What I can say however is that even I was surprised at my own delight when it came to seeing all of these familiar characters once again, from (of course) the Elric brothers themselves through to the likes of Roy Mustang and Maes Hughes. It's a lot like meeting up with some old friends, but finding that they're even better looking now thanks to a bigger animation budget. Actually hang on a second, friends don't have animation budgets do they?
Anyhow, with that "reboot" tag hanging over it, I was more than a little surprised to find us starting not at the beginning of the story, but some way into it, with Ed already in place as a state alchemist and thus fighting alongside his colleagues within the military. Their mission on this occasion is to capture and/or defeat the Ice Alchemist, a former state alchemist with a nasty habit of boiling people alive, or conversely freezing them and letting them shatter into tiny little pieces. As with so many things in the Fullmetal Alchemist universe, events at Ishbal seem to have been the catalyst for his defection, leading us into a battle against this man intent on striking at the heart of the military.
If nothing else, this gives us the opportunity for plenty of action, all of which is handled with plenty of style, and the kind of "cool factor" you'd expect from the series. As per the original series, this is also sprinkled with a fair amount of humour, frequently revolving around Edward's diminiutive size. Again, this particular blend feels much like seeing an old friend.
If there's one thing that this opening episode of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood seems to have made clear, it's that the cost of entry is at least some familiarity with either the original series or (and I'm guessing preferably from some of the references) the manga - While it looks like episode two will at least take us back to the very beginning to some extent, this instalment made a lot of assumptions of its viewers, so I can only imagine that anyone new to the franchise was left thinking "Well that seemed cool, but what the Hell just happened?". If I'm honest, even my brain didn't manage to join some of the dots.
Assuming you did manage to keep up however, this was an enjoyable dose of Full Metal Alchemist - A real reminder of what we've been missing since the original series closed with that slightly odd movie. For anyone familiar with the story its sewn plenty of seeds for what is to come, but if you're new to it all I'd urge you to take a deep breath, be patient, and hope that all the gaping holes and questions left by this first episode will be answered in due course. I have a definite feeling that your patience will be duly rewarded if that is the case.
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7 comments:
"If there's one thing that this opening episode of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood seems to have made clear, it's that the cost of entry is at least some familiarity"
Uh, no, you're the only one who thinks that. Its not really that different from the original series, some story to draw people in, then exposition and flashbacks, then main story. Exactly the same as original series and the same as manga. No previous exposure required.
Actually, he's not the only one who thinks that. I agree that many assumptions were made in this first episode. It's great to see our military friends in action right away, but to someone who hasn't experienced the character development of the original series they are not likely to be as endearing (at this point). Armstrong especially. However, I expect this will be rectified as the series progresses.
That did certainly feel like a whole lot of character introductions in quick succession, and the events transpiring the first episode could have easily taken 2-3 in length.
That said, I only have one thought on my mind:
It's here. :)
In a way, Anonymous is right in that as a series in its entirety, I'm sure Brotherhood won't leave people behind if they haven't seen the original series.
However, I can't help but wonder if some people will be put off by this first episode - It certainly jumped in with both feet, and as Me suggests a lot of the impact of those characters is lost if you aren't already familiar with them.
Actually Hanners I was put off by the quality of the anime (and I'm not the only one of my friends who was). Sure the OP is nice and stuff but the rest? I'm fairly certain you could fool someone into thinking it's a lost episode from the first serie.
The film increase the anime quality greatly but here? I'm definitely not convinced.
I stand corrected, apparently the version I got was far from being the best, encoding quality wise.
the new series is terrible compared to the original I feel -
I'll be following the same anyway - but I feel it's simply wrong to make such a remake of the anime
FMA was about story - it wasn't just about eye-candy in the form of good animation
http://anubhavb.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/full-metal-frat-fest-a-requim-for-an-anime/
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