Episode 17: Full Metal Alchemist: As a whole
Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in the review as the product and characters are owned by Studio Bones, Funimation and Hiromu Arakawara not me.
Airnaruto45 aka the Classic Critic around his desk once more this time feeling a little more at peace but this time it looked like he was drawing a strange circle with weird symbols inside it around his desk. "Oh, Hello I'm the Classic Critic; I remember it so you're not required to." He said before moving on to his review topic.
"If you're wondering what the deal is with the drawing around my desk I just wanted to test something out, I only hope that I can get better desk out of this." He muttered to himself; "It also has a bit of a tie-in to the series I'm reviewing today." He said before the screen went to a dramatic and detailed drawing of what looked like a tree on a piece of parchment before we heard a narrator's voice mixed in with Airnaruto's.
Narrator & Airnaruto: Alchemy; the science of understanding, deconstructing and reconstructing matter. However it's not an all powerful art, it is impossible to create something out of nothing. If one wishes to obtain something, something of equal value must be given, this is the law of equivalent exchange the basis of all alchemy. In accordance with this law there is a taboo among Alchemists; Human transmutation is strictly forbidden. For what could equal the value of a human soul?
(A/N: This is the FMA: Brotherhood opening)
"In the country of Artemis, a young boy has joined the military, all in pursuit of one thing the legendary Philosophers stone, his motivations are simple; grief, guilt, and love for his desire is to use the stone's power to restore his body as well as the body of his younger brother Alphonse. This young boy is Edward Elric aka the Full metal Alchemist." Airnaruto said as we see a young alchemist with blonde hair, gold eyes, black clothes, white gloves, a red trench coat and two automail limbs a left leg and right arm standing next to a suit of armor with an apron on it's waist. These are the Elric brothers Edward and Alphonse respectively.
"The show or shows follow the adventures of Edward and Alphonse Elric on their quest to restore their bodies by finding the fabled Philosophers stone but all the while, they are met with trials of doubt, fear, greed, and corruption within the military system as well as the Homunculi the physical manifestation of the 7 deadly sins and their leader." Airnaruto said showing numerous clips of the Elric brothers, the military, the homunculi and their leaders.
"On the technical aspect of things, both FMA series have great detailed background, and design for a show set in Europe during early World war one." Airnaruto said as we see several scenes of Ed and Al at the Central and Eastern command centers, the towns of Loire, Risembool, Ishaval, and Dublith respectively while interacting with the local populace of each town then the camera cut back to him.
"Now if you're wondering where I got the assumption that this show is set in a parallel version of Europe during World War 1 well if you look at the grave of Maes Hughes from episode 10 of Brotherhood the dates on it are born in 1885 died in 1914 so you could see the logic in that argument." Airnaruto explained. "The music is an odd combination of orchestra choir with European instruments." Airnaruto said as some of the music was played with the tragic dramatic melody playing in the background.
(Choir singing in the background)
"Now fortunately for those in North America both dubs were voice casted with great care though that's not to say that the Japanese version is horrible which it's not but still it's okay." Ed and Al are the focal point of the story and while Ed's Seiyu Romi Park sounds more like a child and can pull of the tirades I think Vic Mignona understands the better and can play both the serious and the childish parts and make it sounds natural making Ed you actually believe the kind of person Ed is on the inside and the threats in his voice when you call him short." Airnaruto said as we see and hear Ed being called little.
Random person: What? You mean it's the little guy over there?
Ed in FMA Brotherhood Episode 3: WHO'S LITTLE? COME HERE AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE I DARE YA!
"In regards to Alphonse between Aaron Dimuske and Maxey Whitehead, I think Whitehead seems to understand the childish part a bit better than Dimuske though granted when the original anime debuted in 2003 Dimuske was nearing puberty which explains why he was replaced for the Brotherhood series." Airnaruto said before moving on to the other characters.
"Of course the rest of the cast is very good in the dub with the likes of Chris Sabat as the strong arm alchemist, who is he well allow me to let his character introduce himself." Airnaruto said.
Armstrong: It is I the strong arm alchemist Alex Louis Armstrong in the flesh!"
"Then there's Travis Willingham playing Coronel Roy Mustang the flame alchemist who has a strange reason for loving dogs; So Coronel why do you love dogs?" Airnaruto asked.
Mustang: Dogs embody loyalty. They follow their master's commands and above all else…Be a jerk to them and they won't complain and they never once beg for a paycheck. Trust me Fury they're the great servants of man! (Singing) Loyal canine how we salute thee! (Laughing)
The screen cutback to Airnaruto who just looked at the scene weirdly. "Moving on to Mustang's right hand man or rather woman Lieutenant Coronel Riza Hawkeye voiced by Coleen Clickenbeard who's actually very loyal to Mustang thought she can be a bit critical of him." Airnaruto said as we see a scene with Hawkeye showing her exasperation after shutting a case filled with Mustang's spare set of alchemy gloves.
Hawkeye: When will he learn? It's bad enough that he's useless on rainy days.
"I don't know to be honest Riza. Other actors who are well known in anime dubs who lend their voices to the shows include Catlin Glass playing Ed's girlfriend and automail mechanic Winry Rockbell who won't hesitate to hit Ed, Al or anyone who pisses her off in the head with a wrench and trust me she will, I mean I think I remember calling her a bitch at one point." Airnaruto said in thought until he a familiar wrench smashed through the window and hit him in the back of the head.
CRASH!
CLUNK!
"Ouch! Who threw that?" Airnaruto asked now sporting a huge lump on his head.
"I did you have a problem with that?" Winry asked off screen scaring Airnaruto.
"No Winry I don't have a problem with it." Airnaruto said out of fear before continuing; "Laura Bailey also lends her veteran talents voicing the homunculus Lust, and of course Sonny Strait lends his over the top comedic talents to the role of Lt. Coronel Maes Hughes with his over the top boasting over his wife Grace and his daughter Alyssa." Airnaruto said as we see clips of Hughes pulling photos of his daughter out of his coat.
Hughes: My Daughter Alyssa who turned three this year isn't she adorable?
Hughes: My wife Grace and daughter Alyssa would be happy to have you over for dinner.
"Yes even cosplayers go over the top with this little bit." Airnaruto said amusingly.
(From a 2006 Cosplayers dramatic fiction entitled FMA: the black gate which is roughly set a year after the events of the FMA movie Conqueror of Shamballa) Hughes Cosplayer: MY DAUGHTER! She's six already, six!
"Sadly Hughes gets killed off by the homunculus Envy who took the form of his wife and shot him." Airnaruto said as we see the death occur and hear the gunshot go off.
BANG!
"The story of both shows is for the most part similar but Brotherhood is much closer to the manga in terms of it's flow of events, lack of filler episodes which I find the 2003 series guilty of putting in and the villains actually match up in Brotherhood to the manga villains where as the 2003 series had their back stories all screwed up but given that at the time Arakawa was having some health issues of her own to deal with at the time so I could see why Funimation did what they did with the original series, for example; they have Fuehrer Bradley as Pride , Sloth being the result of Ed and Al's attempt to bring their mother back, Wrath being the result of their alchemy teacher's attempt at bringing her stillborn son back to life, Envy being Ed and Al's stillborn older brother, and the main villain being a woman named Dante which made almost no sense to me." Airnaruto said before concluding the review.
"The original manga by Hiromu Arakawa which ended just recently is available from Viz Media, both Full Metal Alchemist TV series, Ova's, and the movie Full metal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa are available from Funimation and made by Studio Bones." Airnaruto said as we see several of Ed's fights from both series playing out back to back.
"All in all, both Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood have their own unique styles with complex characters, deep relationships between said characters and over the top drama that doesn't borderline on comedy but at least for the most part they set the mood, historical setting, and the atmosphere perfectly and when the dust clears, it's a good bit of fun so what do I give each show well for the 2003 series I'll give it 3 and a half stars out of 5 and Brotherhood I'll give 5 stars out of 5 as whole, I give Full Metal Alchemist 4 stars out of 5." Airnaruto said before getting up. "Okay now it's time to see if this will work." He said stepping outside of the transmutation circle.
"Here it goes." Airnaruto said as he put his hands up in the same way Alphonse did when he still needed a transmutation circle. The circle activated sending out sparks of lightning and changed the oak wood desk into a mahogany wood desk. "Hmm...Mahogany wood, not what I was hoping for but it'll work oh and I'm the Classic Critic, I remember it so you're not required to." He said as he left.
(The song Brothers in it's original Russian playing in the background)
Final recap of FMA as a whole:
Pros: Nice detailed animation, complex characters with deep relationships, dub voice cast is stellar.
Cons: 2003 series deviates from Brotherhood about midway through and possess several unnecessary filler episodes.
FMA 2003 final rating: ***1/2 out of 5
FMA Brotherhood final rating: ***** out of 5
FMA as a whole final rating: **** out of 5
A/N: Well there you have it folks my synopsis of Full Metal Alchemist as a whole and yes I know JesuOtaku has planned to do this series for her review show but the problem is I don't know if she's going to review the 2003 series, Brotherhood or both when she gets to it which would be in about 4 to 6 weeks hence the reason I decided to review both series in one episode so please don't jump on me for saying what I put down is not original so read and review.