Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood – First Impressions June 25, 2009
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Awesome.trackback
I started the FMA manga a while back, and I absolutely love it. It’s one of the best stories I’ve ever read, and the characters are excellent. I originally started it because of a couple of episodes I had seen of the anime. Little did I know, the anime and the manga aren’t very close in their storylines. So when I heard a new FMA anime was coming out (with the manga being used as a “script”) I was thrilled. I got my hands on the first episode and watched it. My reaction: simply amazing.
Story: I’ll do my best not to spoil anything, but who knows… Instead of simply starting at the beginning, the anime starts before the beginning, giving us a nice introduction of all the main characters and some villians. The only problem I see in this and the second episode is that some elements are revealed a lot sooner than the manga. However, this might be a good thing for anyone who is going in without having read the manga.
Animation: Honestly, what I thought after watching the first episode was that it reminded me of an OVA or movie, not a series. The animation loses a little something from the manga, but not enough to be noticable. The action, especially, was really great, and was nice to see, as manga can’t portray it as well.
All in all, FMA: B looks to be one of the best animes I’ve seen, and definitely one of my favorites. Plus, I’ve never watched an ongoing anime every week, so I want to catch up and start one for the first time.
Hello, Mitchfrizzell!
Thought I’d give my opinion on Brotherhood from a slightly different POV: the raving slavering fangirl perspective. I had the same reaction you did when I found out there was a remake. More Ed! And I have to praise the opening as well. All of the FMA openings are straight up fun and even shiver-worthy. I didn’t care for the narrative design as much, but that’s just the part of me that doesn’t like change. I know they creators followed the manga, so it doesn’t bother me too much.
What did get me was the shift in tone. This is actually killing my drive to watch it. In the original, Ed and Al are kickass and motivated and positive despite all they’ve been through. They keep up the color and the power and the humor. In this one… less so. The tone is softer, more passive. I think that was supposed to boost the poignancy, but I think that element was actually more powerful when contrasted with their upbeat attitudes.
What do you think?
I guess I haven’t really seen enough to notice it. Like I said, I’ve only watched two episodes. However, when you say original, I assume you mean the anime. So, yeah, the tone is a lot darker and depressing than the other anime. But, the manga was like this in a way. There were the occasional highs, but for the most part, to me anyway, it seems like a darker mood, and the characters show less up-beatness, and more determination. That’s my interpretation of the manga, anyway.
Thanks for the comment, and taking the time to read my post.