Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

SleepyLafiel · Conscript Joined: Nov 16, 2002 Posts: 152 Location: Beh

Well, it's out, and it feels completely unnecessary especially considering what they did in episode one.

Bad guy of the week created just for the anime, rushing through some character introductions, and not being faithful to the manga; didn't they reboot the series because they wanted to be more faithful? I see from the intro, it shows Young Van Hohenheim and a map of Xerses, but nothing about the other Homoculi, Briggs, the Xingese, or Father. The Ice Alchemist feels like a cast-off from Avatar with his /sarcasm amazing waterbending abilities /sarcasm, and his death couldn't have come quicker.

I don't know, FMA still has fairly good animation and production values by today's standards, and it's not old enough to really necessitate a reboot considering how successful it was. Why not just continue off from where the first series deviated instead of restarting everything? I know for myself, I started reading the manga because I didn't find the original anime's ending to be fulfilling, and I love what is being done in the manga right now. I just don't see how appealing this series will be for the original fans of the series (almost like a Lodoss War OVA to Lodoss War TV kind of situation for the older anime watchers out there), especially if we've already gone ahead and read the manga.

Still hopeful for this one though; is there confirmation on the length of the series yet? 26 will not cut it at all and I'll probably not watch it if that's the count.

Raiden · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:29 am Post subject:

Disappointing...its more like a retold of the story just going on a different route :l
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loverdollx · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:24 am Post subject:

heheh got to see it in Animax ... Smile

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SleepyLafiel · Conscript Joined: Nov 16, 2002 Posts: 152 Location: Beh

Like every other series, I will give it 5 or so episodes before making a final judgment on whether to wait it out or follow it weekly for a full year. After one episode (and looking at next week's preview), it doesn't seem like a good use of time to sit through the storyline again (twice through the original anime/movies + reading the manga). In fact, if someone is interested in FMA, I would tell them exactly that; watch the original anime (it's definitely not bad despite the weirdness post-midway) and then read the manga. If episode one is any indication of how faithful they will be to the manga... I'd say pass.

When a series tries to creates something new and "innovative," as I'm guessing you would say about episode one of FMA2, and it turns out to be... anemic, pointless, and rushed, focusing on a throwaway character such as Ice... guess what? It's not innovative!

The original FMA did a phenomenal job of adapting the first arc of the manga, while at the same time, throwing their own spin to it by making it take place years before the present. That's taking chances with alienating fans of the manga at the expense of making the storyline clearer and easier to follow, and it worked. It introduced characters thoughtfully and methodically, building relationships up as if it meant something while preserving the atmosphere and pacing of the source material. But in FMA2, the series creates an artificial scenario and crams as many pointless cameos and inside-jokes only fans of the original would understand; so tell me again that they're not catering to the fans of the original. This is a rehash, much like Starcraft 2 is to Starcraft; there's no point to it except the massive cash grab that is going to happen, and it is a directly attack to the integrity of the studio producing it. But since it's BONES, and they took a chance with Xam'd, I'll let it slide.

eisenmeteor · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:02 pm Post subject:

Now then onwards to the first ep, I thought of it as an ok episode. Now since I haven't read the manga so I wouldn't know but isn't it suppose to be a anime original that they made to just remind everyone of who is who some character relationships etc. I just see the whole ep as a reminder for those that are more casual viewers. Besides even if they redo everything that followed the manga from the last season I don't mind. By the way I'm quite fond of the op and ed. All in all it's still way to early to judge how it'll turn out and how far they're going to follow the start or if they'll jump

PestilenceX · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:48 pm Post subject:

hmm still to early to tell for sure but I have to admit it is kinda strange this warp back in time. Kinda change in the style of drawing aswell that bugged me a bit, but that may pass if the story becomes better.

Will keep an eye on it but really wondering if this is going to be a second season. So far they pretty much seem to warp back and taking the different drawingstyle I am really not seeing it as a second season.

More like someone who idn't agree with the first season gets the chance to show how he would have done it?

LoneWolf325 · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:08 pm Post subject:

I did think it was a bit cheezy, and I liked how the original series didn't ever show Hoenhiem until the 4th season(I know I know, Season 2 part 2. It's got a new opening theme, it's the 4th season to me), and it looks from the opening that they'll be accellerating things, but I also think it feels like the first episode takes place in an alternate continuity entirely, much like the games.

To be fair, it would be difficult to reboot the series without simply rehashing the first two seasons of the original series, and starting in the middle would tend to leave new viewers hanging, so they're probably doing the best they can think to.

I'm not sure how much I like the sillier tone. It feels more like an animated comedy manga than a made-for-animation story, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Initial rating: 7 out of 10. Good, but could be better. Will definitely watch again.
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SleepyLafiel · Conscript Joined: Nov 16, 2002 Posts: 152 Location: Beh

If it is 52 episodes (source questionable), then it'll be easy for them to match the manga in terms of content. The manga will most likely end within the year; it's already moving towards the climax in chapter 94, and Arakawa originally stated she wanted the manga to end at 84. Typically, even with FMA manga running at 40 pages each chapter, you can still squeeze in two chapters per episode. This isn't Bleach or Naruto; I dobut there will be too much of the introspective talks and glancing around to each character for 15 seconds commonly found in those series. The art in this is actually closer to what the manga is; rounder faces, less serious, but it does stand out a bit against the vision of the original director.

Spoiling series one:
This is not a continuation in any way; Ed and Al end up in "our" world at the end of the movie, so this is a completely different beast.

If this series is a reboot, then it's gotten off on a strange start because they'll need to flashback to all the skipped events anyways. Nina, Tucker, the Mine, Scar, first meetings... why introduce/remove Ice and make Bradley fight already?

What exactly was his motivation in creating an alchemy circle? Did he want to make everyone in the city into a philosopher's stone? The thing is, if he "knew" what Bradley is as he so claims, he would have known about Father. The whole thing about Human Transmutation is also wrong, as disproven by the manga. The taboo is not there for the same reason it was in the original...

I don't understand who they're marketing this series to, and that's my biggest problem with the series. Maybe someone in Japan can explain; is FMA just not that big that they need to reboot? The manga is good, but it's also fairly serious and deeper than most, so I don't think most people would like an anime that's absolutely faithful to it anyways.

I honestly would not mind if this does become a fanservice-fest; some of the later fights in the series are very interesting and smart, especially against the Sins. It's not like I don't know what's going to happen.

frogcommando · newbie! Joined: Aug 31, 2005 Posts: 1

ok it sounds like most of you know more about this than i do. i have only watched the original fma anime and loved it, even though the ending wasnt spectacular. then i see that they have released fma2 (!!!) needless to say, i was excited, and hoping for something new.

then i watched the first episode. as a result i became very, very confused.

desperate for an explanation i sign up to random anime forums to find out wtf is going on. as you may have assumed by now, i am relatively ill-informed in this particular subject. i apologize if my questions seem stupid, but i need to ask these lingering questions. i have nothing to offer for you patience other than my appreciation.

so... first of all, wtf? this is the same story, only different? why? it is to my understanding that this is the same story from the tv show, only more true to the manga, correct? why? is the manga really that different? did people really not like how the tv show turned out? is it really necessary to retell a story that was only told a couple of years ago? seriously, why??

if someone could just explain the logic of this to me, i would be very appreciative. (ok so overall, that was only one question...)

as for whether i would continue to watch this series, probably not. i already have a story in my head. it turned out just fine. if they want my attention again, tell me a different story. in my opinion, of course.

loverdollx · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:12 pm Post subject:

It may start the same but i think the story will deviate as the episode progresses i hope they will follow the manga version that would be interesting! Smile

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Mellowthrasher · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:44 pm Post subject:

Wow FMA 2..dang sounds pretty nice from what i'm reading so far^ can't wait to enjoy it.

SleepyLafiel · Conscript Joined: Nov 16, 2002 Posts: 152 Location: Beh

v-boi2002 · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:02 am Post subject:

Looking from the commercials and teasers, I had expected the show to be a remake, but I really didn't think they were going to retell the whole story. I suppose it's reasonable, seeing as how the only other approach of retelling the story would be to do the exact same thing but updating the designing and animation (like Dragonball Kai), adding a side story, or maybe even deleted scenes.

It's nice to hear Yui performing as OP, by the way.
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PestilenceX · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:41 am Post subject:

hmm if they were planning an FMA 2 they should have really made a better ending. Something that went so terribly wrong they had to reset time with one little difference for example. Cheesy but atleast it would explain what we are seeing now :S

nbefort · Heimin (Commoner) Joined: Oct 24, 2007 Posts: 54

I'm into it. Haven't read the manga.... watched FMA three years ago and don't remember the whole story.... but i'm down with it so far, it definitely has potential.