NOTE: I may be comparing Brotherhood with the 2003 version of FMA a few times in this review.
*I'll attempt to keep spoilers down to a minimum.*
Brotherhood is a re-adaption of the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist, except this time it stays as close as possible to the source material (The manga). I have roughly seen both the Manga & the original and this anime is better than the original & manga in many ways, but can fail to be better in certain areas, the problems are extremely minor so It's not all of a bothersome to me.
STORY: 9
If your unfamiliar
...
with the plot MAL does a nice job summing it up already, but I'll make a short summary.
There's two brothers named Edward & Alphonse Elric, they live in a fantasy like setting and alchemy is used for military or whatever else customs. Ed and Al's mother passed away, they try to bring her back using Alchemy, it obviously fails because Human Transmutation is a taboo amongst alchemists, Ed loses his left leg, Al loses his body, Ed bonds Al's soul to armor & Ed loses his right arm in exchange. Most of the anime revolves around them trying to fix what they've lost, and trying to seek the legendary Philosopher's stone or any other resource to restore their bodies back to normal.
Now, unlike 2003 the first 15 or so episodes feel a bit rushed, you don't get to spend much time with Nina or the Hughes Family, there's also a lot of cut out things like for instance the Youswell's Coal Mine incident, where it just becomes a flashback in the story of Lieutenant Yoki. However, a lot of people think the creators believed most viewers have already seen the original FMA before viewing FMAB, so it was rushed so viewers could get to the new material faster. There's only this minor pasting problem. After around episode 15 this anime is fantastic & almost flawless.
In Brotherhood there's more to Amestris, Brotherhood opens up to world where more things do exist, such as Xing, Xerxes or Ishval.
Also, I'd like to mention..
The tone of Brotherhood feels more Adventurous & more Shounen like which sets a different tone from 2003 which is more philosophical & leans more to the darker scale. I personally loved both series for the different feel of the story.
Brotherhood is also a good start out anime, it's got a variety of different genre's and it pulls it off extremely well, the balance between seriousness and comedy is a little iffy for the first couple of episodes, but it starts to balance out well as the anime progresses.
ART: 10
This is probably one of Studio Bone's best work; the animation is seriously flawless for this one. The action scenes look great, the openings are well animated. The Atmosphere feels right with the story, never had it felt out of place, the backdrops are visually nice, the character designs are unique and look cool, they fit their characters, there's no problems with getting a character mixed up, you can tell who's who easily. The art style wasn't bothersome at all. The simple effects like Alchemy & fire are also done really well in this anime. So yeah, there's nothing really to add, the art's fantastic.
SOUND: 10
The soundtrack is much more "Epic" in terms of tone compared to 2003 being more somber. I personally like the more emotional tracks more, and that makes me like the 2003's OST a little more than Brotherhoods; but I understand that it wouldn't fit with the whole atmosphere, as Brotherhood is more adventurous & fantasy like in nature. Don't get me wrong, the OST is still amazing, I'm sad "Brothers" isn't in there because y'know that song literally has a huge label that says Fullmetal Alchemist on it, but it probably wouldn't really fit with the style of Brotherhood. Some of my favorite pieces from Brotherhood's OST are "A soldiers honor", "Trisha's Lullaby" or "Crime & Punishment". All openings in my opinion were great, I don't think I disliked any of them. Also, "Again" by Yui is amazing. The endings are all great as well. The sound effects are done well & the voice acting for Dub & Sub are phenomenal. I normally don't like English dubs, but this ones amazing.
CHARACTER: 10
Never have I liked ALL the characters in a anime before, the characters are extremely likable even if they were 'bad' or were 'villains' & their motives or goals were interesting to see. All characters had a purpose to be there even if they were just thrown there for a episode or two and never to be seen again. There's a vast amount of characters, but I'm going to focus on the two main characters- Edward & Alphonse Elric. Ed is probably one of my all time favorite anime characters. There's something about him that seems unique. He's a prodigy, he's moody & hotheaded and has a short temper (mostly when he's called short) but that's mostly for comedy purposes. Behind acting like a ass sometimes he's extremely caring for his brother, he'd do anything to protect him & would give up everything just to save him or get him back to his original body. Edward also isn't destined to win everything, he does lose and there's consequences to his mistakes. He's not a cardboard cutout like most shounen protagonists. Then there's Alphonse- He's Naive, innocent and could be easily manipulated. He really cares for his brother though, even more than himself & would do anything to protect him or get his arm and leg back to normal. I also enjoyed character development in this anime, as the anime progresses you get to see the Elric brothers mature a bit, same as the supporting cast, you get some insight on the villains motives as well.
ENJOYMENT- 10
This anime was enjoyable, actually one of the only anime's I've watched where I was gripped by the plot at any given moment. It was hard to stop watching this anime & I easily became hooked after the 3rd or 4th episode or so.
OVERALL- 10
WATCH IT NOW. If you haven't seen any Fullmetal Alchemist I'm jealous. It's a must watch, this & 2003 should be viewed by any anime fan even if it's just to say you watched it.
All (17)FriendsLaurelei_LeeSoundsOfTheWild3The_Golden_Witch3Dwaifusalman7KacGamesNagareboshi_majo_rassuperdragon19FlameTonics
RSS Feeds |
Sep 11, 2017
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
(Anime)
add
NOTE: I may be comparing Brotherhood with the 2003 version of FMA a few times in this review.
*I'll attempt to keep spoilers down to a minimum.* Brotherhood is a re-adaption of the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist, except this time it stays as close as possible to the source material (The manga). I have roughly seen both the Manga & the original and this anime is better than the original & manga in many ways, but can fail to be better in certain areas, the problems are extremely minor so It's not all of a bothersome to me. STORY: 9 If your unfamiliar ... 
Sep 11, 2017
Fullmetal Alchemist
(Anime)
add
NOTE: I may be comparing 2003 & Brotherhood a few times in this review.
*I'll attempt to keep spoilers down to a minimum* I'm not sure why many seem to pass on 2003 or just join in on praising brotherhood & saying this show is total shit without even considering to give it a try, and not even pursuing their own opinions. Sure, brotherhood may have excelled in many ways better then this version did, but this version definitely does some things better than brotherhood. STORY: 9 If you're not familiar w/ the story it takes place in a fantasy like setting where there's made up country's & theres ... |
