An incredible series, but not without flaws

tyraxvlad

Full Metal Alchemist is an awesome anime series. When I was first brought into the anime scene, I adored it. Then, after a while, it began to lose its luster as series after series began to adopt whiny, angsty young men as their main characters. There was little magic to it.

Then I stumbled across Full Metal Alchemist. In the first two episodes, I was drawn into it, fully entranced by the vastness of this world, and how well it was executed and shown in just the two introductory episodes.

Is the series perfect, though? Not really. I understood exactly what had happened in Ed and Al's past in those first two episodes. So why did the series decide to do a few flashback episodes after that? Why, after introducing the series' main nemesis, the Homonculus, did it decide to attempt to distract me with filler after the initial plot bang? I can understand that more background needed to be shown. I can understand the need for filler at times. One of my favourite episodes in the entire series was a series of three filler segments, involving Roy Mustang and company. However, sometimes the filler just proved to be too much, or that some of the quests to obtain the alchemical myth, the Philosopher's Stone, were just too much, and detracted from the experience.

However, this isn't to say FMA was a horrible series either. It has a wonderful cast of characters. Edward and Alphonse Elric are two very worthy protagonists. Roy Mustang embodies everything that's both right *and* wrong with the military. Scar in his crusade for vengeance has a presence few villains in anime can pull off. And then there's Maes Hughes. For those of you who've seen the series, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who haven't, you'll see when the time comes. He's just brilliant.

Another interesting point of FMA is its art. Yes, it can be silly and chibi at times. Yes, I have seen some better (not often, though). But one main thing stands out about the animation in FMA. If you took away the hair styles of the characters, you'd still be able to tell each character apart, something extremely rare in all forms of anime/manga.

I highly recommend this series to anime goers everywhere. I'd even recommend it as a way to "get into" anime for those who've always wanted to see what anime's all about.

score /10

tyraxvlad 31 October 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1206376/