[Anime] Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood Review

[Blackcat]

My review for FMA: Brotherhood =)

Fullmetal Alchemist is, in a way, unique. It is very much a mainstream series, with the appeal of a huge cast of unique characters, action that commonly involves special powers, a fairly straight forward story with some mostly obvious symbolism, and a mix of comedy, action, drama, and even some romance. These are all common staples of long running anime series that lean towards a more commercial and public appeal. And yet, for a mainstream series, it manages to continually surprise with a very mature and serious tone. There is a great deal of tragedy and some moments are even frightening and memorable. Few series achieve such a perfect balance of mainstream entertainment and gut wrenching drama and tragedy.

Such was what I discovered when I first laid my eyes on the original FMA series. And yet, for all it's greatness, it began to flounder in it's second season. As many series do, it took on its own form and story, and it was at that point that it started to lose its charm. So, Bones did the smart thing. They remade it. For most series, this would be pointless, but for FMA, it's very much welcome. Five years after the original series ended and the manga has had time to grow, this new FMA is better looking, paced better, and follows the manga, expanding the plot in a better direction.

It's hard not to like anything about this new FMA. The action is fantastic and looks great, as it always did. We aren't subjected to single shots or poorly edited sequences. All the action is displayed and wonderfully animated. Likewise, all the charm is here as well, from the more serious scenes that fans will remember to the humor which is consistent and still funny. Bones took everything good about the original series and threw out all the bad, replacing those particulars with higher quality details. In a sense, it even feels like a new anime, and by episode 13, it has gone in a completely new direction.

A better developed story and characters, superior animation, and fantastic details. These are what make the new FMA an instant new-age classic. Like FMA was the first time around, the new FMA will be one of the top anime to watch out for in the states.

Thanks for reading, Hope you enjoyed it.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Emotional Outlet

[Kaziganthi]

Good review.

I have to admit I had a hard time getting into this one since I was such a huge fan. Like you said by the time you made it to episode 13 it was a lot easier to see it as a different series and allow myself to get immersed in it.

Well worth the journey and had some amazing action sequences.

[Koby]

I disagree with this review.

Yes, Brotherhood follows the manga closer, but it lacks the heart of the original series. You can tell they cared little for the show when they did it because they simply rushed through it. They took something that had enough story for at least 90 episodes and compacted it into 64. What this did was completely destroy any bit of time they might have had for character growth and development. To make matters worse, every time a dramatic scene would occur that would almost get you feeling something; they'd have a misplaced comedic moment that completely ruined any emotion said scene could have had. It was like, they took the manga and simply animated it panel by panel without really trying to make it come alive.

The original may have had a terrible story, but it took the time to actually develop the characters and make you like them. As it stands with Brotherhood, had the original series not been made first, most people would over look it as an average or below average series. Brotherhood simply rode on the fandom of the original and people who loved it, simply loved Brotherhood because it was something new with the same characters.

Since Brotherhood was rushed, they actually left a lot of canon out. Amazingly they even found time to add in some filler to two of the episodes. The first 13 episodes were majorly compacted and compressed, and left out a lot of key information that those that didn't watch the original first, would have no clue about. Some of which actually gave info or set up to future events, that without... just leave the story feeling like something is missing.

Brotherhood is hailed as being one of the best animated series ever, but in reality it wasn't even animated in HD. It was done at 540p, and thus upscaled.

[WarDarkFox]

Regardless both series to me were really good, I enjoyed brotherhoods ending better than the original

[DrumRoll]

I disagree with this review.

Yes, Brotherhood follows the manga closer, but it lacks the heart of the original series. You can tell they cared little for the show when they did it because they simply rushed through it. They took something that had enough story for at least 90 episodes and compacted it into 64. What this did was completely destroy any bit of time they might have had for character growth and development. To make matters worse, every time a dramatic scene would occur that would almost get you feeling something; they'd have a misplaced comedic moment that completely ruined any emotion said scene could have had. It was like, they took the manga and simply animated it panel by panel without really trying to make it come alive.

The original may have had a terrible story, but it took the time to actually develop the characters and make you like them. As it stands with Brotherhood, had the original series not been made first, most people would over look it as an average or below average series. Brotherhood simply rode on the fandom of the original and people who loved it, simply loved Brotherhood because it was something new with the same characters.

Since Brotherhood was rushed, they actually left a lot of canon out. Amazingly they even found time to add in some filler to two of the episodes. The first 13 episodes were majorly compacted and compressed, and left out a lot of key information that those that didn't watch the original first, would have no clue about. Some of which actually gave info or set up to future events, that without... just leave the story feeling like something is missing.

Brotherhood is hailed as being one of the best animated series ever, but in reality it wasn't even animated in HD. It was done at 540p, and thus upscaled.

But you can't deny that it was nice to see an anime where the female characters weren't doing that damn squint-eyes-and-tilt-head thing.

I think a lot of anime cliches should be taken out back and shot.

[dvverga]

I have to agree with Koby. It seemed to lack the heart of the first series. It did so much less with more ultimately. Had it come first, maybe I would be singing a different tune, but I just couldn't even get into it the same way I got into the first one.