Fullmetal Alchemist

EDIT: I realize now that I probably came off as elitist and that was definitely not my intention, so eventually I'm going to rewrite this and sound nicer.

Some notes before I get into this review:
-It annoys me when people compare 03 and Brotherhood so I'm not going to do that
-I'm not going to be very nice so if you genuinely like this series for some reason I wouldn't recommend you read this
-If you're planning on watching this show, don't (If you've already seen Brotherhood, stop there).
-This review is mostly spoiler-free (some vague mentioning here and there)
-This was the first anime I watched (excluding Pokemon), but ... I actually finished Brotherhood first. This probably deserves a lower score than a 6, but I can't bring myself to knock it down further because of the nostalgia factor.
-I'm probably going to get hate for this, but you're not changing my mind

Now on to the actual review.

Story: 5/10

FMA 03 started out following the manga but caught up to it too quickly, so they had to make fillers and stretch out some stuff. 03's pacing was actually fairly close to the manga's, albeit a bit slower becauase of the wait for the manga. But after some time (it happened gradually), the anime started to take on another story and by the end it was completely different from the manga. The fact that the story changed direction from the beginning left a lot of things unexplained and/or twisted into something else, and the bits of foreshadowing they included from the manga were ignored. The "plot twist" they threw out near the end came completely out of left field (which, in this case, was a very bad thing) and was not foreshadowed at all. Not to mention that it didn't really make any sense. It seemed to me that they just wanted to rush and finish the show so they gave us something and didn't bother explaining it: Here you go, here's your ending, goodbye.

This show didn't really touch on any deep and philosophical issues either. "Don't try human transmutation." Um, okay? I won't? Not like it exists in our world anyway.

Most of the faults in the story were just due to the fact that this was originally going to be a manga adaptation that they had to change into something else. So we end up with a shoddily explained ending as well as a bunch of filler episodes.

Art: 9/10

This anime was surprisingly visually pleasing for something made in 2003 (and probably in production in 2002 or 2001). It's not getting a 10 mostly just out of personal taste: the way Ed's hair is drawn, how Al's eyes are red (which makes him seem almost evil), and the way the alchemy is animated (different colors for no apparent reason. CONSISTENCY).

Sound: 8/10

Most of the OST was rather good, with "Brothers" being a particular favorite. However, I was not a fan of the "soulful harmonica" track, nor were the OP's and ED's very memorable (with the exception of the last OP, "Rewrite", which I like a lot).

Character: 4/10

Oh boy, the category where the anime crashed and burned the most (though the story was pretty bad).
Disclaimer: A lot of the bad characterization was simply because the people making the show didn't have much to go on as a lot of important character development hadn't happened in the manga at that point. That being said, it was stil godawful. The only reason it's getting a 4 at all is because there were a lot of characters, and some of them were okay at best.

One of the things I hated most about FMA 03 is the complete and utter lack of character development. Literally none of the characters changed as the series went on.

Let's start with Ed. Ed was reduced to a pile of angst, and a lot of what he did was very angsty. His sole purpose in life was returning Al to his body. Not that there's anything bad about that, per se, but it cut out a lot of his ulterior motives (i.e. keeping everyone alive) from the manga. And as I said above, his character does not develop at all. He finds out the true ingredient to a Philosopher's Stone? Oh well, let's keep looking for it anyway! Maybe we'll find another kind of Philosopher's Stone with a different main ingredient!
He also ends up contradicting some of what he says are his most fundamental values just for the sake of moving the story along. He says he will never kill people, but 03 Ed definitely does.

Next is Al. Poor Alphonse was reduced to just a prop in 03. You could literally take him out of the show entirely (or just change him to a 2x4 or something) and not much would change. Ed would be motivated to regain his own body rather than Al's, but that's pretty much it. What's sad in this show is you can actually tell pretty much the same story even if you remove one of the most vital characters from it. Ed is always rushing to poor helpless Al's rescue. Al is pretty much something for Ed to target his countless angst at (it would look pretty weird to be talking to himself all the time). The only time Al bears any actual significance to the story is right at the very end, and that's only for one brief thing. It's really unfortuate that Al was so useless because he's such a sweetie pie that actually has a really great character. But alas, he was reduced to a prop in this show.

And now Winry. Winry's potential was pretty much squandered in 03 as she did almost nothing to contribute to the story (and Ed and Al's journey). She fixes Ed's automail a few times and investigates the military with Sheska on one occasion, but not much else. In addition, she was happy with the way things turned out in the end, while realistically she wouldn't be (staying vague because of spoilers).

Roy Mustang was pretty much reduced to a womanizing jerk. His personality isn't very well established to begin with, and then there was that whole thing with Hughes. Nothing ever came out of that. No exciting (and slightly scary) confrontation. He just forgets about it and moves on.

The homunculi weren't too bad, I guess. Their personalities weren't butchered from what I remember. I just think they gave too much screentime to Lust, Envy, and Wrath; and not enough to the others. Wrath in particular was just an annoying brat that I wanted to rip apart and scream NO ONE CARES at. The explanation of how homunculi come to be in 03 is more scientifically probable, but if the anime had kept following the manga, it would have totally ruined the idea that is stated over and over in the manga: human transmutation is impossible. However, this show didn't follow the manga, so this explanation is acceptable in the context of this show's story. It doesn't really explain why the homunculi tend to work together, though.

And the villain, Dante. We don't know her motives (except maybe jealousy?) or her goals. She's pretty one-dimensional and she doesn't even make an appearance until near the end of the show. All around she was pretty damn boring as a villain. Here, they don't have much of an excuse since Dante isn't in the manga at all, so it's not like she was undeveloped or anything. Villains should always be interesting (not necessarily likeable), but Dante wasn't interesting at all. She showed up, was an evil bitch, did some evil and bitchy things, and nothing else.

And don't even get me started on all the Ed/Rose shipping going on. Ugh.

I could go on all day about each of the characters, but I'll just end here so I don't end up with a really long review.

tl;dr A lot of the lack of characterization can be given some slack as the manga wasn't far along enough to truly establish the characters, but they could have at least written some development into the show. That ties into the sloppy story. If the events had been better written, development could have actually taken place.

Also backstories were completely thrown out the window for a lot of characters that deserved their interesting pasts and ideologies explained. The only backstory that was explained in depth was the Elric brothers', and they conveniently took a painfully slow, nine-episode-long flashback to do so. I did like how they gave Nina's story ample time, but she didn't really provide any material as far as character development later on. Also, they didn't need to (try to) bring her back. They really didn't.

Enjoyment: 7/10

The first time I finished the show I liked it, but the more I watched it, the more problems I noticed with it. That being said, every time I've seen the show, I've finished it fairly quickly, and without skipping episodes (except sometimes the very boring fillers. But the latest time I rewatched it, it was with a friend who hadn't seen it yet, so we didn't skip episodes even though I'd tell her which episodes were boring and pointless).
Some of the episodes were downright painful to get through, and the anime only really picked up its pacing at the very end. However, some episodes (13 and 37) were really funny and I always enjoy watching them when I rewatch the show. Some of the ending stuff is exciting, but the whole show is a drag by comparison. It's not worth struggling through the boringness to get to the ending which is full of holes anyway.

Overall: 6/10

I think this anime is seriously overrated and a lot of the nostalgic babies that give this show high scores need to get their heads out of the sand and notice the glaring issues.
As I said before, it probably deserves a lower score than a 6, but since it was my first anime and I still remember it with some fondness, I can't lower it any further.

I feel like this anime could be a badly written fanfiction of FMA that some Ed/Rose shipper started writing while the manga was stll ongoing and said fanfiction somehow ended up into a 51-episode anime with a movie sequel that screwed up the ending even more.

Fullmetal Alchemist is a series that actually comes together surprisingly well for it's 5/10 rating stamp. Where it finds issue is that nothing before the ending is all that surprising. At so many points during the series the absolute convenience of situations coming together was stunning.

As for the characters there is often a feeling that beyond one tick and a different voice actor, there is not much to seperate one from another. No one is really given depth. This becomes even worse at the end of the show where the plot is perhaps most innovative, it is accompanied by the point ... where the characters are most over the top in their depthless structures. One is somewhat forced to admit though that even characters with very few unique features can still be amusing, if done as best they can be done, just because of how over the top they are. This does not stop "'Well he's just a shrimp' 'What the hell did you say about me!?'" from getting really tiring.

Biggest complaints however were how many times one has to hear the phrase "Equivalent Exchange," how long some of the most simple plot points took to move forward making it feel sluggish at times, and the extreme excess of the phrase "Dogs of the Military" even in people that seemed to have no real reason for resentment. This included a good number of people with alchemic powers which seem to be the great trump card in this world, so it becomes a great wonder how the largely cult like military group came to power.

Overall, sometimes enjoyable, nothing really to set it apart from the efforts of other pieces, but nothing that absolutely drags it through the mud either.

The story of a journey of two brothers who want to restore what they've lost after the "taboo" they have committed, a journey full of thrilling adventures, sorrowful adversities and a bitter sweet ending.

So, lets begin with my modest review:-

Story: this adaptation didn't follow the original story-line, so one could expect a messy story with many plot holes... which is clearly the case here. many things weren't really explicit, especially when it was nearing its ending. At first I could say that they made the story quite convincing, but when I compare it to its alternative version "FMA Brotherhood" then I could clearly tell that ... this version isn't really great. My rate 4.5-5/10.

Art: keeping in mind when this anime was aired; I would say that the art was very good, I don't really know how to rate or criticize the art very well, so that's the only thing I could say. I give it 8/10.

Sound: the OST was great, really fitting the nature of the anime pretty well, the OPs and EDs were quite good as well, the voice actors/actresses have done a good job. 8/10.

Character: the depth of some characters really contributed greatly to this anime, one thing that I admire is how some antagonist characters experience much development to the extent that they end up being supporting characters, it might not be really convincing, though I don't think it's bad thing in the emotional aspect. In the other hand; some supporting characters haven't had much development throughout the story, I could say they ended up being useless characters. 6.5-7/10.

Enjoyment: despite the many cons, I really enjoyed watching FMA, I was unhappy about the conclusion tho... especially when I consider "The Conqueror of Shamballa" in mind, it's not like I hate these kind of bad or bittersweet endings, but I just dislike it when many things are left in the dark or are just unconvincing. My overall rate 6/10.

Thanks for reading!

Full Metal Alchemist - Picked this up recently as it was on Adult Swim and I pretty much had nothing else to do.

Story: Story is fine up until halfway or so. At this point it begins to feel that the writers are just dragging the story along when they could probably just have ended it in 30 or so episodes. I don't know what the manga is like and don't really have any interest in it if it explains more or has some different content etc. Also, about the R rating - I think its only R rated because there might be ... some mature themes expressed a bit differently than most anime (Killing & Using Humans for example & other topics related to the Circle of Life).

Towards the later episodes it appears that there is more comedy involved in the writing than there was in the previous episodes and it throws off ... the viewers sense of direction i suppose a bit.

Art: Aside from the comedic moments between the main characters when the directors decide to change their faces to be more humorous.. not sure how to describe that... this can become a bit old later in the series. Otherwise art is fine. I'm not usually one who cares for art because I haven't really found a problem with art in any anime cause of how our standards change.

Sound: Sound is fine - I can't really stand the character Al's voice, but maybe thats just because he's eh.. talking out of a suit of armor i suppose (this is an "he is but he isn't" kind of thing.) I also could not stand one of the background songs used in the middle of the series. It just sounded out of place or even horrible in the anime.

Character: I was a bit more impressed than I thought I would be with the characters and their relationships. Sure there are some misses in the anime/manga but overall well done.

Enjoyment: Again up to about halfway I was fine with it and wouldn't mind an episode during dinner or so - but past the half way mark I just haven't really been interested in the anime because it keeps on going off the main story plot.


Overall: Its tolerable. Nothing spectacular but if you want to watch it when youre bored or find it on Adult Swim, if you have it, go ahead and watch it. The dubs aren't that bad once you get used to them.

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) is the best example of the phrase "It aged poorly". It's an obsolete version of FMA that's no longer as praised as before and it's been completely overshadowed by FMA Brotherhood, and for good reason, in first place it was never even canon and it basically looks like a cheap fanfiction that somehow got animated compared to the orginal material.

The reality of this show is that it was never even good to begin with and the only way to defend it is by biased nostalgia or superficial aspects within the show. The main problem with this version is that it came out ... when the manga had only began to publish and the people behind it didn't understand what the story was actually about and didn't know the direction and overall message that Arakawa wanted to give to its work. The show wasn't faithful to the manga at the beginning and then tried to make it's own thing, it was actually never faithful to the manga and it was always rewriting the story to change completely the plot of the first arcs, like the State Alchemist Exam, the Nina episode, Lab 5, Greed's episode etc, and after that, they had to create a new original story from the scratch to fill the rest because they ran out of material to adapt.

So basically, this version is the vision they had of FMA when the manga was only beginning, the show is basically the writers having to fill the plot-points that hadn't been resolved yet in the manga, and that's why it ended up having another villain, another explanation for the origin of the Homonculus, another orgin for Hohenheim and a completely different Truth Door, and because of this, the show became an incoherent and incomplete mess that contradicts most parts of the original story and basically it had to end the story unsatisfactorly with nonsense bullshit and pretentious messages and philosophies.

Another reason why this version feels incomplete and empty compared to Brotherhood is the characters, in Brotherhood all of the characters participate directly in the story and have an appropiate development that ends up having a conclusion at the end of the show, here the only good characters that have a consistent relevance and development are Edward, Lust and Scar, the rest of the characters like Alphonse, Winry, Hohenheim, Bradley, Greed, Mustang etc end up doing almost nothing and are ridiculously inferior and even some of them become a parody or a joke of what they used to be in the case of Alphonse and Hohenheim.

Overall, the only good thing that this version managed to do is the introduction of the story and the characters in the first episodes and its beautiful and gorgeous soundtrack, specially with songs like Brothers or Dante's theme, but in the end this version is just a non-canon filler that has the level of a fanfic written by an edgy and pretentious teenager that only gets to be decent at best because of its good introduction, some interesting ideas or characters, some technical aspects and for keeping some of the elements of the original material.

5/10.

I've only ever seen an anime fall off this hard one other time in my life, and it was guilty crown. The story follows two brothers who have committed the crime of being children with magic who want their mom back.

Alchemy is explained surprisingly little for being the central power system. The laws around it are explained in detail the process itself is explained as "tectonic plates or something" until the last few epsiodes, which are honestly not great. Overall if it interests you the show treats alchemy like a cooking blog where they tell you the cooks life story, where each ingredient comes from, ... the warranty of the stove and at the end it tells you how to make toast with peanutbutter.

It sounds like I hate it but its a genuinely great anime with good themes, it did a good job of explaining the world (by world I mean the one country) and the frame of mind it is in. The main characters get a lot more characterization compared to brotherhood as well.

I'm going to end with an out of context spoiler that will make no sense if you haven't watched it but I figure I should warn you. Why did they send them to post world war one Germany? They know whats about to happen their right??

Watch the followup movie if you watch this it almost saves the ending

Well, for one, it didn't follow the manga at all. I mean, the ending was so screwed up that I wanted to cry. And now that I'm actually reading the manga (lol) there are some things that they added that weren't ever mentioned in the manga at all. I mean, don't get me wrong, I absolutley adore FMA, but.....they screwed up so badly that I literally wanted to kill my computer....which I never would do. I hope they do a better job with FMA Brotherhood (i've heard, and I don't know if I'm right, that the writer forced the anime makers to make a series ... that actually went with the manga.....) because if they don't I will be very pissed

With outstanding characters and amazing audio music I am amazed how much I disliked this anime after re-watching it after Brotherhood and reading the manga. Unfortunately I'm a stickler to the 'anime must follow manga' motto. Perhaps it's even because of this anime that I think so.

The story, which I in the end have the most problem with, is good up to a point. I loved seeing Edward and Alphonse in training, and the filler episodes weren't half bad. However, the later part just makes no sense. The story veers off in the middle and never makes it back on track. The character exposition ... up until that point is now useless and only suffices to finish the anime. There are a couple of things that I detest immensely about the story but for the sake of spoilers I will not mention. Just prepare yourself for the 'Are you serious?' moments, there will be plenty.

The art isn't bad, for the period it was made in, still it can't be rated higher than fair. The sound however, is amazing. Now, the openings and endings are generally a hit and miss for me, and it was the same with this anime unfortunately. However the tracks played during this anime were fantastic. I had to listen to them over and over just to make sure of it and yep, still great.

I think that I was in the end mostly just disappointed with the way they executed the second half of this anime. Next to Brotherhood, who tells a whole meaningful story pulling the strings since episode one, you have this that while it's not horrible it's just not good. I wish they'd put more effort into making it rather than giving us a huge green monster, parallels with out world and dimension travelling.

I watched FMA:Brotherhood a few months ago and I've just finished watching FMA.

FMA isn't a bad anime, but it's not impressive either, mainly because there are too many flaws in it. In the end, I think that just as in the newest version, I had to be quite the forgiving one so as to enjoy FMA. That happened to me when watching both versions, but that's mainly due to me watching everything too critically and I think most people out there may get more Enjoyment due to their brains working the other way around, watching animes carelessly or if they don't care about that much ... about the flaws.

Anyways, I digressed. Having watched Brotherhood first im inclined to like it more, it's more pleasant to watch as a whole - for the most part - and it's ending sits better then FMA's, even though at first I thought it be kind of forced and too happy-go-lucky, now I see it's definitely more enjoyable than FMA's ending.

However, I think both have a lot of flaws

So I'll start with story.
STORY
I think FMA's story as a whole is very good and I like the way it follows a darker path. I definitely think it's a bit better than bortherhood's, but the ending... Well, it's the FMA's ending so many people talk about. Watch and see on your own.(see PS*)

There is however, just like in the newest version, a lot of melodrama that gets in the way. I'll talk about those in the enjoyment section.


PS*: It's not that it's an end that's badly done, or done in a hurry. Technically/Production-wise there's nothing wrong about it, but the direction the writers choose a certain path for an end... Well, I prefer Brotherhood's artificially and unnaturally happy-go-lucky finale here hehehe

ART
I think it's OK. It's neither bad nor impressive.

SOUND
Undeniably the best part of the show. Not only the openings and endings are good, but the soundtrack as a whole sits well, theu used the right music at the right moment, and generally it backs up the the scenes very well.
Indeed a remarkable soundtrack Imo.

CHARACTER

I think the darkest contrast between both versions is definitely the approach to character development. FMA as a whole sticks to a simplistic approach to character development. There isn't much complexity and intertwining between character's stories as in Brotherhood.
There is not a lot of development for the supporting cast, which with some pretty dull characters appearing at times, along with other flaws here in there. So, as a whole, FMA's character development is inferior, however, this is also an advantage in that the story connects better in FMA than in Brotherhood, and basically every character lives up to the expectations set around them.
You'll see practically every character get what they really deserve - and here I include Scar, Kimble, Luxury, Hoeinheim, Pride, Greed, CL. Mustang, Shou Tucker, and almost (and what a big, disappointing almost here lol) every other character resolute perfectly/well/reasonably.

That contrasts a lot to Brotherhood's, which for the most part develops the characters to a much grater extent, with a good bunch of intertwining among characters, but then they mess up.
For example, Hoeinheim, Kimble, Scar and Envy received a much better development in Brotherhood, but it's just for your greatest disappointment, as they really don't live up to the expectations(especially. On the case of Scar and Kimble)

In the end, I think one is the inverse of the other, it's hard to judge both but I'm really making an effort to like FMA's character the better

ENJOYMENT
Enjoyment is not impressive. I had to make an effort to keep liking this anime after watching the 2003 version. Melodrama has fucked this show. There's just an excess of it everywhere. It does work in the beginning, but after thirty episodes, constantly getting more of it just turns me off.


There's also Ed's urge not to kill anyone and Al's stupidity and kindness towards enemies, that just feels forced and awkward. I wish they were more straightforward when killing their enemies. Al involves himself in many fights and doesn't kill anyone. Ed killing someone is the last thing that happens I this show.

By the way, plot holes, dull characters, pseudo existential bullshit, characters doing unexpected things out of blue with no apparent reason and no explanation afterwards...Flaws, many flaws... FLAWS EVERYWHERE 😅🤣

Well, it's not a terrible show but it suffers from all of these.

OVERALL
Overall, it's a good anime I recommend it.
Most people will like it, some will love, some will hate it. But I definitely think about 40% of this shoe is wasted potential.
If done right, FMA had all the potential to be better than brotherhood Imo, but it unfortunately didn't make it.

Review in brief: Fullmetal Alchemist possesses a dark tone, some amount of moral ambiguity (mixed in with the usual force-fed black-and-white morals), and frequent drama within a shounen adventure core. Unfortunately, despite its high underlying potential it chooses not to maintain the level of detail needed to keep its ambitious story consistent or preserve suspension of disbelief, prioritizing its quota for mindless action and comedy instead.

Review in full: 2003's Fullmetal Alchemist may reside in the shadow of its younger, manga-faithful sibling FMA: Brotherhood, but many still recommend watching it beforehand. It is said to feature a slower & more digestible pace, a darker ... tone, and deeper thematics. I haven't watched Brotherhood for comparison but I can attest that this anime does at least attempt to make good on these points but not in an effective manner. In fact, the theme of this review will be that this anime does have many commendable aspects to it, but it's mixed with some wholly uninspired elements that result in a product with a frustrating lack of purpose akin to a gem-encrusted plunger.

Even from the very beginning problems are made apparent, thanks to the decision to start off in the middle of the story. The first episode starts by saying close to nothing about the setting & lore and simply throws the Elric brothers into action while bluntly stating their basic motive of "get our old bodies back". It establishes rules for its world (mostly pertaining to its alchemy) and immediately proceeds to break them without explaining what allows it to do so. This occurs throughout the show, but starting off like this makes it especially difficult to suspend disbelief as it keeps happening. Some of these rule-breaks are explained many episodes later but said explanations are often done quickly and hand-waved away, as though the anime doesn't want to explain itself. These faults in the storytelling appear in both visuals and dialogue.

The main issue with the visuals is that the explanations for many transmutations don't match up with their animations, making them hard to believe. In the first scenario Edward is able to transmute both a wood-and-metal spear and a large stone wall from sand with only the slightest visible disruption/reduction in said sand. It's animated as though these objects teleported into the scene rather than created from nearby materials (the given explanation) and given some of their compositions relative to the materials they spawned from they may as well have. A large amount of transmutations have this problem. Edward is also able to animate a giant stone statue early on without any known catalyst. This is given a explanation through dialogue but only at the very end of the show and even that explanation is questionable, vaguely expressed (in an attempt to cover multiple inconsistencies at once), and something Edward had no idea about at the time. More to the point, the show waited nearly 50 episodes before even attempting to explain where the energy needed to make a multistory stone statue walk somewhere else (last I checked statues aren't even made with functioning joints) comes from in a system that supposedly requires "equivalent exchange" to function. In the end, transmutations with this inconsistency are never directly questioned. They are only indirectly and partially answered in about 40 seconds of exposition.

In spite of its exposition issues, the story of Fullmetal Alchemist is actually quite involved and entertaining. There's many intriguing details and events that build up who the Elric brothers are and what they do. At the same time there's also plenty of needless comedy and filler fights thrown in that detract from what is a touching journey at its best and make it a stale shounen slog at its worst. It is this disjointed method of storytelling that sees serious plot points explained in a convoluted way, raising many questions (such as the previously mentioned transmutation issues) and forgetting half of them before a point is reached where the show feels comfortable with providing answers. Perhaps it would be more tolerable if these sidetracks provided a worthwhile experience, but when half of the jokes are just Edward having a height complex and Al being an empty suit of armor and half of the fights are mostly basic melee slugouts with minimal amounts of alchemy involved it's hard not to see it all as being tacked-on.

The Elric brothers' journey is by no means a walk in the park and they often find themselves getting involved with shady characters and sinister happenings. Sometimes rather complicated (for a shounen anime) issues that have no clear-cut answer are brought up, leaving the brothers (and the viewer) to find their own. At other times the show goes out of its way to be extra dark and force-feed a particular moral to the audience not with reason but with shock value through gratuitous violence & gore or emotional manipulation. It's frustrating because there are plenty of moments in the story where interesting subjects and events come up that practically beg to be mentally digested but there's also many moments where the show clearly expects your brain to be turned off. I consider dark & edgy stories to be a guilty pleasure of mine but here it mostly felt unnecessary.

In particular, the ending emphasizes a lot of the problems I've mentioned and raises many unanswered questions. Many actions taken beforehand (such as motivations for some of the villains as well as some of the lessons the Elric brothers learn and grow from) are rendered pointless by it, and it's not helped by all the meandering & pointlessly melodramatic dialogue leading up to it. It also creates a lot of holes in the final explanation of "the gate". I won't spoil "the gate" here as it's a major plot element but I will say that the way the ending abuses the function of "the gate" by conveniently forgoing the conditions for it to do what it did just 2 episodes after explaining it was its worst aspect since so many key events are built up around it throughout the show. Out of all the times this anime threw its own logic to the wayside, this last one with no hope of being explained is by far the worst. It all seemed to happen just to present sequel bait for a continuation (the Conqueror of Shamballa) that doesn't promise to answer those questions.

All but one of the villains are overly corny, predictable, and simple. Many of the sin-based homunculi (such as Gluttony and Envy) can be entirely characterized by their names alone. Many of the villains in general are nothing more than psychopaths that know no other actions than gloat and kill (because what else would they need to know to fight?) and the amount of them means a lot of seeing the same cutout villain appear many, many times with a different face (and not just because characters don't always stay dead when they're killed). Meanwhile, just about every non-villain character (even the filler episode side characters) can be defined by a sole desire they possess. This approach to characterization is both nonstandard and uniquely fitting to the underlying theme of the anime, but these characters need more than a desire and a couple bullet-point traits to be truly convincing. While there are some characters that receive decent development, many of them end up dying partway through, clearing room for much shallower characters that don't really develop. It's a shame because this clear effort to give as many characters a place in the story as possible (even down to filler episode characters) does end up making the world feel more alive, but only at the high cost of some of the anime's standout characters.

Outside of the lacking visual explanations the animation is fairly standard though with the caveat that it tends to go light on the visual effects. That said, such conservatism doesn't add to its presentation. On a more positive note, the animators did a great job with their use of color palettes to complement each scene. The sound is of considerable quality with a fair number of memorable, setting-appropriate music pieces and convincing voice acting (I watched the Japanese version). The OPs are all quite nice as well; so nicely animated at times that it makes the rest of the anime look worse. All in all, it's enough to make the setting feel fairly convincing and whole, even though maps and regional history are rarely brought up. This isn't an issue however since the rest can easily be filled in with a grade-schooler's level of understanding on European history.

I could say so much more about this anime (even without veering into spoiler territory) but it would all just be discussing more fantastic toppings on a cardboard pizza. I really want to like this anime and aside from the ending I don't regret any time I spent on it. Unfortunately, every awesome thing it does is sandwiched between two unbearably uninspired elements. It makes me wish I could just pull out the meaningful parts of this show and throw away the poorly utilized shounen action & comedy it was all glued to.

Verdict: You would be hard pressed to find a person who truly dislikes Fullmetal Alchemist's story with its interesting journey and the myriad of themes it at least attempts to explore. However, that story is put at odds with the shounen conventions it was placed with and the experience is diluted to the point where its standout properties can barely be tasted within the watery and stagnant concoction it became.

The story was unorganized and felt contradictory. In one episode, a character handles a situation in a specific way - in another episode s/he is unable to do so again. Instead of being consistent, the characters were buffed/nerfed to suit the storyline - they didn't feel authentic. The story also felt overly complex and curated. Many episodes were borderline "filler" and could have been removed leaving the storyline intact. As the show progressed, watching became a chore and if it were not for my no-shows-dropped (NSD) rule, I may have prematurely stopped watching Fullmetal Alchemist.

The art is fairly generic and ... is neither realistic nor basic. It isn't memorable nor unique, although the character designs were solid. The background scenery wasn't anything special and didn't deviate or distract from the scene at hand. The animations were fluid and non-choppy.

I watched the English DUB of this show and the voice actors did a decent job of fitting their characters. Some character voices did seem strained but not enough to hurt the experience. The music, intro, and outro fit the style of the show well.

The characters were neither well rounded nor constricted. Most of them kept their flaws/strengths and didn't seem to "grow." Character reactions to situations/events were at times ridiculous but that may have been due to the show's odd sense of humor. The villains had clear-cut goals but their methods of achieving those goals threw a damper on the seriousness of the show. Instead of being go-getters, the antagonists seemed to be behaving like a cat playing with its morsel without ever eating it. Character count was on point with each character providing value to the (haphazard) storyline.

The show started out strong but as the episodes went by, my interest waned. I doubt I would rewatch Fullmetal Alchemist in the future because it just didn't entertain me enough to keep my focus. The storyline became stale and the lack of character development further added to its deterioration. That being said, I'm confident many anime and non-anime fans will enjoy Fullmetal Alchemist. It's honestly not a terrible show - it just wasn't my cup of tea.

I very recently watched this show after MANY years of people recommending it to me. After watching it, I'm very mixed on this show. I didn't grow up/watching this anime so I don't have that much nostalgia tied with it and I'm watching it as a adult so at this point, I have seen MANY Animes (In my opinion) much better than this one before it. ( Dont kill me lol)

This Anime is not bad for the time it came out and it probably would of seemed quite unique & well done, at the time. I sadly see a few flaws going on with ... the anime though.

I think the writing and story telling is very childlike for a "R rated" anime. For example, Just characters overreacting at tiny things and it going on for episodes. I understand these characters are children's but the writers aren't lol. (Again, dont kill me lol) But for another example, where the main characters would come up with strange ideas on how to fix problems and it just seems so backwards sometimes.

Also, It just gets very weird at the halfway point after the Anime starts going way off the manga and starts getting way off topic of the main characters, just wasn't that enjoyable for me to watch.

Overall, I think if I was kid or teen and watched this when it came out, I'd probably also have nostalgia glasses on for this show and think its a 10/10 but sadly, That isn't the case for me. I still definitely recommend for people that want to try out the anime if they are curious about it.

I really, really wanted to like FMA (stopped after 13 episodes). I saw some clips on youtube and decided to watch it for its adult themes around philosophy, esoterica, and conspiracy. However, the writers must not have been any older than the protagonists, because these very mature themes are heavily watered down and dragged out with material for children. I was immediately frustrated that heavy scenes including gore, horror, the occult, and lectures against theism (a la Neil Degrasse Tyson) are sandwiched between unending silly slapstick gags and filler material involving random unknown characters. I feel like it was written by that edgy communist kid ... with the fedora we all met in high school--stuck in emotional arrested development.

In short, I had to quit bc the pacing and pointless side quests involving random characters was almost as bad as what I remember Pokemon being as a kid. After the 2nd or 3rd time the main character vents that "all our shenanigans were for nothing!", I had to agree that the show was too slow and boring.

At first this series explain that the power of an alchemist is bound by the rule of equivalent exchange. Meaning an alchemist cannot turn nothing into something but an alchemist must bring all the ingredients needed that is equivalent to the object/something they are going to make.

But then they crush that very rule when Edward use his alchemist ability (Edward summon a spear just by touching a dirt, spear =/= dirt), which make him practically have the power of a Mary Sue.

The power of an alchemist itself have no boundary or limit, which make a master alchemist can be practically a God that can ... alter the world as he see fit

Just a clear heads up, since I'm writing this review in 2020 and FMA came out in 2003, my opinions are going to be completely different from the people who wrote their reviews way back, when this anime was far too superior to any other anime ever, a lot can change in 16 to 17 years. But there are some exceptions such as Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Hajime No Ippo, etc.

Wow, FMA was interesting to say the least. The FMA of 2003 definetly felt more gruesome, depressing, chilling, and dark than the Brotherhood version. It started well in the beginning with Ed and Al's backstory and ... how their life was like before they got into the military. But after it started branching from the manga things didn't quite add up and there were some things that were really confusing. They continued the plot by bringing random scenes and events without any reason or logic just to get the water flowing. Also I felt like some episodes were wasted and could have had a lot of potential. But the creators of FMA tried their best and I respect that.

The characters seemed shallow and one dimensional for the most part except for the Homunculis and the main characters such as Ed and Al. THe music was well made in FMA even surpassing Brotherhood narrowly. Also the arts and animation were all right considering that it was made in 2003 so I gave it a 8. The consistency of the show was bad, in the beginning it was slow and easy but then in the middle of the story things started speeding up way to fast and nothing made sense but then it later got good again as the story was reaching its climax, but the ending was hella confusing though.

So overall I sort of enjoyed the show, there some moments where I was in shock and dismay. But the characters, the somewhat confusing plot, and the pacing was just hard to ignore. I probably wont watch this show again.

To anyone who is wants to watch this, don't waste your time. Full Metal Brotherhood is the superior show. To me Full Metal is the Virgin son and Full Metal Brotherhood is the Chad father. Instead of giving a 15 page essay here are a few reasons why you should not watch this show.

1. It takes 5 episodes to get past what I call the never ending intro.

2. The first 5 episodes are arguably the worst in the show, but you need to watch them in order to understand the show.

3. I feel every character in this show other than the main cast of ... Mr. Robot and Midget Man (and that damn General dude for some) is a one sided hunk of boring. I don't care for any of them, I just don't.

4. The story is shit because they sort of "made it their own thing". Now, if this was an original show, followed the manga, or Big Brother Alchemist hadn't come out after this the story would of been perfectly acceptable. The problem is it matches none of those, making it shit.

5. STOP THE SHORT PEOPLE JOKES JESUS CHRIST WE GET IT.

6. On a more serious note, the short people jokes get old after episode 1, it kills a lot of the enjoyment from the show.

To finish, don't waste your time with this show, it is nothing compared to Daddy Chad Full Cock Hard Metal.

My biggest disappointment in anime. After recently finishing Brotherhood, I wanted to check out the 2003, as people said it was as good, if not better than 2009 anime. I had my expectations pretty high for this anime. I already gave Brotherhood a 9.5/10 so if this was better, this could've been an easy 10/10. Then, I watched the show and... This was the sh***est and most dogs*** anime adaption I've ever seen besides Legend of Korra. First of all, 37 out of 50 episodes were filler that made exactly 0% sense. The way Alchemy is used, breaks the canon on a molecular level, It's ... actually impressive. I'll give this anime some props for character development and the way the first 25 episodes were handled, the art style was pretty good and the sound design was decent, the dark tone was interesting and the openings were really good, but those are the only positives I can give it. The story was so boring and kinda made me braindead, but all the s*** I was talking about this anime is nothing compared to how much I despise the ending. The bittersweet ass ending was the most "WTF?!" ending I've ever seen. Anyways, that's what I think about the 2003 anime. A lot of people probably aren't gonna agree me, but this is my opinion. Feel free to disagree if you want to. It's your opinion.

This starts out pretty amazing and I fully get why this had (maybe still has?) such a following. My favorite episodes are the one-offs using the traits of the Romantic hero: the protagonists enter a new locale, they are treated like scum for their reputation or their affiliation with a maligned institution, and they solve the problems of the locale using the values they have learned (various interpretations of the "equivalent exchange" absolute that the protagonists adhere to) while discovering something about themselves in relation to their outstanding goal. The side characters all have a personality, and the military does not feel like a faceless ... cabal of soldiers but individuals with their own stories and hopes, which open themselves up to favoritism that will vary based on the viewer.

By episode 26, they introduce an awful character though, and from that point on, the show descends further and further into chaos. All episodes and plots are completely hit-or-miss, leading to completely fantastic moments/characters (Greed) or just full on awful, unbearable, even (unintentionally) comical nonsense. The good moments are not completely gone, and it makes the second half of the series tricky--something of a "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" situation. It does sour the overall experience of the show, however, and though I liked it immensely as a whole, the complete chaos midway through is heartbreaking given how solid the characters and one-off stories had been until that point.

FMA is an action-packed tale that does Its best to support the Manga. It strangely enough starts in the middle of the tale and then drops flashbacks about the Elric brother’s history throughout the series. In same ways this is good because it means there’s not too much information given at once, but on another note, there’s a lot of jumping around and it can be hard to truly follow the story. The characters are good and I’m happy with the ones we got to see. The ending is extremely unfulfilling, leading upto a final battle but then not going the way I expected and ... it seemed as though the end tried to rush in everyone’s story just to make sense of the abrupt ending