I'm really interested in seeing how this turns out. I wonder how it will be set up, since much of the beginning of the manga (which it is supposed to be closer to) corresponds directly to the first anime. Presumably, the audience knows who the Elric brothers are, etc., but since some characters have different presentations in the manga, it might not work to start in the middle of the story.

There's a new series? Is it a direct adaptation of the manga?

yes and, apparently, yes.

Funimation's gonna have a sub up on its site on the 9th, I think.

Hmm. In that case, I may have to check it out. The original series is probably my favourite anime TV series. I haven't read the manga, but I've heard good things about it.

The manga's fantastic. I liked the anime a lot, and I think the manga's much better.

I can't wait for the first three-way-flame war between the fandoms.

I have really mixed feelings about it. I watched the anime and loved it, think it total deserves its consistent placement as one of the top animes of all time. I've never read the manga, and can't render a very effective judgement. However, I've read pretty extensively about the manga, partly on this site, and in almost every case where the plot of the anime and manga conflict, I think that the anime sounds like a better idea. It's possible that the execution is so good that it makes up for it, but all in all I think that whoever did the scripts for the anime was a better idea person than Hiromu Arakawa. It also bothers me a bit that the manga is still ongoing. I like long stories, but I don't like drawn out stories, and in my experience very few manga series can last as long as it has without feeling stretched out. It's not a matter of padding or filler, but of the plot being deliberately built up to the point that it cannot possibly be resolved in a timely fashion. Still, I enjoyed the first anime so much that I can't help but have high hopes for this one. Hopes that will have a long way to fall if it sucks.

Believe it or not, the manga is actually heading toward a conclusion. At its one chapter per month release schedule, I predict it might be done by this time next year, and almost certainly by this time 2011.

I feel similarly to Destertopa, I started with the anime and fell in love with it (in fact, it's what brought me back to anime fandom, along with Princess Tutu). I do own some volumes of the manga, and it's good, but...I don't understand what makes it so special and what makes the anime so disappointing in comparison. (Not that I don't understand disappointment, because I've experienced something similar in other fandoms, but...the anime just seems so good to me I don't get why it's been trashed so much.)

That being said, I'm really looking forward to the new anime.

I found the original anime exciting, but... kinda nonsensical. It doesn't have the same coherence as the manga. It added unnecessary stuff and then somehow tried to put together the existing stuff for a conclusion or something... Eh.

The manga so far is possibly the best I've ever read. It's long, but it never feels drawn out because there's always a new plot thread popping up, so tension never vanishes.

I have to say I'm nervous about animes that boast about "sticking to the manga". The Hellsing OVAs did it and it was amazing, but that's because the Hellsing manga is built on extremely cinematic fight scenes that can only be made more awesome by animation. For other series it doesn't work so well. Death Note (at least the bits I watched) stuck to the manga so closely it just felt redundant, and they had to stuff in a lot of pointless What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome shots just to make it visually interesting.

I'll admit I've only read about two volumes of FMA, so I don't know much how all this applies, but I'm hoping they'll have the common sense not to enslave themselves to that promise. Adaptations are nice, but shot-for-panel reproductions... not so much.

edited 5th Apr '09 8:20:32 AM by tinroof

seen a trailer, the animation is so beautiful, I feel like spawning pink sparkles and crying rivers of manly tears...

No, really, it's really good.

Seen the first episode, it's awesome. I haven't watched the original anime though (only the first episode).

Excellent.

I looked on wikipedia for a description. Sounds interesting and answered my question- from the sound of it, it begins in medias res. So, is that new ice alchemist the guy with the black ponytail shown in some of the teasers? I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a possessed-Ling.

Edit- Just watched it. I see the guy in question was the new character interesting choice having Bradley kill him off, foreshadowing The Reveal of his nature. I thought it very very cool, especially the art style.

edited 5th Apr '09 4:16:29 PM by Jordan

Sleek new animation, faithful to the manga, how am i supposed to be dissuaded?

Ah I know now, WHO IN THE NAME OF SAM HILL IS THE LAVDNER HAIRED KID AND SINCE WHEN DID ED GET STABBED!?!??

Wait wiat, hold on, nevermind, i judged it too quickly. Looks likea movie by the look of it. False alarm folks...

EDIT: Wait again, That's a VIDEO GAME!?? Dang! I'm jumping to every conclusion in the book! Somebody shoot me....

okay, now that I got that out of my syetem, I started out with the FMA anime, but I prefer reading over anything, and though I watched the whole anime through, The manga is much more coherent and, in comparison to the anime, beleiveable. (I mean seriously, come one, Humunculi are created from the dead one attempted to revive I undertsnad, being weakend by their source materials, I'm not buying it. Wrath having Ed's arm and leg? Wrath being Izumi's kid in general? Realy? You expect me to believe that? Rose's baby is a what now? Rose has a baby? Ya know what? Screw it, I'll just run with the nonesensical that this has produced. Wiat, wait , wait, Sloth is... Trisha Elric? *Throws noose over a nerby cealing beam* Okay, I'm just gonna get this over with...)

I will give the original anime props for its ability to come up witha unique and completely oriignal plot that still fit the source material.

Though I'll be glad to see what they do with this mnaga-direct one. I'd expect they'd remove plots like the false Fullmetal and the Sinking city with the theif becuase those were novels, but I could be wrong.

What's more, at least with this new anime, they probably won't have to create filler or anything since the manga is so far and drawing to a close.

edited 6th Apr '09 8:54:44 PM by AC Drawings

Really? I loved that bit. It seemed so folkloric. I was disappointed to find out that wasn't in the manga.

edited 6th Apr '09 9:11:35 PM by Desertopa

I have to agree. I think making them the Evil Counterpart of a living person was a great idea and in some ways makes more sense then the idea of the manga that they are personifications of Father's sins (the guy isn't really human enough to have sins, and although it's true of both versions, several of the homonculi don't fit their assigned sin that well).

The idea that they're personifications of Father's sins seems to me like a fairly typical mishmash of religion and shonen melodramatics.

The way I saw it in the anime though, it seemed brilliantly poignant. The homunculi, for all their fantastic powers, cannot, by their very nature, escape the feeling that they are entirely subhuman. Because they were meant to be human, the desire to become real humans is the very core of their being. When they see the remains of the true beings they were meant to replace, they are paralyzed with shame and rage.

I don't really see how that can not sound like a good idea.

Only when you put it that way it sounds ten times better, Mr. Desertopa.

edited 6th Apr '09 10:26:43 PM by AC Drawings

(only seen the anime though not the movie, but has heard a lot about the manga) Me too. I don't mind if it's different in the manga, but I can't see why so many people are so contemptuous towards the idea of the homunculi being something besides Always Chaotic Evil. Anyway, I don't think either medium is immune to producing at least some WTF moments, and some of the things I've heard happens in the manga sound very questionable:

Anime: The other side of the gate. Not the fact that it happened at all, but that it came practically out of nowhere (although I'm sort of split of loving or hating it for that very reason), didn't connect very well with the plot that was at hand, and that they saved such a massive and world-altering reveal for the last three episodes.

Manga: Barry (or really any character) being a Heroic Sociopath. OK, apparently his pre-Lab 5 appearance was anime-only, but it's not he wasn't already doing that kind of thing. In a series where not shying from the worst parts of war is a major theme, that's just doesn't sound right.

On a completely separate note, I wonder if it will eventually air on Adult Swim, or if they'll have completely phased out anime by the time the dub eventually comes around (as someone who watched the dub this makes me wonder whether I should wait for the dub or just watch the Funi sub as it comes out).

There was foreshadowing for it in the scenes where Edward is shown being pulled into the Gate, and we see flashes of what appear to be historical events from Our World flashing before his eyes.

After watching the first 3 episodes of the revivial... Ithought the new style nimation was all sleek and new, but it'sa trap. They've really gottne lazy. Just plain lazy, i nthe art, and especially in the story in script. They're basically forcing eerything in with as low a quallity they're allowed. It's like they're just making the think and trying to get it over with.

Who directed this? I need to mail them a package with acid rigged to explode-er, I mean, a presant

I've liked it so far, especially the animation but I do think they have a problem that almost everyone watching it already knows what happens in the beginning parts, but they sort of need to cover it for anyone who doesn't. Like for instance, I wonder if they will have the Slicer Brothers and episodes showing Izumi training the Elrics.

Just got around to watching the first three episodes on Funimation's website, and...well, I'm torn between fangirly glee over there being a new anime for FMA, and really worried that they won't be able to keep the show entertaining as they rush through the stuff that's already been animated. It's already lost some of its emotional impact (although some scenes, like the scenes with the Gate and Ed's assertion in the 3rd episode that "people can never come back from the dead! ever!" worked magnificently).

I also ADORE the new opening and ending themes. Both the animation and the music is just perfect for the series. The ending theme makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.