Lets talk about anime! I finished watching Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood a few weeks ago. I liked the series a lot. I especially liked how well fleshed out several of the characters from the original series became, and several of the new characters that were introduced were really great.
Anyway, this got me to go back and watch the original series. And you know what? The original is better. While Brotherhood has more character development for some of my favorite characters and a much more compelling mastermind for the end of the series, the original series is tighter and more focused, with a much more powerful ending and a much more emotionally satisfying core.
Of course, there’s different things I like in each series.
– Lust is a much more interesting character in the original, and her arc and eventual redemption is very satisfying. In Brotherhood she never expands beyond being a minor villan, and never lives up to he promises of her early appearances.
– The original’s Wrath is super annoying, but also acts as a gateway for a lot of interesting stuff with Ed, Sloth and the boy’s teacher. Brotherhood’s Bradley is a more compelling character, but he’s not a very exciting Wrath. In fact, Bradley is just a lot more interesting and complex in the original series.
– Brotherhood’s Sloth is just awful, with none of the rewarding character baggage of the original’s Sloth. In fact, without the key idea that they are the unintended result of human transmutation, the Homunculi characters lose a lot of their impact. The original’s Sloth was such a great character because she brought all of Ed and Al’s guilt and shame to a head.
– Kimbly and Greed both become pretty great characters in Brotherhood. I was a little sad to realize that Kimbly never got a lot of development in the original, while Greed was killed off just as he was becoming really interesting. Kimbly’s death in Brotherhood is particularly chilling.
– Roy, Archer and their gang are great in both series, but the original really solidifies the drive behind Roy Mustang’s ambitions and the reason why everyone is so willing to follow him. His battle with Bradley at the end of the series is short, sweet and devastating. Brotherhood does a great job of developing Roy’s personality (and that his his underlings), but the original’s lean storytelling puts the characters to better use. The original also features the excellent episode “The Flame Alchemist, the Bachelor Lieutenant and the Mystery of Warehouse 13”, which provides all the character development this gang really needs.
– In the original series Sheska helps keep Maes Hughes’ death in our mind through the entire series, which is important. Mae’s death is the turning point for the entire series and one of the most alarming and devastating events that we witness. Sheska is also a great character on her own, and it seems like she just doesn’t have much impact in Brotehrhood (does she appear at all?).
– On the other hand, Brotherhood features Prince Lin, May Chang, Lan Fan and Fu, all great characters.
– Envy really shines in Brotherhood as a much more fleshed out character, and the final battle between Envy and Mustang is fantastic stuff.
– Dante is a poor antagonist in the original series, and the revelation that she’s pulling the Homunculi’s strings is probably the weakest part of the story. However, Brotherhood’s Father isn’t much better. My biggest disappointment with both series is that the Homonculis themselves were only pawns and not the ones pulling the strings. Lust, Envy, Sloth (in the original) and Pride (Wrath in Brotherhood) were fantastically compelling characters with real motivation for their actions. Reducing them to pawns of Dante/Father robbed them of both their mystery and their threat.
I prefer Brotherhood for the storyline, as much as any characters, which is derived from the original manga, where half of the original series was made up by the studio. the lack of the characters from Xing and the sort of under-dramatic ending made the original kinda underwhelming by comparison. also, I felt the original series makes Van Hoenheim look more like a retired villan, where he should’ve been a victim. I prefer the Lust from brotherhood though. sometimes it’s nice for a bad guy to stay bad. and her last scene allows Roy to look like a complete badass.
Speaking of closure, what are those pirates up to?
That’s coming right up.
Jake, great decision to finish this arc the way you are. I know it extends things for the book but it’s great stuff. Thanks!
I would say that not seeing her mom would be the smart idea. They didn’t have a mother/daughter relationship as much as an evil cannibalistic mother/food relationship.
great page
What Gray said. Plus, I always hated the way the Homonculis were for the most part unstoppable forces of nature in the original. Something I guess Jake likes since Yeld seems to be populated with creatures like that(the Prince, Gorgon, Knight of Chains).
In my opinion the manga was the best, but it doesn’t mean that both anime weren’t good.
Also, I love how much Modest doesn’t want to see her mom.
Hmm, now that I think about it, Jake doesn’t know that the last time Modest met her mother she got to watch her eat like half of her sisters.
If you liked the original anime, you’ll probably like the new movie they made. The Star of Milos. It was written by the guys who ended up writing most of the original series.
Personally, I found the second one the more tightly focused series.
It was self contained, the villain made more sense, and most importantly, did not force our heroes to senselessly sacrifice all they had gained for a quest on which we know to be doomed from the start, thus making it more frustrating that they willingly abandoned everything, and all the sacrifices that were made for them.
The first series had some good moments, and was fun. But Dante unravelled the whole thing, and then the movie finished it off. They both denied the internal consistancy of the world, which is as much a huge part of telling the story.
I think the second series might have been a little better spending one episode on Mustang’s crew before they’re forced hither and yon.
I als
If you liked the original anime, you’ll probably like the new movie they made. The Star of Milos. It was written by the guys who ended up writing most of the original series.
Personally, I found the second one the more tightly focused series.
It was self contained, the villain made more sense, and most importantly, did not force our heroes to senselessly sacrifice all they had gained for a quest on which we know to be doomed from the start, thus making it more frustrating that they willingly abandoned everything, and all the sacrifices that were made for them.
The first series had some good moments, and was fun. But Dante unravelled the whole thing, and then the movie finished it off. They both denied the internal consistancy of the world, which is as much a huge part of telling the story as forcing the characters to confront their failings.
I think the second series might have been a little better spending one episode on Mustang’s crew before they’re forced hither and yon, but they still delivered.
I think the second series villain does serve as a powerful contrast to everyone else. He’s the embodiment of any of the characters taking a different approach to things, choosing the self over the group. That seemed to be one of the take home points, especially noticing how Greed’s arc ended.
But, yeah. I think you’ll like Milos then. It begs for a spinoff or an expansion of some kind because of all the things left open that it brings up, but it does have the feel of the first series.
Does Marah get to keep her hat? It kind of just poofed when she took if off a few strips back and she never put it back on.
It’s in her pocket.
Same place she keeps her spear.
I never finished the first FMA series, somewhere in the middle it felt like it was dragging and I just never did. Brotherhood, I liked it so much I got the box sets! ;D
See, I don’t get that. The original series is actually really tight and comes to a solid conclusion. There’s not a lot of fat or filler episodes. Brotherhood is great, but it’s a much longer series full of filler and extended fight scenes. A lot of that stuff is great and fun, but most of it is also completely unnecessary for the narrative. The Xing characters, for example, don’t add much to the story. I love them all, but everything they do in the story could have been done by other characters, and their subplots (while entertaining), are really just filler.
Anyway, I’m not saying that Brotherhood is bad. I think most FMA fans like it better for a good reason. But I was surprised by how narrative tight and well structured the original series is, and how well the themes serve the story. I hadn’t remembered that,a nd after seeing both back to back I really feel like the original is better.
“We won’t let her hurt you.” Does Comic Jake know how big momdusa is?? lol
They’ve met and spent a fair amount of time together.
Even more reason why he should know he really can’t back up such a promise.
The secret is momdusa has a crippling fear of facial hair. Why do you think the lady with the beard did so well with just a costume piece?
Ha!
I love that look they give her but he moms is a gaint snake that eats her children lols, who would want to get close to that?
Is Jake aware that Modest watched her mom devour some of her other children?
It’s not clear if Jake, Marah and Modest have compared notes yet. Anyway, Jake knows she’s dangerous. He probably had a plan of some kind.
Actually, Brotherhood IS the original series. It’s based on the manga, which is, of course, the actual, original story the author wants to tell.
The first FMA anime was initially also meant to follow the story of the original manga, but it caught up to the story of the manga when it was still unfinished, and rather than doing what they usually do (add in some filler arcs to pass the time) they decided they’d just pull the rest of the anime out of their… sleeve. So in a way, the first FMA anime is nothing but a long filler arc… (you can actually pinpoint the point in the first anime when they run out of prewritten material and start making it up, it’s somewhere around when Wrath catches up with Greed IIRC)
Then, later, due to fan demand I guess, a new FMA anime was made, which followed more closely to the manga storyline, and this was easier this time because more of the manga had been made, I guess. This was named FMA:BH to distinguish it from the first anime.
So say what you want about the narrative merits of either anime series, FMA:BH is definitely closer to the original story. I recommend reading the manga, it’s great.