself. In this series the after effect of Hughes death is more important where it had less of a focus in the first anime. That is why the episode specifically ends on Roy's actions because of this event.] |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I'm going to miss Junichi Suwabe as Greed. He was one of the strongest performances of the first FMA's cast, and brought a real jaunty, but smooth quality to Greed.
Yuuichi Nakamura was Graham Acre in Gundam 00, and it looks like they're just going to get anyone who's been in that show or Code Geass for this series. Still, I'll have to give him a chance. I'm glad that Shoko Tsuda is returning as Izumi. She was really good in the first series, and I look foward to hearing her booming yells just as much in this one (though her role will be somewhat diminished). |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Whoever told me that Hughes spoiler[didn't die in the Manga] is going to wish they had never become a member on this forum, I can tell you that.
Now, to hunt back through the thread and find out their name . . . . . . |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Think of it this way, it was a surprise. What I wouldn't have given to not know about what happened again, just so I could experience it as a first time event again! |
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RhymesWithEmpty
 Posts: 208 |
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Finally found time to watch this episode, heh. Darn schoolwork.
I pretty much agree with everything penguintruth said. Basically all of the scenes in this episode were done really well, I just feel like they tried to put too much into it. The flashback scene at the beginning was an excellent addition, though. I think I still like Roy's talking about suicide bit in the 1st anime better, but I'm not expecting Brotherhood to get that dark, and this was an excellent alternative. One very minor thing that was awkward to me: Al's "Yatta!" on the train. Just the way it was voiced and animated, it was weird to me, heh. spoiler[Hughe's actual death scene was too drawn out for me as well, and the one part that really bothered me about it was where he's already been shot, Envy grabs the phone, and you see Hughes' hand trying to reach for it - I know they were probably trying to get some sympathy for Hughes out of me there, but I just felt insulted at how pathetic it made him look. Then there were his last words and the blood going over the photograph, it was all too much. Watching him fall back in slow motion just had so much more impact, that scene should end once he's been shot. I feel like this series has a tendency to hit the climax of the episode a bit too early and drags out the falling action, thus taking away from the impact of the climax - it's a style of storytelling I've never liked. Yeah, Hughes' death is used more as a catalyst for other plot points in the manga, but we still need to get a strong sense of the tragedy and emotional impact of his death in order to understand Roy's motivations later on, rather than just leaping straight into all of the stuff about the corruption of the military at the end. It's like Trisha's death - yeah, it's a plot point, but we still need to feel the emotion behind it, or else the story that results from it isn't as compelling as it should be, imo. Now, Hughes' death was definitely done way better than Trisha's was this time around, so I'm not saying they butchered it by any means - actually, I quite liked this episode as a whole, it's just that there are still those little things, y'know?] Bradley's line being omitted doesn't bother me too much, since you can pretty much infer it, and I think it's one of those lines that would come off as slightly corny if said outloud. Well, onto Rush Valley. Might actually enjoy this version more than the manga's version, actually, since it should be put into one episode, whereas this part of the manga felt like it dragged on longer than that, to me, anyways. It is a lot of material for 1 episode, I guess, but it's easily the least significant material we've reached so far, so cutting it down shouldn't really hurt much at all. |
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Blackpeppir
Posts: 234 |
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I almost found the omission of Bradley's line was almost an improvement. I found it made him seem all that much further ahead of Roy. While he noticed him he says nothing, to me that made him feel all the more enigmatic and really put into perspective how far the gap between him and Mustang really is. But of course that's just my opinion. His ines in the manga are great but this version is equally good. Besides that look really says all it needs to doesn't it?
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Well, obviously, there was no reason to depict Bradley's inner thoughts at the moment, since those moments at the beginning were a flashback Roy was having in his dream. He wouldn't have known what the Fuhrer was thinking at the moment.
Still, later on, I hope they come back to that moment, during the Ishbal flashback material. That, and Bradley's line to the Ishbal warrior priests about not fearing God are instrumental to his character, in my opinion. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2633 |
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About the investigation yes it is a plot point (what did he discover) but more importantly its an important character moment for spoiler[Roy: one line in particular stands out when Riza asks Roy its not like you to mix business with personal feelings and Roy responds avenging Hughes and climbing to the top are both things he does of his own free will that there is no separation between them. In one sense what Roy says is true in another sense it is not, I won't elaborate further. But of course people watching for the first time would not pick up on this necessarily.]
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Not a great episode, probably my least favorite so far, since I never really liked the Rush Valley material from the manga. I probably enjoyed it more than the Rush Valley episode of the first series, however, though I preferred the watch and birth incidents' utilization in the first series, even if the former made a bit more sense here.
One of the bits I wish that they had kept from the manga was the bridge incident, but they sort of cover it with Ed still feeling powerless during the birth. The birth was a little bit melodramatic, I might add, but most of the happenings surrounding it were pretty well handled. I'm not a huge Winry fan, but her telling Paninya about working hard to pay off Dominic's good faith was a great moment. I'm not still not all that thrilled with the music used, or how it's used, but the piece when Ed was chasing after Paninya was pretty good. The animation seemed strangely much better this episode than the more critical previous episode. I noticed that Paninya and Dominic both had new voice talents, though Dominic sounded fairly close to the way he did in the first series. The animators seemed to have made Paninya a little... bustier, this time around, I noticed. Weird. I never noticed her breasts in the manga at all. Maybe she just looks better endowed next to thin-as-rail Winry. Winry almost looks like Terra from the Teen Titans cartoon. Hey, maybe she's bustier because she's voiced by the same voice actress as Nami in One Piece? One episode was probably enough for this and I'm glad they're getting to Izumi next. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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I really don't get the absurd Rush Valley hate around here. Personally I thought the episodee was a lot fo fun. Yeah, it wasn't all drama and philosophers' stones and homunculi, but it was a nice character episode with a lot of fun bits and some nice personal development too.
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Blackpeppir
Posts: 234 |
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I think the reason people aren't too fond of Rush Valley is that it sort of feels like a filler episode even though it appeared in the manga. I know it helps to develop Winry and make a place to stick her so they don't have to include her in the upcoming plot, but still. That's the only way I could rationalize it. Admittedly I did actually enjoy this episode despite not liking the original material, especially Ed's chase with Paninya. As far as the birthing scene goes, yeah they used the SD stuff that was there in the manga, but it did, in my opinion, tone it back and know when to cut it off for the serious bits, something they seem to be getting increasingly better at. Regardless not my favorite episode, but still fairly decent for the material given. Needless to say, I'm more excited about Izumi's introduction and the next episode than I was about this one. Also, can anyone tell me if the posters on the wanted board of Scar, Greed and Yoki that Ed and Al run past to catch the train was in the manga as well? I know that the scene back when Winry got off the train in central with Izumi and Sig walking through the background was there, so I'm assuming that it was but I'm not 100% on the matter, thanks in advance. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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No, the wanted posters are a little thing they put in for the show. I like the little touch. Obviously, though, the Yoki poster is more of a photo, or else a better detailed picture, since he's previously military personell, so they'd have it on record.
And as for why I disliked the Rush Valley material in the manga, it's because at that part of the manga, I really didn't feel like reading three whole chapters that added so little to the main plot, especially after the major events of the previous chapters. If it had been a single chapter, maybe a little breather would have been welcomed. Three chapters was way too much. When I was reading volume 5, I found myself flipping ahead to the Izumi stuff every now and then, just so I could grit my teeth through the Rush Valley material. |
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Crimson_Reaper
 Posts: 11 |
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My reasons for not liking the Rush Valley material too much is basically the same as penguintruth's reasons. Some people may have enjoyed it, but I usually roll my eyes and drift off (or try to) around points like these. There neccesary, but I have seen them two times already in the magna and old anime, I don't really want to go through it again.
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