I watched Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood after my local anime club showed a few episodes. I have come to expect cliches in works; the anime showed little cliche and much trope, and I ended up binging through all 64 episodes in three days.
There is much about the anime and its source manga that appeals to me. The characters' motives and storyline are all solid and mostly devoid of Fridge Logic. E.g., Ed's automail causes in-story problems if it malfunctions or is destroyed; I'd expect Hiromu Arakawa to use subtle discontinuities to carry the plotline. Instead, the story's attention to details like those makes the plot logical yet smooth. Each plot thread paces itself and switches to another at a precise moment to invoke interest; the threads that develop weave and produce satisfying resolutions for the characters at the story's end (well, there was Sheska, but that was early on). Originally, I disdained the comedic breaks (seeing them as "typical anime" jokes) in midst of the plot, but I eventually saw them as Bathos that isolates drama at peaks for effect; actually, this work is one of few I've seen that does not inflate dramatic moments into Narm or boredom.
The protagonists constantly subvert my expectations—a pleasant surprise. Arakawa has been praised for her Cast of Snowflakes being diverse in both design and personality. The characters develop rather than Flanderize, (Mustang's growing aggression for revenge, e.g., is criticized), and that keeps my attention. I don't see any protagonist as being The Scrappy; they are all interesting.
Studio BONES animates each episode frighteningly well, even outside of action sequences (I recall that infant body on Envy grasping for Marcoh's leg). I love how these little details add to the work's atmosphere. Well, most of it. It may be because I went through an average of twenty episodes per day, but the soundtrack felt repetitive. "Anticipation" seemed to play every time drama increased, and it's burrowed into my head. If the soundtrack was as bountiful as the characters, plot, and animation, it would've enhanced this anime even more. The three aspects mentioned are beyond expectations and more than make up for one disappointment, though, and I give my kudos to Arakawa and Studio BONES for that.
Very impressive.
I watched Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood after my local anime club showed a few episodes. I have come to expect cliches in works; the anime showed little cliche and much trope, and I ended up binging through all 64 episodes in three days.
There is much about the anime and its source manga that appeals to me. The characters' motives and storyline are all solid and mostly devoid of Fridge Logic. E.g., Ed's automail causes in-story problems if it malfunctions or is destroyed; I'd expect Hiromu Arakawa to use subtle discontinuities to carry the plotline. Instead, the story's attention to details like those makes the plot logical yet smooth. Each plot thread paces itself and switches to another at a precise moment to invoke interest; the threads that develop weave and produce satisfying resolutions for the characters at the story's end (well, there was Sheska, but that was early on). Originally, I disdained the comedic breaks (seeing them as "typical anime" jokes) in midst of the plot, but I eventually saw them as Bathos that isolates drama at peaks for effect; actually, this work is one of few I've seen that does not inflate dramatic moments into Narm or boredom.
The protagonists constantly subvert my expectations—a pleasant surprise. Arakawa has been praised for her Cast of Snowflakes being diverse in both design and personality. The characters develop rather than Flanderize, (Mustang's growing aggression for revenge, e.g., is criticized), and that keeps my attention. I don't see any protagonist as being The Scrappy; they are all interesting.
Studio BONES animates each episode frighteningly well, even outside of action sequences (I recall that infant body on Envy grasping for Marcoh's leg). I love how these little details add to the work's atmosphere. Well, most of it. It may be because I went through an average of twenty episodes per day, but the soundtrack felt repetitive. "Anticipation" seemed to play every time drama increased, and it's burrowed into my head. If the soundtrack was as bountiful as the characters, plot, and animation, it would've enhanced this anime even more. The three aspects mentioned are beyond expectations and more than make up for one disappointment, though, and I give my kudos to Arakawa and Studio BONES for that.