Forum - View topicFMA fans: should non-fans check it out?
|
|
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
NefariousPlatypus
Posts: 53 |
|
||
|
Shounen is not my favorite genre, but I do really enjoy it when the show does a lot of things right or has good meaty substance. I've never really given Fullmetal Alchemist a chance. (Something about it on the surface just always causes me to dismiss it.) It's so revered though and anime fans always seem to sing its praises.
So...what gives guys? (and gals?) What are this series selling points/strong qualities/reasons to care about it? (For reference, here are some anime I love: Bebop/Champloo, GiTS, Mushishi, Lain, Utena, Penguindrum, Eden of the East, Eva, Rahxephon, Rose of Versailles.) Also, what's the deal with Brotherhood vs. the rest of the series/movies? Where would one start if they care? Are they all considered good? [EDIT: Again, made your title less long-winded. -TK] |
|||
|
|||
|
Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
|
||
|
Shounen is not my favorite either and far from my demographic, but I like Fullmetal alot, and I'll tell you why.
It does have fights as most shounen will, and often more creative ones than usual because of the alchemy slant, but Fullmetal is alot more than that. It's also a war series dealing with the aftereffects of a civilian massacre which still haunts the participants, a horror series about the terrible costs when mankind tries to overreach itself, and above all a drama about fraternal love between two brothers. I got totally wrapped up in Ed and Al's plight and devotion to eachother, and the combination of better than usual fight scenes and the quieter scenes that make you care about them and several other characters make Fullmetal my favorite shounen and one I would recommend as a shounen series for people who don't like shounen. Brotherhood is basically a reboot started once the manga ended created with the intention of sticking closer to the manga. A number of episodes breeze through the events of the first series until the anime/manga split, and it then takes over where the original series deviated from the manga. In general, I thought the original series had a slightly bigger focus on the emotion of Ed and Al's situation (as well as some other characters like their mentor Izumi), while Brotherhood perhaps had a slightly bigger focus on the fights and military intrigue. |
|||
|
|||
zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
|
||
|
First, I'll address the Brotherhood vs 2003 thing. Because it seems the logical place to start.
It went kinda like this: July 2001-manga starts, it runs monthly, written and drawn by Hiromu Arakawa. Oct 2003-2004-the first anime series starts/ends. Obviously it runs out of material fairly quickly as 6 or 7 volumes are out at max. At Hiromu Arakawa's request, the first anime veers off from the planned storyline of the manga big time, invoking the trope "Gecko Ending". As a result, the first half follows the manga, though at a rather more leisurely pace with some added side characters, then second half goes off in a completely new direction. At the time, Hiromu Arakawa didn't see the point in telling the same story twice. July 2005-Conqueror of Shamballa movie. A direct continuation from the 2003 series. May 2006-OVA series related to 2003 anime made April 2009-due to how immensely popular the manga still was in Japan, and much more of it had come out, and Bones has had ungodly huge budgets ever since the success of the first FMA series, Brotherhood was made. This series was made to follow the manga, although it quite clearly banked on people having seen the first series as it goes through the material from the first series' first half quite briefly. June 2010-the manga ends July 2010-the Brotherhood anime ends, pretty much to coincide with the manga ending. Brotherhood OVAs-made throughout Brotherhood's run July 2011-Sacred Star of Milos movie released. Unlike Shamballa, this is a side story set within the show and not any sort of continuation. So what are some of the major changes between the series? *The plot obviously differs, it has the same elements up to a point, but they're quite different at the end of the day *Some of the homunculus identities change. Lust, Envy, Gluttony, and Greed are the same. Pride, Wrath, and Sloth differ (and one more whom mentioning might be spoilerish). Even then, some of the personalities differ slightly with the ones that don't change. The origin of the homunculi are also radically different. *Other version exclusive characters were bound to happen. Some characters are offed in one version but live (or live longer) in the other. *Completely different villains with different goals, motivations, and means to their ends. *For the parts that the 2003 anime did have from the manga, it tended to expand them. For example, some few page bonus comedy manga were made into a full episode. The Brotherhood anime is more streamlined. It should be noted that the expansion in 2003 works quite well for some characters (like Barry the Chopper, who now has a backstory), thus not making it feel like as much of a drawn out expansion as you might think. Some other things to know: The dub casts are almost identical (Al was one of the few replaced because he had grown up since dubbing 2003, though he did get a different role in Brotherhood). If buying things, make sure you know if you're buying 2003 or Brotherhood (I believe only Brotherhood and the movies are currently on bluray, maybe the Brotherhood OVA too) Now, the question you actually asked. FMA is a manga written by a woman. A shonen manga. I personally think that women write the best shonen manga because they're often not just fighting, and FMA is no exception. It's not a shonen in the same way that, say, DBZ is, if that's your concern. It has a lot of politics and philosophical questions going on. Lots of characters with hidden agendas scheming. Lots of questionably moral things happening making Ed and Al question if their quest to get their bodies back is the right thing to do. The 2003 series was ridiculously popular when it aired on adult swim, probably for just this reason, it had everything. It did have good action scenes, but it also had juicy drama and great characters. It had well placed comedic elements and then made you want to cry a few episodes later. It was popular for a reason: it was good. Yes, a lot of terrible things are also popular, but sometimes things that deserve to be popular are popular and the system works. A lot of franchises don't live up to their hype, but FMA is one of them, you should absolutely check this series out. I think it's on Netflix. Brotherhood I don't think was as popular on TV as 2003 was, probably in part because you could buy half the DVD/bluray sets before it even started airing and by the time it was on TV it was old news, and watching anime on TV just wasn't as popular anymore, but on home DVD/bluray (and in fansubs), it did very well too, if not just as well as 2003. Action scenes and animation were far better, as the first FMA brought Bones a ridiculous amount of fame and money, though the first series still looks great. I haven't personally seen Brotherhood because I also do manga a lot and had read the manga, and didn't see the point in watching what I'd read no matter how pretty it looked. The manga is also ungodly popular in sales and was in scanlations when it was still going on in Japan. I've looked at some of the printings on earlier volumes in the series when I'm just in B&N, some have had at least 10 (later ones have lower numbers because the initial print runs have simply gotten larger over time). In the US, it started getting published when the 2003 anime came out, though I don't think they finished publishing it until Dec 2011. At first, I thought that it was just the same as the 2003 anime that was on TV (it did start off the same), so until Brotherhood came out, I didn't really read the manga. But it is pretty cracktastic and addicting to read. One advantage over Brotherhood is that you're clearly not expected to know anything of 2003's early volume expansion, but you also don't get all the pretty animation, so it's up to you. As for which anime people like more, I actually see something close to a 50-50 split among people. But most will agree to start with 2003 as Brotherhood kinda expects you've seen it. There are suggestions out there on how to combine the shows, but there's nothing wrong with going 2003 then Brotherhood. I personally prefer 2003 though, I thought the morals were more grey and gray than black and white, and I just think it had a lot more heart to it. Obviously you will find someone who disagrees with me because this is the internet. But yes, it's worth your time. Or maybe it's people who don't normally like shonen like 2003 more and shonen people prefer Brotherhood more. |
|||
|
|||
|
Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
|
||
|
At this point just watch Brotherhood for better graphic.
the old 2003 FMA was incomplete. It didn't answer all the questions. You won't even know who exactly is the main characters' father. Mostly you will like the version that you decided to watch first. Alot of people like the 2003 version better because they watched that one first. Manga people like the 2009 version better because they read the manga first. |
|||
|
|||
|
Stealth00
Posts: 65 |
|
||
|
FMA sounds like it fits your bill. It's about story with action rather than writing a story to fit around action like most shounen. You may as well give it a shot. In comparison to the older version, Brotherhood starts off with a much faster pace, so if you don't like it immediately I'd give it a bit more time to grow on you before totally dismissing it.
|
|||
|
|||
marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
|
||
|
I'm also definitely not a big shounen person but what I've seen of FMA was really, really good. I would definitely recommend watching it, the only reason I haven't seen the whole thing is that I've just haven't gotten around to it yet.
As for the original vs Brotherhood debate, when Brotherhood started coming out, I watched some of it but was never as drawn in by it as I was with the original series. So I would recommend going with the original because it has a better beginning which, for someone hesitant because of the genre, will probably be the better experience for you. |
|||
|
|||
Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
|
||
|
In my opinion if you want both stories watch the 2003 anime and read the manga.
The 2003 anime has its own story separate from the manga. Brotherhood follows the manga but the manga tells that story better than the anime in my opinion (and this goes to anyone who said they were turned off by the early episodes of Brotherhood, read the manga). I also disagree that one is "more shounen" and one has more heart. Personally I think the manga & brotherhood has a lot more heart than the 2003 anime but I wouldn't tell someone they are wrong for thinking otherwise. It really just comes down to what story & themes connect with you more. If you like your story a bit darker with a more central focus on a small cast you will probably prefer the 2003 series. If you like your story with a large cast with a bit of plot intrigue you might prefer the manga/brotherhood. I really can't say. The manga/brotherhood has more of an adventure feel as well (which is probably where the more "shounen" comes from). The 2003 series has grayer villains, while brotherhood/manga has a stronger supporting cast in my opinion (although there are still strong supporting characters in 2003 and morally gray characters in the manga/brotherhood). The stories have different, almost opposite themes but I think they are both presented well. |
|||
|
|||
jsc315
 Posts: 925 |
|
||
|
a few months ago I had rewatched all of the 2003 and Brotherhood plus the movies back to back.
Each are good for there own reasons. The original while not finished has some darker themes and a bit more character development. Over all I felt it was missing something. Brotherhood while entertaining and well paced does get a bit slow in the middle. I think the story is much better told then the original and there is actually an ending. |
|||
|
|||
danilo07
 Posts: 1580 |
|
||
Having only read manga of FMA I always had the impression that ending was very anti intellectual in a sense(the last line was I believe spoiler["you should have stayed in that bottle"]).I was wondering if the ending for anime was thematically different and how different are they when it comes to interpreting religion and science. |
|||
|
|||
|
Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2633 |
|
||
|
I think you are just misinterpreting the message here. Unfortunately I don't recall every line from either the manga or anime but the point wasn't denying a spoiler[pursuit of knowledge] but spoiler[wanting to be above others]. It's the difference between spoiler[arrogance and humbleness which was the real message of the end.]
I mean just think that in the end spoiler[Ed and Al continue the path of knowledge by researching more about alchemy to help others] Although that actually wasn't the difference I was talking about in terms of themes. It's more how the story approaches equivalent exchange which I think leads the characters down ultimately different paths. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group