9
Jun/07116
Jun/07116
Fullmetal Alchemist: Manga Versus Anime
WARNING! HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
also tl;dr
2009 Notes: Hooray for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It pretty much fixes everything I had a problem with here. I’ll probably revise this rant in the future seeing as its haphazard and now somewhat obsolete, but for now here is it’s preserved for the ages!
Keep in mind this rant was about the FIRST Fullmetal Alchemist TV anime. Brotherhood makes me quite a happy Sai.
This is a huge rant I was writing on and off for quite some time. There isn’t alot of stuff out there that can give me a serious case of nerd rage, but this is one of them: Fullmetal Alchemist the brilliant comic book and its grossly subpar animated counterpart. I just heard some fangirl heads explode, but hear me out! Unless you don’t like spoilers, because I don’t care to dance around them and wish to make a solid case for why the Fullmetal Alchemist manga is superior and why it should be read. Please keep in mind this post is aimed at people already familiar with the series, although it may get you interested, and you may find it funny, you might be confused at some points!
I understand the anime went into production when there was only a few volumes worth of the manga written, but that right there is my first criticism. If they had only waited another year or two to produce the anime, some of our favorite elements and characters of the manga may have made an appearance in it, and would have lent it much better storytelling. Secondly, the manga is still going, it isn’t finished, and the story is much more solid with much better pacing. The problem here is not only did the anime producers tack on a really retarded ending but they also made a movie, a movie with Nazis in it, so now there’s no hope of continuing the series with anything other than what they’ve previously established (unless OVAs come into the picture or another anime is produced ignoring the first one [2009 Note: this in fact is actually happened]) If they had just left it open-ended they could have easily continued the anime at a later date with the new manga material. Bones doesn’t seem to be very good at ending series anyway.
The differences between the manga and the anime go beyond simple timeline changes, or story condensing: the very core of the plot is changed, and it’s changed to something really badly written and stupid. And that is what I’m about to rant endlessly about discuss in a calm and (semi)organized manner.
Case One: The Homunculi
I think this is what chafs my ass more than anything: how the homunculi are portrayed in the anime. Despite the manga showing a mysterious phenomenon in which human transmutations create black-haired entities (that don’t survive long, mind you) that don’t resemble the person the alchemist intended to revive (Ed and granny Pinako confirm this by digging up the thing Ed and Al transmuted in a particularly grim scene), this is not how homunculi are made. At least not the homunculi named Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Pride, Sloth, Greed, and Wrath, who in the manga were in fact all made by the same person (I’ll be getting to that.)
Emo Beamo
One of the most shameless elements in the anime is the constant emo-crying of the homunculi. Sympathetic villains can be good, and showing a character’s emotions is always important, but this portrayal is so poor that it just comes off as generic, cookie-cutter whining and questions of the self that have been done to death which don’t seem to take into consideration the characters’ individual personalities.
In the manga the homunculi are monsters, and they’re not ashamed of it. Where they do have interesting turmoils, and at least one (Greed) is rather rebellious, they can’t overcome the intense natures imdued in them. They all seem to have demonic true forms as well, which brings me to…
Envy’s True Form
Envy revealing he's Hoenheim's failed-ressurrected son. Agh.
Envy's more awesome true form.
Envy’s true form in the anime is… ridiculously anti-climatic. So he’s Hoenheim’s failed-resurrected son from at least 100 years ago who died of mercury poisoning? What? Seriously what the fucking fuck?In the manga we’ve seen Envy’s true form and it’s badass as hell, in fact the most recently domestically (U.S) released volume, volume 13, contains the issues featuring it (and the truth about Alphonse’s body and soul. I highly recommend it, it’s a very intense and particularly awesome part of the comic.) He’s a monsterous, eight-legged beast with anguished, undulating faces all over his body which all speak at the same time in different voices, some at times begging to be killed, crying for their mothers or other loved ones, or just laughing insanely. I lament we’ll probably never get to see this in animated form, because it would be awesome beyond words.
Sloth
In the anime Sloth is the boys’ failed-resurrected mommy who somehow ended up with the homunculi even though the massive pile of screaming organs they created was very obviously dead at the beginning of the anime. But no, organ-pile was somehow able to move and walk, and somehow no one ever bothered to question why and how it went missing, and it just happened to run into Dante who was conveniently taking a leisurely stroll around Resembool in the middle of the night despite the fact she lives all the way in the South in Dublith. Dante then feeds the thing mini-Philosopher Stone bites into its deformed mouth and it turns into a hot chick (with bigger boobs than their mom ever had.) And this all to play into Ed and Al’s mommy complex in the most ham-handed, asinine way possible. Oh waaaahh they has to kills their mommy agains! HOW SADS! And she has human memories as she dissapears oh wah wah wah sob cry. Urgh. It’s so poorly written and has all the dramatic depth of a soap opera. She also sure moves around a whole fuck alot for someone named SLOTH, and attacks with water for some unknown reason.
Sloth in the manga is true to his name as he is very slow, sluggish, somewhat narcoleptic, and considers most activities to be too much effort. Despite this he’s been tasked with digging a tunnel around Amestris for some mysterious purpose that seems to tie into the homunculi’s plans.
Pride & Wrath
Where Fuhrer (President) King Bradley is indeed a homunculus in the manga, he’s Wrath, not Pride. Anime!Wrath is just another excuse for melodrama, being Izumi’s failed-ressurected baby who was sucked into the Door of Truth (which according to the anime leads to Germany! So… what? Where the hell was he this whole time?) and now like 8 or 10 years later pops back out as a homunculus. And he has Ed’s arm and leg for reasons that are never really explained (did “Truth” give the limbs to him? I don’t think he, it, whatever even comes into play in the anime really.) And he doesn’t even know he’s a homunculus or acts like one until he eats some Philosopher Stone mini-bites (now in human blood flavor!) and then he just goes around being irritating and screaming alot, coming to see Sloth as a mother figure for some reason (be expecting me to say that alot.) I always laugh that when they first fight Wrath, and Izumi explains how it’s her son and shit Edward actually yells out “But that doesn’t make any sense!” I agree, Ed, it so fucking doesn’t. On top of that they turn Izumi into such a whiny wimp about all this, which is completely out of character for her, turning this tough, hardcore bitch into a stereotypical weak woman. Thanks, Bones. Ruin one of my favorite characters why don’t you? In fact none of the female characters were treated very well by this anime.
And then at the end of the anime they make King Bradley get all super-pissed for no reason and kill Selim even though he’s Pride, not Wrath. *sigh* I’m not going to spoil who Pride is, because he’s been enigmatic and mysterious up until chapters 70 and 71 (as of this article the most recent ones), and even I didn’t see it coming at all (though I was constantly trying to guess who it was.) It will blow your miiinnndddd. Well maybe not, but he is pretty damn creepy.
P.S. King Bradley, in the manga, was human once, he was literally injected with the essence of Wrath and that’s how he became an aging homunculus. He was set up to lead the country of Amestris by a vast conspiracy that created and is using the country by forming a massive transmutation circle with the bloody conflicts the military has engaged in over the last few centuries for some massive alchemic purpose that is yet to be made completely clear. Which leads me to…
The Father
The “Father” is the creator of the homunculi who feature in the story (and are the only known homunculi so far). I don’t wanna tell you much about him, not just because much hasn’t been revealed, but because of his mysterious link to another character. I don’t want to ruin everything….
Anyway, he creates the homunculi using the essence of his own soul. Thus, the idea they’re named after and represent the Seven Deadly Sins makes a whole lot of sense now, doesn’t it? Because of the anime’s clumbsiness their names are relegated to just sounding cool but having no real purpose or representation of anything.
He’s the one who kills the rebellious Greed, by the way, none of this ooohh being near their original bones makes them weeeaaak bullshit used to make Ed feel guilty about killing a monster and being all freaked out that he took life (even though he’s killed people earlier in the anime! Remember that filler about the fucking blue roses and shit? He totally sword’d that guy!) The Father absorbs Greed back into him with some kind of machine (the Father stays on this throne hooked up to tubes and wires and shit most of the time, in some secret steampunky underground base guarded by chimera that can only be reached through the slums. Creepy.) There’s a new Greed now, by the way, in fact you’ll see when volume 14 comes out. Also, Lust is dead. She dead. That has nothing to do with the Father though, Mustang kept torching her til she finally died. But that leads me into another thing…
Case Two: The Philosopher’s Stone
Al is The Philophser’s Stone!
Would you like some people soup, big brother?
Let me see if I can remember this series of events correctly, because I’ve only seen it once and it was SO painful I never, ever, want to watch it again. So.. uhh.. back in Lior… you know the crazy religious town from the beginning of both the anime and manga (the girl Rose lives there? Father Cornello was the crazy priest guy? Sun God Leto cult?) …uh.. things have gone to shit. Rose has a rape baby or something and she can’t talk from trauma but she’s being hailed as some Virgin Mary/Mother Teresa type figure. Ed is helping the people escape cause … someone is gonna use the whole town to make a Philosper’s Stone. They want to lure the military in to kill them all and do this. SCAR might be the one doing this.. for some reason.. or maybe he just wants to kill people. I don’t know. Let me look it up on Wikipedia. …. Yeah goddamnit, Scar of all people, the angry badass Muslim Middle-Eastern sexy hobo Ishbalan man who hates alchemy and alchemists is making a Philospher’s Stone. I don’t remember why and I don’t care to know. Moving on… so, crazy-ass bomb pyro Kimbley (the Crimson Alchemist) is attacking with a bunch of chimera. He tries to turn Al into … a bomb… and to save him Scar somehow transfers his tattoo onto Al. Then he.. loses his arm.. arms.. both arms. Then anime-only bastard Colonel Archer sends a bunch of troops in. Armless Scar collapses to connect a transumation circle around the town he somehow knew how to make, and dies like a pussy crying about his brother. Oh man (he’s still very alive in the manga, by the way, and still rockin’ hardcore, sexy hobo for all!) And then.. the town.. explodes. Ed goes searching for Al, who he finds, but he can’t touch him because Al has BECOME TEH PHILOSOPHMER’S STONES!!1
Has your brain broken yet?
Anyway, just like in the manga, yes, THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE IS MADE OUT OF PEOPLE! IT’S PEEEEOOOOPLEE! *cough*… but none of that above bullshit happens. Ever. Or anything even close to it. Thank god Hiromu Arakawa knows how to write a goddamn story. Anyway, in the manga the core of each homunculus is, in fact, a Philospher’s Stone. Roy Mustang finds this out before he kills Lust, unfortunately the thing disintegrates when she dies for good. How to obtain the true Philosopher’s Stone is still out of the characters’ collective reach.
Case Three: Assorted Changed Scenes/Story Arcs/Details
Edward
I’m sorry, but, anime!Edward is such a pussy emo crybaby. Manga!Edward is so much more… feral. Arakawa doesn’t really try to make him super-bishie-cute, he’s often seen making twisted, horrendous and quite hilarious facial expressions, and personality-wise he’s often portrayed as rude, pigheaded, domineering and quite boarish (not to say he doesn’t have good qualities under all that.) Manga!Edward is also a bit more stilted and closed emotionally, but quite realistically so. He also sometimes behaves in a strange, socially inept manner when he does attempt to say something thoughtful. Considering what he’s been through, what his goals are, and what he knows about the world around him he keeps himself quite guarded. Rarely does he break down crying or is he seen visibly moping, and because of the rarity you really feel for him in those times (as opposed to just not giving a damn about how he feels because he does it so often, like in the anime.) He tends to react to most tough situations with critical thought and frothing, energetic determination, or at times dark humor. A downside to this is he rarely gives himself a moment to stop and dwell on his situation, one gets the idea that if he did he might very well crumble.
Short version: Manga!Ed > Anime!Ed
Lab 5
The Lab 5 story arch is pretty epic. You know, Ed and Al sneak into an abandoned laboratory that was part of the military’s evil plotingness where horrible human experiments took place, including making chimera and Philosopher’s Stones (we find out later in issue 59 of the manga that they actually used Ishbalans in their Philosopher’s Stone experiments, great war flashbacks in that one featuring all the main military characters.) This pretty much starts out the same in the manga as it does in the anime, even so far as Edward battling those two killers in a suit of armor, but then it abruptly takes a turn for the retarded. Keep in mind none of this is in the manga:
Shou Tucker as ManBearPig.
First they bring Shou Tucker back as some sort of warped up-side-down head bear-sloth, and he’s trying to recreate his daughter Nina, you know, the one he turned into a dog chimera in desperation to pass his alchemy evaluation and continue getting big research funds from the military government to live on. Well apparently he’s had some regrets, and is now a bear-sloth with an upsidedown head. This serves very little purpose other than to wave Nina in Edward’s face all over again, with the added bonus that she’s now a furry. What? The trauma of what happened to that little girl haunts Ed in the manga, but it’s never hammered into his face this blatantly in such a lame, nonsensical, half-assed attempt to tug at the audience’s heartstrings. And she was never really an important character either.
Then the Lab 5 retardation reaches its pique: The bad guys conveniently have a bunch of prisoners in a big glass box, which also happens to be holding puesdo-Philosopher Stone goo, in this long abandoned laboratory, and with all the homunculi in attending Ed is offered the chance to make a Philosopher’s Stone. Eventually they get a hold of Alphonse and threaten to break his blood seal if Ed doesn’t do it. And then we get a long sequence of omg he has inner turmoil about whether he should or not and omg is he gonna do it? Is he? Of course he’s not, any idiot can see that, it’s hardly dramatic, hardly suspenseful, and the sheer idiocy surrounding the situation (just happening to have all these people and this giant container on hand) is simply staggering. Then Scar stops him and causes some shit to happen. Then the container breaks, and Edward touches the goo and GOES INTO THE AVATAR STATE BECOMES THE ONE GOES SUPER SAIYAN …. fuck I don’t know what he does. Lt. Ross and that blonde guy who were serving as the boys’ bodyguards at the time watch on and Ross comments on how its some big alchemic charge that could turn Ed into a god, then she goes and hugs him to calm him down and this shit never comes up again and wasn’t significant in any way. What a budget waster.
“Fullmetal Heart”
Like in the manga, after the Lab 5 events Al is upset and questioning his existence. Unlike in the manga, this part of the story is dragged out across two fucking episodes in the anime. In the manga the brothers make up, and the issue is resolved a bit quickly, but realistically in a charming scene where Ed, still injured, has wandered to the roof of the hospital after being harshly questioned by Al regarding the nature of his memories as a human. Al, gently prompted by Winry (read: she hit him repeatedly with a wrench before crying and demanding Al go after Ed) cautiously approaches his brother, who abruptly initiates a sparring match. Eventually the two brothers are laying on the roof and begin reminiscing about their childhood, to which Ed asks if all those memories are really fake and Al apologizes and is reassured. Later on, in a more amusing scene, they test Al’s memories by having him and Winry talk about things from their childhood Ed didn’t know about.
But no, this charm is eradicated from the anime and replaced with nauseating melodrama. Al runs off crying, more or less, and no one can find him. He spends alot of time wandering around in the rain and other blatant, dull, uninspired cliches. Then in a really round-about way he ends up at a secret Ishbalan refugee camp, where Scar happens to be, being nursed back to health (although in the manga Scar really does end up in this situation, this part of the anime is just stupid.) Then, the camp is abruptly attacked by some military mercenaries on motorcycles. Scar does some badass stuff here, but this is all generally just a waste of time story-wise. Ed shows up in the heat of the fight and sobbingly asks Al if he blames him for everything that happened (you know, Al being in that body cause Ed convinced him it was a good idea to try and resurrect their mother.) Ed asks this question in the manga, during a serious, genuinely touching scene, not in the middle of a fight with a bike gang. Jesus.
I’ll take this time to mention that the end of the anime suggests that the Alphonse we loved all along was, in fact, fake, seeing as he comes back at the same age when he was taken in the transmutation and has no memories of his adventure at all (which pisses me off cause he narrates the story in the past tense throughout the entire anime.) In the manga Al’s body does still exist, on the other side, and Ed has a theory about how it’s maintained, although a certain duality between Al’s body and soul is suggested. I don’t wanna give away too much, just read up to volume 13/Chapter 53.
Marta/Martel
Martel is the snake chimera chick with the pouty lips. They go to great lengths in the anime to keep her alive longer than they should have probably for purely fanservice reasons. She dies in the exact same way in both the anime and manga, but the location and her involvement in the plot is dramatically different.
In the manga she dies in the sewers when Alphonse is trying to keep her hidden inside his armor body while King Bradley kills the other chimera (who were minions of Greed, whom Bradley was apprehending.) Bradley callously stabs her through a gap in Al’s armor, killing her (2009 Note: this scene was fantastically well done in Brotherhood). This happens in the anime as well, except before her death she’s first spirited away from the massacre in the sewers and then spends some time hanging out inside Al as he carries her around the military headquarters. There is no goddamn way he’d be able to sneak in a person inside himself into a secure military building like that! Especially with all the “whacky” and cliche scenes where she accidentally makes noise or shouts in anger. And he would definitely, you know, be held responsible in any rational world had he snuck in any civilian, nevermind a chimera that was being hunted by the military in the first place. They do, however, use this stupid addition to the plot and the elongating of her role to reveal to the characters that Bradley is a homunculus. She gasps this, of course, right before Bradley looms up to Al and stabs her through the armor. In the manga this factoid is revealed much later in the story by Ling (I’ll get to him later) to the other characters for the first time, however the audience by that point has already known for a long while.
Barry the Chopper
In the anime they throw in a filler episode early on featuring Barry the Chopper. I have to admit, the episode itself isn’t that bad. In fact, it has alot of good points. But after reading the manga it became a very “I see what you did there” situation. It also made the timeline of Lab 5 very awkward to have had the brothers fight this guy just like 2 years before, considering he was put in his armor body when the lab was in actual operation. You see, the boys never met Barry previously to Lab 5 in the manga, so it’s funnier in that scene where he tries to scare Alphonse with who he is and Al just stares at him cluelessly.
But actually my bigger grief is how early they kill off Barry in the anime. It sucks! He gets killed in the biker gang fight, I think, mentioned earlier during Ed and Al’s drawn-out drama. See in the manga he ends up running amuck, but is used by Roy’s little crew for the information he has, this is because he falls in love (humorously) with Liza Hawkeye after he tries to chop her up and she unflinchingly shoots him in the head. From that point on he does whatever she tells him, constantly gushing over her. Well he is destroyed eventually but… hell read the manga, already!
Dogs Love Hoenheim
This is very minor, but it still made me pull at my hair in frustration. When Hoenheim (Ed and Al’s father) first appears in the anime, he’s sitting there peacefully petting the Rockbells’ dog. In the manga when he first arrives and shows up at granny Pinako’s house, even though he looks kinda dumb and harmless, the dog begins snarling ferociously at him and he mentions animals never did like him much. Just that tiny little detail is so effective that it makes you wonder about Hoenheim’s true nature.
Case Four: The Anime Ending
People have tried to defend the ending from my wrath before, but all they can say is “it’s good!” or “it’s not bad!” or “it makes PERFECT sense!” but they never can give me a very good reason, or any reason at all, as to why. From a bit before the point where Scar decides to make a Philosopher’s Stone (and Al becomes the Philospher’s Stone), it feels like the animators went: “Holy shit, we only have 10 episodes left, we need to figure out how to end this” and threw in whatever ideas came to mind while they were reading lolicon doujins and injecting heroin straight into their eyeballs.
Look, I know how people get sometimes: You liked something, you were really into it, it made you feel and you enjoyed it, but it ended horribly. You delve into denial, groping desperately for any reason you can think of for why it wasn’t so bad when deep down you know it stunk out fucking loud. Matrix triology fans, I’m looking at you. Anyway, here’s my big rant about the ending that people waiting in line for movies with me, tied up in my basement, or visiting my table at anime cons have been (at times unwillingly) treated to: Okay so first Dante uses Rose’s rape baby to open the Doors of Truth (because Bones seems to think recycling characters from earlier and jamming them awkwardly into the present storyline makes their plot look well-rounded), if it was that easy you’d think alot more people would have done it. She and Hoenheim are like hundreds of years old and have continually changed bodies to stay alive (Or at least she has. lol Galaxy Express 999), where Hoenheim probably is hundreds of years old and immortal in the manga, this isn’t the reason. And so.. Ed goes through the doors.. and.. ends up in… Germany? Britain? during World War Something, where a Bizarro Hoenheim explains to him alchemy in Ed’s world is produced by drawing from the souls of people from that/our reality. Great. Fucking great. Here I thought it was natural elements and electromagnetic energy and shit. No. Alchemy itself is also MADE OF PEEEEOOPPLEEEE! So then Ed.. like.. dies in Britain, cause there’s war planes and shit and a zeppelin crashed down onto him. So Ed comes back to his own world by forcing the Doors of Truth open again and is all emo that his bizarro self he posessed in Britain is dead, and that alchemy is MADE OF PEEEEOOPPLEEEE! Does this sound like it makes perfect sense so far? No, I didn’t think so.
So they got Al strapped down in a transmutation circle, cause he’s the Philopsher’s Stone, remember!? Argghh! Anyway, Ed fights Envy sans alchemy cause he doesn’t want to accidently use Al, I guess. Envy reveals his lame as fuck “true form” that I mentioned earlier and then accordingly stabs Ed while he’s dumbstruck and trying to figure out how this possibly makes any goddamn sense.
Did he really need to strip for this?
Then we’re trapped on a seesaw of melodrama with Al saving Ed and Ed saving Al. It started with Ed going through the doors, and just when you thought one of them was OH NOES GONE FOREVERS they come back. This sort of shameless, hackneyed attempt at making the audience care or worry is sickening and made me stop giving a damn about the characters completely. So anyway, Ed dies from the stabbing, Alphonse is all “big brother nooooo!” and uses his philosopher’s stone self to get up and revive Ed. Not only is Ed revived, but he has his limbs back (cause Al somehow thought to do this in an emotionally charged time of crisis.) But of course now Alphonse has OH NOES DISSPEARED FOREVER. Ed proclaims he won’t let him dissapear. So he strips (well his shirt anyway) and somehow sans Philosopher’s Stone, and we don’t even get to see it despite this being what the entire story has been leading up to this whole time Bones you assholes, brings Al back soul and original body and all. For being the sole mission in Ed’s life, the goal that was driving him this entire time, the climax is painfully brief and wholly unsatisfying. Now Al’s back, with no memories, and now Ed’s GONE FOREVER. Or wait. He’s in Britain. Or Germany. Or Transylvania. Who the fuck knows. Or cares, for that matter? I totally stopped giving a damn by this point. Ed’s limbs are gone again and he has metal ones, but they’re not as sophisticated as automail (obviously our world never discovered steampunk) and that’s it. That’s how it ends. And if you try to tell me that’s anything resembling “good” I’m going to smack you in the mouth!
Also Mustang gets an eyepatch. It doesn’t suit him at fucking all.
Case Five: Stuff in the Anime That Just Sucks
Robo Archer: I actually laughed when I saw this. I mean, seriously, what the fuck? Anime-only Colonel Archer gets turned into some early 20th century answer to the Terminator, and he looks fucking retarded. It was even harder to take the ending events seriously with this shit interspliced.
Dante: Fuck you. Fuck you in your old, poorly designed ass, Dante. Dante too is anime only. Apparently the robust cast of characters that already existed weren’t enough. Yeah that’s right, the entire ending is based around a main villain the animation team just made up. And she posesses the body of Lyra, another anime-only character whose design is so out of place and who really really really didn’t need to be in the episode with the Youswell Mines. Or anywhere else in the anime for that matter. Fuck Lyra too.
Melodrama: So much melodrama in the anime. Humor is often sucked right out of scenes that worked so well in the manga. The manga really knows how to balance its humor and drama, the anime does not. Most instances of Izumi coughing up blood in the manga, for example, are on a more humorous note, and it generally happens when she’s in the middle of yelling at/scolding someone or otherwise exerts herself. There’s also a scene at Rush Valley in which Ed wins an automail arm wrestling challenge by cheating with alchemy (because the people running the thing had also been cheating), in the manga Winry’s reaction to this is funny and light-hearted but in the anime she literally mopingly trudges off into the sunset to sad music over it, I shit you not. Which leads me to…
Paninya.. Pananya.. Bunny..: Whatever her name is. For lack of better description: you know, the black chick at Rush Valley with automail legs in the stylish black tank top and camo pants. She steals Ed’s State Alchemist pocket watch, which is used primarily for identification and as a talismen for enhancing alchemy. However in the anime it’s all some scheme cooked up by Winry to teach Ed a roundabout lesson about cheating at arm wrestling, rather than a genuine pickpocketing. Ed’s pursuit of Paninya is also pretty lame and boring and not nearly as hilarious in the anime. Which is a shame, because Paninya is by far my favorite minor character.
The scene where the wife of the son of Dominic, the man Paninya keeps trying to pay back for her automail legs and who won’t accept it, has to give birth at home because a raging storm outside is too much to bring her to town to the doctor, is hijacked in the anime by Maes Hughes’ wife Glacia instead. Which is sad, because the panel of Paninya crumpled on the floor freaked out by the sight of blood is also very funny.
Songs: The opening themesongs and accompanying animations are always so good. Why is this under the “things that suck about the anime” heading? Because they get you all pumped up and ready for quality programming and then it just is a bunch of whining and crying and plotholes and outright suck. Even Adult Swim’s commercial for the final episodes managed to make them look kinda cool. Fuck!
Case Six: Awesome Stuff in the Manga Only
Ling Yao: I don’t think there is a single person who has read the manga who doesn’t like Ling and doesn’t lament his exclusion from the anime. Ling is a character from the country of Xing (read: China. lol) across a desert to the East of Amestris. He’s a prince, the 12th son of the Emperor of Xing. He’s trying to find the Philospher’s Stone as well, looking for the secret of immortality (or at least something that looks like immortality long enough to gain the favor of the aging, sickly Emperor, wishing to become Emperor himself.) Generally he’s a pretty funny character, but when he gets serious he can be very intense. He is awesome and you will bow down to Ling.
Mei Chan: An adorable little Xingian girl who features often in the manga. Currently she’s partied with Scar, oblivious to his past, scarey looks and murderous agenda (although he hasn’t killed any alchemists recently.) She’s also searching for the secret of immortality to gain favor from the Emperor, as her clan is the one with the least power and lowest standing in Xing. She’s a very accomplished Alchemist and uses a foreign form. She hears about Edward, constantly picturing him as a tall, handsome, prince-like gentlemen (it’s very funny, trust me) but when they first meet, she’s defending Scar from him, has no idea who Ed is and thinks he’s a horrible little monster. Much later, after a conversation with Alphonse, she starts picturing Al in his real body in an equally Prince-like manner and now has a giant crush on him. She too, is awesome.
Major General Olivia Milla Armstrong: Introduced in recent chapters, Major Armstrong’s terrifying, hot, super awesome, frightening, totally hot, older sister. Did I mention she’s hot? She’s in charge of Briggs Cliff, an army base in the North up in the snow-covered mountains that protects the border between Drachma and Amestris. She’s a stone cold bitch who makes her own rules in her isolated ice kingdom and commands the respect and unwavering loyalty of every last soldier there. She’s intelligent, somewhat manipulative, totally hot, and will fuck. you. up. Ten gazillion awesome points for Major General Armstrong.
Lt. Ross’ Framing: Some may recall that in the anime, Envy takes Ross’ form to shoot Hughes. Well in the manga this continues, it was the homunculi’s intention to frame her all along, and she is arrested and thrown in jail and finds out she’s supposed to be executed without even going to trial (the newspapers already proclaiming she’s been found guilty.) I don’t want to give away too much of this part of the story, just trust me that it is awesome and will at first make you hate Roy Mustang and think he’s crazy, and then think he’s totally awesome again. (2009 Note: This is going to be episode 17 of Brotherhood.)
By now, I’ve completely run out of steam. I know I didn’t cover anything, but these are the things that make me twitch and writhe the most. I think I’ve made a pretty good case for why the FMA manga should be embraced and the anime should be BURNED.
With that in mind…
Buy that shit, too. It’s sweet in paperback book form. Provided, of course, you get a copy where Viz hasn’t fucked up the text balloons, left words out, and made characters call each other by their own names. Also each volume is stock full of omakes written by Arakawa at the end, and they’re all weird and hilarious.
And that… is the end. And quite possibly the geekiest thing I’ve ever written. I’m including the Supah Funtime Anime Rant in that statement (I really need to retool that one and post it here.)
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5:48 am on June 9th, 2007
D= I like the anime up until it starts to get to the end, and then i really just kind of gave up on trying to enjoy or understand it… I wonder if the manga is sold in the UK? XD I always assumed that it was closer to the manga, actually…
Have you seen the (pretty shitty) film?
6:32 am on June 9th, 2007
nice rant… very informitive. I still like the anime… but i like the manga too. like with most movies that were books first, i keep the two seperate. The manga is amazing as a manga (and one could prolly whine all day about it not being turned properly into an anime) but the anime is its own entity… and i was entertained enough not to completely write it off. I read the manga too… but i try not to get pissed when something isnt carried to movie form properly. Ill just reread the book if im disappointed
Does that make sence?
8:39 am on June 9th, 2007
I really enjoyed the anime…until the later episodes. It just got long and boring. It even felt hacked together.
*goes to read the manga* D:
8:57 am on June 9th, 2007
Yea… I thought, when I saw an episode of FMA on tv and then power watched downloaded episodes that it was like, THE BEST THING EVAR.
I liked the idea of the alchemy thing enough to ignore (kinda) that they go to germany (or something).
Then someone showed me the manga and I read the first 41 volumes. And I was like, damnit…
Also Ling Yao should’ve been in it.
And really, Nazis? And gypsies. Why.
11:21 am on June 9th, 2007
I literally cried when I saw the anime ending. Mostly because it made no.fucking.sense.
also, you need to read/record yourself. I could make something fun to listen to. Hearing this in your words would make it even better.
11:28 am on June 9th, 2007
I totally agree. I started watching the anime when it came on Adult Swim, and after the first episode or two I couldn’t wait for episodes a whole week so I decided to read the anime. You forgot to mention how the beginning timeline in the manga makes SOOO much more sense than the anime’s timeline. Anyways, I still wait with bated breath for each new manga chapter and can hardly bring myself to watch the anime any mroe. My friend is a lover of the anime and has never read the manga, and I’ve told her over and over how much better it is but she’s still to stubborn to read it.
Ling is definitely one of my favorite characters, and Scar has a lot better role in the manga. And Al. Much better.
11:40 am on June 9th, 2007
I’ve seen a couple episodes of the anime (my friend lent me the first two dvds and I caught a couple episodes on Adult Swim.) It never exactly caught my interest because I don’t care much for characters that cry every other episodes. (I did meet Vic [voice of Ed] though. He’s a nice guy.)
When I saw the manga at Borders one day, I just went “Ah, what the hell, let’s get it.” And I LOVE IT! I can honestly say that I cannot wait for the next volume. I definatly think it is better than the anime, on all fronts.
12:14 pm on June 9th, 2007
*claps*
A fine rant and one I’ll stand behind completely…!
I’ll admit, first time through, I loved the anime. Then again, I hadn’t read the manga at the time. I watched the anime through completely once again after reading the first 10 volumes of the manga and I was like “How stupid was I again?!”
By the way, one point I wish to agree tremendously with: Evny’s true form. Amen, sister! That manga owns with that. That thing was a beast and the fight with it was awesome, as was its location.
1:46 pm on June 9th, 2007
I was ridiculously, blindingly in love with the anime (I still sort of am) until I started reading the manga, to find that it had a more compelling plot and actually made a lot more sense. And I was also wondering about the whole, “How did the anime finish when the manga was still in production…?” thing, which you just cleared up for me. XD
I don’t know. I love them both equally, but seperately. I think, even though the anime doesn’t make much sense, that it’s still pretty good…even though the Munich thing was more “WTF?!” than anything else, and even though Ed didn’t get together with Winry. D:
I didn’t read the homunculi part yet, I’ll be back to read it later… ^^;
2:49 pm on June 9th, 2007
@Ayries noooo. I will not subject myself to the film. Also it seems like they made Ed even GAYER looking for that. Argh.
3:16 pm on June 9th, 2007
*has returned to read the rest*
I’m on volume 12 of the manga, and GODDAMN this rant convinced me that I don’t love the anime quite as much as I thought I did.
“THE AVATAR STATE” = WIN.
Ling is awesome, and so is Lan Fan. And you’re right, it was never called Amestris in the anime…actually, there weren’t even any other countries. When I started reading the manga, I was like, “Hey…wait!” And I know Izumi’s son isn’t in the manga so far, did he just die? He’s obviously not a screamy little homunculus…
And hey, so the Elric brothers were separated at the end of the anime, but the MOVIE. You could write another rant about how much sense the movie didn’t make…
4:02 pm on June 9th, 2007
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard as I did while reading this. I must admit I’m a -HUEG- fan of Fullmetal Alchemist in general, and somewhat enjoyed the anime when I first saw it. After that, though, I actually realised how stupid the whole plot was.
I totally agree with everything you’ve said here. Especially the “Avatar State” bit. xD
Also, I agree – Major General Armstrong is quite hot. ;D
4:11 pm on June 9th, 2007
@Kuridee Yeah, Izumi’s son (well, I don’t think the gender is specified in the manga) was either stillborn or died shortly after birth, which devastated her and lead her to feel like a failure as a wife. Her husband tried to comfort and reassure her but in desperation she tried to ressurect the baby. It ended up much like Ed and Al’s attempt to ressurect their mother, only she lost many of her internal organs, thus her condition. And of course she was pissed to find out years later the Elrics used her teachings to make the same mistake she did.
And like I said earlier I’d rather not watch the movie ;__; please don’t make meeee!
5:22 pm on June 9th, 2007
Bah. I wrote this whole “OMGYESTHANKYOU” flail-rant, and the interwebs ate it. Darn.
You know my stance on this, more or less anyway. And yeah, watching through it a second time makes me realise how thoroughly distorted the anime is. Poor, poor Arakawa. On the plus side, I hardly ever see terrifying fanfiction based on the manga. It’s always the anime.
6:29 pm on June 9th, 2007
@MilesTailsPrower-007:
I agree with you completely on the “terrifying fanfiction” part. O_O
7:57 pm on June 9th, 2007
I completely agree that they fucked up the anime, but they did a really good job with the voices in the English version. I adored Al’s voice, and the voice-actor commentaries on some of the dvd’s were awesome. ha ha ha, bowl…
10:19 pm on June 9th, 2007
Ling Yao and Mei Chan should both be made emperor/empress because people here should hail them for all eternity for their ‘awesome-ness’. I’ve not gotten to Major General Armstrong yet, (I’m waiting on the next volume to come out) but she looks awesome.
But I never made it past ep 10 of the anime because it was so horrible. Praise God for the manga!
10:20 pm on June 9th, 2007
@Joobles yeah the dub was really well cast, I liked Ed’s voice actor too, for one he was actually a pretty good actor, especially for an anime dub, for two he fit the character much more than the Japanese voice actor did, I think (it’s bad enough anime!ED LOOKS like a little girl, now he has to SOUND like one too? And yes, I am used to hearing women play young men in anime, but this instance was bad), even if he sounded a little too old in flashbacks and stuff.
12:47 am on June 10th, 2007
Yeah, I used to love the anime.
Riiight up into the part where Ed goes uberpsychodopeduponliquidPhilosopher’sStone and she fucking calms him down with a hug and then he never exhibits awesome powers again.(Or is that a hackneyed way for them to explain the choppy ending?)
I stopped watching after that, honestly.
12:51 am on June 10th, 2007
And to add. Am I the only one who noticed the corrolation between how the Anime had a good beginning with a shit-ass confusing ending and how Final Fantasy 8 had the same deal going on?
12:56 am on June 10th, 2007
I was disappointed with the end of the anime, and I didn’t even FINISH the anime. I just heard what happened and kinda went “Eh, fuck that.” I’ll get around to reading the manga someday…
2:31 am on June 10th, 2007
You have encouraged me to find the manga!!
And… I don’t even remember the ending. I think I just stopped paying attention after a while. Also… my mom
s a HUGE anime fan, and she thought it was confusing, too.
And on the note of Viz fucking up speech bubbles, I saw it in one of the OLDER volumes of Ranma 1/2 I recently acquired. This has been going on for a while, I think.
5:09 pm on June 10th, 2007
I take it I should be glad that I’ve never watched the Anime. I don’t really watch much Anime, I tend to read the Manga, seeing as it is the first story. XP You’ve made me know that I have missed nothing.
9:54 pm on June 10th, 2007
“Provided, of course, you get a copy where Viz hasn’t fucked up the text balloons…”
Should I be worried about the versions they sell at Borders/Barnes and Noble? Would it be better if I just read them at readmanga.com? I usually prefer to buy books that I read but if the standard paperback versions are badly edited/censored, I’ll just read it online.
11:35 pm on June 10th, 2007
*dangles the prospects of chapter 72 in your face*
1:08 am on June 11th, 2007
I think that the worst thing of all is when you pop one of the DVDs into a player, and you are FORCED to watch an excruciatingly long trailer for some dumb dragonball crap. No skipping with chapter button, menu button, fast forward, or knocking yourself unconscious.
Suffice to say, I only own two discs and they haven’t seen light for a year or two.
The show was definitely too long. I have a general policy of not caring for a show more than a season long, a rule that applies mostly to anime.
Was Maes Hughes any more awesome in the manga, because that’d be a swing factor for me.
4:47 am on June 11th, 2007
You forgot the beautiful detail and lovely history they gave to Roy and Liza. It actually made sense of how they acted especially with each other.
5:39 pm on June 11th, 2007
@Betalogan AGH! YES! I completely forgot about that. GodDAMNIT FUNimation, yes, we know, you’ve made DBZ a staple, and maybe someone cared 8 years ago.
I’m considering selling the FMA DVDs I have. I’m reluctant only because the animation is good and the first few episodes aren’t that bad.
And yeah, more Hughes in the manga, though he still.. dies in the same manner
although you really see it haunt Roy more throughout the manga. He does -not- let it go.
9:43 pm on June 12th, 2007
Lol xD.
Now that I think about it the anime seems really crappy compared to the manga (unfortunately I only have the first volume of FMA manga *needs to run around the stores to find manga*). The ending really sucked and the film was worse and yes the characters in the anime were very emo-like -_-.
Manga > Anime ^-^
1:21 am on June 13th, 2007
I shall quote Ed: “THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!1!”
The anime, I mean.
You’re right, after reading the manga and comparing it to the anime I realized just how much it didn’t. Fucking. Make. Sense.
Quit making me longing to go manga shopping again, damn you!
1:46 pm on June 16th, 2007
Haha, this is great.
I had to take a break to save my eyes,
but totally worth the read.
To read read the manga… more!
11:44 am on June 21st, 2007
Wait, whaddya mean a version Viz hasn’t screwed up? Did they make a 2nd edition of their FMA manga or something?
The site is pretty informative, and while I was looking for a reason to buy the manga… well, I suppose I have.
1:59 am on June 30th, 2007
*shakes fists* You got me addicted to the manga! I fell completely in love from the first chapter and I’m now on chapter 27. I kind of wish I had read it first because knowing when certain people are going to die take away from the experience of seeing it in the manga. I can’t say if it worked better in the manga or not because it didn’t have the same impact on me. Mainly, about Nina because I felt she wasn’t in the manga as much so the impact might not have been as great. I dunno.
I will probably finish the anime just to see if there are cool scenes to make icons out of (I have a list of pages of the manga I want to icon-ize already). It may pain me, but I will be strong. And probably mock it as I watch.
9:53 pm on June 30th, 2007
As a former hardcore FMA fan, I both agree and disagree with you. I totally agree the anime was lame compared to the manga. However, there weer something in the anime I liked. You don’t have to agree with them, I’m just expressing a different viewpoint.
I prefer anime!Ed in some aspects. He’s a more vulnerable person, instead of the cliche invincible shonen hero. This made him a more interesting character to me, because he was a bit more human in some regards (though Ed’s social awkwardness was equally as human). I do agree that anime!Ed was too whiny at times, but I did like seeing a shonen hero that differed from Naruto Uzumaki and Ichigo Kurosaki (I do like Bleach though, since it is weird and silly. Naruto is just annoying). I think a combination of the two would be the prefect version of Ed- the vulnerability of the anime and the awkwardness of the manga.
I preferred anime!Lust as well. Her back story was interesting, and she quickly became my favorite homunculi (with Gluttony as second and the manga’s second Greed as third). I agree with you on hte rest of the homunculi though.
And I know these are minor complaints, but I preferred anime!Winry’s design, and I liked that the anime had more Schiezka. I liked that anime!Winry was a lot taller than Ed-I thought that was cute and that Arakawa would have fun with that. And as a Ed/Schiezka fan, I would’ve loved to see more interaction between them in the manga. Also, I hate EdWin, and the manga has a lot of that. I love Ed (though not in a fangirlish way- I prefer more masculine men. I just think he’s an interesting character), and can tolerate Winry, but I don’t think Ed and Winry make a good couple. Though the manga has more Royai, which makes me happy.
Otherwise, word. I spent all night after watching anime finale (about two months before [as] aired it) trying to figure out what the hell happened. I was able to download a fansub of the move, hoping this would help me understand what happened, but the movie was even worse. I think that the finale was an interesting concept, but was terribly executed and ended up looking really sloppy.
I’m so behind on the manga…I’m only on chapter sixty. I can’t wait to see this Major General Armstrong character!
1:01 am on July 1st, 2007
I don’t feel that manga!Ed comes off as invunerable or invincable really, I think his personality is just more, you know, realistic. He’s been through alot in his life, so he’s closed up emotionally alot of the time (that is of course not to say the audience doesn’t get some good peeks inside his head, however) as opposed to dwelling on his past and his problems and endlessly angsting about it.
His all-encompassing fixation on restoring his brother to normal speaks also alot to his character. And he shows his vunerabilities at the height of dramatic scenes: like say when he beat the crap out of Shou Tucker for suggesting he was the same, experimenting with human lives just because he could. These occasional breaks from the strong front Ed puts up makes them more striking, and makes you feel more for him than if he’s just crying and sobbing so much that it becomes a common and bland occurance.
That’s just my opinion though, but I do think from more of a writer’s point of view =P
Urgh. Anime!Lust’s “backstory” was painful and weak.
Well Shezka does show up more in the manga, but she is a minor character afterall. Focusing too much on characters who aren’t relevant to the immediate plot or story arc isn’t exactly a good thing to do.
Ed/Shezka? What kind of pairing is that!? I mean for one Shezka has got to be in her mid-20’s or so, and how exactly would a relationship build between the two anyway? Though I wasn’t really keen on the idea of Ed and Winry falling in love, as it seemed just way too predictable (then again I couldn’t see Ed getting distracted by his quest over anyone, and alot of the manga indicates he doesn’t intend to), but the progression of their growing feelings is handled very very well in the manga, and I doubt either is going to “confess” anytime soon (hell Ed won’t even admit to any feelings for her.)
5:49 pm on July 10th, 2007
Okay. This time I’m going t copy this comment, so if the interweb decides to snack on it, I’ll just paste it in again.
You covered like… everything. Definitely the two things that irk me most in the anime are the floppity plot and Anime!Al. They squash around with the order of events (let’s do the time warp agaaaaaain~!)for some reason that has yet to become clear. It did not make the characters stronger, nor did it clear up any confusion for me when I first started watching the series. And Majahal. What? Rofl, soul dollies. That part made me think I had missed a whole DVD volume (as I was watching it on my friend’s DVDs), and wonder what the heck was going on. “Hey… aren’t soul transmutations hard to do?”
Then there’s the whole deal with “What is a soul?”. The writing for the series would have been a lot more solid as a whole if they had given some kind of philosophical guess or something. Instead, they make the question seem important, and then leave us hanging without addressing the thought ever again. A soul is… something to do with Germany, clearly. So says the mighty anime. :B
And Al. What. In the anime, he’s mopey, childish and sometimes even selfish. Okay, to be fair, perhaps we can blame Anime!Ed for rubbing all that off on him. In the manga, he’s serious, he’s blunt and he’s not going to stand there and take Ed’s chilishness. Nope! He’s going to yell at him and prove he’s a force to be reckoned with. Can we get some brotherly respect here, please? In the manga, we sure did. In the anime? I still don’t think so.
The ending just shows what a selfish emo little blob of… emo he was being. “Onoes@ I won’t defend myself and the freaking Philosophers’ Stone. I’ll angst here and get stolen and wait until Indiana Ed saves me!” The real irony there is that if he had defended himself in the first place, Gluttony wouldn’t have eaten some of the stone, he wouldn’t have had to transmute to get off the Spiderman circle he was web-glued to, and there might have been enough stone to make himself human AND bring Ed back. Oh, but wait. If he hadn’t gotten stolen in the first place, Ed wouldn’t have died at all. Way to go, Al.
Really.
6:11 pm on July 30th, 2007
“Ed/Shezka? What kind of pairing is that!? I mean for one Shezka has got to be in her mid-20’s or so, and how exactly would a relationship build between the two anyway?”
It’s crack, as pretty much all fandom is. They’re both bookworms, but Schiezka’s all weird and quiet, while Ed is really loud and insane. It’s pretty fun to think about. My second favorite het pairing in the series (with Royai first).
12:09 pm on September 9th, 2007
I’m suspecting that’s why Adult Swim puts FMA on way late at night, so that they can trick the sleep-deluded minds into thinking the fucked up anime is better than any other shit ‘likeomgwhoot11!1′ yeah…
I was a victim to the delusion till my friend bought the manga and I read chapter 1
seriously, that ending in the anime is screwed five times over in the ass
~Wits
9:05 pm on September 14th, 2007
coincidentally, i started reading the manga 2 days before i read this
10:35 am on September 22nd, 2007
You don’t know how much I love you for this. I totally agree that there’s a lot of twisted plots found in the anime itself. And always it has to be about the ending point. God save these STUDIOS! There’s always weird conversations like “What are you going to do next” that gave out how much I’m wasting my time over a filler epic. =.=
The manga is indeed awesome! AnimeEd is too emo and often weeps. And they DESTROYED IZUMI! GOD DAMN IT! What happen to the lady who manage to kill a bear with her own bare hands! *________* While as Al looks extremely pathetic everytime. =__= So much for cooperation amongst siblings.
Oh the ending…I remember once saying WTF?! And my brother went like “OMG SO COOL” I didn’t have the heart to hurt his feelings but I did say it was “plain nice”. Yes very nice indeed, now explain to me how much of this “Alternative Universe” has become a fanatic amongst the mediua world? O.o I’m seriously fed up with it. It doesn’t even differ the true FMA from the rest. =.= Damn ANIMES! THEY RUIN EVERYTHING.
And the hell, Winry sneaking into military through a uniform and tapped into the lines only to be found by AnimeEd’s mother. She stay there and says…”They’re mother?” and she goes like “…” got caught off-guard. WTH? Is she even suppose to react like that to a mere girl when she actually pimp slap Ed. Wrath…ANNOYING!!! WHY DID HE EXIST DAMN IT! ALL VOTE FOR MANGAPRIDE!!!
Riza Hawakeye, indeed a woman to be respected…and the key link as to why Taisa here is close to her
. It was all so cool, the role as the daughter of Mustang’s teacher who’ve research over what became Mustang strength today. And the important role Riza plays in all of it.
Dante…nightmares resurrect =____= I should have avoided it but now that I read these comments my irkness for her returns from the dead. And here I thought I finally manage to destroy it. Goes to show how effective she used the stone to come back from the dead. Is Bones really that cheap as to say Homonculus our 7 sins ofcourse save Sloth are being played in the hands of lovers who can’t love each other anymore. nd for some odd reason, she knows alchemy, made love with a thousand man and claims to have an intention of raping Ed as her’s lover son?
Ewww…all the girls around AnimeEd makes him look like a pimp. ;____: I’m quite a fan of Ed and Winry…I love the manga~! How he saved her from attaining revenge on Scar and the part in his absurb imagination, Riza and her dog goes “Ohoho…” MODE the minute he recalled about her straightforward question “Do you love Winry?”
Wars and wars they even made the city dissapear in one night, just to keep the secret and suddenly, reveal and foiled the whole plan to mere humans about the way to make the stone. =.= IT’S SUPPOSE TO BE A SECRET DAMN IT! A SECRET! :3 I love the manga anyway. It’s not that I’m critising that the anime sucks which might partially be the point as how they ruined FMA from the true FMA, however I’m plainly stating that there too much plot holes that don’t come together. Children can be fascinated with the blow up effects, vigrous movements, animtation to the maximun but it won’t fool those who’re passionate about the plot.
The anime has a lot of good points just that the manga alone manage to kill off every effective points these animes hold.
LONG STORY SHORT: I love your rant! FMA IS GOOD! FMA MANGA IS ICHIBAN AND THE BEST!
4:12 am on September 28th, 2007
does this mean that the ending in the anime doesnt exist in the manag (please say thats how it is pleas pleas please)
4:13 am on September 28th, 2007
manga*
2:49 pm on September 30th, 2007
Thus far it does not exist in the manga nor do I think that it will!
2:08 am on October 2nd, 2007
Well, I agree more or less fully with that rant. I’m somewhat terribly new to anime/manga stuff, having watched / read just a handful of them – but never in my dreams I’ve witnessed monumental plot rape of this proportions.
It’s not that manga differs from anime, it’s completely different. Even at the beginning the core of the story is different, despite being based on blocks of scenes known from manga. But since 30ish-40ish, they have nothing in common.
Even if you don’t like reading mangas, it’s worth to checking out this one.
6:20 pm on October 23rd, 2007
Man, this rant cracked me up big-time. It’s so true, too, although I’ve not read much of the manga. It’s appropriately upsetting, considering it’s a story about two children who are orphaned and turned into soldiers, essentially.
The bit about the producers injecting heroin into their eyeballs was the best part of this, in my opinion. After a certain point, early on, the series really just does die a slow, horrifically painful death, doesn’t it? ^_^
~m
3:50 am on December 7th, 2007
I agree fullheartedly. My friends got me hooked on the manga just a few weeks ago (I read a volume a day right now, it’s not difficult thanks to Hiromu’s talent) and so I decided to watch the anime to see if it was any good and after the episode with laboratory 5 I began thinking to myself “you know, f this, why am I even bothering? I know the manga’s 10 times better and this crap doesn’t follow the plot at all…” I think I’m just going to quit watching it now that I know how bad then ending is. I made it to episode 31, I don’t know how I suffered through all that…
3:19 pm on January 29th, 2008
Awesome rant! You didn’t really touch on manga Winry vs. Anime Winry, though, and the Ed/Win relationship is canon in the manga. Winry rocks!
6:25 am on February 2nd, 2008
Hell yes, THANK YOU!
I started watching FMA anime over Christmas break, (Saw the episode about the mines on Adultswim and thought it sounded pretty good. I was suffering Naruto deprivation, so I needed something.) and I was immediately impressed with the complex characters and ideas. So I watched the entire thing. I loved the entire thing until I hit the last episode. So much seemed WAY off. Then I watched the movie, and I remember my response being “WHAT THE F–K?!” I actually stomped away from my computer. I had never been so disappointed with an ending.
Fortunately, in my grief, I obsessively searched fansites and, low and behold, apparently the manga is quite different from the anime and it’s still being written.
I had only read like, 10 issues, (maybe more)before I decided that the anime was basically crap compared to the amazingness that defined the manga. I was reading from the start of the manga, so there were moments I was like, “Boy I don’t want to read the ‘Barry the chopper arch’ or the ‘Izumi’s kid Wrath’ arch” and guess what? All the parts of the story I didn’t care for, weren’t in the manga.
Other bits:
-Yes, Ed cries too much in the anime.
-Ed and Al make up WAY better in the manga.
-Major General Armstrong is just damn awesome. I remember reading that and just being so impressed with her.
-Izumi is awesome in the manga too.
-The “Al’s body” scenario in the manga makes more sense.
-The homunculi in the manga are cooler and more believable as baddies than in the anime. Plus I have more ‘respect’ for them, I guess. (No melodrama!)(Yes, Envy is badass.)
-The Ishbal rebellion was better covered in the manga. And though you didn’t mention it: Mustang kills Winry’s parents? (Please, I mean come on, the military would be more subtle than that if they were gonna do it.)Makes more sense in the manga.
-I HATED WRATH OF THE ANIME. DAMN WHINY KID. ALMOST AS BAD AS ENVY=ED’s HALF BROTHER.
There’s more I’d love to commiserate with, but I’ve ranted enough, and I basically agree with you anyway. I really wish they’d reanimate the series exactly like the manga, though. Seeing Envy’s true form WOULD be pretty cool.
6:46 pm on February 2nd, 2008
Oh I actually forgot the anime decided Mustang killed her parents… cause… I dunno they were decided to be traitors or… something. I dunno. It worked alright, I guess, but it also seemed like a desperate attempt to “connect” all the characters, you know? And its never brought up again afterwards.
5:47 am on February 8th, 2008
I totally agree with everything written here. All the way through I was nodding my head and gaining strange looks from my parents.
Warning: Long reply headed your way
About two years ago I had FMA recommended to me, and so I downloaded the whole damn thing in one go. (I seriously hate watching one at a time, and then having to wait.) It started off awesome.
In no time at all I knew all the lyrics to the first opening and ending songs. Yes, I am a sad obsessor.
They just couldn’t make it last, could they? Around episode 24-ish (The one where Al goes all *boohoo* about his ‘fake’ memories) I started to question whether this really was the all singing, all dancing ‘best anime ever’ it was heralded to be.
A few episodes on and I was wondering why I bothered. The script writing was utter garbage and the plot was going absolutely nowhere. But I plodded on, and wrapped it up in about two weeks.
I will shamefully step forward and admit that my heartstrings are tugged at very easily. I did cry in the second to last episode. ‘Death.’ What an original title by the way, doesn’t give anything away at all.. *cough*
My favourite episode by far, was probably number 13. ‘Flame vs. Full metal’. Only because of the hilarity involving Hughes. And the famous mini-skirt line.
I was content with knowing that, if I ever felt the need for more FMA I could turn to the manga. And after a while I did start craving more. I am stupid, however, and thought the only way to attain it was through buying the damn things, and I had no guarantee it was any better.
As soon as I found out there was going to be a movie, I cried ‘Yes! A chance for them to redeem themselves’ (Or something along those lines..)
And I waited. And I waited. And I waited some more.
And I really shouldn’t've waited, should I? It. Was. TERRIBLE.
What the fuck was with the fucking NAZIS?! I mean, WHY?! I have to say, that woman who was obsessed with what she called ‘Shambala’ (Why…?) is my least favourite character. Ever. In anything. I actually LIKE most villains, but she was just.. And what was with the weird-ass face tats?
But yeah, anyway. I was hoping that there would be some great touching brotherly reminiscent scenes between Ed and Al. Where I could squee and go all fangirl-ish with my big bowl of popcorn (which ended up all over the TV screen). But nope. Nothing. ZILCH.
I mean, there really was hardly any interaction between the brothers considering how LONG the damn thing was! It was all this weird ‘Noa’ business. What. The. Hell? I hated Roze in the series, I didn’t want another one!
I (Being the sad, sad, Edward x Winry fangirl I am) was also hoping for at least more than thirty seconds of Winry on screen! But no. They can’t even manage THAT. ¬¬
And then I logged on to onemanga.com, and all my worries were relieved. I had no idea the manga was ongoing until I found a comparison essay-ish thing (Rather like this one, except nowhere near as funny. Kudos for that by the way, loved the captions!) wondering how the manga would end.
It is truly awesome. Arawaka-sensei, I praise thee!
Once again, well done for picking up on a few (I say a few, because there are more than three-hundred, I’m guessing?) of the points that have pissed me off SO bad for the past two years.
3:17 pm on February 8th, 2008
Hey, one thing I can say about the anime is it had awesome music XD Aniplex is good like that. I admit I still listen to some of the FMA theme songs now and then.
“My favourite episode by far, was probably number 13. ‘Flame vs. Full metal’. Only because of the hilarity involving Hughes. And the famous mini-skirt line.”
Hahaha, that one was based off a couple of omakes Hiromu Arakawa drew, although it was shamelessly stretched out more than it had to be to fill an entire episode. Still, her comics making fun of her own comic are always absolutely hilarious.
“What the fuck was with the fucking NAZIS?! I mean, WHY?! I have to say, that woman who was obsessed with what she called ‘Shambala’ (Why…?) is my least favourite character. Ever. In anything. I actually LIKE most villains, but she was just.. And what was with the weird-ass face tats?”
The only thing of the movie I’ve seen is the gag chibi animation associated with it. But yeah, I have to say Nazis as bad guys always turns me off, it’s so LAZY. Nazis don’t need any motivation and you don’t need to give the audience any reason to hate them, you know, cause they’re Nazis and automatically EBIL!
…Only Indiana Jones is allowed to get away with it.
10:05 am on February 11th, 2008
I agree with you all the way!!!!
The anime SUCKS (it deserves all caps) compared to the manga!
Manga > anime
That was aesome…I thank you for being awsomely nerdy and writing that.
11:22 pm on February 11th, 2008
-cries happily-
I love you…so much…;A;
I wouldn’t hesitate to mention that the anime turns Winry’s hair GREEN. D: Wtf? And Al’s…um…the movie!Al. Yeah…Ed’s mini-clone? >>; Creeeeeeppyyy
11:25 pm on February 11th, 2008
Also, another thing I would’ve mentioned (but I’m not sure how long ago this was posted) would be Hawkeye. Everything about her! I mean…I want to know what voice they would’ve given Daddy Hawkeye D: I’m too curious for my own good DX AND RANFAN D: I love her xD She’s so cute…and, like, the arm thing! D: That could’ve been animated so well DD:
10:38 pm on February 14th, 2008
the only episode in the anime i would Watch more than once would be flame vs. full metal, cause of the whole dog-mustang-skirt-elisia theme. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA THE HALAIRITY!
10:06 pm on May 14th, 2008
Oh, you. I like the manga much more than the anime, and am quite disappointed that the rest of the manga won’t be put into anime form (as the design of the anime, and the animation, and the soundtrack….just wonderful)…but your argument is incredibly flawed. You seem to be missing a lot of the key points. What the heck are Nazi’s doing there? I mean, the Nazi’s were all about the extermination of everything but the “master race”, starting with the Jews. Which parallels the whole Ishbalan/homonculus thing, see? The whole zomg, humans can be just as bad. Ah well.
10:23 am on May 16th, 2008
I still say Nazis as villains is the laziest, lamest thing you can do unless you’re an Indiana Jones movie. I mean they had Nazis in Bulletproof Monk! WHY? And in Hellboy. DOUBLE WHY? Nazis are inherently evil in media so you don’t have to even give them a motivation.
I always thought the situation with the Ishbalans parallels European arrogance and hostility toward indigenous people and the Middle East… but I can’t be sure that was even the author’s intention. :B
1:50 am on June 16th, 2008
I first read watched the anime and i was like all in love with it and was like should i read the manga because i did notice that some stuff was off so then i googled anime vs. manga and then your rant popped up i read the intro cuz i didnt want any spoilers and now here i am after reading the manga up to current ch. 84 MANGA IS MUCH BETTER AND COOLER!! yet i still like the anime because it is what got me into FMA lol Im suprissed you didnt mention anything about how in the anime they left Winry by herself and there was no Romantic development while in the manga while their isnt much their is some. or how they dyed Ed’s hair brown for fan service etc. I think that their is much more to rant about. =) Thank You!
10:46 pm on August 23rd, 2008
First off, I love both the anime and the manga dearly, but I lean more toward the manga. I agreed with a good amount of your argument, BUT, I didn’t like a few parts of your argument, or I found a problem with your logic or memory of the story… so I’m gunna point it out, so I hope you don’t mind. xD
About your “Dogs love Hohenheim” bit, you need to take a small step back and not confuse your storylines. In the manga, Hohenheim is basically the PhiloStone, he has numerous souls inside of him which the dog can detect. In the anime, he has just used the Stone. Therefore, dogs should be okay with Hohenheim in the anime.
Also, What I don’t understand is that you were flipping out about Al turning into the PhiloStone When in the manga, Hohenheim is the PhiloStone. If you call the anime silly over that point, it’s really only fair if you also point it out about the manga. Also, it means that bit about Arakawa never doing anything close to that, is false. xD “but none of that above bullshit happens. Ever. Or anything even close to it. Thank god Hiromu Arakawa knows how to write a goddamn story. ”
Now, about your Pride & Wrath argument; You can pretty much say that in the end, all of the homunculi are wrathful, (ESPECIALLY Envy) in both the manga and the anime, (with the exception of manga!Sloth who is too dumb to care, and maaaaaaybe Gluttony if you want to get technical).
One thing I have to say about the ending that I did like, that you seemed to mock, was the fact that Alchemy itself was “Made of PEEEOPLLLLLEEE!!” Doesn’t it make a lot more sense that it would be? The Philosopher’s Stone is made of people’s souls, and it grants you the ability to “Create without equal exchange” (except not completely, because it erodes) So, it’s basically almost like a Gift card, or a Debit card. Yuh put the souls in, and you use them later. I kinda like the idea the anime has with this as opposed to the manga’s explanation, which is that the power for alchemy comes from tectonic plate movements. That sounded a bit ridiculous to me…
Again, I love both the anime and the manga, though prefer the manga. I just feel that a fair argument should be in place, and not a bashing… even if I did enjoy reading it. xD
10:53 pm on August 23rd, 2008
It probably was her intention. Arakawa does LOADS of research into history and whatnot to develop her story well, and with deep significance and symbolism. So you might very well be right! It makes more sense than my minitheory about Amestris = America, Ishbalans = Either black people, or possibly Indians, or maybe some other historically significant race. I’m a bit of a history dunce, so don’t mind me. Though I still hold fairly tight to my Amestris=America theory… It ties in pretty well. The fact we’re constantly at war, our military is corrupt (though definitely not as bad as some countries,) the fact that both Amestris and America are English-speaking countries… the list kinda goes on.
3:16 pm on August 24th, 2008
It actually was brought up a couple of times. o.O And something that pissed me off about BONES, (just one thing, there are several I could list,) is that in the original script for the movie, they were going to have Winry accidentally meet Mustang at Hughes’ grave, and end up forgiving him… They decided to cut that out to save time. D: God only knows what other stuff they didn’t mention that they decided to cut out for time!
7:23 pm on August 25th, 2008
Huh. Maybe my brain was just imploding too much at that point to notice XD
But yeah that’s painful. Why have that sort of drama when you could have NAZIS!
7:27 pm on August 25th, 2008
Americans weren’t the first to wipe out indigenous people, enslave Africans, fight with Middle Easterners etc. Americans came from Europe, and Europe was definitely doing it all first.
I mean the naming could be a relation, but the culture and atmosphere just oozes Great Britain and Europe, or maybe coupled with the naming it’s a comment on European expansionism in general.
:B Or maybe we’re reading way way too far into this. But there’s definitely a strong underlying theme about racism in war and how many conflicts are sparked through stark culture clashes.
7:37 pm on August 25th, 2008
XD You do well to question my memory of anime, seeing as I only saw most episodes once and was foaming at the mouth for the last 15 or so.
-Dogs: Well, even in the anime Hohenheim wasn’t a normal human being, I think a dog would still have reacted poorly to him. Besides that whole detail is a subtle way to communicate to the audience that there’s something wrong about him without even using words.
-Philostone: Weeell.. when I wrote this that part of the story hadn’t been revealed yet XD; It did make me cringe a little but its at least less hamfisted than what happened in the anime.
-Pride/Wrath: I don’t know about that really. Envy never strikes me as particularly “wrathful”, he’s usually calm or even sometimes humorous in battle. In fact he doesn’t even LIKE bothering with fights. Well, so he claims.
-Ending: No. Noooo. That alchemy is powered by the souls or whatamajig of people in an ALTERNATE DIMENSION is just… retarded! There’s no other word for it. The equal exchange is that the materials you transmute must be equal to the thing you’re creating, nothing is being used up besides the materials themselves and they’re really just turning into something different. The Philosopher’s Stone grants one the ability to break this rule by using people’s SOULS. Which is what’s horrendous about it. And if you’re using souls to begin with.. every time well.. that just stops being horrendous and then what’s so special or different about the Philosopher’s Stone anyway?
Well the manga has no real explanation as of yet, but there’s also the Xing version that it comes from the chi of the Earth. Which seeing as the Earth is surrounded by electromagneticity that could work fine.
5:09 pm on September 10th, 2008
I love the anime and the manga. The manga is much better then the anime, I agree, but the anime is pretty epic in it’s own way too.
A lot of your rant made me giggle, and a lot of it was pretty right on. But reguardless, I still think the anime is great. And I’m just going to say the ending is good, because I don’t feel the need to unsuccesfully shove my opinions at your biased self. I could spend a long time arguing with your rant and what I disagree on, but in the end, who cares. Not you, and not me.
But really… good rant, kinda funny, but you’re obviously taking the whole situation, and yourself, waaaay to fucking seriously.
FMA. SERIOUS BUSINESS.
3:13 pm on September 14th, 2008
Eh, when I do “rants” I always pretend to be angrier than I am, I think that makes it more amusing, but maybe everyone doesn’t see it that way. If I took this seriously I might have actually made an effort to go back and watch the episodes of which my memory is patchy, lol.
I also love discussing things, anything, it’s like an addiction. D:
5:23 pm on November 7th, 2008
I have never read the manga and i loved the anime. After reading your rant I’m going to go pick up the manga and see what you’re talking about. I also recently heard that they are doing another FMA series that is more based on the manga than the original series is. We’ll see how that turns out.
12:46 am on January 4th, 2009
I agree. I left off at the 8th manga and went to the anime. I was wondering why the fake sloth and wrath hadnt showed up in the anime! Know I understand, and realize the anime is crap.(I do like how homunculi are created tho(Wrath and sloth are ok too(Ps have you heard about this pride in the manga?There is one its wraths sun)))
6:22 pm on March 17th, 2009
Many scientists today claim there is a possibility of alternate universes, atleast that ones that work in theoretical quantum physics, string theory and so on. When considering scientific theories we have today, I feel the anime is no less believable than the manga. Both stories have many things that are far fetched. The anime being done in 51 episodes however, had to pile its nonsense in a quicker fashion. Seeing how long the manga goes on for, I would prefer an anime that is short and to the point rather 5 seasons of nonsense and never ending stories like many other animes.
In any case it really comes down to personal preference. Afterall, some people would prefer a story with closure in one weekend (marathon the anime) as opposed to waiting months or years reading the ongoing nonsense until the writers milk every last ounce. If you are a huge fan of fiction and read every day, the manga would likely suit you best. If you are not into fiction, but can still stomach a story from time to time, the anime would likely suit you best.
This rant was full of informative comparisons. The writer has definitely invested hundreds of hours of reading and thought into this manga/anime. However, as with all forms of entertainment, it is up to the individual whether or not they will enjoy something, there is “your preference” and nothing more. This rant is but angry childish nonsense.
6:42 pm on March 17th, 2009
That being said, I find anime is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than pictures and reading. Advertising learned long ago, the brain reacts more quickly to images given rather than leaving things to your imagination. Obviously anime has more imagery and therefore can prove more enticing for the average person (especially in action sequences).
The story holes you presented, however illogical they may be, are no more ridiculous than the mangas version that presents outrageously powerful and unreal characters and situations. It is fiction, thats the point. Yes the anime is fiction, and yes the manga is fiction. The manga has more content and therefore contains more fiction. None of its real kiddo!
The reader/viewer decides the level of entertainment garnered from said fiction. Your attempts to insult the enjoyment that others may get from the anime that you do not share in is just a very ill conceived example of how sickly obsessive some people can get over mere entertainment venues. Or is it just nerd rage?
11:17 pm on March 18th, 2009
@ Chibi
Wait, 51 episodes is still alot. You could tell a pretty good, well-rounded, coherent story in that amount of episodes if it was well planned out. But they cluttered it up with so many terrible filler episodes its ridiculous, the anime was really directionless.
Arakawa has always taken a pretty cinematic approach with the manga, especially in the more recent issues. It “flows” if you will. Where you get pretty good direction in the anime here and there, overall its inconsistent. The manga also has much better pacing than the anime counterpart, so I would argue that the anime isn’t necessarily more pleasing just because the pictures move. I’ve found many parts of the manga to be truly intense and suspenseful, something I’ve felt more while reading novels than comic books.
There’s also a difference between a story being far-fetched and contradicting itself with plotholes. My problem isn’t that the anime is far-fetched, my problem is it makes no sense even within its own plot and the alternate universe thing was entirely unnecessary.
Just because its fantasy and animation doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be held to literary standards like, you know, plot continuity.
However, BONES has gotten the message you know? There’s a reboot anime coming out soon. They’re starting from scratch, and hopefully following the manga to a T. Believe me, it would make a much better series.
7:08 pm on April 2nd, 2009
I never read the manga because I watched the anime which I thought was based on the manga so all this is news to me but now that I am thinking back I do see your point because when I was watching it there were many things I didn’t understand and many things weren’t entirely explained but now that i found out it wasn’t written by the actually full metal creator it makes a lot more sense. however I do disagree with you on some things like the whole idea of how the gate was actually a link between our universe and the alchemy universe. I found that to be very cool but the way it was implemented in the story didn’t really make sense like how come when Ed died he ended up in his alternate universe body but his father ended up in his own body and not in the body of the Hohenheim of our universe. by the way that’s why Ed ended up in Germany because his alternate self was there but it still doesn’t make any sense that he would end up in that body. anyway another idea that I found cool was the whole thing about the Nazi’s trying to get to the alchemy world so that they could learn how to do alchemy and rule there universe, I could believe the Nazi’s trying something like that because during there regime they did all sorts of fucked up things. anyways i really hope they decide to make the manga into an anime which follows it frame for frame because I thought the anime version of FMA was amazing so since you consider it shit compared to the manga then I really can’t wait to see it.
2:10 pm on April 6th, 2009
Just read manga, it’s worth it
Either way, the 1st episode of new FMA series doesn’t resemble manga either. Hopefully these are only fillers to not repeat (very) early material from the 1st series
3:18 am on April 11th, 2009
I love the Anime and I read the Manga too (this month chapter was fucking awesome), however, the idea of Alchemy itself using Human souls from an alternate dimension is absolutely great, and it gives sense to the PS.
While in the Manga, it’s made from Human Souls and it serves to alchemy… because the author says so, also, the different ideas of “where does Alchemy power come from” on the manga are completely ridiculous.
However, I do agree in most of this rant, and I think the Manga is better than the anime. Specially Mustang, who is a total badass in the manga (using Alchemy on water so he can use the Oxygen and Hydrogen as fuel is plain awesomeness).
“Either way, the 1st episode of new FMA series doesn?t resemble manga either. Hopefully these are only fillers to not repeat (very) early material from the 1st series”
It was announced on the manga saying it will, so it will. Actually, if you pay attention this new “ice alchemist” (who was awesome too) is trying to fight against the big conspiracy of the Manga. They just don’t want to start with the same they did in the last anime.
7:55 pm on April 28th, 2009
OMG the manga is SO BADASS. The anime makes Ed look like a wuss…..
And for those who are awaiting the manga’s new chapters, just go to
http://www.onemanga.com .
FMA is updated once a month. I dunno how often the hard copies of FMA manga is updated, soo…
9:29 am on May 3rd, 2009
FMA manga all the way, at least the new 2009 series is sticking closer to it
7:12 pm on May 15th, 2009
i totally believe you on the manga, but i understand the anime. i try to read manga but i loose interest quickly, so i dont like getting all the details. I’l try again but i just to lazy srry!
12:52 pm on May 17th, 2009
I think I’m one of the few FMA fans that really don’t like the manga but love the anime. o_O Huh. I mean, the manga’s certainly more intelligent and thought out I suppose, but it’s…it’s really boring. >..< Don’t get me started on Lin.
Bleh. I agree with some of your arguments but all in all I’m unconvinced.
1:44 am on May 26th, 2009
@ Tara:
D:
What’s wrong with Ling?
10:09 am on August 1st, 2009
Dude…. the fukin fma movie was so fukin bad
it was all dark and all with steam, anyway dont knnow if u see what i mean
they could have fukin stayed in the alchemy world, but in fucking stead,they went to the other fucking world with hitler and all,how fukin gay,mno fukin joke man
12:16 pm on August 1st, 2009
you know……
)
at first i liked the anime so much than the manga ’cause i thought it was bad before
but i realized that realllyyyyyyyyy1,000,000,000,x luvvvvvvvv it rait nao!!!!
and then , i also realized that the movie is actually fuckin’ bad (though i still luv it
esp. those new characters they put in lyk Noah and Alfons…..(and i rly hate Alfons….he just ruined Ed and Al’s brotherhood!!!!! and also that bitch Noah)
anyways,even though they ruined the ending of FMA and storyline of the 1st anime……i rly still luv it……..:D
Oh, and also, i also thought that the movie also ruined Ed…….they just made him boring and not badass and hilarious as he can ever be. I guess the real Edward i fell in love is rly the edward in manga….but also the 1st anime too…:D
Anyways, i think Al in the movie looks and acts and talks like a sissy girly gay boy!
Al in the manga looks so much badass and acts like one!
Whew!
And also, me don’t like Wrath…..he just pissed me off that it makes me feel that he SHOULDN’T rly exist in the anime.
As for DAnte, that bitch rly pisses me off. I rather go 4 father. YAY FATHER!!!
And of course! Papa HOho kicks ass in the manga than in the anime.He so boring in the anime. And i also too fell in love with teen Hohenheim….:D
AND LING!!!! my darling LING!!!! Man, that guy rocks. If only they put him in the anime too…… And also Mei chan too…
Well, that’s all I can comment for now
Actually I do still have many MANY things to write down here but i’ll just stop at this part for a while….
Bai bai for now….:D
2:04 pm on August 1st, 2009
Ling’s actually in the new anime you know :p
4:39 pm on August 5th, 2009
You should watch the film just for the pure nit picking of continuity errors.
*Spoiler* (which is obvious)
In the anime, the episode where Ed goes to London for the first time and is all freaking out about it not being him etc. When he goes and sees his dad the dad acts as if he is someone else for a moment until he is sure it’s Ed – this means that Ed is in parallel Ed’s body and whatever happened to that Ed’s soul is pure mystery. There is more proof because the father also mentions that Ed’s body could still be at the gate. In the film however they seem to completely ignore this by not mentioning it again and when he goes home for about 5 mins he still has parallel Ed’s clothes and crappy hair.
Also, the father’s comment about alchemy using human energy is also completely ignored in the film; you’d think that would be like a key thing in the film but nope, they ignore it.
Also in the film Al is good at alchemy and such but doesn’t really get a chance to use it much after finishing being taught because he also gets stuck on Earth with Ed which to me seems to completely demolish the whole alchemy side of things. That and they ignore the rule of Al needing his parallel self’s body to be able to survive there.; technically he should be dead like his counterpart.
Does this make sense?
And sorry if you were going to see the film (which I doubt you were or you would have already) the ending just really ticked me off.
They also make it seem like Ed and Al give up on Winry as well and she kind of gives up on them by saying to herself ‘I guess this is goodbye for good’ when they go to close the gate. It’s so stupid and melancholy! – There is also no possible way for them to adapt on this storyline for all the optimists out there who still hope that they will sort it out lol.
I personally quite liked the anime but I do see your point, when the anime people start to fly solo it does become very VERY far fetched.
11:53 pm on August 5th, 2009
@ Sam: I did finally see the movie a while ago actually because it was on Netflix, but many times I watch movies while drawing/working so I was only half paying attention.
My only thought was it would be OKAY if it wasn’t FMA. In fact there was no goddamn reason for it to be related to FMA whatsoever. If you want to make an uninspired film with a cliche “hrrr Nazis and racism is BAD” message do it on your own time, Bones. GAH!
Well I wouldn’t expect the movie and anime to have any plot continuity as the anime couldn’t keep its own stupid continuity straight in the first place.
Oh right, they fucking STAY in London, I forgot about that. I mean WHY? Why did that need to happen? Why did the movie even need to be made? So Ed and Al are going to die in WW2, hooray?
I also hated Al’s design, what was with the mullet ponytail?
8:19 am on August 6th, 2009
I agree if it was a good film but they shouldn’t have used the storyline with FMA (the ending would still be sucky either way though).
Yeah Al’s hair did suck… he was trying to copy his brother’s hairstyle; that and I think it gave a reason for one of the characters to mistake him for Ed for like a brief second lol. It annoyed me that he wore Ed’s awesome coat while he was stuck in stupid brown boring stuff for the whole film.
8:29 am on August 6th, 2009
Oh yeah and another thing which I forgot. Why the hell can’t they still use alchemy on Earth? I mean it’s supposed to be exactly the same place with the same elements and laws and such; the only difference is that the HUMANS developed their knowledge on physics rather than alchemy which means alchemy should still work for the people who know how to use it. It would be the same for say a human mechanic or something to go into the alchemy world and still be able to make the same devises that is in the ‘physics’ world.
Also Ed (even though he goes into someone else’s body, but because this is forgotten about I will let it slide for the sake of this bit of my point) should be able to keep his automail arm when he goes back for the last time otherwise the rocket things that go through the gate to Ed’s world are contradicting the fact Ed can’t have automail. That’s an in the film contradiction.
Oh and also I’ve just got to say OMG IT’S MA BIRTHDAY TOMOZ! (w00t) I’m gonna be 17… only one more year of childhood for me… D:
1:09 pm on August 6th, 2009
@ Sam: I don’t get the point of making Al look like Ed though, they’re two distinct characters, Al is very different from his brother in personality, disposition and appearance.
Besides if he came back with no memory of the time he was in his armor body WHY THE HELL WOULD HE KNOW ED WORE A RED CLOAK I HATE THIS ANIME.
Um because uh… people on OUR Earth are what powers Alchemy in Amestris? Fuck I don’t know. And Ed didn’t have automail because like I said above Al brought back his original limbs when he resurrected him, so the automail was gone. He just… inexplicably loses his same limbs AGAIN when he ends up in the alternate dimension after saving/resurrecting/recreating Al. Did he sacrifice them again? What? They never explain this.
…D: Um Happy Birthday? You’re spending it bitching about FMA with me?
4:21 am on August 7th, 2009
The series just doesn’t make any sense lol. Glad they’ve done brotherhood now though.
Bitching about FMA is a damn sight better than not doing anything… all my friends are away on holiday and I’m stuck at home bored… -_-’
My sister got me series one of Dexter though so I’ll probs start watching that lol.
1:52 pm on August 7th, 2009
@ Sam: If you like dark comedy Dexter is great :p
1:44 pm on September 21st, 2009
It seems like Bones just thought that FMA was about Nazism. They must have, er, overreacted to Ishval annihilation events – you know, I recall Kimbley saying something about ‘killing everyone with different colour of eyes and skin’ in the first anime. Huh? Also, Nazi Hughes? WTF?
Anyway, the first anime looks as if the characters keep forgetting what they need to do, and then they suddenly remember which results in more or less manga accurate scenes which look so out of place and stuff. Ha!
Anime Wrath is totally emo, why didn’t they just call him Despair or Acedia? (I refer to Wikipedia’s article about the Seven Sins) I also hate Archer, he’s so faggy and annoying! TUCKER!!! WTF??? Actually, it kinda amused me every time I saw him standing somewhere where he doesn’t belong totally clueless. Oh yeah, he’s so supposed to be dead! Kimbley, too – they obviously didn’t know what to do to him. I like him in the manga much better. He’s a real bad guy there with his own ideals, reasons and goals and not just a mad bomber. Also the way he uses his alchemy in the anime is uber stupid (like everything else there).
P.S. OMG the cliffhanger in chapter 99!!!
P.P.S. Olivier and Izumi are awesome. May and Ling are awesome. And Brotherhood is awesome, too.
2:03 pm on September 24th, 2009
One thing that really annoyed me, like what you said is how they turn the funny stuff into another pathetic attempt at more really pathetic drama etc. like one story I loved is the Ed vs Mustang thing – in the manga, it’s awesomely funny and much more realistic (did I say it was funny?); the the anime they ended it with Ed ‘winning’ because Mustang is for some reason having a crazy flash back that doesn’t even belong there! It’s stupid.
2:37 pm on September 24th, 2009
@Jay And yet paradoxically they tried to ramp up the humor in the beginning by having Hughes somehow have a billboard-sized photo of his daughter at the arena. That was more retarded than funny.
3:01 pm on September 24th, 2009
Too true… I’m loving Brotherhood though. However, I have a feeling, if it wasn’t for the first anime’s take on the storyline, this awesome new anime would have been even better; they’d have probably included that story and some others that were missed out to get to the ‘new’ stuff… like the Youswell Mines which in the manga was totally amazing.
7:20 pm on December 5th, 2009
I get like this when it comes to the Fruits Basket anime and manga. I get so like this in fact that I don’t have any engery left to rant about the FMA manga and anime. But I do agree that the manga is 100000 times better than the anime and brotherhood is a blessing. I only regret that it isn’t as good as it could have been just because the first FMA came…first.
Grrrr, Fruits Basket anime…burn.
4:15 pm on December 8th, 2009
@ Okami The Fruits Basket anime at least left itself open ended, imagine if the anime team decided to make up their own ending explaining the curse. And it involved alternate dimensions and Nazis.
9:57 pm on December 9th, 2009
I think I am one of the few on this website who finds the anime emotionally evocative. Don’t have time now but will come back later to explain…
11:00 pm on December 23rd, 2009
Holy crap, this rant is hilarious. xD Yeah, it’s a bit above and beyond in some points, but that’s what makes it funny. Now, I perfectly well enjoyed the first anime series when I saw it, and actually really liked all the melodramatic scenes. xP I also have a habit where whenever I watch any show, I read everything about it on wikipedia at the same time, so I found out all the details on the manga while watching it. And at first I was unimpressed: “Sloth is digging a transmutation circle around the country? What kind of stupid plot is that? *missing several details*”
But then when Brotherhood came out, I got absorbed into it instantly, if only for the fact that the timeline in the first 5 episodes finally made sense! (The first anime confused me to hell and back with eps 3-9 being set 3 years in the past.) Then around episode 25 I got really sucked into it, and absolutely couldn’t wait for the next episode to air in a week, so I took up the manga right where the episode left off (end of volume 13 or so).
By the way, I like how you’ve added the 2009 notes after seeing Brotherhood. I’d be curious to see an notation added to the “I lament we’ll probably never get to see this in animated form, because it would be awesome beyond words” part of Envy’s paragraph, since I’d love to see your reaction to Envy’s true form being in Brotherhood ep 26.
9:58 pm on December 29th, 2009
@ Nyasu Believe it or not I haven’t watched Brotherhood lately. I really do need to sit down and see at least episode 26 sometime. I think because I know the manga has ended I’ve kind of been avoiding it. I haven’t even read the ending yet. Since the domestic volumes are rapidly catching up and nearing the end I’m just going to wait and read them in nice paperback form without knowing what’s coming ahead of time so I can fully enjoy it. It sounds dorky but seriously, it’s one of my favorite comics EVER.
11:20 pm on January 2nd, 2010
*sigh* at the manga fans the anime is better than the manga it has more feelings and less comedy also I liked the fact they included shou tucker.
5:32 pm on January 3rd, 2010
@Unknown How exactly was trying to milk the Shou Tucker storyline a good thing? Its primary function was to introduce Scar.
2:35 pm on January 9th, 2010
its Hohenheim
not hoenheim
but eh
and oh god ed and al are just little FUCKING BABIES in the first anime. Brotherhood is really really like the manga. I need to find a site with the mangaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
12:34 am on January 10th, 2010
The manga has…ended? To my knowledge, it is only up to chapter 103, as that is the newest one that I just read today. Supposedly it will end before 110, but from the way events are going now I don’t see how Arakawa will wrap things up that quickly. Don’t blame you for wanting to read it all in paperback, though. I dislike reading manga online by principle, but once I finished Volume 20 and had nothing left to read, I resorted to online scanlations.
But yeah, watch ep 26 at least. ;3 Even though Envy’s true form debuts in 25, there’s more action in 26 and it is one of my favorite eps so far in the series.
1:45 pm on January 11th, 2010
@ Nyasu: Eh? I thought it was slated to end at 100 chapters? D:
Haha, well it’s better she’s extending it rather than rushing the ending I suppose. I just hope she doesn’t end up pressured to drag it out to the 500 goddamn chapter level like Naruto or Inuyasha or something.
I don’t mind reading it online but Viz’s translations have been pretty good recently and I just like having a tangible book in my hands. Besides, you get more of the story at once that way. I already know everything that happens up to chapter 95 or so, so being able to have something fresh for once will be nice.
11:40 am on January 26th, 2010
There should only be a few more chapters left, but now we’re starting to wonder how the manga can possibly be finished in time for the anime to adapt it all in time!
2:15 pm on January 26th, 2010
@ Ryan: Well if they hadn’t crammed all of volume 8 into a single episode they would have more time!
6:37 pm on January 26th, 2010
Okay, if we’re going by volumes, then wasn’t the first part of volume 8 in episode 14, while the rest was in episode 15? And I thought it was volume 15 that everyone was so mad about being crammed into a single episode…
Still though, there’s only so much the early pacing can help with when the anime’s got a limited number of episodes and a set schedule. If it reaches the finale too early, it’ll be less likely to have the manga done as reference; if it reaches the finale too late, the story will end up rushed. We’re all hoping they don’t have to make up their own ending or turn the true final episodes into a “movie”…
3:51 pm on January 27th, 2010
You. are. my . hero.
all of the above pissed me off just as much.
ESPECIALLY THE ENDING.
the second i saw Ed back in eng- Germ- Fritterland- there. thats where he is.
i was like Fuck you all!
And Would ed just kiss winry already?!
Jesus, he is suh a punk ass little bitch!
4:09 pm on January 27th, 2010
and the other thing was.. they could have stayed in their side of the gate. they could have just destroyed their portal thing right and that would have been the end of it. gah. there where two doors right? close one and that would be enough?.. of course not “they have to be absolutly sure”
3:28 pm on January 28th, 2010
@ Ryan I dunno, Volume 8 was introducing the Xingian characters and all that what. I’m pretty sure it was everything in that volume all in one episode. I haven’t been watching lately but either way they shouldn’t be cramming entire volumes into single episodes, especially now that they’re into the “new” material.
10:19 pm on February 2nd, 2010
Yeah, Manga is on 103 and I think will wrap up around 110 chapters. It’s getting there. You’ll piss your pants when you read 100-103. Holy shat. You will piss your pants. I’m not a dick and won’t spoil it for you, but I will warn you. Be careful of sights you go too. I’ve seen certain MAJOR things spoiled and people getting really upset about it. (manga readers, i’m talking about 102) I really don’t want you to be spoiled.
What was the last Brotherhood episode you watched??
42 aired just 2 days ago.
Btw, i’m totally posting a link to your site from my blog.
You’re awesome for doing this rant!
12:45 am on February 3rd, 2010
@ Deet Well I still want it to be fresh! I just picked up Viz’s volume 22 at the bookstore yesterday and it ended with Hohenheim confronting The Father, and the next volume is going to be the giant brawl in Central, so it’s catching up pretty damn fast.
I think the last one I watched was soon after Ling was introduced D: I’m just staying away form everything lol.
And thanks! XD
10:21 pm on February 13th, 2010
100-103? What about 104? Heh heh…
12:46 pm on February 21st, 2010
Oh. My. God. I really thought I was losing my mind! lol I just finished watching Epi 28, and the scene with the librarian mouthing off to Mustang ALONE made me commit to no longer trying to finish this anime! I had been ignoring all the switches up to the point where Winry got stupid-upset by Ed’s cheating in Rush Valley and how can you leave out the man’s family>>replace it with Gracia’s story?? I’m HORRIFIED that Ling, Mei Chan, and Olivier aren’t in the anime, and what’s with the homunculi changes and that hella whiny boy with Ed’s arm and leg? That whole, I’ve turned myself into my bed! screaming session was murder to my brain.
Seriously, your article/rant of awesome made me delete the link I had for the anime. I’m so glad Brotherhood is on at a reasonable time for me to watch! It’s how the anime should have been all along!
Thanks for saving me some time!