Hagane no Renkinjutsushi

TK8878

img600(https://i.imgur.com/rtVpJGQ.png) # ~~~__Spoiler-free review__~~~ # Review in brief: Fullmetal Alchemist possesses a dark tone, some amount of moral ambiguity (mixed in with the usual force-fed black-and-white morals), and frequent drama within a shounen adventure core. Unfortunately, despite its high underlying potential it chooses not to maintain the level of detail needed to keep its ambitious story consistent or preserve suspension of disbelief, prioritizing its quota for mindless action and comedy instead. # Review in full: 2003's Fullmetal Alchemist may reside in the shadow of its younger, manga-faithful sibling FMA: Brotherhood, but many still recommend watching it beforehand. It is said to feature a slower & more digestible pace, a darker tone, and deeper thematics. I haven't watched Brotherhood for comparison but I can attest that this anime does at least attempt to make good on these points but not in an effective manner. In fact, the theme of this review will be that this anime does have many commendable aspects to it, but it's mixed with some wholly uninspired elements that result in a product with a frustrating lack of purpose akin to a gem-encrusted plunger. Even from the very beginning problems are made apparent, thanks to the decision to start off in the middle of the story. The first episode starts by saying close to nothing about the setting & lore and simply throws the Elric brothers into action while bluntly stating their basic motive of "get our old bodies back". It establishes rules for its world (mostly pertaining to its alchemy) and immediately proceeds to break them without explaining what allows it to do so. This occurs throughout the show, but starting off like this makes it especially difficult to suspend disbelief as it keeps happening. Some of these rule-breaks are explained many episodes later but said explanations are often done quickly and hand-waved away, as though the anime doesn't want to explain itself. These faults in the storytelling appear in both visuals and dialogue. img400(https://i.imgur.com/P5kY8xD.gif) _Yep, there was totally enough metal in the stone wall to make a cast-iron door complete with bull-themed decor. What are tailings anyway?_ The main issue with the visuals is that the explanations for many transmutations don't match up with their animations, making them hard to believe. In the first scenario Edward is able to transmute both a wood-and-metal spear and a large stone wall from sand with only the slightest visible disruption/reduction in said sand. It's animated as though these objects teleported into the scene rather than created from nearby materials (the given explanation) and given some of their compositions relative to the materials they spawned from they may as well have. A large amount of transmutations have this problem. Edward is also able to animate a giant stone statue early on without any known catalyst. This is given a explanation through dialogue but only at the very end of the show and even that explanation is questionable, vaguely expressed (in an attempt to cover multiple inconsistencies at once), and something Edward had no idea about at the time. More to the point, the show waited nearly 50 episodes before even attempting to explain where the energy needed to make a multistory stone statue walk somewhere else (last I checked statues aren't even made with functioning joints) comes from in a system that supposedly requires "equivalent exchange" to function. In the end, transmutations with this inconsistency are never directly questioned. They are only indirectly and partially answered in about 40 seconds of exposition. In spite of its exposition issues, the story of Fullmetal Alchemist is actually quite involved and entertaining. There's many intriguing details and events that build up who the Elric brothers are and what they do. At the same time there's also plenty of needless comedy and filler fights thrown in that detract from what is a touching journey at its best and make it a stale shounen slog at its worst. It is this disjointed method of storytelling that sees serious plot points explained in a convoluted way, raising many questions (such as the previously mentioned transmutation issues) and forgetting half of them before a point is reached where the show feels comfortable with providing answers. Perhaps it would be more tolerable if these sidetracks provided a worthwhile experience, but when half of the jokes are just Edward having a height complex & Al being an empty suit of armor and half of the fights are mostly basic melee slugouts with minimal amounts of alchemy involved it's hard not to see it all as being tacked-on. img400(https://i.imgur.com/uxOV0r2.jpg) img400(https://i.imgur.com/V7nPP5O.jpg) _Apparently using alchemy __before__ it's absolutely necessary is just too darn complicated for ~~the writers~~ Edward._ The Elric brothers' journey is by no means a walk in the park and they often find themselves getting involved with shady characters and sinister happenings. Sometimes rather complicated (for a shounen anime) issues that have no clear-cut answer are brought up, leaving the brothers (and the viewer) to find their own. At other times the show goes out of its way to be extra dark and force-feed a particular moral to the audience not with reason but with shock value through gratuitous violence & gore or emotional manipulation. It's frustrating because there are plenty of moments in the story where interesting subjects and events come up that practically beg to be mentally digested but there's also many moments where the show clearly expects your brain to be turned off. I consider dark & edgy stories to be a guilty pleasure of mine but here it mostly felt unnecessary. In particular, the ending emphasizes a lot of the problems I've mentioned and raises many unanswered questions. Many actions taken beforehand (such as motivations for some of the villains as well as some of the lessons the Elric brothers learn and grow from) are rendered pointless by it, and it's not helped by all the meandering & pointlessly melodramatic dialogue leading up to it. It also creates a lot of holes in the final explanation of "the gate". I won't spoil "the gate" here as it's a major plot element but I will say that the way the ending abuses the function of "the gate" by conveniently forgoing the conditions for it to do what it did just 2 episodes after explaining it was its worst aspect since so many key events are built up around it throughout the show. Out of all the times this anime threw its own logic to the wayside, this last one with no hope of being explained is by far the worst. It all seemed to happen just to present sequel bait for a continuation (the Conqueror of Shamballa) that doesn't promise to answer those questions. All but one of the villains are overly corny, predictable, and simple. Many of the sin-based homunculi (such as Gluttony and Envy) can be entirely characterized by their names alone. Many of the villains in general are nothing more than psychopaths that know no other actions than gloat and kill (because what else would they need to know to fight?) and the amount of them means a lot of seeing the same cutout villain appear many, many times with a different face (and not just because characters don't always stay dead when they're killed). Meanwhile, just about every non-villain character (even the filler episode side characters) can be defined by a sole desire they possess. This approach to characterization is both nonstandard and uniquely fitting to the underlying theme of the anime, but these characters need more than a desire and a couple bullet-point traits to be truly convincing. While there are some characters that receive decent development, many of them end up dying partway through, clearing room for much shallower characters that don't really develop. It's a shame because this clear effort to give as many characters a place in the story as possible (even down to filler episode characters) does end up making the world feel more alive, but only at the high cost of some of the anime's standout characters. img600(https://i.imgur.com/RKhOhrk.jpg) _Enjoy your favorite characters while they last. No really, not all of them last._ Outside of the lacking visual explanations the animation is fairly standard though with the caveat that it tends to go light on the visual effects. That said, such conservatism doesn't add to its presentation. On a more positive note, the animators did a great job with their use of color palettes to complement each scene. The sound is of considerable quality with a fair number of memorable, setting-appropriate music pieces and convincing voice acting (I watched the Japanese version). The OPs are all quite nice as well; so nicely animated at times that it makes the rest of the anime look worse. All in all, it's enough to make the setting feel fairly convincing and whole, even though maps and regional history are rarely brought up. This isn't an issue however since the rest can easily be filled in with a grade-schooler's level of understanding on European history. I could say so much more about this anime (even without veering into spoiler territory) but it would all just be discussing more fantastic toppings on a cardboard pizza. I really want to like this anime and aside from the ending I don't regret any time I spent on it. Unfortunately, every awesome thing it does is sandwiched between two unbearably uninspired elements. It makes me wish I could just pull out the meaningful parts of this show and throw away the poorly utilized shounen action & comedy it was all glued to. # Verdict: You would be hard pressed to find a person who truly dislikes Fullmetal Alchemist's story with its interesting journey and the myriad of themes it at least attempts to explore. However, that story is put at odds with the shounen conventions it was placed with and the experience is diluted to the point where its standout properties can barely be tasted within the watery and stagnant concoction it became. # Related reviews: # ~~~[Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa](https://anilist.co/review/3816) ->~~~

xandorito

# Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 Review I’m going to warn you outright I’m not the best at analysing anime, but I’ll try my best . . >I don't think of Equivalent Exchange as a law of the world anymore. I think of it as a promise, between my brother and me. img220(https://i.imgur.com/qiLF9RZ.gif) Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 (FMA 04) was the first anime adaption, preceding Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (FMAB) which came out 2009 and is usually praised as the better of the two. That being as FMAB follows the manga to the very end while FMA 03 takes an alternate pathway as at the time of production the manga had only been partially completed. Because of this both anime tell very different stories, and because of that for the most part, I will be disassociating the two, ill do a quick comparison between the two at the end though. Fullmetal Alchemist 03 tells a story about two brothers, Edward Elric and Alphonse Eric who are in search of the Philosopher’s Stone in an attempt to get their bodies back after a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life. This attempt causing Ed to lose his arm and leg and Al to lose his entire body and having his soul bonded to armour. From that base plot we are welcomed to the world of alchemy, the magic that harbours the world but is treated more like a science under the idea of Equivalent exchange. To obtain something you must pay a price of equal value. img220(https://i.imgur.com/mndOSjY.gif) The way they treat alchemy is very well done, they explain it well enough that it makes sense, there aren’t too many flaws in the way they use it and it seems quite grounded to some degree though sometimes it does feel like the writers just went with things that ‘kinda made sense’. Which works with the anime. The entire series has a very well-grounded feeling. Especially within the characters, all the characters in the series get a fair amount of development, even in the side characters sometimes. We get to understand everyone’s separate motivations, their personalities and most importantly their faults. No character in the show is a completely good person, everyone is in a moral grey area. Everyone has done wrong things and the show doesn’t hide it, these wrong doings also for the most part harbour consequences, a misdoing a character does will be brought up 20 episodes down the line and have actual implication. That is too say that isn’t with every character. Some of the main villains receive some barely bleak character development and their motivations don’t really make sense and one of them even passes it off by telling Ed he should understand even though their situations barely intersect at all. A lot of villains also get the whole “I just like watching people suffer” trope which, for a series so focused on character building really shouldn’t be doing for such significant characters in the plot. Luckily this isn’t apparent for all of the villains, but sadly for strong chunk of them. I feel as though personally, the writing of the other characters more than makes up for this from a subjective view though. The characters go hand in hand to create the plot of the series, and while not as grand of a plot as FMAB it is still quite a well put together one, it isn’t fully cohesive, at certain points it feels disjointed and jumps a bit around, there were many times is later parts of the series I’d felt like I’d missed something and had to stop to make sure I hadn’t. Now let’s have a look at the animation and the sound which are both quite superb. While being made in 2003 the animation barely has any low points, and even has some really high points. There is a few hand to hand combat moments that look really cool in motion (even if they don’t last long lmao). The OST is also is just as good, especially with openings such as ‘Rewrite by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION’ and ‘READY STEADY GO by L’Arc-en-Ciel’. The ost really also fits with the overall mood and aesthetic of the art style to the point where I actually prefer the styling of this against FMAB. img220(https://i.imgur.com/8dcVKXB.gif) FMA 03 and FMAB are very different anime, FMAB is more shonen focused story with masterfully written characters and a very solid and cohesive plot. FMA while is comes from the same source material, deviates from that shonen focus and becomes something entirely different, while I believe the plot isn’t as strong as FMAB, I do prefer the darker aspect of it, and the way they answer certain plot points shown in the manga in comparison to FMAB. Overall I'd reccomend this anime to anyone who wants to watch a more plot focused anime, with shonen parts sprinkled in and to people who have seen FMAB and are interested in an alternate version of the story.

infinitely

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) Series experience: I watched Brotherhood a few years ago, and I read the manga earlier this year Short review: Fullmetal Alchemist is a dark action-adventure sci-fi tale which ponders themes on humanity, sacrifice, and loss. A character-driven series that moves you along through the motivations of our two heroes, you'll have to suspend your disbelief for a bit and go along with the flow. Throwing comedy and action into the heavy mix, you get a more existential piece but with a rather flimsy plot and a lackluster ending. Full review: _Warning: review contains spoilers_ I can't help it. I've seen the originals so in my mind I already had biases towards certain things in FMA. Either way, I sat down to watch this entire series for the first time, and these are my thoughts. FMA starts off strong. With a similar beginning to FMAB, people do mention how FMA fleshes out it's characters better, giving them backgrounds and screen time, making the loss of certain supporting characters more emotional and with depth. Personally, I do like this aspect of the anime, because we get to see the people that affect Ed and Al's purpose for their journey. There are some bits of the manga that are only adapted in the 2003 series as well, so that's always a plus. Fun omake chapters such as the Military Festival being expanded on or the origin of Black Hayate's ownership sort of add a more friendly feel towards the Mustang unit. There are some background stories (with one adapted from a light novel) that show us Ed and Al's rough start in their Philosopher's Stone research, and the casualties that accumulate in their travels. The setting up of everything in the first half of the anime was done really well, we learned a little bit with every few episodes - the pacing is really good. I think the second half of the show, though, does not live up to the first. A few gripes I have - first, the writers did put in some twists and turns, but nearing the end, the plot was veering so far off the tracks I wasn't sure what was happening anymore. Now I know it is a fantasy anime to some extent, but so many things just didn't follow the rules set by the world. Philosopher's Stones were made so easily by the end; and the gate led to.. our world? Even equivalent exchange felt like such a loose rule because Ed kept transmuting tiny things to big things OR kept changing chemical compositions but only when convenient to the plot. My personal favorite plot twist they added was the birth of the homunculi. Having them be the result of human transmutation is really interesting, and also a great angst driver, but it renders their entire OWN characters useless beyond who they were modeled after. This makes their names and traits kind of pointless - why is Sloth _Sloth_? Why is Wrath _Wrath_? Which then kind of contrasts with the other homunculus written after the manga characters who stay true such as Greed. The new plot, although interesting, did not feel as planned as the the manga's/Brotherhood's. The praise 2003 had over 2009 was also mostly for the characters. I liked the idea - what they were trying to do. A gray area, nothing is black and white, etc. Ed's character in this version really does grow up a lot. He sacrifices so much and makes difficult decisions. I personally think that's great. We have interesting takes on the war too. The reality of following orders as a soldier, the infinite number of casualties that will traumatize one, and the endless cycle of revenge that follows are all topics that FMA covers pretty well. As a watcher it gives you second thoughts on your favorite characters, reminding you your heroes are just people too. A downside though, for me, is that this comes at the expense of a lot of supporting characters - and erases some strong qualities of some female characters too. I've heard people say FMAB is more shounen. I think that makes FMA 2003 seinen then. Being directed towards more mature male audiences has its upsides, but as a female watcher it does disappoint me sometimes with the unnecessary fanservice. It's in the small things I honestly don't think a lot of guys would notice but that awkward Winry ending animation, the drawing of Riza's chest at times, making Sloth sexy for no reason (even though Lust is supposed to be the homonculus representative of that), focusing on Rose's body even though she had other things to worry about, etc. all of those could deter a possible female fan (who would in turn enjoy Brotherhood more). Winry's character here is more shallow as well, and Ed hardly cares about her (Envy doesn't even bother copying her face when they are goading Ed.) She's an automail otaku caricature and by the end I don't know exactly what was her purpose in the show. When her parents were revealed to be murdered by Roy we even get more Roy angst that anything about her. Hawkeye (as much as I love Royai) is also here not Mustang's underling who he respects the most but more of the lover/bodyguard type. It's so out of character when she cries his name and breaks her soldier character. The writing for these girls just becomes inconsistent and wonky. I could go on and on about the female characters but sort of all the characters just suffer loss of personality and development. The villains are so 2D - Frank Archer is ?? evil for the sake of being evil I guess. Kimblee? Likes violence. Bradley? Yeah he's a homonculus so that means bad. Wrath? A spoiled child who was really interesting until the writers decided to kill off personality and make him mentally age backwards or something. The big bad created for the series, Dante, is also quite bland. Popular characters like Havoc and Armstrong are reduced to caricatures too, becoming comic relief in scenes where laughter is wholly unnecessary. Lastly, animation and music. The fight scenes are animated pretty nicely but I feel like they could have been smarter. Ed doesn't feel as snappy as he does in Brotherhood and as smart as in the manga with what he can do with his arm and his alchemy. He just keeps trying to punch his way through (and get beat a lot). Same goes for a lot of the other characters. Roy snapping his way through everything is pretty accurate, yeah, but it's like they forget he's a pro strategist. I could go on. Music wise, I personally think sometimes the atmosphere is a bit forced on you. I get that the anime wants to go a darker route but I'd prefer to not be told so directly. I don't quite know how to explain this right but some of the "oriental" sounding music is also a bit off-putting to me in such a steampunk looking setting. The openings and endings are pretty good, but even having watched them all (I don't skip OP/EDs) they're not as memorable as FMAB's. Overall, I don't think it's close to Arakawa's original tale. While trying give us more to think about, FMA tends to lose itself in its own introspection, making the story fall apart at the seams. As a standalone anime, I would say it's all right - it plays out like a typical shounen, crazy OP fight scenes, some fanservice here and there, lack of care for it's own world's rules; but with a darkness unique to it that still draws and maintains a group of fans loyal to the series. Plot 6/10 Animation 8/10 Characters 8/10 Overall personal enjoyment 7/10 Top 3 fave characters (this is so different from my faves in FMAB lol) Lust probably - her motivations were quite unique and her realization at the end (I hope) earned her her catharsis Maria Ross except when she went all fangirly on Hohenheim - I like how she was a good mother figure to Ed and Al Wrath before he went bonkers on Sloth - his wanting to be whole/wanting to be human bit was really sad and his dynamic with Izumi was pitiful Others: Izumi, Ed, Roy ~~~img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/43/e3/f3/43e3f33880c5255b49b6ed0a1763d2bb.gif)~~~ Thank you for reading! Review for the manga: [Fullmetal Alchemist Review](https://anilist.co/review/7741) Review for the recap OVA: [Fullmetal Alchemist: Reflections Review](https://anilist.co/review/7731) Review for the sequel movie: [Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa Review ](https://anilist.co/review/7850) Review for the Premium OVA Collection: [Fullmetal Alchemist: Premium OVA Collection Review ](https://anilist.co/review/7866)

kulos

# __REVIEW FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST (NOT SPOILER-FREE)__ __Um dos melhores animes que eu já assisti!__ img(https://www.einerd.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/fullmetal-alchemist.jpg) __Fullmetal Alchemist__ é um anime sobre este mundo fantástico que os irmãos __Edward __e __ Alphonse Elric__ vivem. Neste mundo a __Alquimia __é bem desenvolvida e os alquimistas podem transmutar objetos em outros seguindo a lei fundamental dessa ciência, a __Troca equivalente__: >Nada pode ser obtido sem sacrifício. Para se obter algo é preciso oferecer algo em troca de igual valor. Esse é o princípio básico da alquimia, a Lei da Troca Equivalente. Naquela época, nós acreditávamos que essa fosse a lei absoluta. img(https://i.redd.it/4q4l4j8or3i31.png) Esse anime criado pela mangaká Hiromu Arakawa traz um universo completamente novo e cheio de possibilidades. Fullmetal Alchemist com certeza foi um dos melhores animes que eu já assisti, ele tem simplismente tudo que eu espero de um anime bom: __Boa construção de mundo, desenvolvimento aprofundado dos personagens, enredo interessante que te prenda, trilhas sonoras e openings incríveis, animação boa e acontecimentos sólidos__, O anime recapitula diversas vezes eventos passados importantes para a continuação da história, me fazendo prestar atenção a cada evento pequeno. # __ENREDO - 10 __ img(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/62/61/b9/6261b971cab3a0b6701777337e764b4e.png) O enredo se estende em __51 episódios__, deixando evidente que há muita história pra contar. No meu ponto de vista ele é simplesmente perfeito. __Não há furos ou fillers, o anime realmente te prende até o último segundo, há momentos em que eu ri, outros que eu chorei, outros que o meu coração quase pulou pra fora.__ Há tantos mistérios nesse anime e tantas coisas que provavelmente serão tratadas na segunda parte: __Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood__ (64 episódios e outros 4 ovas, aqui vou eu). Falo isso com confiança por causa do abismo gigantesco que eles deixaram como entrada para a próxima parte (esperem uma review em breve). Tantos mistérios, tantas histórias, tantos personagens são introduzidos nesses episódios. Tudo nesse anime está extremamente entrelaçado, não dá pra deixar nada passar se não você perde história. # __ANIMAÇÃO - 10__ img(https://jovemnerd.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/v-fullmetal-alchemist.jpg) A primeira parte de Fullmetal Alchemist __foi produzida em 2003__ e eu fiquei __abismado __com a qualidade da animação pra época, os efeitos são bonitos, os personagens tem vida, dá quase pra sentir o metal do automail do Edward de tão bem animado que é. Por exemplo, na __quimera __que a Nina se tornou, é muito bem desenvolvido a sua interação com o ambiente, __a forma em que ela anda e interage com as pessoas é simplismente horripilante__, isso graças ao trabalho que os animadores tiveram (RIP NINA). # __PERSONAGENS - 10__ img(https://ovicio.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/20191114-lust-fullmetal-alchemist-1176390-1280x0-1200x675.jpeg) Cada personagem tem um carinho imensurável colocado neles. Os personagens tem seus próprios __ideais, ambições, religiões, sonhos__ pra seguir. A backstory da maioria deles foi muito bem explorada, __eles são sólidos em sua composição__, além de mostrarem muito bem as mudanças de personalidade ao longo do tempo, é muito interessante ver a história dos __homúnculos__, e como eles, apesar de serem iguais, são tão diferentes. Cada um representa muito bem seus pecados capitais e isso me deixa muito grudado na história. #__ TRILHA SONORA E OPENINGS - 10__ img(https://occ-0-1723-92.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/E8vDc_W8CLv7-yMQu8KMEC7Rrr8/AAAABZhgTptV5C0tnRNyBhTXfES-YCdeEC6HiObnPQzcnzXKbnwC8DL0sNj1pKBXIADOzl6812qiPzpc7RJZg4G2EhZNdsOH.jpg?r=02e) Não tem nem muito o que falar, só quem assistir o anime vai realmente entender como as openings são __impactantes __e o quanto a trilha sonora te deixa __imerso __nesse __mundo fantástico da alquimia__.

mendokusenaa

First of all, I just want to warn you that I’m a Brazilian using Google Translate to write this review, so reveal any grammar mistakes. It was really a surprise, I thought it could be tiring from the slower start and the original ending, but I was wrong. The whole part of the anime that covers the manga is very well adapted, the direction of this series is not far behind Brotherhood. For someone who had only seen the other version of the anime, accompanying that version adds a lot, because a lot is lost at the beginning of Brotherhood, since it is much more busy. Episodes like Barry's presentation in his human version, or the one where they are going back to Resembool after the fight with Scar are phenomenal, they deepen both Ed and the universe of Fullmetal itself. In addition to these events that do not exist in the Brotherhood, we still have others that are much better in depth, such as the character of Nina, who in the other version, appears only in one episode, and here she appears well before, at the time when Ed still is taking the test for Federal Alchemist. If I'm not mistaken, Nina appears in four episodes in this version, and because of that, there is a greater impact when the climax of her arc arrives. The same goes for Hughes, which has 30 episodes of participation until its completion, which becomes even more dramatic than in Brotherhood. Finishing this part that presents the material of the manga, we still have the original part, which does not lose much in quality. I confess that I like this version much better when it comes to explaining homunculi. The way they are born is completely consistent with what has been presented to us before. The work climate also becomes much denser, as we find ourselves in a more melancholy plot. Presenting the protagonists as people who not only tried to bring their mother back, but also created a being who brings tragedy with them, creates a much greater weight in the work. As the series gets closer to the end, certain things start to get a little weird. I find the plot that our world is on the other side of the door quite interesting, and even the explanation for how alchemy works, but it is quite disconnected from the story so far, because the plot was presented in the penultimate episode . The ending makes me very uncomfortable, not because he is bad, but because he is very bitter, he has good things, like solving Al's problem, but Ed being in another world, Winry alone, Izumi still without his organs restored and without the child ... all this is quite unpleasant. I know that there is still a film that continues the story, but I don't have much faith that the ending is minimally positive. In conclusion, Classic Fullmetal deserves to be watched, because many of the dialogues are still very interesting, the producers were able to capture the mood of the work and applied it very well to the original plot.

KadenZoldyck

#~~~Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)~~~ From what I have seen, this is a show that goes rather untalked about because of the huge shadow Brotherhood has cast over it. And to my dismay, time and time again I see people who love Brotherhood, who either where unaware of its predessesor or just choose to ignore it. Which is a fact I'd love to change because 2003 is well worth watching, whether you loved or hated Brotherhood, as past a certain point the two are almost unrecognizable in both plot, themes and characters, and 2003 rivals Brotherhood in alot of ways. Whilst Brotherhood takes the story in the direction of an all out war with the entire military and beyond involved, 2003 tells a more personal tale about the brothers (seemingly on their own) against the world. We see them time and time again battle the military, or the humonculi and even Scar. And I think that in some aspects of this part of the anime, 2003 superseeds Brotherhood. For example the entire twist invovling The Fuhrer is basically cut from Brotherhood, where it is revealed in the first episode, wheras in 2003 it is something only hinted at for most of the series and only revealed towards the end. As well as this, the Homunculi, and in particular the character of Lust is much more interesting then her counterpart in Brotherhood, as instead of being a target for Roy to practice on, she has an entire arc spanning the shows run time where she becomes a really sympathetic villian and is one of the shows best characters. Another huge aspect to consider when comparing the too shows or just talking about 2003 is its production, which is very impressive for when it was released.~!webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/a360258ba9319fdb4314aeb28cb6efe8.mp4)!~ Even though the series is now 18 years old some of its sakuga rivals anime airing today, and its soundtrack is absolutley phenomenal, almost every track is brilliant and makes every scene memorable and exciting. Its been along time since I watched FMAB so I cannot say anything about the ost in referene to that, but I will say that I consider Fullmetal Alchemist 2003's to be world class. Other then that, something else definatley worth note about FMA is its voice acting. (I cannot speak to the subs quality as i watched the dub and i have zero regrets) FMA has an amazing dubbed cast that really carry the emotions and motivations that their respective characters hold dear. In particular I'd like to mention Ed and Al's VA's Vic Mignogna and Aaron Dismuke respectively, as their chemistry is brilliant and carries alot of the series. Overall Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) is a fantastic show that everyone can and will enjoy if you give it a chance, and is 100% worth watching even if you have already watched Brotherhood 8.5/10

ChillLaChill

If there's one thing that I can be certain on, it's that Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 still remains a staple of anime classics. As someone who grew up with this version despite preferring Brotherhood, give 2003 a chance and don't overlook its strong sense of character building and atmospheric tension. This one's a little difficult to come to terms with because after Brotherhood I had originally written off the 2003 series even though I spent years of my youth fawning over this version's greatness before Brotherhood's announcement. Now here I am re-exploring the show and becoming reacquainted with its style and direction only to realize just how well this version stands up. Fullmetal Alchemist is faithful as it can get for a majority of the first little bit, but it does take some big liberties on extending on some seemingly menial plot points. We spend about two episodes in Liore, which is a far cry from the condensed one chapter/one episode version of the same story. Although it might "drag out", it hardly ever feels like that and instead it naturally introduces story tidbits to serve the greater plot. The same goes for a lot of other points from the original manga. Small character moments within FMA are rather abundant, and rather than focusing on the big overarching plot like in Brotherhood it makes the little moments count. There's so much they flesh out and build lots of depth to characters that might not have had the same in the original story, giving shining moments to people who might've not got a chance to. Because of this approach the series barely resembles its shonen routes and its especially true with its lack of shouty "chibi" humour. In fact a lot of the humour is less loud and "anime", but it still is there and it made me laugh a little more than most of Brotherhoods stuff that tried too hard to be manga. The Edward Elric short jokes still get played up a little too much even if the seriousness is balanced better. I might even consider this version targeted towards the Seinen crowd because it just lacks the adventurous nature of one. The seriousness that makes itself apparent is really welcomed, while at the same time having enough light-hearted moments to keep younger audiences interested. It knows when to have its silly moments and keep its serious ones The bigest surprise to me was seeing this as an adult and realizing just how dark the show got. The series can be downright depressing and barely hopeful and most of the time the more nuanced themes were lost on me as a young kid. I will say that 2003 is not better, it's just chooses to focus on different subject matter, and it's ever present in its soundtrack and directional choices. Looking back I'm almost surprised the show managed to hook me on its slower story, and now I realize just how well thought out some of creative choices were. There's an overbearing brooding atmosphere that makes itself present in the first episode, and it truly is a macabre presentation of how the Elric brothers lost their bodies amongst many other horrific events that happen. These types of moments appear quite frequently, and it walks a fine line between being dark and being edgy for the sake of it. I completely forgot that it was implied that Rose was raped by soldiers and becomes a mute. At the time I didn't really know and now I realize how unnecessary it felt besides making the story dark for the sake of it. For the most part though, it vastly builds upon the story really improves stuff that might've been glossed over quickly. Even some of the camera angles and setups just leave enough to the imagination before "the big reveal" and those kinds of moments happen frequently even in its comedy. The build up to hard-hitting moments is done exceptionally well, and it's all due to a lot of the slow-moving segments that we're both nostalgic and relaxing. FMA 2003 uses its downtime to its advantage in order to build up deaths even moreso. I will admit, (most, not all) the filler is really well done and does some fantastic worldbuilding. That said, most of the time it just seems distracting from Ed and Al's overall journey without adding anything to the quest to find the philosophers stone; most of them boiling down to pointless side-adventures where brothers are almost in reach of the Philosophers stone only for it to be a fake of some kind. The 4th episode I'm split on because it happens so early, but the one about the Thief and the Lupin III Zenigata clone got a laugh out of me back then, and again on my rewatch because I kind of forgot about it (people dislike it, personally I found it fun). A lot of the filler was hit or miss, but most served their purposes a "anime canon" for worldbuilding. I've complained about how fast the pacing over Brotherhood was in its first 13 episodes, but if we were to actually compare the two they actually line up pretty closely and they only really "pad" and stretch the original story beats. Upon the rewatch it actually made me realize how little the 2003 series had originally so they had to weave in random side stories until it was time to adapt "manga canon". The fake Elrics are actually a welcome addition even if it seems out of left field to add them into the story as contributors at all. The Tringham brother's added some depth to the story and I wish their characters were explored more because they seem so underutilized. Sure Brotherhood is adapted with less natural finesse, but it had plenty of ways to interweave every little thing. 2003 is about the same but manages to stretch out progression and does so it in a way that gradually builds up progression, and it's very apparent for the "manga canon" parts. We haven't even got to the latter half in which the anime surpasses the anime point which is a completely different chimera altogether. I'm of the opinion that I enjoyed what they did because they planted some of the seed earlier to make the switch seamless. They did a fantastic job on just making story extensions where it was necessary and even did an adequate job at linking certain points. The series is so vastly different, and it doesn't take long to get a feel for how that is. In fact some episodes almost feel like one-shot stories set within the universe, and seemingly gives me an extra mile of plot to run with. It's super engaging because right off the bat it takes meticulous care to build up its background cast alongside the main groups. I still enjoy where it diverges however there were many points at which the story was a slog that made me wonder how the show even got to that point (see the entirety of Wrath's arc and character). So with all said it isn't all perfect as some might claim. It's not "the masterpiece" that I would've considered it before Brotherhood existed, and I would say a lot of the acclaim feels like it just comes from how pretentious 2003's storytelling can get. Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 does a lot right, but it seemingly undermines some important plot elements that make the actual storyline flow. In fact there are so many moments they are in reach of, only to completely reject it for plots-sake. On top of this, important characters become less of a focus in the major story, and get sidelined in favour of anime-canon ones or completely reversing ones relevance as with Rose amongst many others. Barry the Chopper's kidnapping episode is cool because it's terrifying. Then when we get to Barry's Lab 5 appearance it completely dissolves his intimidating character as it sticks to the goofy manga personality equivalent. If Barry wasn't committed to a comedic role like in Brotherhood, then sure it would've worked. In the 2003 show it just seems so tonally off for Barry to be an actual threat and to see his role be mainly comedic only for him to switch back to be a bad guy. There are a lot of characters who get super underwhelming deaths, and this mainly happens for the manga-specific characters. Sure we get plenty of time spent on Hughes, and yet I'm still finding criticisms for the cast. Characters like Riza don't get much to shine, and to be honest neither does Winry. I appreciate the dynamic between Sheska and Winry because it's something that really isn't seen in the original material, but it came at the expense at making these characters a catalyst for the plot, and relegated them to side events. There were also odd plot points like State Alchemists' pocket watches being able to amplify alchemy; I still don't really get this at all, and Envy being the first son of Hoenheim; which felt like a last minute story point with no real build up at all. So how about those anime original characters? Frank Archer I thought was "cool" as a kid but he just seems like a knockoff Kimblee who also happens to exist in this series but with barely any real staying power. Like really was there any point in shoving Kimblee aside for Archer? It's a cool concept by branching the two but they don't really do much with either in the grander plot. Kimblee remains fairly static as a character and Archer barely does anything memorable. Shou Tucker's return was ok for me originally and didn't really pose much of an issue in my first viewing, but I have so many problems now upon my rewatch. Seeing Tucker be this constant presence in the show trying to bring back Nina back just ruins the original moment for me. Tucker was already a monster of a character, and it doesn't make sense for him to try to redeem himself in any way regardless of how sad and pathetic he's become. Tucker's whispering got old pretty fast, and just became an annoyance more than anything, and I just really don't like the fact that he kept living only for him to mess things up again for the Elrics ; tricking Alphonse into using his Philosophers stone was face-palm inducing. Roy can come off as a smug prick despite his more lighter side that we see here and there, it somewhat works within his personality and backstory. In other cases, Roy can just be difficult to like. The same kind of hard-ass attitude exists with a lot of the main cast and it almost makes everyone constantly in unnecessary angst across the board like Izumi or even Alphonse at a point. Scar gets an interesting background story extension, and to be honest his death did feel earned here because they built him up really well. Hoenheim has no real relevance and his existence kind of fades out of relevance without doing anything vital in the story besides being a deadbeat dad. Hoenheim is just so scummy that it's no wonder Ed hates him, and I'm surprised he warmed up to him as much as he did by the end. Kimblee was so much more psychotic and fascinating but he got pushed aside for Frank Archer so that's a moot point. I could go on and on especially about Wrath and 2003-original characters but it's mainly up to opinion. A lot of the homunculus's back story is well done, and then some don't get really stories at all. There are great story moments birthed from 2003, and yet it just doesn't feel cohesive. On top of this a lot of homunculus's get undermined by changing the reason for their existence, especially when it comes to Dante; an antagonist whom I couldn't care less about. Before getting to experience the original storyline in Brotherhood, I was kind of behind the idea of having Homunculus's be failed human transmutations. It was a really interesting way of giving the Homunculus's backstories. However, it just doesn't work thematically because their names barely serve any symbolic purpose with Dante, and we don't really know why they're all named after the seven deadly sins. On top of this not all the Homunculus's get extensive backstories like Lust. Many other Homonculses barely get anything at all. Gluttony I can maybe understand, but Pride? Greed? Even Envy? In fact Envy being Hoenheim's son being a plot twist was introduced so late into the show that it felt out of nowhere. Then people like Wrath and Sloth already kind of have backstories through their characters which just don't have the same kind of interest for me since they have ties to familiar characters. There are so many online discussions that talk about how much more interesting the Homonculuses are here, and yet the only ones with a fresh backstory is Lust. The seriousness of the plot was generally great, but a lot of moments were followed by some sad piano track and made into a melodramatic spectacle. It delves into heavy soap-opera territory and it can sometimes feel forced and contrived. It works to serve the smaller plots that are interwove with the grand one, however once you look at it from a distance it really kind of falls apart and seems rather aimless. Like equivalent exchange, FMA does the exact same in its choice to be expressive. Sure we got better character pieces and emotion, but it came at the cost of a cohesive story that knows exactly where and when it needs to be. 2003 is done really well since it's episodic with one-off tales that serve the characters, and that's ok too. Be aware it really never serves the overall story for the most part and instead feels more like an adventure than a specific journey. The overbearing drama was actually rather exhausting because it never took a chance to breathe, kick back, or just giving the viewer a chance to hype themselves up to watch the next episode. The heavy focus on drama was arguably it's biggest strength and weakness that is more personal taste than anything. It was surprise I loved the show as much as I did, but at least know I can identify what I liked and what I didn't now and it's got a lot to do with how dreadful it can be to sit through at times. There's plenty of drop-off points where I stopped really caring despite my heavier investment in the characters, and was just along for the ride. Although both series' soundtracks are excellent at what they do for their respective series, the story though leaves a lot to be desired here. In all honesty the episodes leading up to the finale are a mixed bag, some are decent (the coup to fight back was fairly similar to the manga's, although not as epic), some have great plot points (the underground city was always a cool concept and so was the idea of the real world being a parallel universe), and some plots get resolved too quickly without much breathing room (Alphonse protecting Sloth because she used to be their mother was another instance of forced drama, and Sloth's death just happens without any real fanfare). To be fair, the whole idea of the underground city would be a lot more effective if it was foreshadowed or hinted early, and that kind of comes out of nowhere after the manga plot finishes up. I still like the idea of the city, I just never found that there was any groundwork for it to connect the story to the beginning (like a lot of story beats in Brotherhood do). Did I also mention the Elric brothers had so many chances to use the Philosopher stone but didn't because there was always forced drama in the way of it. Oh yeah one other thing. WHY THE HELL DID ARCHER COME BACK?. Archer's literal return felt phony and his 2nd death was more underwhelming than his first and then he just dies from a few bullets. Most of all it just felt like there was huge gaping hole where certain characters form the manga should've been and complete reversals of characters who never originally served the grander plot. I will still argue Brotherhood is just the complete package of satisfaction and balancing an extensive cast mainly because of its stronger source material that it can draw from. Admittedly 2003's ending I've come to like with Edward ending up in the real world, even though so many plot threads seemingly go unresolved with no huge payoff. In the end though Fullmetal Alchemist is really well done, though my criticisms really come to light in the fact that it's a show that wallows in its drama and doesn't explore the depths of its plot. As an adult, the messages were a lot more clear to me and it still hooked me on its moments that took the characters under a magnifying glass and deconstructed them. I just find it extremely hard to say that I actually had "fun" with its story because it can be self-deprecating and pointless. There are moments of hope but they're so few and far between. There was plenty of enjoyment most of it was revisiting nostalgic moments, and then there are really weak story beats that happen later on that leave a sour taste in my mouth. It's ironic because as a kid the show was enthralling and deep, and now it just seems exhausting and inconsequential. It's not the all-time favourite I used to consider it and I'd be hard pressed to feel the need to rewatch it anytime soon because it seems so heavy handed. It's a show with its intro themes tied to my nostalgia, and a story that extends the limited stories of basic characters. Fullmetal Alchemist is something that needs to be experienced regardless of its many flaws because it brings a lot of interesting perspectives for newcomers and fans of Brotherhood alike.

Hantasensei

Fullmetal Alchemist is often considered an essential viewing for any anime fan and a stepping-stone for many newcomers to the world of anime. It's received universal acclaim and if you were to ask any anime fan about Fullmetal Alchemist, chances are, he/she probably has some knowledge of this series. *Review may contain minor spoilers, may hint at things, and will not be reviewed as an adaptation of the manga and how it compares, but as a standalone anime* Story: 9/10 The basic basic synopsis of the story is about "The Fullmetal Alchemist" Edward Elric, and his brother, Alphonse Elric, and their quest of searching for the Philosopher's Stone in order to bring back what they've lost and fix a mistake made in the past. From the synopsis that you might read on the back of a DVD cover or so, an anime about a quest and a siblings' search for a treasure sounds something light and fun, but in actuality, the story of Fullmetal is very dark. Right from the beginning, we're introduced to a gruesome nightmarish scene depicting what would be the major mistake Ed and Al make with Ed screaming in horror; it's almost as if the director wanted to point out "This isn't going to be some happy nakama anime about fighting, this is a dark anime about redemption, tragedy and the story of two brothers who will do whatever it takes to fix the mistake they've made." The story knows where its going and there's a good sense of direction, though the series does lose a bit of focus as it reaches its end, it still manages to finish strongly with what I think to be one of the most creative and nicely done anime-exclusive endings to an adaptation of an on-going manga. They could have just dumped it like Inuyasha, but they didn't, and actually formulated their own anime ending, which I think is commendable. Art and Animation: 8/10 The character design is simplistic and kind of quirky, but decent. Character designs vary enough that you can clearly differentiate who is who and most of them have their own sense of individuality versus 'slap a different hairstyle on the same model' designs (ex. Gundam Seed). And having one of the main characters as a walking suit of armor is definitely a unique idea and the Homunculi are just great antagonists, design-wise. The animation quality for the series is top-notch. The colors are vivid and characters are detailed with no shortcut taken in the animation and the fights are fluidly animated. Unless you pay extra attention, shortcomings in animation is something you won't find in this series. Sound: 10/10 The music fits so well in conveying the emotion and feelings of the characters and scenes, and invoking the atmosphere and sense of wonder in Fullmetal, its music is what ultimately captures the spirit of the show, and brings the world of Fullmetal to life. With pieces like "Brother" "Homunculus" and "Dante", Fullmetal easily has one of the best OST's I've heard in any anime series. Character: 8/10 For such a large cast, Fullmetal manages to characterize most of the characters to a decent extent. But the most well-developed characters are without a doubt Edward and Alphonse, and their selfless brotherly relationship. What I see Ed as, is the Shounen archetype ( Loudmouthed, hot-headed, and proud), but done right, and with more depth than any of his counterparts. Despite his quirks, and his stereotypical Shounen characteristics (Acting arrogant? Check. Hot-blooded personality? Check. Childhood romantic interest? Check.), Ed has proven to be an extremely mature character, with the resolve to do whatever it takes to protect his brother. Besides Ed and Al, Mustang also has a very well-written background to his character and shows that, in actuality, his arrogant personality is just a facade to cover-up for his doubt in what he did in his past. Now the main quirk I have with the cast of Fullmetal is the lack of development for the antagonists. They're such a colorful cast of characters, and yet we know little or nothing about them. Yes, we have Scar, who's pretty well characterized, but what about Lust? Greed? And Gluttony? They may be artificial beings but they should have their own history and character right? The series only manages to touch on those characters and give us a small taste of the stories of the Homunculi. Aside from that, overall, the "good" side of the cast is pretty well-developed while the Homunculi are developed to only the minimal extent. Which is passable considering this was an adaptation of the manga when it was still in its early stages. And while I do commend the anime team that worked on Fullmetal to cook up its own original villain, I find her to be extremely uninspired, incompetent, generic and just a poorly done villain in general. Enjoyment: 9/10____ Not much to say besides the fact that Fullmetal is very enjoyable, it's one of those series that keeps your eyes glued to the screen from the start and manages to keeps you entertained through the whole ride with its revelations and twists, and ends leaving you speechless. Overall: 8/10 Is Fullmetal Alchemist an essential viewing for every anime fan in the whole wide world? No. But is it a good stepping-stone for newcomers, or just a very enjoyable anime for anyone who wants a good equilibrium between great action and a well-written story? I say hell yes. For such a critically-acclaimed anime, it isn't anything that's overly groundbreaking nor does it escape the clutches of standard Shounen cliches. But for what it is, it's a bloody well done anime. Too long didn't read version: Story (A) : Well-crafted, intriguing, original and overall, very enjoyable and intelligent. Art and Animation ( B+) : Good character designs, fantastic animation. Homunculi are interestingly designed. Sound (A+) : Wonderful soundtrack, conveys the mood and scenery perfectly. Character (B) : Military cast is developed nicely, Homunculi gets the short end of the stick and the main villain is disappointing. Overall (A) : An enjoyable anime that has a colorful cast, fantastic story and great music.

Kuropiko

I make it no secret that I am very much a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist. I am one of the few owners of the rare Blu-Ray set, so nice I bought it twice, not just any release of it, but the special edition release that comes with a postcard collection (not quite insane enough to get the big boy ultimate edition though), I have a nearly complete collection of the DVD volumes purely for their cover art, I have stomached remarkably poor licensed games simply because they were tied to this series. To top it all off, during my last rewatch I annoyingly spammed everything I bothered to take a screencap of (and I took over 1000 by the end). Needless to say, anything I write will be immensely biased. Bias for this original work will seep out of every pore of this review, let this be a warning, if you have not seen this series, don't read the review. I'll probably spoil things for starters, and you generally won't get a feel for the series. If you want a proper review, there's tons more to look at. My short answer on whether not the series should be watched for anyone asking that is HELL YES. Go watch it right now, the only bad episodes are 4 and 10, everything else is a great ride. Now then, on with the review. Typically, these things would go over the series history, but I'm above that. Mainly because, again, tons of reviews already do that for this series. Rather, I'd like to clear the air on one topic, that being when 2003 became a different series from the manga, and it's honestly pretty obvious. A lot of people say it changed gears at the Greed arc, others say they simply rushed out an ending when they ran out of time, and obviously these people haven't seen the series, as there are very deliberate changes right from the start. Namely, the choice to change the series timeline and furthering the idea of religion as a con in the Liore episodes. For the former idea, the changes to the series timeline are rather obvious. Tucker's content is moved to before Ed is a state alchemist, Barry the Chopper is introduced first as a human long before he originally appears, the conflict on the train is inserted to be Ed's first meeting with Roy, and so on. It's these changes, ones that most people will shrug off, that add and up add to 2003's core ideas. Tucker and Nina's tragedy being so early on, in addition to what comes after that conflict, shapes Ed's views of Amestris and the military government, and it pushes him further in to his idea of alchemy as a religion of sorts. It's his escape from Nina's tragedy, when he finds her splattered against the wall, all he can do is keep performing that prayer motion, and slamming his hands against the wall, even though nothing is happening. A tinge of irony is present to this whole affair, present in the manga as well, but the change to Ed's reaction is what gives these things different meanings. Nina's whole tragedy was because of the alchemy Ed revolves his whole life around. img2000(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/506947068099690496/765369512098005002/mpv-shot0173.png) Now, I said a lot there, but it's pretty easy to turn your nose up and go "How does that tie into where the series went later on?", and believe me, it's a bit of a jump to go from small changes completely reshaping how you view the context of a scene, to dimension hopping and World War I. But these are seeds planted to set up the different direction the story goes, as Ed's character itself goes in a completely different direction. Throughout 2003, Ed is consistently brought down, emasculated, and generally thrown a dozen curve balls every new plot revelation. He's used by some members of the cast, lied to for his mental wellbeing by others, and the few remaining ones assist in systematically destroying his worldviews. To go back to the idea I mentioned earlier, the Liore episodes focus more heavily on the con-religion, that being the church worshipping the Sun God Leto. While in the manga, this is a nice start to the series, 2003 makes this the inciting incident for Ed's character deconstruction and reconstruction. It is here where we see him mentally beatdown on Rose, making her life infinitely more difficult, having to live with her sadness instead of blindly following a religion that promised her impossible things, and while Ed says the same lines here, this section, where Ed talks to Rose, is taken by the writers and they run with it. img2000(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/506947068099690496/765204249742147604/mpv-shot0026.png) As 2003 goes on, you see that Rose and Ed were suffering the same way and were dealing with it the same way. Ed couldn't live with the death of his mother, in fact, the first thing he says after his mother's funeral is that he's going to use alchemy to bring her back. He couldn't handle the tragedy he was forced to witness, and fell into a religion of his own, alchemy, and another drastic change 2003 makes is present here. How Ed perceives and uses alchemy compared to the rest of the cast. Him strictly following the laws of alchemy, going on about equivalent exchange, is something unique to him and not shared even in how other characters use their abilities. Scar's deconstruction can loosely be explained as equivalent exchange, but how do explain other stuff he uses it for? When he finds a pile of documents, he uses his ability to deconstruct the words and use it as a glorified "ctrl+f" command, I doubt that's very in line with Ed's rock solid ideals about alchemy, and Scar himself doesn't care for the rules of alchemy. He just knows his arm takes anything it touches, and uses it expressly for that purpose. Ed even laments in a 2003 original episode about how despite all of his suffering, him and Al have gained nothing in return. img2000(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/506947068099690496/766017547987583016/mpv-shot0415.png) All of this buildup around Ed's view of alchemy and equivalent exchange is continually highlighted across the series in small ways, though what should really clue people in is the Wrath arc. Wrath shows up, having Ed's missing arm and leg. There was no equivalent exchange, Wrath didn't do anything to gain them, Ed lost them because of his own stupidity and selfishness. Wrath even outright states this idea, saying Ed just left his arm and leg "at the door", and states he'll take Ed's whole body next, while mocking the self-imposed rule of equivalent exchange. img2000(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/506947068099690496/766474773236023306/mpv-shot0899.png) This, along with countless other smaller scenes, leads into the point where many people agree 2003 jumped the shark (and obviously I disagree), in a rather famous scene. Episode 49 is mostly a long and drawn out conversation Edward has with the series antagonist, Dante, about the nature of alchemy, the humans who use it, and of course, equivalent exchange. Here is where Ed's character is completely broken down by Dante, she confronts him with the fact that when applied to real life equivalent exchange is hardly true, that even if everyone puts in the same amount of effort, they inevitably won't have the same gain. She calls equivalent exchange what it is- a theory, not a hard rule. This exchange is then followed by Ed literally being taken out of his world and put into a new one, and not just his world, he's even taken out of his own body. His whole worldview is recontextualized and he's given a moment to have a real conversation with his father, now that he's been put on the road to understanding, both understanding his father's actions and his mother's death. This whole scene in another world ends with Ed getting crushed by a crashing zeppelin, and Ed is brought back into his own world, with new understanding. When Ed experiences his second death, he is accepting. He waits by the door of truth, not getting enraged at Envy like he typically would have done before, even accepting Hohenheim as his father in these moments. His slow change is truly shown when Al brings him back to life, where he immediately performs alchemy on himself to bring Al back, knowing very well that the exchange might not be equivalent, and despite knowing this, he goes through with it. Despite knowing this, he hold faith that Alphonse was returned when he arrives back in London, and he has faith that they will one day meet again. He's no longer using alchemy as a religion, a coping mechanism, but as a way to hope for the future. Him holding onto his ideals like this, even in a world without alchemy is a good thing. It's far healthier than applying theories to everything, creating arbitrary rules to live by because of your own misfortune. img2000(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/506947068099690496/766867061904506910/mpv-shot1804.png) All in all, that was my manifesto on Edward Elric's character in Fullmetal Alchemist 2003, and the vast majority of my review. I could've chosen many different topics to talk about, as I believe this series does have a lot of depth to it, but I'll leave that to others. There's Lust's tragedy, Tucker's open-ended ending, Wrath's breakdown over his ideal of what a mother is supposed to be, Roy defying authority and sticking to his mature ideals even if it means he'll never succeed again, etc., there is so much within this quaint series to discuss, and it get continually overlooked because people are told not to watch it. There is actually a misconception that Arakawa wasn't involved at all with this series, when in fact she has done 4komas about its production (one will be shown below), drawn art for it (mainly in her chibified style), and in general has always expressed excitement about it, and she respects the series director Seiji Mizushima a good deal. In the comic example I'll be posting, she even highlights the fact that 2003 would coincidentally have the same idea as her, and she'd rewrite her own story because she wanted both the anime and the manga to be unique experiences. img2000(https://64.media.tumblr.com/7bfc4bd905044045f669a6994f04310d/tumblr_inline_p1dn4qRn341ssk6i4_1280.png) So, in general, I think to put down this series in favour of the manga is a mistake. In addition to all that I've said, it has amazing direction on its side, an immensely intriguing and unique storyline, amazing characters, and it was beloved at the time for a reason. Good anime didn't start existing in 2009, the original anime had to compete with Hunter x Hunter, Naruto, and Bleach. I'm not saying you should put down the manga either though, in fact, what I am saying is consume both. They're both great, it's not a competition, the creators intended for both to be unique takes on the same original idea. So, that is why I love Fullmetal Alchemist. Love it enough to put it in my 4x4. One day, maybe I'll talk about the movie and why it gets a deserved amount of hatred, and is also underappreciated in how it depicts Germany at that time. But, that's not happening now. Until the day we meet again. img2000(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/506947068099690496/766867060562591784/mpv-shot1799.png)

siddhant26

_____ INTRO Ah, the OG Fullmetal Alchemist. This one truly is an anomaly in the industry, it sets up a lot of standards for its genre in all THE fronts, while also being a stern example of a lot of things which should be avoided. Well, this is the reason why there's such a divide within the FMA fandom. There's a lot of pointless clashes being fought between Manga purists and 03 elitists, each throwing tea at the latter, forcing people to chose one over the other. But why not both? In my opinion the fandom completely misunderstands what both of the respective series try to represent, and can't have a civil discussion at all; opting to badmouth the adaptations they don't prefer. Well 03 is a bigger victim of this utter drivel so, in Today's review, I'll try to convince new (and possibly future) fans to give the OG show a try. _____ SOME CONTEXT A lot of people seem to oversimplify both adaptations to "dark/meaningful & gleeful and hype-worthy" or "edgy nonsense and cliched shounen". Of course these are extremely watered down views of both shows and don't do them justice at all. 03 at its core, is a deconstruction. While it is tonally more melancholic and thematically more grounded and direct- the show is still not a "sad/mature" version of Brotherhood. While Brotherhood focuses on a lot of philosophical ideas besides the core law of alchemy (based on the principle of "equivalent exchange), hidden under the subtext of an emotionally resonant shounen epic, 03 is a lot more direct in its approach and tries to totally flip around the entire premise of equivalent exchange while also dealing with a lot of personal and social themes. The approach to themes is probably the biggest thing which sets both shows apart. 03's atmosphere and tone is way more dramatic and melancholic, and a lot of ideas are communicated via direct conversations and the overall tone of the show, whereas brotherhood is a lot more subtext heavy and deals with a lot of philosophy/themes through the use of character and plot arcs. Both shows set standards for the shounen genre. FMAB remains true to the spirit of shounen, while having the most accessibly mature and deep story in anime- even then it never fully gives in to the genre conventions, FMA on the other hand stands as a near perfect example of a deconstruction done right. Even then 03 is not fully a deconstruction- for the most part the show, 03 is a really personal character driven drama (even after it deviates from the manga), until it starts to unfold and makes case for a lot of relevant themes and issues, Making them more resonant and giving an extra charm and at times needed "dark" tinge to the series. The tone was great, and its safe to say it added more levels of greatness to the franchise and stands as a great example of how to write a tonally mature shounen. The parallels that were drawn to the real life, the themes of obsession, intimacy, racism, xenophobia and so many more that were explored through the FMA backdrop were well executed. Overall this was a great and grounded approach to FMA ________ CHARACTERS and SOME OTHER IMPORTANT RAMBLINGS The show is fairly arc based, after it deviates leading upto its divisive conclusion. The show at times was slowly paced, and while it bettered certain parts of the manga, it also made it boring due to all of the filler. The Character writing in this show can be divided into "Good" and "Bad" as well. The Elric brothers, Some Homunculi and the OG supporting cast was done really well, especially the brothers and Scar- and the Izumi Curtis Arc was easily the best one. On the other hand, the show suffered due to the lack of strong antagonists. This more or less ties, to the infamous ending of the show. Archer, Kimbley, Dante and "another important twist villian" were all badly written and were bland compared to the rest of the cast of 03 and brotherhood, as they lacked depth and nuance and acted for the sake of plot. As I said this all relates to the biggest critic of the show. That is the final few episodes and the ending. While I thematically appreciate what the show was going for, it was done in the most "shymalan" way ever. So many contrivances, plot devices, plot holes, lack of foreshadowing and out-there twists, that it soured my mouth. The bittersweet end in itself wasn't the issue, it was the path to it which was the issue. Aside from that a lot of tragic events that occurred didn't feel all that convincing, and gave a forced melodramatic feel to them, which I didn't like. Despite all this, the series for the most part was really solid, and the end still had a lot of redeeming moments which made me favorite it. Overall the show is full of highs and lows and sometimes its apparent that it was wrote by a screenwriter and not the OG creator, but still nonetheless it was a great, yet flawed experience _______ MUSIC And ART Like Brotherhood, this one has a beauty of a soundtrack as well. Brotherhood has Trisha of lullaby while this one has bratja. I just love the 03 soundtrack. As I love melissa and cool joke. The Art and Animation was great for its time and has aged really well (especially some clips from the 4th OP) and the audiovisuals played a huge part in immersing me in the show _______ MY Conclusion Hush, despite my utmost efforts, this still turned into a comparison based review. The gist of it being that both are great series, with the 03 being flawed yet shining brightly on its own. To any newcomers or brotherhood onlies- I recommend this show whole heartily and plead you not to listen to "03 is trash". This ones a personal favorite although due to some glaring issues, It barely makes it into my favorites- thus it gets a score of 85/100 ____

WallahSous

The anime should be a 10/10 but the abysmal pacing of the show puts it at 7/10. Imagine that you're a dog and it's dinner time. You run up to the kitchen only to find your bowl completely empty. You look up at your owner thinking "what's the deal here?". Turns out your owner decided to play a little game. You'll receive one single nugget for every 5 minutes you sit like a good boy. You end up finishing your meal in 7 hours. That's how watching FMA 2003 felt. For every piece of relevant or exciting content, you had to sit through an unbearably useless 15 minutes. It's only towards the last 10 episodes of the show that everything starts flowing at a decent pace. Normally, when a show has slower pacing, it's to help with character development. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. 50% of the episodes felt like dragged out fillers. Story-wise, - It felt like a Bioethics class' case study for an exam, and I mean that in a positive way. As viewers, we were given alchemy in a somewhat scientific form, without straying too far and turning it into god-like powers. It was very fairly dosed and that's a great way for the show to keep the power ceiling consistent throughout the whole show. It was then easier to immerse ourself in the context, seeing that the main people suffering were humans and those pseudo-humans, which we can draw a lot of parallels from in today's world, with what we're foreseeing in artificial intelligence's future. - The story nicely touched on the elements of souls and more specifically the process of doing alchemy itself, getting a first-person view of the actual "process" that takes place when doing it (i.e. the gate). The way it touched on alchemy being "playing God", with the introduction of a specific faction, was a good way to approach it from a religious point of view (i.e. Scar's "logical loophole" for using alchemy). - There are a lot of parties are involved, which makes for a nice intersectional story. We get to see the various factions (military, humans, pseudo-humans, the main characters, etc.) fighting for the same prize, and not only that, but some factions had to rely on other factions to get their plan working accordingly. Those crossroads in the story were nice to see because it kept the story connected with everyone (although at times felt slightly convoluted with the amount of backstabs there was). - There was a ton of plot twists and shocking scenes, and they were all surprising and well thought-out. A lot of focus was also put on family drama, which can sometimes be daunting, but in this case, it integrated itself successfully in the story. - The ending was phenomenal, especially with the way it re-opens up an entire saga that could loop forever. It also doesn't need a movie sequel. Everything wrapped up so nicely at the end. You also get a little philosophical debate on a key part of the story (who's right, who's wrong). Very satisfying wrap up. - The main issue with the story was the point I touched about in the beginning of the review. Lackluster pacing. Half of the "incidents" that happen can easily be cut out of the show and wouldn't the change the story one bit. The pre-text for most of those useless scenes were "looking for answers", which was quite honestly cheap. Character-wise, the show wasn't great at forging any character except for Edward and Scar. Most characters are extremely average, and in fact, in some cases, characters you were supposed to get attached to didn't have much of an impact. Some scenes fell short exactly because the impact wasn't great enough. The humor felt a bit repetitive and not exactly the best (Ed's height being the running joke for instance). They also used recurrent flashblacks a little too much, especially in the case of Scar. It's not terrible, just not really good. Combat-wise, I'm glad they kept alchemy fairly equal across the board. They even added underlying scientific reasoning in the attacks/techniques some people used. The only issue was that the fights themselves weren't too exciting. They could have done much better with the animations and camera work. We never got to saw the quality of the scenes we saw in the intro's. Overall, a very good subject that introduces very good topics and ethical dilemnas, but with an unfortunately horrible pacing that stagnates character development and an otherwise perfect plot development.

JMack24

~~~Do I need to write anything here? It’s FMA guys. Sure it’s 2003 and not Brotherhood but like, everyone has seen this shit. At least it’s always felt that way to me. Until I started this a little more than 2 weeks ago I only knew of a handful of memes from the show. I came into this damn near blind but sure I would at least like it. And well, yea I do. img350(https://64.media.tumblr.com/fa4ae9e379ce9452d478968d2e306336/13cfc20fc90f2c4a-22/s540x810/4ead572aef4fa357915fefd48e453bd1e64905cb.gif) This is a good deal of fun from beginning to end. I like how dark the show can get while still retaining its lighthearted nature, with minimal whiplash as a result. The story of these two brothers trying to right a major wrong they made as children by finding the Philosopher’s Stone. There’s more to it than just that obviously, and this isn’t a Shonen that really puts big fights on display, you are not here of the next big fight, you are here for this story of these two brothers, a story of redemption, A story of tragedy, the story of Ed and Al trying to right their wrong and get back what they lost, willing to do anything that is needed to fix it. Well, almost anything. They have lines they aren’t willing to cross, at least not without a little push. Even though this iteration of the series is largely its own thing, it never feels lost or directionless or that it’s just going through the motions. It’s got its destination in mind and a good sense of direction to get it there.. until it’s just about to the end and it loses focus for a second and misses its turn. But hey, no big deal, it still manages to finish off the story very strongly, especially for an anime-only ending which 9.9 times out of 10 are always terrible it seems. img350(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b4/73/7b/b4737ba7e8b340a9591d4e8336742e02.gif) The shows art does kinda show its age. You can tell this was made in the early 2000s before most studios had a better handle on digital animation, but the show doesn’t look bad by any means. Especially in the animation department, this show has some great bits throughout, but it will inevitably show its age at points. Even so, the show's color palette is varied, lighting effects are better than in a lot of shows now. I’ve always liked the character designs from this series, even before I watched the show I could probably have recognized a good number of characters being from this series. They’re all rather simplistic designs but quirky enough to stand out in a good way. I’ve also always thought that the idea of having a main character being just a walking suit of armor was cool, it’s silly but hey it works. Also, the designs of every Homunculi are great and make for excellent antagonists. img350(https://i.gifer.com/Vxl.gif) Characters-wise, most of them are really fun and enjoyable. Not many really grow as characters a whole lot but like 90% of the characters are enjoyable when they first appear so the fact there’s not a lot of character development for them doesn’t bother me. I didn’t really like Scar though. I’m sorry if this is a more liked character but he did nothing for me. I just didn’t click with him at all. I don’t really dislike him I guess, hell I don’t really dislike any character in the show, but I did notice that when the show would shift its focus to someone like Scar, I would lose interest in what was going on. I’m sorry, I just didn’t really care I guess. img350(https://31.media.tumblr.com/edad7d57398e2090d9517363466e5df8/tumblr_mi3cqwC1Hr1rmazn7o1_500.gif) I quite like the music in the show, especially songs like Pint Sized Alchemist, Brothers, Vestige, Pulse, and Dante to name a handful I really liked and went out of my way to listen to again. Although in the OP and ED department, I was always a fan of the EDs but most of the OPs besides the final one, I didn’t click with. img350(https://pa1.narvii.com/6847/1f98c4b657c62238a2f128ab77e0f3903060c90e_hq.gif) Overall, Quite good. It’s aged a bit in a couple of areas, not every stop in the journey is as good as the previous, but it’s still a damn good time. If you think your score is a bit low for how much praised a lot of what the show had to offer, I’ve not really settled in a concrete score, so that might change to an 8 later on and this little bit will delete this little but because I’m an indecisive bitch and you should realize that 7.5s are good. Overall, don’t fuck with the dead, you have to give an arm and a leg. img300(https://64.media.tumblr.com/1a35a417a98e3ce2f18cf342694adcdd/tumblr_inline_oxr6voDhsJ1ssk6i4_540.gif) ~~~

ryukoprop

### ___Fullmetal Alchemist (2003),___ is amazing, it has staying power. It looks beautiful, sounds great and tells a story while not being canon, feels like you could slot it right in, like it's an alternate universe. I am glad I watched this after reading the manga and seeing Brotherhood as I am completely unbiased to nostalgia. My praise of this anime is not to sell the people on it who haven't seen it and are only interested in Brotherhood or the manga, but more so my genuine love for it as a standalone show. - #__Animation (9.4/10)__ This is [Studio BONES](https://anilist.co/studio/4/bones) renaissance era. They started pushing the visual bar for TV anime around this time with things like [Rahxephon](https://anilist.co/anime/165/RahXephon/), [Wolf's Rain](https://anilist.co/anime/202/Wolfs-Rain/), [Eureka Seven](https://anilist.co/anime/237/Eureka-Seven/), [Soul Eater](https://anilist.co/anime/3588/Soul-Eater/), [Darker than Black](https://anilist.co/anime/2025/Darker-than-Black/), etc. It just all around looks excellent, it's very clean for a show from its time and looks sharper resolution wise than Brotherhood a lot of the time. It is also helped and backed by a stacked staff team. [Yutaka Nakamura](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post?tags=yutaka_nakamura+) is all over this show and he is always legendary, he only has [one cut](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/203287) in Brotherhood. Underappreciated animation master, [Norimitsu Suzuki](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post?tags=norimitsu_suzuki+) also delivers in this 2003 adaption with some of the best character art you will see, I think he is the person who has gotten closest to how the FMA manga looks. It was very disappointing to see Yutaka Nakamura's lack of involvement on Brotherhood, but [Yoshimichi Kameda](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post?tags=order%3Ascore+yoshimichi_kameda+) picked up his slack in that adaption, another legendary animator. Although I think Brotherhood overall looks better, this is still amazing. There are strengths here Brotherhood lacks, like Yutaka Nakamura's fight animation, and atmosphere. - # __Sound (9/10)__ Michiru Oshima composes the soundtrack for this anime and the movie accompanying the anime. She also has done [Tatami Galaxy](https://anilist.co/anime/7785/The-Tatami-Galaxy/) and [Little Witch Academia](https://anilist.co/anime/14349/Little-Witch-Academia/). It is moody while at the same time being mystical, it fits the mood and atmosphere of what is on display almost perfectly. The only reason it is not at a 10 is because I personally think Brotherhood has a slightly better soundtrack. Standout tracks are "Brothers", "Way Home" and "Dante". This show also has absolutely spectacular openings and endings. Opening 4 "Rewrite" by Asian Kung Fu Generation is genuinely my favorite opening of all time, [Kou Yoshinari's cut](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/69068) in OP 4 of Edward jumping down into the waterfall will always remain mystical. - #__Story (8/10)__ The world is unfair, sometimes you give it all you have and get nothing in return. Essentially just a story about two brothers always getting back up after being knocked down, the 2003 adaption strives for a story that focuses FAR more on the brothers themselves and the bond that keeps them together. At times it can be somber or downright dreadful and depressing. This tone is done very well and does not come off edgy, this is a strength Brotherhood has but doesn't tap into very much. The anime original story it veers into focuses quite a bit on Ishvalans and war as a whole. Things Edward and Al do cause riots and war, which weighs extremely heavy burdens on the boys. Certain Homunculus share names but are new, or might swap their names around, differing from Brotherhood. Homunculus are integral to the plot of this adaption and some of them are very in-depth. Lust is a major improvement in this adaption but I will save her for the characters section. The antagonist Dante is pretty interesting and has a clear motivation and attachment to Edward, she is chaotic. The ending of the show might seem bittersweet and a hard pill to swallow but even by itself I think it delivers on the themes the show has established. If you are reading this review you most likely know the real ending of this show is actually the 2005 movie, [Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa.](https://anilist.co/anime/430/Fullmetal-Alchemist-The-Movie--Conqueror-of-Shamballa/) I won't discuss it here but it is a mostly okay conclusion to the anime, it could have not existed and the anime would still hold the same value. The only thing holding this story back is odd pacing, it can be quite slow sometimes. Along with the occasional filler, now you might be asking "Isn't this all filler?" No. It is certainly not, there is anime original content here, and then some episodes that contribute absolutely nothing to the main plot, I think there are about three of them. - #__Characters (8/10)__ A strong contingent. The focus on the bond the brothers share emulates somberness and a laser focus Brotherhood does not contain. This might make it seem like it doesn't branch out but it does, just not as much. The Elric brothers will not be a big focus here, they are the main part of the show but besides for having more focus on their bond, both of their ideology follow the manga and Brotherhood for the most part. The focus here should be on the distinct different or new characters this adaption has to offer. __Scar __shares traits with his Brotherhood counterpart but is a lot younger and a lot louder. He is brutal and obviously suffering from his past. He's a victim of circumstance and war, given an arm he didn't ask for. He crafts his ideology around this arm he did not ask for, a revenge campaign against the state alchemists who massacred his people. Scar completes his campaign and honors the souls of the Ishvalan massacre inside his brothers arm, by activating the transmutation circle around the city of Reole, passing away soon after. He completed the Philosopher Stone. The Homunculus are basically overhalled in this adaption, some are entirely different or do little. One is a clear standout and improvement over Brotherhood, and that is Lust. __Lust __in this adaption is a key player and shows up quite a bit, there is a lot more going on for her here. She was the fiancé of Scar's brother as a human, in this adaption failed human transmutations are what Homunculi are. She was created because Scar's brother attempted to revive his lover, she is the product of it. Her motivation is entirely different in this adaption, she seeks a philosopher stone and will even ally with the Elric brothers temporarily just to use it. She wants to become a human and die, so she can be with her lover, she desperately wants to experience death as she feels no need to live on in this body and wonders where she will end up when she dies. Her inner struggle is that her humanity was stolen from her by a botched transmutation, she hates existing as what she was formed into. __Dante __is the main antagonist of this adaption and she is very interesting. Unlike Father from Brotherhood, Dante does not wish to be above absolutely every being in the world, just the humans. She has a god-complex and thinks humans are useless and stupid beings, very ironic considering she is human and by no means immortal, she refuses to acknowledge any of her hypocrisy though. She is selfish just like the humans she criticizes, and very arrogant which could be seen as ignorance depending on how you convey yourself. She wants mass control over everything in her path so she can use her connections to obtain Philosopher Stones and has no empathy for the wars or lives she starts and ends on the path. Treating humans like beings below her is telling as she relies on Philosopher Stones to survive, without the human race she is nothing, and her race to gather more stones is forfeit. Her ego is massive and it deforms her view of the world, she is just as low as any other human with normal struggles and life. She lives for the control, to become a perfect being and watch the chaos. #__Summary__ It's dark and depressing but very worthy of the title Fullmetal Alchemist. It might not be Brotherhood, but it is still extremely worthwhile. Great animation, music and atmosphere. Studio BONES did the impossible task of creating and animating their own original plot and having it be high quality. I highly suggest this to FMA fans who haven't seen this adaption and people who just want to watch a good anime, it can be a gateway for new anime fans. img(https://files.catbox.moe/gp8ze8.png)