LPGeneratorx's Blog

Anime Relations: Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

Will edit post when time allows.

🎮 Challenge Start Date: January 01, 2017
🎧 Challenge Finish Date: <date>
🍙 Link to your list: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/LPGeneratorx
📡 Completed Anime (at sign-up): 279

🍡 Bingo Card #: 40
🍡 Difficulty: Emperor
🍡 Pattern: Full Card

🌠 Legend: Watching - Completed - Inactive/Plan to Watch

🌠 Challenge list:


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Anime Relations: Noragami Aragoto

🌠 Starting date: 1/1/2016
🌠 Link to your list: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/LPGeneratorx
🌠 Difficulty: Easy(Total: 20)
🌠 Completed anime at sign-up:247

Colour Code:
To Do: Blue
Doing: Green
Completed: Red

🌠 Challenge list:

Type
　» Watch a movie Paprika
» Watch a short anime
　　i.e. 15 minutes per episode or less
» Watch an ONA
　» Watch an award-winning work [url=][/url]
　　tip: check Wikipedia or AniDB for ideas [url=][/url]

Creators
　» Watch an anime with a character voiced by one of your favorite seiyuu Gintama 2015 Sugita Tomozaku
» Watch an anime by the same director/composer/studio as one of your favorites anime Boku No Hero Academia Studio Bones(FMA:B)
» Watch an anime by a director/composer/studio you don't know Tokyo Ghoul Root A Morita Shuuhei

Years
» Watch an anime that started airing the same year the user above/below you joined MAL
　» Watch an anime that started airing the same season you joined MAL [url=][/url]
　　e.g. If you joined in November 2014 you will need to watch something from Fall 2014 [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime which began airing between 1981 and 1990 [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime which began airing between 1991 and 2000 Rurouni Kenshin
Tags, Themes & Demographics
　» Watch an anime with a main cast mainly of one gender [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime with adults as the main cast [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime that focuses on non-romantic relationships Danganronpa 3: Hope Episode
　» Watch an anime that focuses on a couple with a romantic relationship [url=][/url]
» Watch an anime with children as the main cast
　» Watch an anime with a non-human main character Noragami Aragoto
　» Watch an anime about food, music or art Shoukugeki no Souma
　» Watch a Historical, Military or Police anime Psycho Pass Movie
　» Watch a Sci-Fi, Space or Mecha anime
　» Watch a Dementia, Horror, Demons or Vampire anime Danganronpa 3: Despair Arc
　» Watch a Mystery, Thriller or Psychological anime Danganronpa 3: Future Arc
　» Watch a Sports, Martial Arts, Cars or Games anime Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen
» Watch a Super Powers, Fantasy or Supernatural anime[url=][/url]
　» Watch a Harem, Ecchi, Shoujo Ai or Shounen Ai anime
　» Watch an anime that is tagged with a genre you dislike

　» Watch an anime that has a main character that is a professional in his field [url=][/url]
　e.g. teacher, scientist, artist
　» Watch an anime with an archetype as a main character Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (TV) 2nd Season
　　e.g. -dere, genius, macho guy, trap, magical girl
　» Watch an anime with a target demographic that does not apply to you
　　i.e. shounen if you're a female in her 20s
　» Watch an anime with a target demographic that can apply to you [url=][/url]
　　i.e. seinen if you're a male in his 20s or more
　» Watch an anime with a main character that is not Japanese [url=][/url]
　
Adaptations
　» Watch an anime one-/two-/three-cours (or more) in length (easy/medium/hard) Ace of Diamonds
　» Watch an anime that has been adapted to live action Prison School
　　tip: check this club for ideas [url=][/url]
　» Watch an original anime Kabaneri
　» Watch an anime adapted from a novel, light novel or video game Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Seisou-hen

　» Watch an anime adapted from a manga with a score of 8.0 or higher Noragami

Stats
　» Watch an anime with a score of 7.0 or below Berserk 2016
　» Watch an anime ranked in the Top 300
　» Watch a highly rated and completed anime from another challenger who posted on the same page you signed up on [url=][/url]
　　i.e. A completed anime rated 10, 9 or 8; the best score
　» Watch an anime with less than 10k/25k/45k completed members (hard/medium/easy) [url=][/url]

Challenge & MAL related
　» Watch an anime recommended to you by another Anime Watching Challenge participant [url=][/url]
» Watch an anime that another user has watched for this challenge
　» Watch a staff member's favorite anime [url=][/url]
　　tip: and then feel free to comment on their profile about it
　» Watch an anime that was recently reviewed [url=][/url]

Miscellaneous
　» Re-watch an anime Steins;Gate
　　tip: preferably something you watched early in your anime career
　» Watch an anime that starts with the same last letter as your username [url=][/url]　　Only letters. Exclude any numbers and/or special characters
　» Choose a random trope from TVTropes and watch an anime listed under the trope [url=][/url]
　　tip: feel free to spam the random button at the top or bottom of the page
　» Choose an anime from the predictive search using a generated random word [url=][/url]
　　tip: use this site to generate a random word
　» Watch an anime that has been on your Plan to Watch list for too long [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime with a protagonist that shares your hair color

🌠 Bonus Challenges (Optional and non-interchangeable with previous items)
　» Finish an on-hold or dropped anime [url=][/url]
　　An anime dropped/put on-hold previously, not one dropped/put on-hold this year.
　» Watch a Korean or Chinese anime [url=][/url]
　　tip: refer to these clubs for ideas about Korean and Chinese entries available
　» Watch an anime that is related (e.g. sequel, side story) to something you previously watched [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime recommended to a title you have in your Favorite Anime in your profile [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime which began airing between 1917 and 1940 [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime which began airing between 1941 and 1960 [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime which began airing between 1961 and 1980 [url=][/url]
　» Watch an anime series that you can finish in one day [url=][/url]

Anime Relations: Shinseiki Evangelion

NOTE: If a challenge is completed, it will be striked out, like this

Colour Code:
To Do: Blue
Doing: Green
Completed: Red

☆ Starting date: 18th March 2015
☆ Completed anime: 189
☆ Link to your list: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/LPGeneratorx

☆ Difficulty: Hard
☆ Challenge list:
Type

　» Watch a movie - Kara no Kyoukai 5

　» Watch a short anime - Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken 2 Sure-me
　　i.e. 15 minutes per episode or less

　» Watch an ONA - Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire: Mega Special Animation

　» Watch an award-winning work - Sword of the Stranger

Creators

　» Watch an anime with a character voiced by one of your favorite seiyuu - Durarara!!x2 Mamoru Miyano - Kida Masaomi

　» Watch an anime by a director/composer/studio you like - F/SN S2UFOTABLE

　» Watch an early work of an established anime staff member (10+ roles) - Gankutsuou -Mahiro Maeda

Years
　
» Watch an anime that started the year you joined MAL or later - Tokyo Ghoul

» Watch an anime that meets the ½(your age) + 7 rule - Ashita no Joe


Tags

　» Watch an anime with a main cast (3+ characters) of only one gender - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders - Egypt Arc

　» Watch an anime that focuses on non-romantic relationships - Kuroko no Basket 3(Shut it, Yaoi Fangirls.)

　» Watch an anime with children in it - Pokemon: Pikachu and Pichu

　» Watch an anime with a non-human main character - Assassination Classroom

　» Watch an anime about food, music OR art - Wakako-zake

　» Watch a historical OR military anime - RAINBOW

　» Watch a slice of life OR comedy anime -One Punch Man

　» Watch a horror, sci-fi OR fantasy anime - Kiseijuu

　» Watch an anime that is tagged with a genre you dislike - Mujaki no Rakuen(Ecchi)

　» Watch an anime that does not take place primarily in Japan, but is still within our universe - Monster

　» Watch an anime that has a main character that is a professional in his field (e.g. doctor, detective) - Psycho-Pass 2Akane - Police Officer

　» Watch an anime with an archetype as a main character (e.g. megane, tsundere) - Carnival Phantasm

　» Watch an anime with a character/setting that you can relate to - GTO

Adaptations

　» Watch an anime one-/two-/three-cours (or more) in length (easy/medium/hard) - Gintama(All Seasons)

　» Watch an anime adapted from a manga with a score of 8.0 or higher - Berserk: The Golden Age Arc Trilogy

　» Watch an anime adapted from a novel, light novel or video game - Spice and Wolf

　» Watch an anime that has been adapted to live action - GTO

　» Watch an original anime - Perfect Blue

Stats

　» Watch an anime with a score of 7.0 or below - Soul Eater NOT!

　» Watch an anime ranked in the top 300 - Hunter x Hunter

　» Watch an anime that someone on your friends' list rated a 10 - Cowboy Bebop

　» Watch an anime with less than 10k/20k/30k completed members (hard/medium/easy) - Junk Boy

Challenge related

　» Watch an anime recommended to you by another Anime Watching Challenge participant - Ashita no Joe 2

　» Watch an anime that another user has watched for this challenge - Gintama: The Final Chapter - Be Forever Yorozuya

　» Watch an anime recommended to a title you scored the highest for this challenge (so far) - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Miscellaneous
　» Re-watch an anime - Hajime no Ippo New Challenger

　» Watch an anime that starts with the same first letter as your username - Log Horizon 2nd Season

　» Watch an anime that has a non-Japanese title - Colorful

　» Watch an anime that has a verb in its title - Kick Heart

　» Choose a random trope from TVTropes and watch an anime listed under the trope - Berserk(Forced to watch)

　» Watch a staff member's favorite anime - Kara no Kyoukai 7: Satsujin Kousatsu (Part 2)(Luna_)

Anime Relations: Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

Ever since I first watched the original FMA, back when it was airing, subbed, on TV, I had a love/hate relationship with the series. I did think it was awesome at some points, but, I never really cared for the show as a whole. At the time all I was interested in was trying to fire a Kamehameha somehow. A few years before I joined MAL, I found the remake of the series called Brotherhood. I was against watching it at first, but I gave it a try when one of it's episodes(Episode 2: The First Day) was being aired on Animax, dubbed. It was, at the time, the darkest anime I'd ever seen. I had forgotten about the 2003 series when I started watching it, so the dark tone of the second episode came as a shock to me.

After I finished watching FMA:B, I joined MAL and I saw that it had attained it's well deserved ranking at Number 1. Till date, I still cannot honestly say that any anime is better than it, and I hope it stays that way. I also noticed that the original series, that was sitting below it's alternative version, near the 150s or so. I really didn't have any motivation to watch it again, so I gave it an 8, and started watching other anime. That is, until, this last week. I rewatched the original 2003 version, as I was getting bored, and wanted a good shounen to watch. What I got, could be described as more of a Seinen than anything else. After rewatching it, I decided to give it the long overdue respect it deserved and I presented it with a 9 out of 10.

So, after watching it, I started thinking, which one is better.

In this blog I will breakdown both series, in a review type fashion, and compare them in categories that I deem necessary.


1. – STORY

Both the stories of FMA and FMA:B, are the same at their base. Two brothers trying to get their bodies back. Bodies, which they lost because they tried to bring back their dead mother. They tried to do so, by using the art of Alchemy. But while the stories might seem same at their core, in reality they are very different. There are many differing points in both stories, and I'll try to list them off, to the best of my ability.



(i)Process of creation of Homunculi: Throughout the series, our protagonists meet immortal beings, call Homunculi, or Artificial Humans. They are powered by Philosopher Stones. In both series, the names of the Homunculi are based on the Seven Deadly Sins of Man, in other words:
Lust
Greed
Gluttony
Wrath
Envy
Pride
Sloth

In the reboot(Brotherhood), the process of creating Homunculi is merely glanced over, and the show doesn't make it clear as to how they are created. It just states and shows that the main antagonist, (Father OR Homunculus) was the creator of the Homunculi, but his origins are referred to as "nothing"
("Go back to where you were born. Go back to nothing, homunculus" ~ Edward Elric)

But in the original, there is much more depth given to the creation of a Homunculus. In fact it's one of the driving points of the series. The original says that a Homunculus is unwillingly created by someone who performed Human Transmutation, to bring back someone from the dead. For example:

Lust- Created by Scar's brother to bring back his dead girlfriend.
Greed- Created by Dante to bring back some dude.
Gluttony- (Unknown Creator)
Wrath- Created by Izumi Curtis to bring back her dead child.
Envy- Created by Hohenheim of Light to bring back his son, whom he had with Dante(NOT ED OR AL).
Pride- Created by Dante
Sloth- Created by the Elric brothers in their attempt to bring back Trisha, their mother.

The original does much better than the reboot in this case. The Homunculus' origins are very well described in the original and it's not really looked into in the reboot.

(ii)The focus of the story: Both series, while having relatively same origins, focus on completely different things.

In the original the story only focuses on the relationship of the brothers. and them trying to get back their bodies. Anything else in the story only acts as an obstacle to them, in trying to get their bodies back. The fate of the many people who could die, the death of millions caused by the Homunculi, and more consequences that would've occurred had the brothers failed to prevent Dante and the Homunculi from executing their plans. But, even though the brothers did prevent these disasters, to me it merely seemed like they were unknowingly protecting a lot of people, when in reality they were just trying to get their bodies back.

In Brotherhood, the story revolves around saving the country of Amestris, ridding the world of the Homunculi, trying to get back the brothers' bodies, without using a Philosopher Stones. It has a much wider range of thinking and it doesn't just focus on the two brothers, in brotherhood, every character has a unique role to play that, in the long run, they affect the story, A LOT.

Brotherhood definitely takes the cake in this one. Brotherhood showed the brothers trying to help their entire country, and on the sidelines, trying to get their bodies back in the meantime. The original made me feel like the ambitions of the brothers were too selfish, and that they weren't on that journey to help the country, but instead, to get back their bodies, AT ANY COST.

[u](iii)The ambitions of the main antagonist(s):[/u] This one was probably the easiest for me to decide.

The main antagonist in Brotherhood(Father/Homunculus) is much more well developed, and has an extremely ambitious goal, of conquering God, but in reality, he wanted to attain the knowledge of the world, as revealed in episode 63.

But, in the original, the main antagonist(Dante) seems rushed and extremely underdeveloped. She's an old lover of Hohenheim's and is also immortal, as she continuously switches bodies using the philosopher stone's power. Her main goal is to merely survive longer, along with her love interest, Hohenheim of Light. Her ambition is extremely weak, and her death, really isn't that satisfying. In the end, Dante can be described as a selfish, underdeveloped, hypocritical and straight out uninteresting, mess of a character.

The ambition of the Homunculi are similar in both series. In the original, most of the Homunculi, either want to kill their creators(Envy), while the others want to become human instead(Wrath, Lust). In the reboot, all of the Homunculi, are shown to have the same goal in the end. Each one of them(Excepting Gluttony, who never really had a goal, outside of eating) wanted something the humans had, for example, Greed wanted friends, and Father wanted knowledge and freedom.

Still in the end there is no way that the original could be classified, as having a "good" main antagonist. So this part goes to brotherhood, by a long shot.

(iv)Originality and Pacing of the story: This one's a bit of tough one. While I know for a fact that the story of the original is definitely more original, as the story of Brotherhood, was ripped straight from the manga, so if we talk about the anime itself, then Brotherhood can't really be called "original".

The problem comes in deciding which had better pacing. Both anime had parts which had small parts which I disliked. Brotherhood had a bit of a slow pace near the episodes 11 to 23. But the original has the complete opposite problem, it's well paced for a long time, but it's pace towards the end, gets extremely fast. The ending seemed a little too rushed. At least for my taste.

But in the end, when taking into account both factors of originality AND pacing, then the original beats Brotherhood by just a bit.

[u](v)The Ending:[/u]The ending of the original was an extremely unsatisfying with a lot of plot holes strewn throughout it. It was a pretty depressing ending in my eyes, even if the Conqueror of Shamballa movie helped repair the broken ending. The original’s ending shows Ed, getting separated from his brother and getting trapped in an alternate reality (Our reality, in fact, during WWII.). He does regain Al’s body, but Al is stuck in their “Alchemist” world, and he is back in the body and age, when he performed the original human transmutation, and he loses any memory of anything that happened during the many years, when he was a soul bonded to armour.

The ending of Brotherhood, was much happier, and it gave a sense of satisfaction to the anime’s end. The anime felt complete, and I was happy the way it ended.

Overall, the original’s ending left me wanting more explanation as to what happened and why, as well as a continuation to the story, and even though we got the CoS movie, it still didn’t give me a sense of satisfaction. Even though the movie showed us that Ed and Al get back together, it still left many questions unanswered. Brotherhood, on the other hand, leaves out the complicated ending out of the picture outside of the picture, and ties up the show in a nice little bow for us, but the in that case, the problem arises that there is nothing to think about after the epilogue (Episode 64 – Journey’s End).

While I am still unsatisfied with the ending of the original, I fell like the ending of Brotherhood, is equally guilty, since, it wraps everything up too well, and there isn’t really anything that is left up to the viewer. The anime just take everything up on its own shoulders, and leaves nothing for the audience to decide upon. Even still, the ending of the original was way too open for my taste. So I’m going to have to hand this one over to Brotherhood, even if I am a bit reluctant to do so.


[u](vi)The Feel of the overall story:[/u] In my introduction, I said that FMA:B was one of the darkest anime I had seen at the time, but now that I’ve rewatched the original to its entirety, I can easily say for a fact that the original Fullmetal Alchemist, was much darker than its more comedic counterpart the reboot, Brotherhood. It’s not that often that I get to say that a shounen was dark, and the original FMA, was really goddamn dark for a shounen. And you know what, I respect that. While I do like the happy-go-lucky nature of the reboot, I’ve always respected dark and gritty stories over dark stories, that have a lot of comedy.

Overall, I definitely support the original in this part. It had a much more set idea on what kind of story it wanted to be, with only one episode, acting as a comedic filler, while Brotherhood, was way more lighthearted, and even though it was dark at some moments, it had comedy in pretty much every episode, and so, it felt much more mixed than the original. Although, depending on whether you like comedy, in dark anime or not, you might disagree with me.


So… we’ve reached a dead end have we? 6 entries for story, and we have a 3 chalked up for both stories. I guess it’s time for a…
TIEBREAKER!!!!
(vii)The movies:Ok, before you start shouting at me about how this section is completely unfair, since it’s obvious whose going to win, let me just say, you’re right.. I only added this in because it was my only chance to do so, since these movies to count as a part of the series as a whole. So, I’m sorry, but, I really had to place it in the tiebreaker of the Story section, since any other section would make no sense. Now, let’s get to the actual comparison.

Both the original and the reboot have movies, and the movies are usually considered canon (Even if we want to forget one of those movies ever existed).

I’ll start off with the original’s movie, the Conqueror of Shamballa (I’ll be referring to it as CoS). The movie itself acts as a continuation to the ending of the original, which left fans unsatisfied. The movie itself takes place in both our world, where science progressed over alchemy, and the FMA world where alchemy progressed over science. Edward is trapped in our world, and Alphonse is trapped inside the FMA world and has now lost any memory of his time in his iconic armor. Both brothers are looking for a way to be reunited with each other. Eventually they do get reunited, but they choose to live away from their old friends, in our science-based world.

The ending of this one really wasn’t that happy either, but it showed us the reuniting of the 2 brothers, and it also helped explain the ending of the original much better.

Now for the.. other one… *RANT MODE ACTIVATED.*
The other movie is the movie for Brotherhood. Although, even if I called this one a movie for the original, you probably wouldn’t notice, considering, this movie might as well take place anywhere in the Fullmetal Universe. The movie is, “The Sacred Star of Milos.”. I’m not going to give this one a summary, since I honestly don’t give a flying fuck about what’s going on in this movie. It’s basically a story based around a girl named Julia, whose trying to search for the Philosopher Stone, in order to save a garbage dump… What? You think I’m joking? No. No I’m not. On one hand we have the two brothers who want to save an entire country WITHOUT using the stone, and then we have this selfish bitch, who’s willing to use the stone, to save an insignificant fucking garbage dump, where, apparently, there was once “Holy Land”. Well, it’s not so holy, once it becomes the shitting grounds for both Creta and Amestris.

The characters in this movie were shit, the animation was painful, the music was practically non-existent, and the story was a gigantic pile of horseshit. I mean, you know you’ve fucked up if you can make the Fullmetal Alchemist look bad.

This movie was a fucking shitstain on the crystal clear toilet bowl of Fullmetal Alchemist; it’s a goddamn abomination that was only ever made to be a cash grab. None of the old characters we know and love, like Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Alex Louis Armstrong, Winry, were even useful in this shitheap of a story. We don’t care about this girl, nor should we be expected to care about the shitty condition of a ravine. The story didn’t even add anything to the plot or to the characters of FMA:B. It was just a last attempt by Studio Bones, to breathe life into their Magnum Opus. But in the end, all they succeeded in doing was blowing some smoke into the show’s spotless lungs.

*RANT MODE DEACTIVATED*

So, as you can clearly tell the original won the movie section by a landslide.


Story Results:
(i) Process of Creation of Homunculi(Winner: Original)
(ii)Focus of Story(Winner: Brotherhood)
(iii)Ambitions of main antagonist(Winner: Brotherhood)
(iv)Originality and Pacing of story(Winner: Original)
(v)The Ending(Winner: Brotherhood)
(vi)Feel of the story(Winner: Original)
TIEBREAKER: (vii)Movies(Winner: Original)

Overall, the story part goes to Original.




2. – Animation

OK, first off, let me say that it doesn’t feel right comparing the animation of a 2003 anime to a 2009 anime, and I will make show some leniency to the original show, that being said, I’ll try to be as fair as I possibly can.

(i)The Art Style: The overall art throughout both shows were very good. Both anime have very similar styles of art(probably cause they’re both made by studio Bones). With that being said, there are a few differences between both the art styles of the two anime.

The original FMA goes for a very dark theme, meaning that the entire anime has a very dark art style. And sometimes, the art style gets too dark. And by that I mean, the show, quite literally, gets too dark for me to view it properly, so much so, that I actually had to turn up the brightness of my screen many times. The reboot, FMA:B, on the other hand, while still dark, had a much lighter feel to it. While I said that this was something bad in the Story section, it does have the positive effect of making the reboot’s art style look and feel much more appealing to me.

So overall, while both anime have good art styles, FMA:B has a better feel in its style, mainly due to the abundance of comedy throughout the show.

(ii)Animation: Both the original and reboot of FMA have very fluent animation(mostly) throughout the show. Bones’ art doesn’t try to be realistic, by any stretch of the word, nor does it try to make every scene look gorgeous. Instead, Bones, as always, decided to put everything they had had into making the fight sequences look gorgeous. And boy, they hit it out of the park with both of these anime. Every single fight in both anime just bleeds “awesome”.

The original FMA had very good animation, at the time. As much as I want to say that every scene in the original looks gorgeous, I can’t. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the fights are awesome, but it’s the simple (non-fighting scene’s) animation that really gets my goat. I can’t look at the normal animation and not think that there was some way it could’ve looked better.

Meanwhile, FMA:B just looks great overall. Not only do the fights look epic as hell, the simple animation is also very good. Maybe it’s because Bones had a few more years of experience under their belt, but there wasn’t a single point in FMA:B that I thought Bones could’ve done better.

Whether it be Mustang slaughtering Envy or the final fight against Father, FMA:B makes every fight look as amazing as possible. On the other hand, while the original FMA does have some brilliant animation at times, there is no way that I can say that it’s better than it’s reboot. FMA:B was most certainly Bones at their best.


(iii)The character design:This is the portion where I think that the original FMA shines the most.

While both the shows adapt the same manga, one could expect the characters in both shows to look the same, and yes, the characters do look relatively the same. My problem doesn’t come in the design of the characters, but instead, in the facial features and expressions of the various characters of the show. Most of the characters in the reboot hold the same bland expression throughout the show, and their faces aren’t very detailed.

The best way I can show this is by comparing the character designs from the 2003 and 2009 versions, respectively. (Note: I couldn't find any pictures that showed what I wanted.)
1.Envy
2.Hohenheim

If you can’t notice the difference, I don’t blame you. The differences are hard to spot in pictures so just watch both of them the shows side by side and you’ll probably see what I mean.

So, even if I couldn’t convey what I meant, I still think that the original has better character design than the reboot.



Animation Results:
(i)Art Style (Winner: Brotherhood)
(ii)Animation (Winner: Brotherhood)
(iii)Character Design (Winner: Original)

Overall, the animation section goes to Brotherhood.


3. – Sound

This is where things get tense. Both anime have an overall amazing soundtrack, and both have Dubs and Subs that equal each other. It’s an extremely tough choice to decide between which one is better, almost as tough as choosing between my children, if I had any. But I’ll give it the best shot I can.

(i)The Soundtrack: Both the original and Brotherhood have very unique and emotional soundtracks. Every one of the songs are brilliant, and never have any of them ceased to please my ears. Even if they aren’t the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard, they were definitely good contenders for the top spot on that list. But as much as I praise the soundtracks, one of them has a glaring flaw in them. That is, Brotherhood’s soundtrack. There was one specific song that was repeated over and over in every show. Those 2 songs would be:
1. Brothers(Original 2003)

2.Lapis philosophorum(Brotherhood 2009)


Even if both of these songs were used to ridiculous extents in their respective shows, “Lapis Philosphorum”, from Brotherhood, was overused to an extreme extent. The song itself wasn’t all that good, and by the end of Brotherhood, I really just wanted to get it out of my head. The original also uses the “Brothers” theme a little too much for my liking, but in my opinion, “Brothers” was a much better song than “Lapis Philosphorum”, and it wasn’t used to the same extent as LP either.

The original had an arguably better OST overall in my opinion. Even though most of the songs in Brotherhood were good, the original was much more emotional with its music and it was much better in controlling the emotions of the viewer.

Overall, the original definitely had a better soundtrack than the reboot.


(ii)The Openings and Endings: This one’s a no-brainier. The openings and endings in Brotherhood are all godly. None of them fail to disappoint me. Every one of them(Especially the Openings) are amazing works of art, even if you don’t watch the animations along with them.

The openings and endings of the original were definitely not as good as the ones in Brotherhood. None of them really stood out for me, and even their animations weren’t anything special.

Personally, my favorite of the openings would be Brotherhood’s opening 4: Period.


So overall, Brotherhood completely flattens the Original in this section.


(iii)Subs and Dubs:This is going to be a really difficult decision. There are very few differences between the dub/sub of either series, and even for the minor differences, it really doesn’t make that big of a change.

But still, since I don’t have an idea for the tiebreaker in this the sound section, I’m going to have to award this section to someone based on certain faults in either series. I like Scar better in the Original, as well as Hohenheim, but on the other hand, I despise Alphonse’s voice in the Original. No offense to the guy who did it(Aaron Dismuke), but Al sounded like a whiny brat in the Original. But overall, Brotherhood has two trump cards over the Original, those are, the inclusion of Todd Haberkorn/Miyano Mamoru as Ling Yao, who is one of my favorite characters of all time. The second trump card is, of course, Troy Baker voicing Greed, anther one of my favorites.

So, as unwilling as I am to do so, I have to hand this one over to Brotherhood.




Sound Results:
(i) Soundtrack(Winner: Original)
(ii) Openings and Endings(Winner: Brotherhood)
(iii) Sub/Dub(Winner:Brotherhood)

Overall, the sound section goes to Brotherhood.



4. – Characters

So, the final section, as well as the most important section in my eyes. I won’t be separating this part into separate categories, and I will, instead, write this part as a large thesis, so if you don’t want to read tons of crap on the characters of FMA, and my opinions on them, then just go to the end of this section.

I all honesty this part just boils down to Quantity VS Quality. Brotherhood has a gigantic roster of characters, at least in comparison to the original, but the original’s smaller list of characters, allows for more development in them. But, don’t get me wrong, Brotherhood also developed its characters pretty damn well. So, saying that Brotherhood didn’t have developed characters is wrong, and saying that the original has a tiny list of characters is also wrong.

Both of these shows’ characters were very similar in design and attitude, so I’ll try to differentiate among a few of them.

First off, the Homunculi. This part, without a doubt goes to the Original. All of the homunculi in the original had their own hidden agendas, and every one of them (Except Gluttony) were perfectly developed. The only homunculus that was more developed in Brotherhood, was Greed, who had a very small role in the original, unfortunately. Then we also have the main villain, who was definitely better as Father in Brotherhood. Dante’s character only had little bits of screen time, here and there, but Father’s character was omnipresent throughout the show. Even in the first episode of Brotherhood, we catch a glimpse of his face (When the freezer uses the stone to try and freeze central command).

We also have a few smaller “antagonists” like Scar and Kimbly. Scar was better developed in the original, as he had a much better turnaround, near the end of the show, where he save Al from blowing up, by turning Al into a philosopher’s stone. Kimbly on the other hand, was much better developed in Brotherhood, where his motives were slightly more explored than just leaving it at “I BLOW SHIT UP AND I LOVE IT.”. He also has a bigger role in Brotherhood.

On the note of Kimbly, we have a load of military personnel who remain unchanged in both shows. But then we also have 2 characters who were slightly different in both shows. First, we have the joker himself, Maes Hughes. This guy’s a really lovable character, and his death in Brotherhood(Episode 10) didn’t do him justice. But in the original, his death occurred in episode 25, I think, thus allowing his character to grow much more, and his death hurt much more. But, we also have Roy Mustang, my all time favorite character, who was better developed in Brotherhood, albeit, a little late(Episode 54- Beyond the Inferno). His character did develop in the Original, and in the movie(Conqueror of Shamballa). But, I really didn’t like the road his development took, aside from his having a badass eyepatch in CoS.

We also have Izumi Curtis, who had a much better developed, but a very annoying role, as the “overprotective mother” when it comes to the Homunculus “Wrath”. In Brotherhood, she had a much more likable role, but had little development.

Then we also have Hohenheim’s character. In the original Hohenheim, had an insultingly small role to play, while in Brotherhood, Hohenheim’s character was perfect. He seemed much more caring for the people of Amestris, and he feels immense regret that he left his family behind, and let Trisha die. On the other hand, Hohenheim in the original felt like he didn’t give a shit about anything but Trisha.

Speaking of Hohenheim’s family, let’s move on to the main characters, the Elric Brothers. They may not seem very different, but believe me, they are. Edward and Alphonse in the original were a very dis-likable duo in my eyes. As I’ve said before, they seemed very selfish, as they only wanted to get each others bodies back, and really, they wouldn’t have cared about the Homunculi’s plans, if it wasn’t for the fact that they were directly involved in their plans. That being said, I also do admit, that the brothers had a much more believable relationship and they really seemed to care about how they wanted to get the others body back to normal.

On the complete opposite, we have the Elric Brothers from Brotherhood, who tried to save everyone, even if it meant sacrificing themselves. That ambition is what makes the pair of brothers much more likable in Brotherhood.

Brotherhood also has a few trump cards, like Ling, a better role for Greed, and Oliver Mira Armstrong.

Thus, I believe, as a whole, Brotherhood, wins this section. Even if they had slightly less developed characters, they pulled it through with a higher number of well-developed, characters.

Therefore, overall, Brotherhood, is what wins the VS in its entirety. Even if the original was a very good show, it wasn’t as good a Brotherhood. The original may have had a better story and movie, but Brotherhood was overall, the better show. THE WINNER IS BROTHERHOOD.

Anime Relations: Mirai Nikki (TV)

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR MIRAI NIKKI AHEAD



So... Mirai Nikki. I watched this anime after seeing it's popularity as well as ranking on M.A.L. Since it was near to Neon Genesis Evangelion in both sectors I expected it to at least keep me entertained. Sadly, It failed to achieve that.

Evangelion and Mirai Nikki differ mainly in 2 points, the plot and the characters. But no matter how much I bash Mirai Nikki, I must admit that the series does have its high points.

High Points

1. The first opening:- While this may seem like a minor counter to a laundry list of flaws, this opening is what allowed me to continue with the series. It's an addicting opening, with a great set of lyrics as well as a great singer to execute those lyrics.

2. The Concept:- The setting of Mirai Nikki is extremely unique. A survival game where each competitor is given a diary to match their personality, and the winner of the game is god. So you could say that the show had potential to be a very good thriller anime, but it just fell flat on its ass.

3.The Character Development:- Now, while I do say that the characters of Mirai Nikki are "bad". But this has a few exceptions. While there are a few characters who are unbelievably underdeveloped(For example:- Eleventh, Twelfth, Fifth, Sixth etc.), it also has a few very well developed characters(For example:- Yuno, Minene, The Sevenths, Akise A.K.A the gay one who resembles Kaoru from evangelion).

4. The Sound/Music:- Yes, I made two separate sections for the opening and the OST. If you don't like it then write your own blog.

The soundtrack for Mirai Nikki while nothing spectacular, but it's still worth a mention.

I'm not even going to talk about the dub as it's one of the most detestable dubs for an anime I've ever heard, up there with Higurashi. The sub however, is a different story. The voice actors for the Japanese dub of the show did a spectacular job portraying the characters the voiced, regardless of how stupid the character really was. Especially props to Tomosa Murata, the woman who knocked it out of the park as Yuno.

5. The Animation:- Same as the soundtrack, the music again, is nothing near brilliant, but it's still better than average.


Now for the negative side of the anime. And believe me, there's a lot to say here.

Plot Holes

The plot holes.. OH MY FUCKING GOD. THE PLOT HOLES. This is probably the first anime that I've seen has this amount of plot holes. The amount of worthless shit that happens just tells me that the majority of characters are either complete retards, or have absolutely no common sense. So lets get to this.

1. Yuuki/Yuno "Relationship":- This relationship is one of the bigger and more obvious sticks up this show's ass. There is absolutely no reason as to why Yuuki would even consider being Yuno's boyfriend after he saw the room where in Yuno's house where the corpses were there. And even if he didn't see that room, he probably should've have caught on to the fact that YUNO IS A PSYCHOPATHIC BITCH. I mean I'm pretty sure when we saw THIS: we all realized that this girl was waaaaaaaayyyyy off her nut.

Then there's the point of Yuno even liking Yuuki in the first place, but when someone's as crazy as Yuno, then I really don't have any logical explanation to apply on her.

Also, remember that scene where Yuno and Yuuki were HAVING SEX?! Let me remind you that both of them ARE MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN, AND ARE 14 FUCKING YEARS OLD.

2. Deus Ex Machina, God? MY ASS.:- This is a pretty smart god eh? He somehow realizes that the Mur-Mur in his world actually works for Yuno, who became a god in another world(I pity anybody who lived in that world), BUT STILL DOESN'T"T ATTEMPT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?! I mean is he an idiot?! Well, he has done stupider things.

"Let's make a deathmatch, and the one psychotic killer who's the most efficient at killing people will become a god! Also, let's give people who are mentally broken, psychic powers! I'M A GENIUS!"

Yeah, real good idea god.

[u]3. The Disappearance of Gasai Suzumiya[/u]:- So Yuno went back in time and killed her parents as well as her past self. Well, first of all, this forms a paradox. If I go back in time and kill myself, then I would never exist and thus never go back in time to kill myself, thus a paradox. So that kind of caught my attention, but since time isn't a fixed concept,(and according to Steins;Gate, there's the world line theory) so I won't count that as a plot hole.

But what I will count as a plot hole is the death of Yuno's parents. They owned a big bank, right? So when they were killed, I'm guessing someone should've noticed that their bank was going bankrupt, or at least that they were no where to be found. SO WHY DIDN'T ANYONE INVESTIGATE THE GASAI HOUSEHOLD?! Again, are the police fucking morons? Plus, when Nishijima did confront Yuno, he just asked "So, did you kill your parents?" when she says "No", he just leaves? Why?!

"Uhhh... So this teenage girl's possibly a psychopathic and genocidal maniac. I should probably discuss things with her over a cup of coffee, without backup, and I should just ask her if she murdered her parents. I'm pretty sure she'll confess!"

[u]4. Yuno, the Legendary Yandere, with a hint of stupid?[/u]:- Yuno came back in time to spend more time with Yuuki. So why doesn't she just kill that worlds Deus before he even proposes the survival game. I mean, she did just become a god. Mur Mur shouldn't ever have erased her memory, and she could've easily gone to Deus and said - "Die". And knowing how stupid Deus is, he probably would've.

Also, how does Yuno have skills that would make even Clair Stanfield cringe. Honestly, is it ever explained how she got her superhuman powers? Was she born on an alien planet? Is she a mutant? Was she bitten by a mutant spider? HOW?!

[u]5. The Stupidity of Haruhi Yukiteru[/u]:- While I've already mentioned that Yuuki should never have even considered being Yuno's boyfriend, these points merely highlight how bad and inconsistent of a character he is.

(i) The first time he tried to believe another person(Sixth) he was betrayed. Yuno even warned him that this would happen. I forgave him for that one. But after that same scenario being repeated over and over again I think it's about time that he realized that when Yuno's saying it's a trap THEN IT'S A FUCKING TRAP.

But, no. He doesn't. And due to him not realizing that all the diary owners ,aside from a few, are out to kill him, he gets himself and Yuno into several different predicaments which could've easily been avoided had he listened to Yuno's advice.

Admittedly he does become a complete and total prick in the middle of the series, where he kills off an orphanage. Real nice Yuuki. He keeps jumping between Alucard("I'm gonna kill them all" mentality) and Shnji Ikari("I don't want to kill anything" mentality). And, I'm pretty sure you know that, those two characters are practically incomparable.

Non-Plot Holes
1. There's very little character development for various characters.
2. I DESPISE YUUKI, WITH A BURNING PASSION.
3. The ending of the show is complete shit. Even with the OVA, it's still shit.
4. Enjoying the show requires you to never think about the decisions made by the characters. And considering that this is a psychological/thriller anime, that is definitely not a good sign.


Therefore, I dub this the Dumbest Thriller EVER.



Other than the problems I just shoved in your face, I'm sure you can add many more. So feel free to add to the points I said, and if you want to start a flame war, I'd be happy to bring out my fire extinguisher. Just make sure your arguments are at least valid points, and not bullshit points. Also, don't say something like "I enjoyed the show, so it's good!". It makes you sound stupid.

Anime Relations: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

*WARNING. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BOTH TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN AND KILL LA KILL.*

So let me just say before I start ranting on this topic that Gurren Lagann is definitely better than Kill La Kill. This is mainly a blog which explains why I think this.

First of all. The animation. KLK's animation is in no way better than TTGL's. This might be due to the low production value of KLK. TTGL can also be considered more unique in the style of art used in it. This might be because KLK was made by the same director of TTGL, thus making KLK look a little less unique than TTGL.

Also, KLK had a shit-ton more fanservice than TTGL.


Secondly: The characters. This is the part which really made KLK drop below TTGL. While Gurren Lagann has a gigantic roster of character, and also develops the main character(Simon), in contrast Kill la Kill has a much smaller cast of characters, and the main character(Ryuko) doesn't develop much at all.

And then there's Mako. Ah, Mako. If you don't know by now, KLK is widely criticized for its use of the comic-relief character, Mako. Most people either like her, or they flat out despise her. I honestly can't find why people find her so annoying. Yes, she does interrupt the "serious" action scenes VERY often. But I don't find that wrong like others do. The entire point of the show is to be a stupid and fun show that will keep you entertained, regardless if you think its good or not. When the show starts to lean on the serious side, it starts to "lose its way". Mako is there as an unbreakable wall, to stop the show from becoming serious, and she immediately kicks it back into stupidity. Thus, no, I don't find Mako , or her family for that matter, annoying.


Third: Plot Originality. This one is a little hard to decide. Both plots are ridiculously over-the-top, and both have a change in villain near the middle.
TTGL: Beastmen to Anti-Spirals.
KLK: Satsuki to Ragyou.

Both series also use the plot point of: "Humanity is under attack from alien forces."
TTGL: Anti-Spirals
KLK: COVERS

Overall, I would say both plots are equal. But TTGL wins in 2 sections:
1. Since TTGL is older than KLK, I would say that the idea of making a crazy plot, came for TTGL. Thus, TTGL is more "original".
2.TTGL was much more large and epic in scale, compared to KLK.


Fourth: The music. The music in both series aren't anything special. But TTGL definitely takes the trophy home in this one. While TTGL didn't have many good tracks, KLK just had one song that you can remember, which is the "Don't lose your way" song. TTGL's soundtrack wasn't too memorable, but it had a wider variety of tracks to chose from.

So, with all those things in mind, I would say that Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is better than Kill La Kill, but only by a little.

So, what did you think of both of those series? Did you agree with me? And if you disagree, feel free to make a decent argument in the comment section.