Topic: Full Metal Alchemist Review
Part 2 of the Experiment is always seeing the results. After reading some of the Manga, watching 2
different anime, and then the movie, it’s time to see what mom’s Opinions of
these various versions are.
Manga:
- Chapter 1-2: Liore Incident
The primary point of these chapters, along with introducing the Elric Brothers, is to show the Manipulative nature of Religion/Cults, which comes up later throughout the series.
- Chapter 3: Youswell, Coal Mine
This chapter also shows more the folly of man, as the government isn’t perfect and has a lot of corruption from within, something that is hinted at much later.
- Chapter 4: Train Hostages
A bit more action to the chapter, it shows off the beginnings of the military, along with the power they might supplant.
- Chapter 5: Shou Tucker, Introduction of Scar
Shou Tucker and Nina are meant to be a warning of diving too deeply in to science and forgetting about your humanity. This also introduces Scar, whose religion plays an active point in the series’ events.
- Chapter 6: Ed Loses to Scar
Ed’s Loss to Scar is meant to show that Alchemy can’t solve everything and that an over reliance on it can be the downfall. Alchemy is a tool, but not the solution.
- Chapter 7: The retreat/aftermath
Granted, this chapter is meant to give Ed and Al a way out, but meant to show both of their desperations and reliance on one another, how each out essentially die for each other.
- Chapter 8: Doctor Marco, Early clues to Philosopher’s Stone’s creation
Doctor Macro is a person who knows the truth and is running away from it, burying it in a hole never to be found again, but realizes that someone who’s goal is just and moral, offers to help, even thought it will hurt.
- Chapter 9: Winry, getting fixed up
We show off Winry and her eventual importance, not just as a sisterly neighbor, but how she is the emotional core of the duo and their reliance upon her.
- Chapter 10: Central City, Learning how Philosopher’s Stone is made
Granted, a lot of the chapter is fapping about, but it shows the lengths in which the villains will keep their secrets hidden, less someone realize what they are up to and either stop them, or copy them.
- Chapter 11: Visiting the 5th Laboratory
After learning that the Philosopher’s Stone is made by sacrificing human lives, Ed and Al continue to investigate, even though they both know they won’t rely on this method of making a stone. The seek out the 5th Laboratory in hopes they’ll find additional information that could help them.
- Chapter 12: After the 5th Laboratory
After having met two other individuals that had their souls placed in armor, we learn a bit more about how Ed and Al see humanity, with Ed believing that all life is sacred, while Al wonders if he is even truly human or real, which sets up an existential crisis for a few chapters.
Overall:
The early manga chapters, the first three volumes, do a good job of laying out a lot of frame work for the series, hinting at later chapters and themes that will run throughout the series. Namely how religion and strictly held beliefs can do great harm, but also the corrupting power of science, governments, and just power in general. A lot of dark themes being presented by Arakawa.
Anime (2003)
- Ep 1&2: This plays very similarly to the manga’s Liore incident.
- Ep 3: Goes back to the beginning and shows the details of how Ed and Al lost their mom, did the bad Alchemy, and got to this point.
- Ep 4: A side story about how Al and Ed getting to central, a detour has them solving a stupid mystery
- Ep 5: They get their first introduction to the military, while saving a general on a train. Very similar to Chapter 4.
- Ep 6-7: This tells the story of Shou Tucker, but drawn out to show Ed becoming a State Alchemist and showing how both Ed and Al bonded with Nina before she became a Chimera.
- Ep 8: Ed tires to resign from being a State Alchemist, until he is kidnapped by a serial Killer and nearly killed.
Overall:
The art style is a bit more cartoony and relaxed by comparison to the original manga. Characters look like anime characters with slightly more realistic proportions. The only downside for the original anime is the pacing, which moves along very slow, and a lot of events that happen in the manga have no-barring on later events, and don’t necessarily add to the story/plot, so much is helps hide the fact that the production went to in to it way too early.
Brotherhood Anime (2009)
- Ep 1: This episode isn’t cannon to the series, but shows off a lot of what is displayed later on in the series shortly thereafter, including Ed’s automail body parts, Al’s hollowness, and other characters that will come up later. I’d say skip it, but other episodes don’t linger on certain notions right away.
- Ep 2: Plays very similarly to Episode 3 of the 2003 anime, with the events of Trisha Elric dying and Ed applying, and succeeding, in becoming a State Alchemist.
- Ep 3. Liore Incident, but instead covered in a single episode
- Ep 4. Shou Tuck incident.
- Ep 5. This follows chapters 6 and 7 pretty well.
- Ep 6. This follows chapter 8 and 9 pretty well.
- Ep 7. This follows chapter 10 very well and leads in to the 5th Laboratory arc.
- Ep 8. This follows chapters 11 and 12 very well.)
Overall:
The story itself moves starkly faster than the 2003 counterpart. A lot of this is due to the assumption that a lot of people had been keeping up with the manga, again a monthly series, and they were getting toward the end. As a result of wanting to speed through material that had already been covered, a lot of episodes condensed and simplified, moving much quicker through them.
This is also when we remember that the 2003 anime got announced either late summer or early fall of 2002, a time when only 11-13 chapters had been completed. By comparison to the 2009 version, as it was announced while nearly 80+ chapters had been out, the 2003 Anime suffers from filler plots and side tracks to character/world building that doesn’t aid the story. In contrast, the beginning of the 2009 anime suffers from going too quickly through plot beats that are spread out more in the original anime. Once the first 12-13 episodes get produced of the 2009 anime, it slows down some, but allowing the characters to have more development, and introducing new scenes and character not present in the 2003 anime.
The Art work also represents the later years of character design that Arawaka was using, rather than the very Manga-eque look of the early 2002 years.
Movie (2017)
Immediate thoughts on the movie as watching:
- Strange dissonance with music choices
- Kids get ‘Wizard of Oz’-ed in very beginning
- Liore incident showing the very end of the situation
- Why is Father Cornello running? He has a ring? He’s well respected and admired in the city?
- Lots of… costumes. Things don’t seem to blend in naturally.
- Missing Iconic Clap-Sound when Ed claps his hands together.
- Al looks off at certain times. Would have preferred a practical suit actor instead, you’d think that it wouldn’t be that difficult considering Tokusatou series.
- Events are very out of order.
- Why would Hughes bring his wife with him for the next month while he’s on assignment?
- Gate of Truth with Ed as a teenager, that isn’t right.
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