Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Episode 21 is going to be bumped to next week due to an athletics competition. Damn.T_T

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

edited 21st Aug '09 9:47:53 PM by Electivirus

Okay, I skipped most of the thread because of spoilers and... stuff? I'm confused! I just started watching Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and it's... It's not close to the manga at all? Wasn't it supposed to follow it closely...?

... or is it just the first episode? *actually finished it now*

Also, is there a good site to view it at? Animeboy's version is terribly compressed...

edited 22nd Aug '09 9:36:57 AM by Fawriel

Yes, just the first episode (though there are a couple surprise shots in episode 3). It splits from the first anime completely in episode 15.

I felt like I first started noticing serious divergences around episode 13 - but yeah, 15 was the one where the people from Xing show up, wasn't it?

In terms of a good site to watch it, the Funi site is probably the best but I don't think you can use it from outside North America.

edited 22nd Aug '09 1:03:22 PM by Nyktos

Hmmm. I guess they didn't want to start it off the exact same way as the first anime or something...

Guh, the Youtube channel is also region-bound... How evil.

They have a Youtube account posting episodes for the foreigners, though I think you have to use the regular Funi account otherwise.

About Episode 20...maybe I'm just slow, but I'm not really getting the whole The body they transmuted wasn't really their mother thing. If that's the case, then who the fuck DID they transmute? And how did the revelation make Ed have a "Eureka!" Moment about Al's real body? Is there something I'm missing, or do they explain this later? (If they do explain it later, don't tell me what it is)

It'll be explained later.

Okay.

Uaaaarrgh, I'm so torn! I absolutely adore the new opening, it's not amazingly catchy but it's so emotional and full of energy and sadness and it actually does some interesting stuff with the singing and the animation is pretty damn nice in it, too!

But the anime... I don't know! I'm done with the third episode and they've already spilled all the beans on the stuff Ed saw behind the door and just dedicated an episode to giving away everything and the death of the mother just gets a brief line and there you go, and they overuse gags, like why the hell did the figure in front of the door get those silly "ha ha" lines above his head, and why did they interrupt a perfectly good badass moment for another "oh so the short one is the Full Metal dude" joke... And the Father dude turning into some sort of monster wasn't exactly in the original either! And Riza was lazily animated at some point! Uuugh, I dunno! It seems like they're too bored with just basically reproducing the beginning again and now they're rushing it and occasionally throwing in their own stuff out of boredom?

Well... I did enjoy it so far, I still got misty-eyed at parts and I still laughed at others, but I keep stumbling over some details... haaarrrgh. *sigh*

I think the new one started out rather slowly... for my part, I didn't really start getting into it 'til about the thirteenth episode. I know this is longer than most people give a new anime, and it's longer than I usually give new shows to catch my attention, but to be honest I really wanted to see May Chang. And yes, she's just as Badass Adorable in Brotherhood as she is in the manga.

Think she doesn't show up 'til episode... fifteen, though, if memory serves. I'm just saying the group from Xing in general is what kept me waiting through the episodes that were pretty much inferior retreads of the first anime's plot.

edited 24th Aug '09 3:27:19 PM by Lull The Conqueror

Yeah, she first appears in #15.

So anyway, my crappy internet has been fixed and I'm now caught up on what Funi has up. #19 might be my favourite episode so far. I seriously can't believe that was only 24 minutes long.

edited 25th Aug '09 3:22:27 PM by Nyktos

Things are about to get epic again...

And William? Bradley answered why he didn't kill them in ep 19.

Man, they did some weird stuff with the SD in #21. Not sure how I liked it. But the fight at the end was awesome and that cliffhanger is just evil!

Yeah, I'm not sure I'm a big fan of their use of Super-Deformed. The fight scenes and Roy Mustang's awesome plans make up for it though.

I almost cheered when Mustang did his little "A bunch of fake police reports" thing. Didn't, though, because someone might hear me, and that would be weird.

That was an awesome moment.

There's another Tear Jerker moment off the list. ...Two actually.

Bait-and-Switch Credits moment confirmed.

Referring to episode 22? Not much Tear Jerker in 21.

edited 6th Sep '09 12:50:49 PM by Nyktos

Yes, it's 22 — Winry confronted Scar and Scar's flashback to his brother's sacrifice. Though some will argue there's a bit of Narm at the very end, as the ending is cued during the last several seconds.

edited 6th Sep '09 8:23:08 PM by Pika Hikari KT

Now I've seen it. It was a good one, but I didn't find it too Tear Jerkery. Yeah, it was sad and all but compared to some of the previous sad moments it wasn't so much.

Still a great episode. The leading into the ending thing wasn't Narm at all!

Episode 22 seemed pretty good to me except I found the whole slicing open Gluttony's head thing to be a little gruesome (not that much though). The only real issue I have with Brotherhood is how there seems to be quite a bit more "chibi" humor basically thrown in that I think can get excessive. Still it does not seem to be that big of an issue and it certainly did not show much in an episode like the one that just aired.

I think I generally am liking Brotherhood a little better than the original anime at this point. Firstly, there are no fillers (at least so far) and I think the Xing characters really add a lot to the series. In my opinion they give a little more depth to the show especially Ling who I think is a really different sort of character than the previous season had. Alphonse also seems to have a bigger role this season which I like since he is my favorite character. He can transmute without a circle and actually actively helped Colonel Mustang and his group in episode 20. In the first anime series it seemed like he was sometimes (though not always) treated as a sidekick to Edward, but in Brotherhood they seem to be on more equal footing (the transmuting without a circle is a big part of that).

What surprised me most was the early appearance of the Homunculi in Brotherhood. I wonder if this means that there will be a much greater focus on them. I mean the amount of information that Roy, Edward, and Alphonse know about the Homunculi is much greater than it was at a comparable point in the first series. I doubt they can just slip away and escape the spotlight at this point especially after Wrath's identity has already been revealed so early.

edited 12th Sep '09 5:27:34 PM by LouieW

Aw. Total Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming there with the phone call thing! And then the ending...HOLY SHIT!

It was also good to see May Chang again; she hasn't shown up in ages. And it looks like Envy, who also hasn't shown up in a while (except for like a minute in episode 19), will be in the next one.

"Lookit how gentle she is, Brother!" *Xiao May promptly bites Al...but Epic Fail since he can't feel a thing*