FMA is regarded as one of the best anime/manga and receives constant praise. I truly wonder why. FMA has one of the strongest thematic frameworks ive ever seen however this doesnt really matter because its world and characters dont reflect the same quality.
FMA's structuring is decently weird, it banks everything on its ending but its ending isnt good??? Some work like aot or haikyu dont need their endings to be good. If FMA has a bad ending it rips apart the "quality" and expectation that was set. Im comparing the endings of these other shonen to say that FMA's structure works against itself.
Look at the characters in FMA, theyre all pretty bad. Every antagonist follows the same formula of: get hyped and excited for them, they do something in the main plot, they get X'd out in the most unsatisfying way ever, then the story treats it like it was something good. Pride, kimblee, father, envy, all of these character fall into this exact formula of consistently undermining the integrity of the antagonistic force. Do we remember zuko or obito where theyre "broken heros" with good in them that just got corrupted? We see zuko grow into a mature person and redeem himself and give himself his honor back. We see obito sacrifice himself and do the right thing in life of doing wrong. Our antagonist who do wrong are able to redeem themselves and have a satisfying arc but scar is the exact opposite. Scar straight up murders people on screen and after talking for a little bit for like 5 minutes he's treated like a good guy. What type of antagonist like that doesnt have a redemption arc AND gets a happy ending? You see that? FMA sacrifices satisfying moments and good character writing for themes and thematic portrayal.
I dont think FMA is bad and I also think the isbal war is genuinely genius. I just hate to see FMA fall so ass backwards flat. Such an interesting premise with good art and fight scenes absolutely ruined by poor execution. I dont recommend FMA to those with something else on their watch list. Read aot, pandora hearts, alice in borderland, tokyo ghoul, just anything else tbh.
