Full Metal Alchemist

[Surmuck]

So, I'm like a half and half anime fag; there's a certain selection of things I need from an anime for me to really enjoy it.

The other night I was surfing my TV, and my connection is really shitty so sometimes my cable just won't connect to certain channels so I was pretty much just stuck with whatever was working and my usual selection of channels were out. So I'm sitting in bed and I had heard of Full Metal Alchemist so I gave it a try, really liked the episode - and then I finished the series today after watching them online.

Good, good shit. For three reasons:

1.The whole show wasn't about him PURSUING HIS ONE TRUE LOVE~*~
2.It had areally good message if you read into the story and characters and what everything really meant. I don't generally watch a bunch of shit happening in regular TV, I don't do it in anime either - I want some REAL content besides just what's 'happening'. Maybe that's hard to understand.
3.THERE'S NOT ONE BILLION EPISODES. God I hate this about anime. Fooly Cooly is my favorite anime for this reason. Six amazing episodes.
4.Ok, four reasons. The ending wasn't a hand job to everyone who followed the series.

In regards to the fourth reason, I'll use a spoiler

Spoiler

NO, AL AND EDWARD WEREN'T TOGETHER FOREVER. Edward didn't get his arm and leg back, Dante (sp?) didn't die or admit something amazing. Things DIDN'T WORK OUT THE WAY THEY WANTED IT TO.
Plus, the ending monologue by Al? Beautiful.

I haven't seen the movie yet; but I plan to do so soon so maybe that'll make all the reasons I like the anime invalid. Who knows.

 

[Surmuck]

Also:
The theme song? I hated all of them :x god.

Music during the actual body? Loved it.

 

[JD_Slasha]

The movie was actually pretty good. Tied a lot of loose ends. Some people didn't like it though.

 

[Surmuck]

I watched the movie last night so here's an update.

I thought it was very good at tying up things that I'm sure everyone wondered after the last episode; which is to be expected - but the story itself was a little weak and it all seemed really rushed.

 

[Glitchfinder]

I think the anime is really good, but I prefer the manga. If you look at the anime, it follows the manga for a ways, then splits off for the message you mentioned. The manga, on the other hand, is still going, and has quite a bit more regarding story and plot. (And I love the little bits at the end. Almost every volume has a little "In Memorium" section at the end for ever character that died. You should see the one for when they go over the Isbal extermination. They also have some funny mini comics, which only get better are you go further into the series.)

 

[Wolfgang]

Of course full metal is one of the best animes! It actually has a good story that doesn't feel like the rest of the crap that anime watches get bashed for liking. I only had one sort of concern with the show. There were apparently 'rules' to alchemy, but the rules got broken so often that it never seemed too valid. I loved the show, but I was kinda lost when more then half the characters would just go outside of the bounds needlessly.

 

[candle]

Actually, the rules were almost never broken, and when they were, there were huge consequences.

 

[Dalton]

FMA is my favourite anime. And that comes from someone who watches anime a lot.
The story is just fucking awesome, same goes for the characters.
It definetly had an other feeling to it than most generic shows out there. And I really loved the atmosphere.

That said I found out recently, that there will be a second anime adaption, that will be closer to the manga. As the manga is also fucking great, I look very forward to that. I wonder how they will pull it off.

 

[Wolfgang]

Darkfire :: Well then I felt that the rules were not properly explained enough.

 

[Glitchfinder]

Darkfire :: Well then I felt that the rules were not properly explained enough.

The basic rules, as explained in the anime were:

1. You have to have a circle to transmute.
2. You can't get something for nothing.
3. You can't bring something back to life.

Ed my appear to have broken the first one many times, until you realize that he was using his arms and hands as the "circle" every time he transmuted something. (Remember, he always clapped first) The only times the rules were actually broken was with the philosopher's stone and the fakes, and that is becasue that is what they were supposed to do. The third rule, as proven in the last couple of episodes, was not completely absolute in the anime. That rule was more along the lines of no one actually following the correct approach.

Spoiler

In this case, the real thing that happenes was that Ed sacrificed himself and al's memories to revive Al, and thus ended up in an alternate version of our world, which is connected to theirs with the "Gate".