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I will file this manga under 'disturbing' category rather than horror. With the exception of a few panels, nothing truly scared me even as I read this at 1 AM.

Story
It plays into the cliched tropes of the genre: mysterious disappearing figures; empty schools; dark rooms and so on. I didn't expect it to reinvent the wheel but I hoped for something with a twist.

I am no prude, but there is also that uncomfortable combination of gore and nudity. It wasn't as exploitative as some but some female nudity were just unnecessary.

Art
Now this is where I think the manga shines. It was well-detailed which enhances the ... gross and cringe factor.

Character
The characters are flat and there is no development for hardly anyone. Some of them exists just to further the plot along. Then again, the manga is plot-driven so this is not surprising.

Enjoyment
This is constantly recommended under the horror genre so I was disappointed with what I thought was standard fare. It was a page-turner and interesting enough for me to keep reading until the end but I don't think it was that great.

I have watched FMA: Brotherhood first then picked up this manga, and rewatched Brotherhood again to compare (you could say my latter half of 2016 was dedicated solely to FMA). It is the first manga that I've finished and I gotta say it was well worth the ride.

Story (9) Arakawa managed to combine various genres into 108 chapters with hardly any filler which is quite a feat. Fantasy/magic (alchemy) mixed with politics with some sprinkled action and adventure on the side (and a bit of romance too). The alchemy side of things seem well-researched also and I appreciate the effort put on that.

The story ... moves along at a smooth pace from the introduction of our main characters right into the climax and into the inevitable conclusion. I think my only negative comment here is the introduction of the Briggs arc with the reason that one character hid something important there. It just seemed quite far-fetched and execution was a bit clumsy- all to show a new place.

I also had a incredibly minor issue with Arakawa's execution of the various deus ex machinas in her story. Can't let our main characters get themselves too much in a bind, eh?

Art (8) This is only my second manga to read so I don't really have a good basis for comparison. However, on its own, the art is quite clean, crisp and consistent. Though not spectacular enough for me to be wowed, in general it is detailed and descriptive enough to add to the atmosphere.

Character (8) FMA has a wide array of characters so it'd be impossible not to find a favorite: we have a cynic, an optimist, a vengeful murderer, a visionary, an ambitious prince and a handful of loyal henchmen among other things. I like how some of the antagonists of the series, the homunculi, aren't exactly cookie-cutter villains and were given depth to their characters.

On the other hand, almost any story will have typical secondary characters who have hardly any growth and are merely used as plot devices; FMA is no exception to this. However, they are introduced and utilized in such a way that you will come and care for them no matter how small their roles may be.

Enjoyment (10)
When I first watched the anime having not read the manga, I thought the way the comedy/seriousness went fluidly from one to another was off-putting, but having read FMA I realized it was just adapting whatever was in the manga. My initial reaction was to side-eye Arakawa's propensity for this but I have since come to appreciate this wacky side of things.

My main gripe on FMA centers around Al. He is my favorite out of the Elric brothers and this is the problem: often times he is forgotten as people mention the trials and suffering Ed face. Both brothers went through a lot together even though Ed may have been exposed to a lot more ridicule as a State Alchemist. I may be biased but I've always thought Al has always been in a tougher place than Ed is; it's just that Ed is more vocal and cynical while Al tries to be constantly cheerful despite living in an armor body. Part of this is my thinking that there are two MAIN protagonists in the story, but Ed is and has always been the primary character with Al as the supporting one.

The above paragraph is my only 'real' hindrance to me thoroughly enjoying FMA and even then I'll give it a top score just because it was incredibly fun to read, it wasn't boring, it can be as deep as it wanted to be but at the same time it made me laugh out loud in some scenes.

Overall (9)
I think one of FMA's greatest strengths is that it is very easy to dive into but it has every little bit of everything that will please everyone. I've said almost everything I've felt about it in the above paragraphs.

The next on my list is to watch the 2003 version, though having spent a long time in the Amestris world I might need a few more months to cleanse my palate first.

With a highly ambitious plot such as this there is always the risk of it becoming overcomplicated to execute. However FMAB was never in the danger of this.

It is an incredibly well-written story anchored with a great array of characters, almost all of whom has steady series development (I will mention here that Ed's physical growth mirrors his ongoing maturity throughout the show). The plot moves at a good pace; in 64 episodes I can only recall one filler episode (Rush Valley).

I know almost everyone praises this anime so I'll just focus on some of its weaknesses. One thing I noticed is the ... ill-timed or rather well-timed comedy value in serious situations. It prevents the show from becoming a runaway drama but at the same time I feel like it takes away the gravity of the situation at hand.

I also feel that with the multitude of characters there is almost always someone who can double up as Deus Ex Machina. There were numerous instances where all hope looks lost to our protaganists if it weren't for the 'very timely' arrival of character A. It just feels like a cop-out whenever that happens.

With these in mind, I still watched it with great enjoyment from start to finish. I have to commend Arakawa for creating a wonderful manga (which I shall start soon, I have to get some books out of the way first!) and Bones for creating this adaptation in the first place.

(From watching the anime only-- I haven't tried the visual novel)

It was only during my second attempt that I finally finished Steins;Gate. I quit by episode 6 the first time. For the second time, I was only hooked around episode 8. Indeed, I needed a tremendous amount of patience to get through the first few episodes.

The first half of the anime lays down the foundation for the story but it would also mean being bombarded with a ton of questions which will remain unanswered until the second half. It is for this reason that sometimes it can be frustrating to watch but at the ... same time the payoff is immensely satisfying when you reach the final episode. Compared to my struggle to finish episodes 1-8, my excitement to finish the story was easily seen when I devoured episodes 9 onwards in one sitting.

I find that with Steins;Gate the strength of the animation can be seen more in its cinematography than the character design. However, I do appreciate that it never (or rarely, if at all) employed having the characters make typical typical silly/funny anime expressions. It lends a tone of seriousness which fits well with the anime's theme. It doesn't make it pretentious; on the contrary, everything actually seems more real when done that way.

Its sound isn't truly distracting or awful. If referring to VAs, I don't really know much to comment. I'll just say it was okay.

To wrap up this review: Steins;Gate is a great show, but it tortured me a lot. Was it worth it though? Yes, definitely! When I finished the anime, I found myself going back to the earlier episodes and watched them again in a different light.

I only managed to reach episode 4 before dropping this.

The synopsis got me intrigued. This should have been right up my alley but for some reason, it just felt boring. The concept of the show itself is quite interesting, but the pacing is slow at times and even though things started to pick up around episode 5, it was not enough for me to keep watching it. I'm all for slow-burner type of shows but this one didn't work out for me.

The animation, however, is one thing I have to give props too. It's beautiful and gorgeous to look at times. It's not as wonderful/sleek ... as others but it fits the narrative well and that should be what's important.