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Odeena's Fullmetal Alchemist Tv Review

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist tv Review

"You can't gain something without sacrificing something else of the equal value. This is the principle of the equivalent trade."

The story takes place in Amestris, in the early 1900's. Two brothers, Edward and his younger brother Alphonse Elric, live with their mother, Trisha, in the small village of Resembool. Although their father left home when they were still very young, his sons inherited his passion for alchemy and practiced it on their own. In 1909, Trisha dies of an unknown illness, the boys' father still nowhere in sight. When Ed finds out about human transmutation from one of his father's books, he and Al engage in intense training in order to be able to perform the ritual that will bring their mother back.

In 1910, the Elric brothers cross the forbidden line; unfortunately, the resurrection attempt is a complete failure, as Ed loses his left leg and Al — his entire body. In a last desperate attempt to undo the damage, Ed binds his brother's spirit to a nearby suit of armor, at the further cost of his right arm. After recovering, the two embark on a journey to find the legendary Philosopher's Stone, rumored to facilitate alchemic tasks without the requirement of equivalent exchange, in hopes of getting their original bodies back.

Story & Characters

In my view, the story of Full Metal Alchemist is quite complex and very well put together. Each character has their definite part and nearlly all the events (with a few minor exceptions) follow up naturally. I particularily liked the way that this show combines humorous moments with extremely dramatic scenes, and manages to do so without starting to seem ridiculous or false. There were a few questions and issues that were left unsolved at the end of the series, but since the Full Metal Alchemist movie is supposed to clear them out, I suppose that isn't such a major impediment.

The main protagonists are characterized quite well, with Edward being the child who is forced to grow up all too early and comes face to face with a moral dilemma that goes way beyond his age, and Alphonse being the younger brother who always trusts his elder sibling to find a way out of any problem. Most of the other characters have their distinct personalities, too. Each of the military fits more or less into a typical stereotype. On the other hand, the Hommunculi have very different (and somewhat unpredictable) personalities, but not all of them are singularized well enough.

Rating: 9

Art

The artwork of the series is good enough, but doesn't stand out in particular. Most of the backgrounds have a pretty low level of detail and some of them are downright sketchy, especially the outdoors ones. There aren't too many notable visual effects, either. On the other hand, the character designs are are extremely variated; unlike other series in which the only things that made the difference between protagonists were the eye color, hair color and clothes, in Full Metal Alchemist each character has their own stature, build, face, particularities etc.

The openings and endings are dynamic and well put together, each one of them fitting with their respective song. One thing that I like about them is that they use very little footage from the actual episodes (actually I'm not sure if there is any at all).

Rating: 8

Sound

When it comes about OSTs, the Full Metal Alchemist OST is one of my all-time favorites. The four openings and four endings are performed by famous Japanese bands like L'Arc~en~Ciel, Cool Joke or Asian Kung-Fu Generation, which adds to the quality of the audio. Also, the background music is very variated, ranging from the somewhat classic 'action', 'drama' or 'funny' themes that can be encountered in nearly every anime of this sort to parts of consacrated symphonic plays such as Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The music is well chosen according to each scene and has a significant contribution in creating a certain mood during some scenes, especially in the last few episodes.

The voice acting is simply brilliant, especially for Edward, Alphonse, Maes Hughes, Wrath and Envy. Edward's "WHO are you calling short yo goddamn jerk?!" sort of lines always made me crack up, while on the other hand I've had some trouble getting used to Alphonse's gentle voice coming from inside that somewhat menacing-looking armor.

Rating: 10

Presentation

is series has everything it takes to be a great one - a dynamic and easy-to-follow story, complex characters, plenty of humorous moments, a touch of philosophy, decent visuals and last but not least an awesome OST. One impediment would be that the beginning is a bit slow, with plenty of flashbacks and many things that may seem strange on first sight, but everything is cleared up later in the series. If you have the patiente to endure through the first five episodes, I assure you it will be well worth it, so you should definitely watch it if you have the chance.

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

9.0000 (very good)

Reviewed by Odeena, Feb 18, 2006

Comments

  1. OtakuBooster Feb 18, 2006

    nice review, but I think that the backgrounds are not that bad...any waygood work

  2. 35243928 Feb 19, 2006

    i think that full metal alchemist is great!
    a
    i love it!
    your review is great!congratulations

  3. cloakanddagger Feb 19, 2006

    i watched allof it including the movie, the only thing i had a problem with is that in the end Ed doesn't get with Winry( tears).

  4. Vinitachi Feb 19, 2006

    I actually get inspiration from the background actually, so I'll have to disagree with you on the background.
    And, yes, the OST is just awesome. I listen to it a lot, along with the themes.
    On Al... yeah but it funny to see such a menacing armor to act and sound like a kid. So, I got used to it.

    Well, after you see the movie, you should start the manga. It won't dissapoint you. It story runs differently from the anime, so I think it will catch your interests. Also, the stroy go deeper.
    Nice review.

    Quote by cloakanddaggeri watched allof it including the movie, the only thing i had a problem with is that in the end Ed doesn't get with Winry( tears).


    We shall see in the manga. :D

    Oh, the manga is still on going, once a month. Nice long chapters.

  5. darkhero Feb 20, 2006

    I give FMA 10 out of 10 becasue the voices and characters rocks. I which though Ed and Winry hook up and got married. They really like each other.

  6. Clarryn Feb 20, 2006

    Lolz not bad for writing this review and i agree with u. But i like the characters' designs and i really like their eyes because it gives a lively effect^^

  7. anarchy-soup Feb 20, 2006

    id say thats the best review :-) good job
    FMA is the best anime ever!


    merged: 02-20-2006 ~ 02:44pm
    unfortunatly i havnt seen the movie :-( ive looked everywhere. im trying not to read spoilers though.

  8. elvisha Feb 20, 2006

    fma is my favourite anime! its the best! i love the movie too... 10/10 for fma!:D:D. Oh and the OST is awesome

  9. anarchy-soup Feb 20, 2006

    ur lucky elvisha :-( i want to see the movie soooo bad....lol

  10. mels137 Feb 21, 2006

    The movie is what ties everything together after the series. It was everything that I needed it to be...it ROCKED in other words. It is a MUST to watch if you have seen the series and loved it!

  11. Kukuru Feb 21, 2006

    I quite agree with you :) Nice review - it sums it up quite well - I definitely agree with your analysis of character designs however the backgrounds i feel were not as plain as you saw them - I thought they were quite nice.

    OST's are great too! Just a question - when you talk about the voice acting - do you refer to Eng or Jap?

    Anways nice review!

  12. chidoguan Feb 21, 2006

    I had my doubts about this anime at first, since I read a review and saw something like two dudes looking for the Philosopher's Stone so I was like no way Im going to watch some japanese Harry Potter thing, after watching the first chapter I couldn't stop watching, great anime indeed and great review!

  13. anarchy-soup Feb 21, 2006

    i love anime its the best...and this is 1 of the best anime ever so i would prefer any big anime fan to watch it :-)

    chidoguan same thing happened to me at first until i started actually watching the show

  14. Konbawatsuki Feb 23, 2006

    Good review , hmm i also think that the ost perfome by asian kungfu generation is great.

  15. Darowin Feb 24, 2006

    Dude man. reallly good review. I seen it myself.. N its great!

  16. catyeye Feb 24, 2006

    Awesome review. I just totally agree with all you said! I loved the story, I love its philosophjy, and I really think that it is one of the most original series that have been done recently (well, not ot recently ^_^'). I liked all the characters, maybe with the exception of Dante, who I hated! But I loved Ed, Mustang, Al, Hughes, all the police, teh homunculus (wrath not so much, and gluttony gave goosebumps, hahahha).
    Fabolous Review.
    Soredewa nochi hodo (see ya later)!

  17. Veggie Mar 13, 2006

    Interesting anime, in him i like one char, Ed. and end of anime whas wery nice

  18. arch-god-elle Mar 15, 2006

    FMA was put together well, you can tell they actually thought about the Anime before making it, yah know.

    Ed is a very complex character. He's still a child at heart but, he has to act like an adult. Taking care of his younger brother 24/7.
    Al is a minor character in my mind. He's sweet and all, but all he does is calm Ed.
    And the story behind Envy and Sloth, also wrath. Thats beyond awesome. Envy and Wrath would technically Ed and Al's other brothers.
    Hmmm... I like the english better then the Japanese. Vic does an awesome job. Paku Romi's singing voice is strictly just that.
    Mmmm.. The movie ruins the good anime series.
    Anyways.
    Thats my thought on it.
    It should be a 10, but 9 works to.

  19. ripsilver Mar 16, 2006

    yes.. well made review i specially liked the review of the story and characters... it sure does have the funny moments and dramatic ones... well done..

  20. Junereth Mar 17, 2006

    the characters were very complete and yeah, the sounds were l33t
    the art wasn't bad, tho. well yeah, it's different, but trust me, it's loads better than the manga's initial art (which was, to put it kindly, pretty childish...but of course it evolved as well!)
    then again, the developers did a good job with the alternate storyline to that in the manga, which is WAAAYYY different (but pretty cool as well) where some of the characters died differently, or new characters are introduced, and even a bit of a different character history...what are you waiting for, go get the manga! :P

  21. Darkshadow21 Mar 19, 2006

    Considering that the anime went in its own direction, it did really well. Usually you would expect changes from the manga to totally suck, but here this wasn't the case. ^^. Good review, by the way.

  22. Leosam096 May 03, 2006

    sci-fi at its best in the form of anime!

    cheers!

  23. krys07 Jun 09, 2006

    one of the best animes i've ever seen! XD

  24. koeziekoo Sep 07, 2006

    i enjoyed this series alot, especially the beginning scene when they trying to get their mom back - bit freaky.
    have not yet completed it only episode 25.
    its extremely funny and is good for a laugh
    very nice review

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