Full Metal Alchemist General

I know what they meant. I was addressing that and something else.

But as far as wanting a manga of it goes, the first half is already in manga format. And I presume they wouldn't want a manga adaptation to actually change the content of the second half so, I'm not really sure what the point of putting it in print would be when you've already seen it in motion.

I'm actually curious about that, because I've never heard anything like it before.

edited 8th Oct '17 6:33:33 PM by LSBK

The same reason people like novelization. I honestly prefer reading manga over watching anime.

That's your prerogative then.

I still the reasons the first anime doesn't have much in follow up or manga form are fairly obvious.

It's been months now, can we stop that?

I've thought about a 2003 followup existing, but I dislike the idea honestly. Part of the charm of the ending was how ambiguous and open-ended it was. I wouldn't mind seeing some more alters, but I'm fine with fans filling in the blanks.

Both series ended just fine. Continuations aren't needed.

I wouldn't say no to a wuxia spin off starring Al and Mei in Xing's Deadly Decadent Court.

edited 26th Nov '17 9:17:28 PM by lycropath

But doesn't that mean that Al would be obligated to kick everyone's ass?

That is a pretty cool idea.

I love FMA but can we all admit that it had flaws it did a semi-decent job covering up? I am of the option the series had an Esoteric Happy Ending that would stop being so esoteric the instant a sequel happened.

The problem with any continuation is that the ending of the series was rushed to heck. Arakawa was desperate to end the series before the anime overtook the manga and succeeded just by a matter of weeks. The last chapter was released in June 2010 and the final episode of Brotherhood was in July. The fact that the ending was satisfactory is a bit of a miracle but it is still a "who cares about consequences not us because the series is ending" sort of ending. Any continuation would blow holes into it.

The geography the series takes place in is stupid and serves no purpose other than letting Amestris exist. Somehow a landlocked country that is capable of beating a half dozen other countries around it into submission and yet won't go full Roman Empire is a stretch even for a fictional series. But FMA gets away with it because cast never goes outside Amestris. Nobody seems to gives a shit that a despotic militaristic empire that has cannibalized its neighbors and has an awful international reputation is not going to stop being an pariah state that it is merely now an authoritarian militaristic empire. Hooray Protagonist-Centered Morality!

Lastly, Father's backstory always bothered me. How the heck was he created and why can't it happen again? Somehow some alchemist in Xerxes created a being with far more knowledge about alchemy than their entire civilization. The problem is that the modern world the series takes place in loves alchemy and wouldn't be able to function without it. Maybe that someone somewhere hasn't created another homunculus yet may be pure dumb luck but luck it can't last forever. There probably will come a day when there might be dozens or hundreds of homunculi running around and considering what just one did, you can kiss humanity bye-bye.

edited 27th Nov '17 10:12:39 AM by DocJamore

The manga had a pretty "meh" ending. It's way too optimistic for my liking.

Normally, I'd agree. But I'm fine with a more or less happy ending as long as the characters earn it. And boy did they frigging earn it.

edited 28th Nov '17 4:08:48 PM by kkhohoho

I agree Amestris is a little wierd. I wonder why people didn't start wondering "hey, why is our country shaped like a big circle". I assume that strings were pulled to try and make sure that the borders turned out that way and I'm guessing Father specifically chose an area that had semi natural borders most of the way around (like the mountains to the north). He did basically create it, after all.

As for why Father isn't a thing anywhere else, Xerxian Alchemy was split into Amestrian geological alchemy and Xingese Alkahestry, and neither Father nor Hoenheim had any interest in there being another Father so they almost certainly made sure never to share such knowledge as they created their traditions.

It's theoretically possible someone could stumble onto how to make a homunculous, but even if they did it's not neccessarily going to turn out like Father (I think the series makes it pretty clear he had moral agency and wasn't just born as a being of pure evil). Could it still be awful? Sure. But very specific things had to happen for everything to turn out as it did.

edited 28th Nov '17 4:23:12 PM by Sigilbreaker26

I'm fine with the optimistic ending of Brotherhood/the manga. I tend to prefer optimistic endings to begin with, but I think the ending is earned due to all the suffering beforehand. That prevents it from being unsatisfying or unbelievable. I guess I can see the appeal of the 2003 ending but I can't say I found it satisfying.

I agree. Ed and Al shed a lot of blood, sweat and tears to reach the point they did.

The 2003 ending is just kind of...bleh, to me. I like endings that bring everything together in a satisfying fashion, and Brotherhood scratched that itch considerably more than 2003 to me.

Mind you, I don't hate 2003 by any means, but its ending has issues, and the movie was very much a disappointment.

And yes, I don't think a happy ending is at all a bad idea if it's earned, and I think Brotherhood's ending is very much earned.

edited 28th Nov '17 5:41:09 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Yeah I really don't like the ending of the 2003 anime myself, it feels like a lot happened with not much in terms of payoff in the end outside of the fact Al gets his body back. Manga/Brotherhood was a lot more satisfying to me after all the stuff everyone had to go through, definitely made me feel good once it ended.

Interesting responses. There is a difference between earning a happy ending and only the lead characters getting a happy ending, in this case the cast of characters we know get endings but the world around them has barely changed at all. As cute as Babies Ever After is, it requires an static world for maximum effect. And the idea that the world FMA takes in would stay static seems like a impossibility. Nobody is going to buy "the homunculi did it." And that is something a sequel would have to address.

What I am trying to say is that things have a long way to go.

edited 28th Nov '17 8:45:40 PM by DocJamore

I mean there is a lot of social change going on around in Amestris, but Edward and Winry probably settled back in Risembool which is a fairly backwater village away from any of the military aggressors Amestris has. That's also to say if Grunman isn't doing his job running the country properly.

From what I remember Aeurgo to the South is Principality that has a military power fractional to Amestris so they likely would welcome any sort of negotiation while Creta to the west isn't in a formal war with Amestris and has only comparatively fewer conflicts over a bit of disputed territory. Drachma is the only nation that is supposed to be itching for war but its been at a stalemate for a very long time.

edited 28th Nov '17 9:06:30 PM by lycropath

I think there's a problem if you define an ending as satisfying based on whether it's optimistic or not devoid of context. Some stories should end optimistically, and some shouldn't, there's no axiomatic "better" just what works for the story being told. If that's not to your tastes that's fine, but I think it would have been a much bigger issue that if a story that, at it's core was about overcoming adversity and finding your happy ending and that straight up said, repeatedly, "yes, you can do that" didn't end happily. That is, unless it didn't seem justified or forced, but it didn't here.

That most of the characters ended up better off than when they started isn't inherently unbelievable, and bittersweet endings and cynicism aren't inherently more realistic or deep.

I think the story was very much aware that by the end they had a long way to go, and never tried to hide it. That we don't see all the military reforms and the difficulties that come with it happening doesn't mean the story forgot about those things. Just because it ended happily doesn't mean you're supposed to think that everything is perfect now.

edited 28th Nov '17 9:22:24 PM by LSBK

I do think maybe that a few bits were a little too twee. Like Mustang and Havoc getting eyes and legs back respectively; definitely Mustang getting his sight back I felt was a bit too easy. So I can understand why people might think the ending was excessively hunky dory.

But that aside I was overall fine with it. It's not like they suddenly brought a bunch of people back from the dead.

As far as countries outside of Amestris go (not counting Xing, I take it)...look, FMA's a pretty complex story as it is - if you wanted to discuss the political situation outside of Amestris in-depth, that would probably require introducing even more characters and plot threads, which would ultimately end up leaving the story pretty damn bloated. In the end, there just wasn't really room to address that - Arakawa made the smart choice of focusing on the characters she already had, rather than going on a tangent about people and places that weren't actually that important to the plot.

I also agree with LSBK - I don't think anyone would dispute that there is more to do. Ed and Al go on new journeys of their own, Mustang still hasn't become Fuhrer, and the possibility is raised that Selim might regain his memories as Pride. They have not reached the end of history - they're moving forward.

But really, talking about how a sequel would need to address this seems silly when there's no reason to expect we'll be getting one.

edited 28th Nov '17 9:32:44 PM by KarkatTheDalek

I mean if Mustang and Havoc didn't, it would be questionable logic for since it was a plotpoint that they where searching for Marcoh who was capable of fixing Havoc's legs.

It might have been good if it only had enough juice left to fix his eyes or Havoc's legs and they choose the legs but then it would be hard to believe that Ling wouldn't be generous enough to let Roy fix his eyes with his stone before he took it back to Xing.

Not this crap again. We went through this a million times.

The problem is, if the philosopher's stone can actually replace missing body parts (because that was what Mustang lost; if you look closely at his eyes it's like bits of them are missing) why does Edward end the series still with his automail leg? (Unless he chose specifically not to have it healed).

He chooses to keep his leg to remind himself of his journey, and he also chooses to never use a philosopher's stone to heal himself.

edited 29th Nov '17 9:05:54 AM by RAlexa21th