…first impressions deculture!
It’s no understatement to say that pretty much every anime fan out there has been looking forward to the new Fullmetal Alchemist since it was announced last year. And considering that the first FMA is one of my favourite series of all time, I was eager to see what Studio BONES would do with following the story and character design closely to the manga.
My initial impression after watching the first episode was complete disappointment. It was the typical route almost all new animes and TV shows take on nowadays: all style and no substance. Had I not known of the pedigree this anime came from, I wouldn’t even have given it a second glance, so bad was the first episode. It just felt devoid of any class or character whatsoever.
To sum it up…
...it was the Elric Brothers...
...vs some Ice Alchemist nobody gave a shit about.
Things started to get much better from the second episode onwards. A background on what Alchemy really is and how the brothers came to be where they are.
Dood, I'm like SO ready to be a State Alchemist!
One of the things that ticks me off about the new season is the comedic timing of everything, sometimes it’s just wrong. Feels too forced to lighten up the sombre mood. Like the silly moment with Winry when the two brothers were at their mothers’ grave. Ruined the moment. Or maybe I’m just being overly critical, they were just kids back then. I can say one thing for sure, mistaking Al for Ed being the Fullmetal Alchemist and making fun of Ed’s size is getting really old now.
Seriously guys, it's been 5 years, come up with something new already!
Those are, however, my only annoyances about the new FMA, and most people will not be bothered by such things. So what do I like about the new series then? Everything, actually.
No, really, I like it.
From the kickass opening by Yui to the new, cleaner art direction. It’s not a great improvement over the first anime, but the ever so subtle changes to the animation is really refreshing. Sort of like how every new iteration of the ipod feels :p
Those good ol' days are back again.
So while the second episode covered the Elric Brothers’ past and how Ed passed his State Alchemist exam, the third episode brought us back to Lior. Also…
...24!
I appreciated the lesser OTT’ness of this episode. Also, it was nice to see…
...Rose again...
…the first of many emo tragic characters we meet in FMA.
Now I haven’t read the manga so I don’t know when the story splits from the original anime to the manga, but I hope it is in the next 3 episodes. Also, that the ending is more epic and satisfying than the first TV series and not as many people die.
Even more epic than this!
Till tomorrow next week…
deculture 
The story doesnt’r really split until the Greed Arc, which is near the middle of the first series. But seeing that the first series had lots of fillers and elongated many of the stories, like Rose, Nina, I’d say maybe by episode 10. The emphasis is not as great on Rose and Nina in the manga as they are in the first anime.
And seeing that you’re starting to find the comedic inserts annoying, the next few eps will be full of those before it gets to the serious stuff.
All the ‘old’ shorty jokes are supposed to be ‘new’ since this is a reboot, it just wouldn’t work without them. Besides from the anime original first episode, it’s doing a good job so far in following the manga, for example the new alchemist examination and the absense of the parrot is pretty much how the manga handles it.
Yea, I understand that the jokes are supposed to be new, guess I’ll have to live with it. Thanks for the info on the manga 🙂 And thank the Lord for them not putting much emphasis on Rose and Nina. Also, lack of freaky parrot was a good thing as well.
To be honest it wasn’t all that bad. The only thing that bothered me was Alphonse Elric’s new voice actor! When I heard it the first time I was like what the hell happened to his voice?