FMA: Brotherhood

[dragonimp]

Just finished watching the premiere episode of the new FMA. My reaction was a resounding:

Meh.

It's probably just this episode. It felt too cramped. They were trying to introduce too many characters and too many concepts at once. One of the great things about FMA - both the manga and the original anime - was the gradual way the story played out. This felt rushed. Once the story proper gets going it'll probably be fine, but I really wasn't impressed by the pacing or the storytelling here.

Also, based on the teasers, I was expecting a lot more from the animation. It had its moments, but it also felt awkward.

It's going to take me a while to get used to Roy's new voice, too. It just doesn't have the depth and resonance I'm used to.

Riza wins for one-liners, though: "Please only be useless on rainy days, sir."

Comments

[binaryalchemist.livejournal.com]

I seconded that in my own review...Meh. And Roy's new voice sounds too damn young--yeah, I know he's supposed to be only 29, but he wasn't authoritative enough. Hawkeye did win, and having Roy get blasted in the face would have been funnier if he'd had a chance to be Colonel Bastard--a little early for the classic "useless when wet" running gag. Too much exposition--I still think that the original opening--which is for FMA and the Manga--works better. That bit at the end with Armstrong begging Ed to touch him was like some kind of realllllly sick Yaoi joke. And Tricia Elric making QUICHE???? What happened to stew, for god's sake??? And it was very, very Arakawa-esque--for better or worse....I expected worse, hoped for better...

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

Roy sounded... I think it hit me as "young" so much as ... thin. Washed-out. It's like there was nothing behind it. Which is unfortunate, because manga!Roy is so much more centered and grounded than first-anime!Roy, he should sound more authoritative, not less.

Yeah, that quiche was out of nowhere. I mean, I sure she made a lot of things, but frugal country living = quiche??

(And Armstrong showing up with roses and then doing that "go ahead, touch me!!" line? I was like "OMG pedophile alchemist!!" Armstrong is a sap and a fop, but he's not supposed to be a pervert!)

[http://users.livejournal.com/zakai_/]

I felt like it was a little too character cramped too. I think they were trying to hard to make this first episode fanservice. I have higher expectations of the episodes to come.

Overall though, I thought it was pretty good ^_^

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

It was very fanservicey. It actually felt more like I was watching fanfiction ^^;. I'm hoping it evens out more once the story gets going. I am looking forward to the manga scenarios being animated.

[binaryalchemist.livejournal.com]

Agreed--and if they're gonna fanservice, then why not rip Roy's shirt off?? That would certainly keep ME entertained....I'm looking forward to seeing how they tell the story of Slave Hoho and the Homunculus in the jar in Xerxes---a lot of people are thinking that's Ed in the beginning of the credits, when it's actually his father...

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

Didn't even occur to me that people might think that was Ed ^^;;. I noticed they didn't play that scene for this first episode.

(I would so go for a shirtless Roy!)

[binaryalchemist.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I keep hearing, "Oh god, Ed looks so gorgeous in the opening--that's when he's grown up, right???" Actually, the icon above is Arakawa's adult Ed at 30...close, but not Hoho (according to her timeline drawings Ed starts looking like Hoho at 40--and like Pinako at 80! She also shows his grave with the words "Age 88"...let's hope that's a joke, shall we???)

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

Where is this timeline?? is it in one of the Profiles books?

[binaryalchemist.livejournal.com]

http://www.mobuta.com/arakawa/timeline.html
This is an Arakawa fan website--kinda skimpy--but this page shows Ed at 11, 15, 20, 30, 40, 80 and the gravestone

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool! I'll have to bookmark that site. (I can't believe she already gave him a death date D: )

[binaryalchemist.livejournal.com]

When I read that line in the manga when Ed is about to perform human transmutation on himself after getting pierced through the chest I wondered about that--"this will probably shorten my lifespan..." after which he mysteriously grew taller and older-looking (Ed looks more in his 20's now in a lot of scenes and he's now taller than Winry--although Arakawa then turns around and draws him like a little kid--bugs me how she goes back and forth all the time). I for one like to think that since he's Hohenheim's son and Hohenheim is NOT a normal human, that Ed and Al will have longer lifespans...something I've used as a major part of the PostHagaren Alt!Verse I've created, inspired by that OVA stating that in the year 2005 Ed would be a hundred years old--and he hasn't got a single grey hair!

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

I hadn't put that together with his new height, I bet that is what happened - though it still bugs me that no one seems to have noticed ("Gee, Ed, have you grown a few inches?").

Being a walking philosopher's stone has to have messed with Hohenheim's DNA, it would make sense for Ed and Al to be affected. Chances are Arakawa's not going to take the storyline that far forward in the manga, though.