This is the first official entry in a series I'm doing called Blogging Brotherhood. For more information regarding the overall concept of these entries, check out the intro here.
Episode One: Fullmetal Alchemist
...Okay wow, I like this one better.
It's hard to say if my enthusiasm is coming from the fact that it almost feels as though I'm watching a sequel and I wanted to squeal every time one of the characters from the original popped up...or if it is just generally more appealing to me. It's already a little darker and more action-centric. The animation is certainly re-vamped and polished with some more detailed movement from what I remember in the original. The character designs aren't changed much at all, the exception being Ed's yellower-than-before hair color (which looks good, especially against the red jacket, so no complaints) and some minor streamlining of details in other characters. For the most part, everyone looks the same.
I'm also impressed that they managed to wrangle back the entire original English cast minus Alfonse (at least from what I've seen so far). I always appreciated the fact that they used an actual little boy for his role rather than sticking another woman in that position, but the downside is that by the time this came out (2009, yes?), the kid who played him was too old. The new actor, however, does sound a bit like him, even though she's a woman. I like her, though. She may even be a better actor than Aaron, who tended to sound a little stilted in some of his deliveries. It was such a solid cast overall, though, so it's nice that everyone else was willing to reprise their roles.
They've started the story out from a completely different angle, which I wasn't expecting, and I have no idea if what they present here is how the manga actually began. My understanding is that the whole reason Brotherhood exists is so that they could re-do it as a more faithful adaptation of the manga, but they could've just switched things up so it wasn't quite as obvious that this was the equivalent of hitting a reset button. They introduce a LOT of characters in this first episode. I'm assuming they were aware of how many people watched the original and therefore would know who everyone was, but I'm not sure if that was a good storytelling decision. Eighty percent of the cast is flung at you in 22 minutes and it kind of feels like they're doing a roll call. It's done well, since they all tie into the plot of the episode, but it comes across as rushed in comparison to the original, which introduced everyone over a much longer span of time.
They also eliminated the entire concept of the Elrics helping Maes Hughes' wife deliver her baby. I can live with that change. I'm not sure if this means their stay at Tucker's house will still happen, but I wasn't altogether crazy about him as a character in the first place, so I'm not holding my breath in anticipation for that one.
Ahhhh and Roy is the butt of so many jokes already!
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| Ha ha you're all wet, Flame Alchemist! |
Episode Two: The First Day
I see we're continuing the switch-up of the storyline with Winry meeting Hawkeye much earlier here. It's the same exact conversation, just, you know, 30-something episodes in advance.Ugh, they kept the creepy ass design of their re-created mother. And she tried to move. Yuck.
I will say that the presentation of this scenario isn't any better or worse than the first go-around, but I prefer this one to a large degree. I like the blood red that they paint the entire shot outside of the barn and the crow that flies across the screen. That, in combination with the music, sets the tone really well. They had chorus-type music in the original, but I don't remember it being used here, and it works fabulously to give off a dark, tragic vibe to the whole scene. I'm not sure how I feel about the reveal of The Door so soon, but I guess it works since it explains why Ed is able to use alchemy without a transmutation circle--something that the original waited until half-way through the series to even bother hinting at.
The way that they depict the loss of the boys' limbs is neat, too--how they dissolve like a mix between computer pixels breaking up and paint chipping.
The best part of this episode, though, far and away is the scene when Mustang and Hawkeye burst into Winry's house and confront the two brothers. Between Edward's empty expression as he sits in the wheelchair, Mustang's half-panicked tone to his voice when he's yelling at them, and Al's heart-breaking repetition of "We're sorry...we're sorry..." it was just one big ball of emotion that was a m a z i n g.
I'm really hoping they show more of Ed's test to become a State Alchemist, because the two-minute snapshot they have here was lame. From what it looks like, they're hustling along a lot of the character intros and backgrounds so they can potentially make way for more plot later on. I'm not asking for ten episodes of flashback, but a little more information would be nice. One thing that I thought the original took a long time to dish out was, in fact, the entire back story of Ed becoming a SA; it takes up a good chunk of the early episodes, to the point where I got confused as to whether or not we were still in the past or present when certain episodes started. I'm hoping they strike a bit more of a balance here. We'll see.
I also don't like the opening narration. It's not so much that some random actor is explaining everything, it's the way in which he says it. The whole thing has a weird Saturday Morning Cartoon vibe to it. I'm half-expecting him to blurt out, "Okay, kids, on today's episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood..." It's cheesy to me.
Aside from that one scene that I mentioned above, my favorite part of this entire episode is when Ed finds out that the Fuhrer gave him the name "Fullmetal Alchemist" and the expression on his face that follows:
It's just so damn hilarious to me, for whatever reason.
A final note: Looking at the preview for the next episode, THEY CHANGED ROSE'S SKIN TONE. I always liked the fact that she was darker-skinned, and they made her into another pasty white kid! I'm assuming there's a reason, but man, I really liked Rose's pretty brown skin.
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