Anime Review: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Part One

[crimsonshrouds]

Its not a remake, duh.

It is the original because it is based on the manga which is better.

You are complaining because a characters death didn't affect you when you already had seen it happen before.

You complain about pacing because the series didn't put emphasis on stuff that the first anime did.

O...k... you suck at reviewing that much is certain.

 

[mekose]

I feel this review was botched and therefor pointless. They only focused on the first thirteen episodes, those of which anyone who has seen FMA are familiar with. They rushed through the first thirteen to catch up where the original left off. I was very happy with this quick refresher that reinforced my nostalgia and set me up for the series. Once the series kicks off it is very different (I think better) than the original. More than enough character development goes around and everything feels better paced, no filler episodes here. This series was for and will always be for the FANS, people who hated how the original strayed from the manga. Most people that watch brotherhood are already familiar with the characters and don't need a ton of exposition and character development. As a fan I think this was a perfect re-imagining of the original and recommend it to all FMA fans.

Bottom Line: This review was biased, Brotherhood was way better than the original for fans of the series.

 

[Rabarberskurk]

It gets better later.

 

[MmmFiber]

Spoiler

HHHHUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!

I don't know if I would be so mad if I got Winry and Hawkeye rather than Kaname and Tessa. Hmmm.... FMP had a hot springs scene, though. I might need to think about this. Or I could just watch Ikki Tousen and Sekirei. Decisions, decisions.

 

[JoshV]

Its not a remake, duh.

You'll have to take that up with my editor, I didn't write that line.

It is the original because it is based on the manga which is better.

And how in what way is the manga quantifiably "better"? You state that as if it's fact. And don't say it's better simply because Arakawa wrote it, that's the mother of all cop-outs. A work should be judged based on its merit - be that artistic or otherwise - not because of who wrote it.

You are complaining because a characters death didn't affect you when you already had seen it happen before.

I'm still affected by the death scene from the first series when I re-watch it. The pacing of the entire episode in Brotherhood is off, and it seems to give the viewer about five seconds to reflect on the character's death before it's 'off to the investigation!' again.

You complain about pacing because the series didn't put emphasis on stuff that the first anime did.

Obviously not. But regardless of my expectations of what it would be, it still feels like a rush-job. As if to say "Oh you guys have already seen this, moving on!" And while that might be a fair way to introduce it to people who've already seen the first anime or read the manga, it's not a great way to introduce new viewers to the series.

O...k... you suck at reviewing that much is certain.

Oh? I always find it interesting how quick people are to dismiss reviews as "stupid" or "worthless" or "biased" based not on the way they're written or their content, but on how much the reviewer's opinion differs from their own.

 

[Micalix]

Admittedly, the plot goes extremely fast in the first couple of episodes. I actually wanted that because I wanted to get to the "new stuff" as fast as possible. After about... episode 17 I think, the series really starts to pick up and get ridiculously epic.

You are perfectly entitled to whatever your opinion is on the first thirteen episodes, but I extremely disagree to the description on the front page.

This remake doesn't quite live up to the legacy of the original

Besides my personal opinion that Brotherhood is far superior over the already excellent original series, a review of thirteen episodes is not nearly enough to give a verdict on a 65 (if I remember correctly) episode anime.

But apparently this was the editor, so I guess my complaint goes up to him.

 

[tetron]

I really liked the first FMA, but enjoyed Brotherhood a lot more. The two don't really differ in the first 13 episodes, since that was before Alchemist diverged so comparing their first 13 episodes is kind of moot. Towards the end the story in Brotherhood becomes completely different and a lot more epic which is what I really liked about it. The alchemist fights were also a lot more stylized and just seemed to flow. The one thing about Alchemist that I thought was really cool was how they did the homonculus origins. It made the fights with them a lot more emotional for the other characters.

 

[TiefBlau]

When I finished the first FMA anime, I kind of felt cheated. The story's ending was a bit empty, and the introduced characters were cliched or predictable. I was absolutely amazed when I found out the manga series was still going on, and upon reading it, my opinion of FMA skyrocketed from "run-of-the-mill" to "absolutely brilliant".

That being said, Brotherhood fell a little flat, in my opinion. It assumes most of its viewers have already seen the original (and perhaps its batshit movie sequel) and fast-forwards through all those parts. I truly wish they could have aired at least some modified reruns of the original. But I understand their intentions, and they probably didn't want to lose aforementioned crowd of watchers by doing this.

 

[The_Decoy]

As doubtless stated above me, comparing the whole of FMA to just the first part of FMA:B is useless. I loved FMA but it kind of went to shit near the end and was disapponting because of it. FMA:B on the otherhand went from strength to strength and had much better character arcs for certain people - especially Hoenheim. The ending had a lot more weight in it too, and everything made sense by and large. The pace was rather bracing, but I loved it, the drama and tension was ramped up because of it.

Anyone put off by these reviews really shouldn't be, Brotherhood is certainly the stronger of the two for me.

 

[Snotnarok]

I'm pretty sure Brotherhood isn't a remake, it was a reDO, because it wasn't accurate to the manga. Basically it was like what happened to Doom when it became a movie, the director had a "better idea" and did that turning the Demons into mutants and such.

It's much like Hellsing and how it was quite different from the manga, so they made the Ultimate series.

 

[Abedeus]

Josh, you lost all possible respect you might will have earned (...yeah) in the future.

Especially since anyone who cares at least a little bit about FMA knows that the original anime was rushed and they made episodes too fast for the mangaka to draw them, so they just made up a bunch of stuff.

Also, it's not a remake, it's an actual anime to manga conversion.

 

[Jet_02]

the first reviewer is silly, FMA brotherhood is ten times better than the original. I know cause I have watched ALL of both series and read ALL the manga, I will admit the start is very quick, only because it covers the same ground as the original anime, which stuck to the manga at the start and went off into one big filler.>> I like both series but in the middle all the way to the conclusion FMA: brotherhood beets it predecessor HANDS DOWN.

 

[wolfgirl90]

Especially since anyone who cares at least a little bit about FMA knows that the original anime was rushed and they made episodes too fast for the mangaka to draw them, so they just made up a bunch of stuff.

By that logic, you don't care about FMA at all. Sorry, but I have seen a lot of people say that in this thread and it couldn't be further from the truth.

First of all, in the case of FMA, the manga and the anime were not running in tandem. Hiromu Arakawa had already completed almost a fifth of the series by the time the anime came out. In fact, by the time the anime came out, volume 5 of the manga had been released (meaning those chapters had been released before and now were being released AGAIN). So Arakawa was not being rushed to draw anything by any stretch of the imagination.

Second, while its true that Bones diverged from the manga, guess who made that decision? HIROMU ARAKAWA HERSELF! SHE specifically requested that the ending of the anime be different from the manga. She allowed the Bones artists and writers to work independently from her and while she would attend production meetings, she let them make their own decisions. She did this because she wanted the manga to be longer and to have more time to work on the character development, hence the reason why there is more of it in Brotherhood, and because she didn't want the same ending in both the anime and the manga.

If you want to blame anyone for the quality of the original anime, you can blame Hiromu Arakawa, because Bones was only doing what she told them to do.

 

[almostfinn]

I feel that the animations and colors of the newer series aren't the first things that come to the majority of viewers' mind--and few people would take umbrage at any change. And, while the death of a certain supporting character may not have as much emotional appeal this time round, its impact stays with the characters even until the fiftieth episode or so. In fact, Mustang's entire story arc is completely driven by that event. So, I think that person's death is still one of the most important events in the series.

To address the problem of pacing in Brotherhood: yes, it is a bit rushed. I was a little disappointed not to see more of Ed's State Alchemist tests. But, being a fairly different story than the original, the narrative's focus is simply not on the Elric brother's rise to alchemical stardom. Therefore, it takes more of a backseat to the main plot, which is revealed in full in the later episodes.

I do agree that this whole topic is moot. However, Riza and Mustang's relationship got more screentime in Brotherhood, so I am forever compelled to opine that Brotherhood is far better.

 

[Bat Vader]

I like both of the Fullmetal Alchemist animes. I must admit I think will always like the first FMA anime better due to the fact that it was the anime that really made me pay more attention to anime. Plus, another reason I will like it more is the whole nostalgia part of it. FMA: Brotherhood is an excellent anime and I think it is really good. I just like the first anime better.

 

[Metaphor]

I would disagree that the pacing of Brotherhood is rushed (having seen it all), but what Brotherhood expects from the viewer is that it watched the original anime or have read the manga by this point in time. I mean, a lot of the beginning stuff is glossed over, because it would waste both the studios and viewers time to cover events that we already saw from a different studio. After the diverging begins, the pacing becomes much better, and totally worth skipping all the stuff we'd seen before.

And considering this is BONES, I am compelled to say that this is certainly a better animation than it's predecessor. The fight scenes just feel better.

I disagree with your opinion on a series from only watching 1/5 of it, but feel that you couldn't have known how good it was going to turn out.

 

[havass]

I prefer Brotherhood, mainly because it's based on the manga and thus it's more the original than the first one. And this is old news. The manga ended AGES ago. Brotherhood itself ended not too far behind. Though I will admit, Brotherhood felt lacking in terms of story and character development, and it skipped scenes that were in the manga. And I skipped episodes 2-13, because I found out it was exactly the same. Heh.
All in all, Manga > Anime.

 

[akibawall95]

I'm glad they made bortherhood I loved the manga but when the anime went and did its own thing I got confused I liked the movie though.

 

[Metal Brother]

Wait, isn't Brotherhood based solely on the extremely good Manga? Manga > original Alchemist IMO

Yes it is, which is why I prefer it over the original series.

I absolutely agree. I really liked the original anime series, but I LOVE the second series. The storytelling and characterizations are more consistent, there is no filler to speak of, and THE STORY MAKES SENSE. The first series was fine at the beginning (when it was following the manga) but the plot went to shit halfway through, and the ending made no sense at all. But this is typical of most anime series, and didn't bother me too much when I first watched FMA. But the Brotherhood storyline is consistent and builds logically from start to finish and ends with a satisfying climax.

I find it difficult to believe that anyone who has seen both series in their entirety could like the first one better.

 

[Metal Brother]

Admittedly, the plot goes extremely fast in the first couple of episodes. I actually wanted that because I wanted to get to the "new stuff" as fast as possible. After about... episode 17 I think, the series really starts to pick up and get ridiculously epic.

You are perfectly entitled to whatever your opinion is on the first thirteen episodes, but I extremely disagree to the description on the front page.

This remake doesn't quite live up to the legacy of the original

Besides my personal opinion that Brotherhood is far superior over the already excellent original series, a review of thirteen episodes is not nearly enough to give a verdict on a 65 (if I remember correctly) episode anime.

But apparently this was the editor, so I guess my complaint goes up to him.

Again, completely agreed. Reviewing FMA:B on 13 episodes is like reviewing War and Peace on the first two chapters.