I love this series, i love ed and al's personality, i just wanna say that i give a 10.00 of 10.00 to this anime series :)
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
Fullmetal Alchemist is the heartbreaking story of two brothers trying to regain what they have lost. After the death of their mother, they feel so devastated to the point where they'll even do the forbidden to revive someone they love. I find this beautifully made, because we all know we'd do anything to have a loved one back from the dead. If you have never had a loved one die on you, then you couldn't possibly understand the pain that comes with it.
Edward ends up losing two limbs and Alphonse ends up with no human body at all. So the two embark on a quest to get their bodies back.
The plot is powerfully made. With angst, comes amusing scenes. Which makes the story not tedious at all, because we all know we appreciate a laugh inbetween the story.
The fight scenes are short, but realistic. We all know we'd get bored if a fight scene lasted two episodes long (coughDragonBallZcough).
I recommend the last seven episodes. Where things are finally heating up and more discoveries about the Philosopher's Stones and the Elric brothers are made.
Now as for the characters..
The Elric brothers are two strongly made characters. The series suceeds in showing the traditional bond between siblings. It is not predictable like other anime plots (y'know, brother against brother, siblings always fighting, etc.). FMA shows how much the Elric brothers care and respect eachother, especially since they cannot stand being separated because all they really have to lose in life are eachother. It is a pleasant bond, and it truly makes the viewer feel the love the Elrics feel for eachother.
As for the other characters (Roy, Hughes, Riza, Havoc, etc.) they are balanced as well. Each one of them has an likable personality and are entertaining. Roy's fiery aspects makes the women melt and makes men want to be just like him; Hughes' neverending love for his daughter (and constant bragging about her) makes the audience become engrossed with the humor in it. And as we all know, every character that we lose affects us as well. Its because the characters had such an impact on the show that it is hard not to see them anymore. (And most of you all know what I'm talking about).
The villains (aka Homunculi, Scar and such) are quite the traditional villains. The Homunculi, whom are trying to take the Philosopher's Stone for their own means (possible human transmutation). And Scar, whom is well.. scarred by the tragedy upon his people and confusedly trying to avenge the loss of his brother and his people. Other villains as well, (Kimbley, Archer, etc.) either make the audience loathe their actions so much or makes the audience eager to see what they will do next.
Extremely dominant set of characters. An important aspect of every story, not just animes.
Rating:
Art
The art. I cannot say much about the art.
The art is simply beautiful. The anatomies are nicely drawn and with perfect detail. The legs are not too long, nor the bodies are thin to the point of thinking the characters are possible anorexics. Many animes draw their characters like this, unfortunately.
The landscaping has an impact and shows how important the art is as well as the plot itself.
And my favorite of course, as you all know, the battles. The fighting moves are perfect. Just perfect. They don't go slow at all, they are fast moving but enough to show the eye how perfectly Hiromu Arakawa draws. That kind of art is hard to draw and needs an inconsiderable amount of time to learn how to draw realistic blows and kicks.
I also like the facial expressions. And each character has a unique face. Each with their own set of eyes, mouth, face shape, etc.
Many other animes draw every single character with the same set of eyes (Chobits) or with similar horribly drawn face shapes and mouths (Pokemon and Dragonball Z). Notice the shape of Edward's eyes and compare them to Roy's, Winry's, or Al's. None of them are the same. And each fit the character perfectly. Edward's eyes give a sense of pain, anger, and determination. Alphonse's eyes give a sense of innocence, and curiosity; just like Roy's give an aura of fierceness, boldness, and a somber expression.
FMA truly has the best art I have ever encountered from every anime I've ever seen.
Rating:
Sound
The music is well made. The song "Brat'ja" gives a solemn feeling, once it plays every time an angst situation is happening. "Dante" is also one of my favorites. It is quite an exotic sound, listen to it and you'll see yourself drifting away from your own body.
Now, as the voices.
I am generally much more satisfied with the Japanese voices. They do an incredible job and it doesn't sound cliched or anything. I was seeing FMA with my brother in Japanese audio with English subtitles. The actors took the trouble to truly fit themselves in with their characters and made every word sound as if THEY were feeling it, not just acting it. If you also take a look at the scenes where a battle is going on, you'll hear the characters gasp, groan, moan, and cry out and really think that the voice actors are inside the show. As if they are right there, feeling every sting of pain that follows a massive roundhouse kick (look at episode 50 with Ed and Envy's fight scene)
Now as the English voice actors, I am terribly dissapointed. Edward ended up sounding like a seventeen year old rather than a fifteen year old. Envy ended up sounding like an old woman, and Gluttony sounds like a chimera rather than an Lust-dependent obese person. Don't get me started on the English voices..
Rating:
Presentation
FMA is hands down, the best anime I have encountered so far.
Its plot is mostly angst, but brief humor is added. This makes the show unpredictable.
Science-concepts make this story realistic, and makes the audience believe for a second that they are watching a real-life event. It is almost like a "The Da Vinci Code", it teaches us forgotten knowledge (I didn't knew crap about alchemy) and applies real life to it.
It is not a tedious "random" show. It doesn't make its characters running around for no reason and looking like idiots, the characters' reactions are quite real and just the same as we would act.
We look at FMA and feel anger, sadness, and happiness when the characters do. It doesn't make the audience yawn at all, (except episode 16 "That Which Is Lost") and people would wake up at 3:00 am just to see it.
The concept is excellently composed, you'll be extremely satisfied with the end. Ah, and the movie following all 51 series is coming out on Japan, so make sure to watch for that. Out of all episodes, I'll give some recommendations.
+Episode to see for a laugh: Episode 13: Flame VS Fullmetal, and Episode 37.
--Don't drink milk when seeing this if you don't want it shooting out of your nose.
+Episodes not to miss: Episode 18: Marcoh's Notes, Episode 25: Farewell Ceremomy (keep some tissues nearby),
Episode 34: The Theory of Avarice, Episode 40: The Scar, Episode 41: Holy Mother, Episode 42: Without Knowing His Name,
Episode 43: The Stray Dog Has Run, Episode 44: Light Hoenheim, Episode 45: Corruption of The Soul , and episodes
28-51.
--See this. If you're in jail, break out, you'll miss important information and some good events if you
don't see these.
+Episodes to miss: Episode 17:The House of the Waiting Family, Episode 16: That Which Is Lost, Episode 26: Her
Reason
--Go drink a beer or something. You got better things to do than to watch these episodes. :/ They really tell no
important info nor any significant scenes.
If you really want to know what I mean, then go ahead and take a look at my two screenshots. Which I took myself :) No spoilers in either of them, sorry for all you people who watch the FMA dubbed version. lol
Rating:
Final Verdict
9.0000 (very good)
Reviewed by P-U-K-E, Dec 30, 2005
Comments
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lafierra Dec 31, 2005
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Zendir Dec 31, 2005
This is my Favo anime can i say :P i love the series but i think the movie was to much data anime :( but i love it :)
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aacapala Jan 01, 2006
one of my fave animes, the storyline is good! i loved it beginning to end!
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ManakaNo-Baka Jan 02, 2006
YEah FMA is AWSOME...i was soo sad when i saw the first episode..
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Zendir Jan 02, 2006
One more thing i hate the ending cuz it dosent make sence :S i didnt like to wait for the movie . . . . .
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fireflywishes Retired Moderator Jan 03, 2006
definitely agree with most of what you said. it had a wonderful storyline and because of good character development, you actually cared when anything bad/good happened to them! great review P-U-K-E-san! :D
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P-U-K-E Jan 04, 2006
::reply to Zendir::
The ending was confusing, but I suggest watching over the last ten episodes a few more times and you'll be able to get it a little bit more. :3
But if you still don't understand it, go ahead and read the manga. It is clearer in it :3
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ueon Mute Member Jan 05, 2006
Yes, the ending was kind of confusing since the movie finished the series off. The movie was exellent, but the history was horrible!, i mean they gave hitler green eyes when he had blue...and the subbings in the middle of the movie was a bit off. Besides that, it was good.
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P-U-K-E Jan 05, 2006
The history was way off intentionally.
WWII took place around the 1920s and in FMA it is around the 1910s. The characters were just based on real life people too ;3 Most of the names in FMA were based on real people.
Arakawa got the names for the military people (Mustang, Hawkeye, Havoc, Hughes etc.) from WWII fighter jets :3 And Hohenheim was based off an famous alchemist, Dante was based off a male poet and so forth.
I would really like to see the movie though. I unfortunately have not had the luxury to see it. :/
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spider-x Banned Member Jan 06, 2006
now this anime is 2 best to me i love the story i love that it's funny and that it has sad parts to it what can i say this anime is a must see
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shoimi Jan 12, 2006
i think that full metal is one of the best shows on adult swim second only to inuyasha..... sorry if i said somethiung wrong but that is just the way i feel. but still i think i have seen everyespsode of fullmetal achemist there is so far but is have only got up to where scar is trying to create the stone.
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xincy Jan 13, 2006
this anime was really amazing. at first time I saw this anime I think is was too board until I go to my friend home.Fz
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P-U-K-E Jan 14, 2006
Quote by xincythis anime was really amazing. at first time I saw this anime I think is was too board until I go to my friend home.Fz
The manga's a hell lot better, though. :)
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eonir Jan 15, 2006
FMA in the last episodes was somewhat..... mmmm unstatisfying...
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P-U-K-E Jan 16, 2006
Quote by eonirFMA in the last episodes was somewhat..... mmmm unstatisfying...
It wasn't that bad, in my opinion.
Like I said before, the manga's better.
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eonir Jan 16, 2006
Whoops, I almost forgot about the review itself...
This review is just like the author of it says about art in FMA:
Perfect!Well done, one of the BEST reviews in English i have ever read....
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P-U-K-E Jan 19, 2006
lol! Thanks sug <3 I love reviewing.
I'd review for others, but see, I hate most other animes because they're just not as good as Fullmetal Alchemist. None are, in my opinion. :)
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almina Jan 19, 2006
-_- my post has been lost and I don't really remember what I have written... ok once more :
--
That's a really enthousiastic and well-written review and I understand that, FMA is an awesome anime.
I really like the seyuus. But I think the artwork is so-so but the animation is great.
There's still a thing that doesn't make me sense with me with Dante and what her more recent body. It seems for me that the two -the old woman and the relatively young one - were Dante at the same time... I must have missed something.
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fernandobss Mute Member Jan 20, 2006
Full Metal Alchemist is a good anime,
i really liked to see because was verry well done and the story was verry good -
P-U-K-E Jan 23, 2006
Quote by almina-_- my post has been lost and I don't really remember what I have written... ok once more :
--
That's a really enthousiastic and well-written review and I understand that, FMA is an awesome anime.
I really like the seyuus. But I think the artwork is so-so but the animation is great.
There's still a thing that doesn't make me sense with me with Dante and what her more recent body. It seems for me that the two -the old woman and the relatively young one - were Dante at the same time... I must have missed something.
Ah.. Let's see if I can explain this.
Dante wants to obtain the Philosopher's Stone because she wants to transfer her own soul into the body of an attractive and young woman. Basically, she wants the Philosopher's Stone for herself.
Lyra (the young woman) was at first Dante's apprentice. She had no idea that Dante really only took her in to transfer her own soul into Lyra's body. Therefore, she succeeded in moving her soul into Lyra's body and taking over her. Lyra's soul was (how shall we say it?) booted out of her own body when Dante's soul took over. Dante only cut in half her "old" body to fake her death in order to prevent anybody realizing that she is inmortal.
However, Dante often switching bodies is just rotting her soul. She can't survive much longer by depending on moving from one body to another.
Hope that helps. Its a bit confusing..
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aixa Jan 29, 2006
I agreed with the most of you, because this serie is just perfect, it has a good story and characters. In my opinion FMA deserves a 10. The movie is also very good, it closes the story that was, somehow, left unfinished in the last episode. xD
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Zergos Feb 27, 2008
I think that its a nice series with an even nicer story,the characters are great and its a story based on an ancient concept of alchemy,which made Muslim scientists popular.Plus the animation,graphics,sounds and the concepts used are just gr8t.
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Sanisa Sep 22, 2009
Thanks for the review!
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