Of the 11 reviews that I've written, approximately, 75% of them are about timeless classics. I've done FLCL, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, mighty Kino no Tabi, Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku-hen's OVAs... Not that I do not watch any kind of modern anime, but I must confess I'm in love with 90s shows, I don't really know exactly why.
So, here we are. In 2003, Studio Bones bought the license to animate the now maybe most well known Shonen of all time: Fullmetal Alchemist. For that year, Hiromu Arakawa was far to complete his magnum opus, since it wouldn't be until 2010 where Fullmetal Alchemist was completed, forcing Studio Bones to remake the cold classic and get attached to the canon, creating Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 (as for now it will be refered as FMA to save time) was an ambitious production, but also a risky business. They changed the story in order to complete it, somehow. So, it is natural that, 17 years after, and compared to the superior version, Brotherhood, this anime receives all the criticism it receives.
Buuuuuut..., Bones managed to have an incredible great story. I must agree on how solid Arakawa's writing for the manga is, and how you will not find the same quality on this adaptation, but is also amazing nonetheless. The story, in essence, remains the same, as Edward Elric and his little brother, Alphonse Elric, try their best in order to find the Philosopher Stone to regain their original bodies. They get involved with the military after trying to resurrect their mother in the forbidden human transmutation and are under direct orders of Roy Mustang.
Where it was a main figure called Father, who controlled the other Homunculus to create another Stone, now it is replaced by a selfish being known as Lyra, who is involved with Van Hohenheim, or Hohenheim of the Light. Lyra needs a Philosopher Stone to change his body, because it is rotting due to complications in joining a body and a soul repeatedly. So, Lyra controls the Homunculus with the promise of making them humans.
The story, as I said, is really different and inferior to the manga and Brotherhood, but it isn't..., bad. It is really interesting, another approach on how humans live their lifes and what makes a human being, a human being. I must say that I found the ending to be much more interesting than Brotherhood's, since its something hopeless and darker. I also like how they thought about how the Equivalent Exchange works (no spoilers, you'll have to find by yourself).
The art is really something, as for 2003, you wouldn't find so many animes as visually impressive as FMA is. Not only animations are smoother and pleasurable than many animes nowadays, but also background characters and landscapes are way better constructed.
The sound is really good too, but I liked it more in Brotherhood. Most voice actors repeat their role in Brotherhood as they did in FMA, but, for example, Envy's voice is another seiyuu, and Hohenheim's one too. Not that I care that much that I can not watch the show, but I am made to the Brotherhood style. My fault, though.
Character creation differs a lot of the original manga and Brotherhood, and there are some characters that get benefits from it. Now, they are not only evil and the main counterforce to the alchemists, but they have their own purpose to exist. One of the best characters in FMA is, for me, Lust.
Lust does have a great fight against Roy Mustang in Brotherhood, and dies there, but here, she wants to be human. And by human, she has a great transition, being one of the best examples on how a character has to be used (since I felt Lust was dumped in Brotherhood).
I really liked FMA. For me, it is a step beyond Brotherhood, but the difference is not as BIG as Brotherhood fanboys want it to be. This 2003 show is a cold classic, a gem that has to be enjoyed with the remake, and you should care about how great it is.
