Let me start with the very first mentionable point to notice, which is a negative one. This anime expects its viewers to be already well acquainted with the franchise before watching it. So, the introduction is pretty straight forward and awkwardly so. I get that it has its alternative version or a manga with proper introduction. But, that's not Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and people would definitely not like to read the manga or another anime with 51 episodes before watching a 64 episodes anime just for a proper introduction. In Brotherhood, at the beginning, you see the characters doing whatever they do without you knowing what it is that they're doing, or even saying. "Oh so he's the Fullmetal Alchemist!? Whatever the hell is a Fullmetal Alchemist anyway?" So, yeah.
Despite being awkward at the beginning, there is something that still makes it perceivable. You don't know the details, but you have a vague idea that something is actually happening, so the viewers are tempted to watch further to know what exactly was it as there were many flashy things going on and it felt like there was some meaning to it. It's a cheap trick to hook the viewers, but it worked. That's what saves it from being dropped at the very beginning, but the fact that it's awkward still remains. This is how it is for the first few episodes. After that you get rewarded for not dropping it earlier with some genius story composition. This anime's storyline considers a number of possibilities and takes the best path. Which ends up with a brilliant ending, that I consider one of the bests among happy endings. It packs up the whole series nicely, making it a complete story.
The anime has an overarching and well progressing plot handled carefully. I didn't notice any bothersome inconsistency after the opening episodes. The story isn't repetitive in any way. It's story is simple but has considerable depth to it.
Although the characters who were introduced at first had improper introduction, I as a viewer got along with them as time passed. The characters introduced later on are well presented. But, the character development in this anime is very typical and genric. Bad guys get saved by the good guys, realize that they shouldn't follow the orders of the evil bosses and help the good guys on their own will. And someone gets violent as hell who doesn't feel strong restraint when killing someone almost overnight after a harsh experience. Something we haven't ever seen? The development on the good guys isn't remarkable and sometimes nonexistent. There are however some really good character development. For example, the slow and consistent development of that greedy man I forgot the name of who used to own a mine or something that he lost due to our MC, Edward Elric and some Homunculi. What's genuinely good about this anime's characters is the screentime distribution. This is very essential in this anime in particular, partly because it has many likable characters and it'd be really disappointing if they didn't get enough screentime.
The antagonism in this anime is shallow, with very weak reasons and goals to justify for all the dreadful deeds. The evil military personnel and some other bad guys are horribly one dimensional. The character interaction is decent, but could've been better. The overall cast is very well handled, nevertheless.
I liked the world building in this anime. It makes big approaches by dividing the State, having different regions with different climate, culture, general attitudes and lifestyles. It makes medium approaches by having different cities, towns, countrysides, etc with their definite geological location and connecting them with consideration of distance and cultural transition. And finally, it makes small approaches by detailing the small points in the places where the story takes place in. It's attention to tiny details like mud on the body after crossing a muddy path, or dirts after falling on the ground were mesmerizing but never preachy. The anime makes no unrealistic or unbelievable change in the already established environmental points. Basically, it did excellent job on the places it shows. But unfortunately, it doesn't show majority of its world. We only get to properly see The State of Amestris. It gives a small idea of Xing through some of its characters from that empire, but that wasn't enough to relay a good description. We don't really even know if there's any other country aside from the State of Amestris, Xerxes and the Empire of Xing. And even if it did mention other countries, it must've been very unimpressive for me to remember or even notice. In short, it doesn't quench one's thirst for the view of its world. Then again, it's a good thing that the anime doesn't go out of its way to show around the parts of the world that aren't important, consequently not drawing the attention away from the story. I'd like to inform you that it has a town based on automails as well.
Automails are prosthetic limbs made of metal. The technology behind this element is not much explained, but I really liked it. How they presented that there is nerve connection and the pain of that time really made me feel it. I liked how there are so many types of automails. And loved the idea of having different types of automails for different weather. Basically I loved how they didn't leave it as it is just because it's not a main element and was used for more reasons than just showing Edward's resolves.
The main element, Alchemy, is an edited form of the Alchemy we know. Here, one can understand, break and reconstruct matters and that's what Alchemy here is. It's not very deep, but efficient. Aside from shooting pillars and rocks (like wtf!?), the use of Alchemy is very good. The difference in the usage of Alchemy between the West and the East is interesting. Alchemy is adequately crafted to satisfy a superficial view while also running the story, it's not enough explored to get past the highly functioning brains that like to go deep into analysis. But well, it doesn't need to be extremely deep and didn't do anything pretentious to make it deep either. The shooting pillars and rocks are still blatant though.
The power curve of this anime is very good. The MC isn't utterly overpowered. In fact, he's far outranked by many people. He trains, but doesn't become stronger than most of them which is really plausible. The overpowered villain is justified. I loved how in the end, the anime didn't pull any unnecessary, unbelievable, unreliable power up to defeat the overpowered villain.
A bothersome point in this anime is the immortal army. FMAB does have a realism that it sticks to, but this particular point is slightly too unrealistically overdone considering its realism. It's not really much necessary either. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have felt anything lacking if this wasn't here. The evil military personnel could've been brainwashed instead of tempted, which could've solved an aforementioned issue as well.
Anyway, many of the shortcomings in this anime are obtained through nitpicking and are massively outweighted by its greatness. The plot points are tied very well so there's no considerable loose end. It's overarching with its elements and plot but still very well handled. There are sufficient job done on everything. It's philosophy is simple and unpretentious. The main philosophy that for getting something, there has to be a sacrifice of equal amount is an excellent example. It also tells us to not be too conceited. There are many other teachings relayed in the anime. Truth's vague existence actually plays well here.
FMAB has great animation and cinematography. The artwork of the character design is good, but how it was used was slightly problematic. Especially when you can't tell that a seemingly man is actually a woman. The reason might be that almost all the faces are designed rounded and there are little difference in male and female facial construction. Well, I'm not sure if it's because of getting used to it or the improvement of the art, but it seems perfect later on. It's probably the latter but if just in case it is the former, then the anime does great job helping the viewers to get used to it. The attire design is excellent and the colors are masterfully used while designing the characters. It has some extremely well choreographed fight scenes which are exhilarating. This anime has by far one of the best collection of opening and ending songs if not the best. All of them are great. Some are easily top list materials. The background musics are remarkable as well. Loved Lapis Philosophorum in particular.
The atmosphere of this anime is not as dark as its former 2003 version and I found it more fitting. The lighthearted un-overwhelming atmosphere is a better choice here, imo.
This anime is superficially perfect. It's specialty is that it has almost everything you need to learn and can ask for from an anime. And there's no way to call it "pretentious". Overall, it's very well put together and definitely one of the best anime I've watched so far.
It's a tier 1 9/10 show.
