Equivalent Exchange

As I said in my introductory post, FullMetal Alchemist (the first anime, not Brotherhood) was my first foray into “real” anime.  Many of my friends had seen it when it first came out, when we were all in middle school, and thus, it is a very nostalgic show for most of my peers.  I got into it very late, though, and although I read the manga a couple times in high school (and to be honest, I don’t remember most of it now), I did not sit down to watch the series until I was a sophomore in college. 

Even without the nostalgia factor my friends had, though, the series blew me away.  I still maintain that it is one of the most profound series I have watched, and to this day watching even the openings to the show chokes me up.

FullMetal Alchemist is about the journey of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who are searching for a way to get their bodies back after they were punished for trying to bring their mother back using alchemy.  Ed lost his arm and leg in the incident, and Alphonse lost his whole body and had his soul bound to a suit of armor.  As they do what they must to gain the Philosopher’s Stone (which would allow them to do much more powerful alchemy without the drawbacks, and thus allow them to get their bodies back), Ed joins the military for their resources, and the brothers travel the world in search of clues.

Animation:

FullMetal Alchemist is a very colorful show that pays extraordinary attention to detail.  Just looking at Alphonse’s character design shows how detailed the animation is.  On the first time through the show, I found no fault with the animation whatsoever.  As I rewatch it, however, I do notice how simplistic it gets at times.  It is clear that especially in the beginning filler-type episodes, the animators were on a budget.  However, when the more major events happen, the animation really steps up, and the show is beautiful to watch.

Plot:

When a show continues to choke you up a year after you watch it, it has done something right.  This is especially impressive coming from FullMetal Alchemist, which has an interesting story to its overarching plot.

The anime originally followed the manga fairly exactly, putting in filler every once in a while to pad out until more manga came out to cover.  It eventually became clear that on the show’s schedule, there was no way that it would be able to follow the manga given the manga’s schedule, and thus the creators were forced to either pad out the show to ridiculous lengths or come up with their own story given what they had.  They chose the latter at the encouragement of the manga’s author, and thus came up with a story that had its fair share of filler and a completely different latter half.

It is hard to tell that when you watch the show, however.  Foreshadowing that occurred at the beginning of the anime when it was still following the manga becomes significant in its own way, and it is quite possible to not even realize that the beginning was foreshadowing a completely different end.  As a whole, the story is quite cohesive and quite touching.

The abundance of filler also worked out in the anime’s favor.  Events that happened in the manga became that much more heart-wrenching in the anime because the audience was given more time to grow attached to certain characters.  There are even two episodes that are almost completely pointless, blatant filler, and they manage to be two of the most-loved episodes by fans.  Their hilarity stems from the fact that they are almost completely pointless, and yet hilarious.

When the story ends, it is perfectly reasonable to feel you have been punched in the gut in the best way possible.  It manages to be very realistic while at the same time juggling a reveal that seems very strange considering the universe set forth in the show. 

Characters:

FullMetal Alchemist is remarkable in its ability to not only make well-developed characters, but also to bring back characters where you would least expect them to be.  Its main characters, Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric, are great characters both in design (it is a gutsy move having a character who is missing limbs, and it certainly works) and in personality.  They are far from perfect, but they are very sympathetic characters, and you care what happens to them.  The side characters are impressive as well.  The extensive cast of military personnel make for both great comic relief (they have a couple episodes dedicated almost entirely to them) and great characters in general. 

The other remarkable thing about FullMetal Alchemist’s characters is the amount of characters who appear to be one-shot filler characters but come back to play a vital role in the story.  Though this is far from necessary in a series, it is very interesting and does a great job in showing characters as human and not just a single character archetype.

It is not perfect, though.  There are several filler episodes in which the characters fill very specific roles that place the episode clearly in cliché territory.  There is one where something mysterious is going on and Ed and Al catch the man who is responsible for it, and he proceeds to monologue about his evil plan.  He was rather artificial in doing so, and that took much of the credibility of the episode.  Fortunately, those types of shallow characters are few and far between, and when they do show up, you’ll only see them once.

FullMetal Alchemist especially excels in having three-dimensional villains.  There are only a couple villains (who again, only show up a couple times) that do not have a genuine reason for behaving how they do, and most believe that they are doing good, or at least are sympathetic in their bad decisions.

The other thing that FullMetal Alchemist does well in is creating strong female characters.  Though I felt Winry was little more than a whiny plot device that fixed Ed’s prosthetic limbs all of the time, it was hard to find fault with the rest of the female characters, who may not have always been the paragon of perfection (which was in fact a very good thing), but they were strong characters who felt human instead of shrill, annoying harpies that seem to plague some shows.

Voice Acting:

The voice acting for FullMetal Alchemist is very well-executed.  It is the reason that Vic Mignogna (Edward) is such a popular voice actor for major roles, and contains a lot of other big names.  It is a great dub in which there are several extremely hammy characters, but it all contributes very well to the overall package.

Music:

The music in this show was also astounding.  All four of the opening themes were great, very catchy and fun, while the closing themes were also routinely good.  Several were not terribly distinctive, but they were still quite good songs.  The soundtrack during the show is quite good as well, and one of the recurring songs, “Brothers,” never fails to be a tear-jerker, even though it is used quite often.

Overall:

FullMetal Alchemist is a great show all-around and has rightfully gained a reputation as one of the essential anime to be watched.   It is extremely suspenseful, funny, and tear-jerking, and I have consistently held it as the best anime series that I have ever watched.