Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist is not spectacular. What I mean is that nothing about the art or the plot immediately strikes the audience as impressive or unique. The art is not flashy or detailed. It gets the job done, but only just. The action is easy to follow from panel to panel, and it is just dynamic enough to be interesting. The characters are all pretty much distinguishable from each other, despite their simple designs, and some of them look kinda cool. More than anything, the art is solid. It never gets in the way of the audience's enjoyment. And sometimes that's enough. The only times Iever took issue with the style were when the characters were morphed into chibis in a weak attempt at comedy. And that brings me to my next point: The comedy. It's not comedic. Early on, there are many repetitive running gags and the only thing they accomplish is kicking me out of the story. Such a blatant attempt to appeal to the audience can backfire if delivered poorly, and so it felt like a slap in the face delivered through the 4th wall. I don't want to deal with that. But I think that the mangaka realized this direction wasn't working early on, and the manga generally gets more serious as time passes. Although the presentation of the plot changes over time, the plot itself rarely deviates from a single unified arc, and this becomes more apparent towards the middle of the series. It's clear that the overarching plot was plotted out from inception to conclusion from the beginning. The major villains and major allies are essentially the same throughout the manga, and this helps with the sense of unity and harmony that I get from it. (A unity that reinforces the main themes of the manga, which might otherwise seem to be poorly applied pseudo-philosophy.) There are no major power-ups or ridiculous ass-pulls. All of the plot developments are logical and well-paced. The action, unfortunately, can be a bit of a weak point. There are several characters who use special alchemy techniques to interesting effect, but Ed's (the main character) fighting style is rather pedestrian in comparison. Still, the idea of equivalent exchange helps the fights maintain an appealing sense of reason and rationality that I appreciate quite a bit. It makes them feel less contrived, something that this genre tends to suffer from severely. Also, nothing was ever dragged out unnecessarily and mid-fight dialogue/flashbacks were never taken too far. Fullmetal Alchemist avoids the major pitfalls of battle shounen and brings in a sense of logic that is very rare to see. The characters are mostly static, and there is no unexpected development. Sometimes they can feel like cardboard cut-outs. But other times I find myself thinking "wow, a couple of these cardboard cut-outs actually look pretty good in context." Rather than linear development, the characters are developed via increased insight into them and information about them. They are developed from the perspective of the audience. This is a very sensible approach given the relatively short time frame that the series covers; there is some linear development, but it is subtle. Not subtle as in hard to spot, because it is pretty clear when you see it, but it is slight. The characters don't suffer from any about-faces or drastic personality transplants. The most apparent changes that the characters undergo are simply a result of us learning more about them. This makes the manga somewhat reminiscent of a well-structured canvas painting. It is all one unified and unmoving image, but as you look at it, you notice more about it and it seems to tell a story. There are also some irritating imperfections, it looks better from a distance than it does up-close, but these flaws fail to ruin the whole. The issue with the above picture is that the foreground is probably weaker than the background, and isn't that where our eyes are drawn? Ed's character is mostly defined by basic traits, habits, and general goals; all nuance is absent. This is certainly intentional, to avoid alienating any of the audience from him, but this lack of ambition is irritating for me. Al's character is kind of empty. (Pun retrospectively intended.) His most significant developmental event was his contrived existential crisis that was quickly resolved and never really dwelled on again. These criticisms apply to many of the characters, in varying degrees. Even as we get more in depth into them, they don't ever feel real. That said, they are often entertaining and they get the job done. Ed is not always the focus and even minor characters are established early on and given essential roles. Rather than any individual characters being well-written, what is well-written is their interactions and relationships with one another, and where they are placed and what they do. Every character has purpose and motivation and defining character traits, even if they don't quite feel organic. If you pulled one character out of the plot, everything could collapse. No character is superfluous and no character is forgotten. This says more about the plot than the actual characterization, but it's a positive nevertheless. More than anything, Fullmetal Alchemist is solid. Most of its imperfections are minor and don't reach the series' core. Nothing about the series is all that exceptional or original in itself, but it adds up into a very well-structured and cohesive work that manages to avoid making a lot of mistakes that are not often avoided. (And, despite its popularity, it never overstayed its welcome and was relatively concise for what it was.) Still, it doesn't really accomplish all that much that I haven't seen done as well or better. It is simply less flawed than most similar works. This makes it feel unique holistically, but not on a more critical examination. It is unique in that you'd be hard-pressed to find a more perfect battle shounen, but this quality is negatively defined: Fullmetal Alchemist is most praise worthy for the things it does not do; what it does do is not nearly as impressive or difficult. The lack of originality or risk-taking factors against Fullmetal Alchemist, but the form and presentation of it warrants a solid 7. It's quite good, but not quite great.

Full Metal Alchemist is the Harry Potter of the manga world. And when I say that I don’t mean that their plots are remotely the same (although both have a main villain who splits himself seven ways… that’s actually cool) or that they're such big names in their respective mediums and genre (while it's true FMA has nowhere near the same amount of fame internationally as Dragonball or Naruto, it's almost always one of the first anime recommended to new-comers and frequently put on top anime lists); just in the way that absolutely everything about FMA has set itself apart from other shounen manga -heck manga in general - as something special that can't be replicated; near-perfection. The plot is well-rounded, exciting, original, and clever, the world is fun and comprehensible, and its laws obeyed consistently, the characters are all likable, whether friend or foe, and each has a role to play, there are equal amounts of drama, humor, and action, and well… just everything. The ending; absolutely perfect, and it ties up all loose ends. It’s one of those stories that you wish you could erase your memories of just so you could experience the whole thing again for the first time. The best aspect about FMA is that it is never boring; it has you gripped right from the first. Just reading the basic plot is enough to get a person piqued. Brothers Alphonse and Edward Elric try to bring their mother back from the dead using alchemy, which, as a science, is based on the law that mass can neither be created nor destroyed; equivalent trade. Failing to do so, older brother Edward loses his leg in the process, and Alphonse his entire body. Edward then sacrifices his arm in order to transmute Alphonse’s soul onto a suit of armor. Now the brothers, in an effort to fix their mistake, set off on their journey in trying to recover their original bodies. Like any good story, this main plot develops into something bigger and heavier as the series progresses, and to carry you along are the main characters of the Elric brothers, and the strong bond they share with each other. They are great protagonists, and they are so filled with emotion (even Alphonse, whose armored face can’t convey much in the way of emotion), and you really do feel for them and want them to accomplish their goals. The characters they encounter, the people that support them, hinder them, or go outright against them – all of them are more complex than simple black-and-white good-v-evil characters. I don’t think there’s a single character in here you could hate (except perhaps the villain, and not because he’s a lame villain but because he’s flipping insane - not even intentionally evil – which is a good thing. Him, and the gold-toothed doctor.) What’s also nice about FullMetal is that it can’t be easily divided into arcs – the story runs on a one-way track with no sidestops, and it was all very well thought out, with no inconsistencies or any use of deus ex machina. There are several villains, but it’s not a case of defeating a baddy a week and then meeting up with the next. There are no chapters that feel like filler, no stalling for time – every panel is worth something, each page dedicated to forwarding the story or developing a character in some way. Now I don’t think I can talk about the manga without mentioning the anime – both versions. There are two adaptations, the first loosely based on the manga in the beginning and then deviating entirely a third of the way in, and the reboot that is pretty much exactly the same as the manga, with only a few differences in details. There’s been an endless debate on which is better, although the general consensus is that Brotherhood (the reboot) is hands-on more epic. I started the manga and the original FMA series at the same time. Although the anime is supposed to be the same as the manga in the beginning, even as early as that I started getting into the manga more than the anime. Near the middle I just gave up the anime entirely in favor of the manga, because the manga was just that gripping. I only continued the anime after I’d finished reading, since I was curious to see how that version would end; the manga hadn’t been finished at the time of its making and the creators had to complete the story themselves. In my opinion, the manga is easily the best medium through which to tell the story, better even than the reboot anime. Hiromu-sensei’s artwork is so alive and fun; when characters are distressed or scared, you can genuinely see that in their faces; they can be serious one minute and then switch to goofy and hilarious the next with ease. The original FMA anime takes itself a bit too seriously and goes overboard on the drama and dark aspects, and while that actually paid off really well with two important deaths that occur in the beginning that made them more devastating and gut-wrenching than they were in either the manga or the reboot, it had the unfortunate effect of making the character of Edward more gloomy and serious than he was supposed to be. The Edward in the manga is always full of confidence and determination, and although he too doesn’t like to treat human lives lightly, he doesn’t dwell on his regrets as much as his anime counterpart does. The manga, while being light-hearted and cheerful, combines that light-heartedness with drama and action seamlessly. It does a better job of presenting the story than either anime and it gives you more time to spend with the characters and get in touch with their individual personalities. Even if you’ve watched Brotherhood, you’d still be missing out on a lot by skipping the manga. Reading it, you’ll feel like you’re hearing the story for the first time. I’ve read through it three times already and am still not bored. A word about the English omnibus releases, though - I've bought the first four so far, and I couldn't help but notice how many typos there are. Also, even though the rating is for teens and above and words like 'crap' are used, there are a few instances where swear words are replaced with stuff like '@#&$!' which is only fine when used in comedic purposes. There was also a serious case of mistranslation in volume 4 that I feel like someone in the editing department should've realized, as the translation they put in doesn't make sense in context. Other pet peeves include writing Ling's name as 'Lin' (c'mon, they are obviously saying Ling in the anime!) and writing Xerxes in a way that looks even more unpronounceable, but otherwise it's great to have a hard copy of my favorite manga. All the little sidestories and author biographies are included as well. Story: 10/10 Art: 8/10 Character: 10/10 Enjoyment: 10/10 Overall: 10/10 My favorite story of all time.

Recently I have found it impossible to find a good shonen series to watch or read. It's come to the point that if it even looks remotely shonen, I stray away from it with untamed fury. Why do I keep coming back though? Why do I still look for shonen manga to read? It's all because of series like Full Metal alchemist. When it comes to critiquing, I'm somewhat merciless. I'm sure some of the people who have seen my reviews of their favorite series think I consider myself a know it all, but nothing could be further from the truth. Often I see "but theymake a lot of money," as a response to my heavy critique, but not once have I considered it a valid excuse for a drop in quality or lack there of. This is something that I can guess Arakawa understood. She did not write just to get money, she wrote because she had a great idea. She wrote because she had a compelling fantasy world, and compelling story in which involving characters exist.As an aspiring novelist, this is something I can respect and one of the reasons that I'm proud to say I'm a fan of FMA. Story: Full Metal Alchemist story hits close to home, because I lost my mother when I was about four. It may sound like a lie but I had hopes of bringing her back from the dead, of course I couldn't because no such magic exist in the world and the hope that it did was just the hope of an ambitious kid. Edward and Alphonse had this ambition and as a result, they were met with a gruesome response. Understanding their wrongs the duo set out, and that as they say is that... somewhat. The journey that the duo took immersed them in colorful characters and a well designed world. This would not be the first time alchemy was used in a series, but I sure it will be a time well remembered. Art: While in an AIM group chat once, I heard a female speaker say that Full Metal Alchemist's art is simple, but I'll be honest I can't agree. For the record I can't draw to save my life, but I think there's something great about the drawings Arakawa provides. As I said earlier I'm an aspiring writer, so to me anything put into the story should have a certain charm to it that will make it memorable. That's what the art in full metal alchemist is. Even if its simple it does not stand in your way of falling in love with the series. Characters: As I said above, anything put into the story should have a certain charm to it that will make it memorable, and like it can be said about the art, the same can be said about the story. Riddle me this; "How do you get a reader to miss a villain, without giving them a sappy backstory?" "How do you make an otherwise minor character one that your readers will remember?" To tell you the answers, I don't really know, but Arakawa figured it out. Not one character in FMA struck me as one dimensional. While I thought "god this guy is an evil bastard." Not once did I find one appalling enough to insult Arakawa for creating. One of the things that I think drive a story is it's plot and it's characters, evident by the manga in question. Enjoyment: If it's not apparent already, I really did enjoy this series. I remember the moments I spent catching up with it and the "full metal alchemist withdrawal" that I went into when I did. I had only seen the first anime before I started, so I didn't know what to expect. Upon reading through I realized the difference right away, and realized more that the difference between the two made the first anime a very affectionate adaption. Overall: At this point, there is not much more to say. If you want a engaging fantasy series with affectionate art, and compelling story then this is one for you. The fights are great too but really, they shouldn't be your concern when going into Full Metal Alchemist, a manga that has much more. and even though Arakawa Hiromu will probably never see this, I congratulate her for making a great shonen series in a time that's majorly lacks them.

Little bit spoilers-- gosh this was such an enjoyable read, i can't believe it took me so long to finish it! i love love love the show and reading the manga felt like the biggest "welcome back" hug :) in a way, it was kind of the oddest time to read this when my mind is still totally buzzing with attack on titan, but it was also so nice to come back to this, to something familiar. the story is so expansive and yet you can still follow all the different threads and it's absolutely brilliant. also i forgot how funny this is! not necessarily laugh outloud funny, but there are plenty of moments that elicit a smile and, while i know a lot of people don't entirely appreciate the humour in this, i quite enjoy it. and god i love how characters from totally different arcs end up interacting and working together!! and it all makes sense!!! it's SO good and SO fun one specific thing i picked up on was that the ishbalan conflict was done really well in the manga!! i think in the show, they condensed it all into one ep? but here it was a good few chapters, and it was very engaging to read. kind of on the flip side, with no disrespect to the manga, i felt like envy's death was better in the anime. but i did like the detail in the manga of envy confessing that edward was correct and did understand envy's true nature, which didn't occur in the anime. it added another layer of almost-but-not-quite sympathy for envy and showed how perceptive envy was of humanity. what a great character. as is everyone! :) (except you shou tucker, i hate you) i'm definitely not an art expert, but there were some things i did notice. firstly, the faces were quite expressive, i was quite impressed with that. however, sometimes it was difficult to tell exactly what was happening in panels, especially during fight scenes and especially those with lots of alchemy. it makes sense, you can't draw each and every movement of each character, and luckily i have the show to clear it up for me :) - reading this has made me appreciate how well-animated the show is, especially in the final 20ish chapters (i.e. the big final battle) so yeah, in conclusion, this was a really fun read! but i don't know how much of that was because i already knew the story and was reading this as a "welcome back" for myself because i love the story and characters, but this has definitely ignited a desire in me to read more manga. still, i think i am more of an anime watcher - the combination of the story and huge breadth of characters from the manga plus the music/sound and animation of the show elevates it to a whole new level <3