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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. Rhyme097 Sep 14, 2006

    My best collection is this anime .... really nice story and characters ... great work !

  2. Sanisa Sep 22, 2009

    Thanks for the review!

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