INTRO
Ah, the OG Fullmetal Alchemist. This one truly is an anomaly in the industry, it sets up a lot of standards for its genre in all THE fronts, while also being a stern example of a lot of things which should be avoided. Well, this is the reason why there's such a divide within the FMA fandom. There's a lot of pointless clashes being fought between Manga purists and 03 elitists, each throwing tea at the latter, forcing people to chose one over the other. But why not both? In my opinion the fandom completely misunderstands what both of the respective series try to represent, and can't have a civil discussion at all; opting to badmouth the adaptations they don't prefer. Well 03 is a bigger victim of this utter drivel so, in Today's review, I'll try to convince new (and possibly future) fans to give the OG show a try.
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SOME CONTEXT
A lot of people seem to oversimplify both adaptations to "dark/meaningful & gleeful and hype-worthy" or "edgy nonsense and cliched shounen". Of course these are extremely watered down views of both shows and don't do them justice at all. 03 at its core, is a deconstruction. While it is tonally more melancholic and thematically more grounded and direct- the show is still not a "sad/mature" version of Brotherhood. While Brotherhood focuses on a lot of philosophical ideas besides the core law of alchemy (based on the principle of "equivalent exchange), hidden under the subtext of an emotionally resonant shounen epic, 03 is a lot more direct in its approach and tries to totally flip around the entire premise of equivalent exchange while also dealing with a lot of personal and social themes. The approach to themes is probably the biggest thing which sets both shows apart. 03's atmosphere and tone is way more dramatic and melancholic, and a lot of ideas are communicated via direct conversations and the overall tone of the show, whereas brotherhood is a lot more subtext heavy and deals with a lot of philosophy/themes through the use of character and plot arcs. Both shows set standards for the shounen genre. FMAB remains true to the spirit of shounen, while having the most accessibly mature and deep story in anime- even then it never fully gives in to the genre conventions, FMA on the other hand stands as a near perfect example of a deconstruction done right. Even then 03 is not fully a deconstruction- for the most part the show, 03 is a really personal character driven drama (even after it deviates from the manga), until it starts to unfold and makes case for a lot of relevant themes and issues, Making them more resonant and giving an extra charm and at times needed "dark" tinge to the series. The tone was great, and its safe to say it added more levels of greatness to the franchise and stands as a great example of how to write a tonally mature shounen. The parallels that were drawn to the real life, the themes of obsession, intimacy, racism, xenophobia and so many more that were explored through the FMA backdrop were well executed. Overall this was a great and grounded approach to FMA
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CHARACTERS and SOME OTHER IMPORTANT RAMBLINGS
The show is fairly arc based, after it deviates leading upto its divisive conclusion. The show at times was slowly paced, and while it bettered certain parts of the manga, it also made it boring due to all of the filler. The Character writing in this show can be divided into "Good" and "Bad" as well. The Elric brothers, Some Homunculi and the OG supporting cast was done really well, especially the brothers and Scar- and the Izumi Curtis Arc was easily the best one. On the other hand, the show suffered due to the lack of strong antagonists. This more or less ties, to the infamous ending of the show. Archer, Kimbley, Dante and "another important twist villian" were all badly written and were bland compared to the rest of the cast of 03 and brotherhood, as they lacked depth and nuance and acted for the sake of plot. As I said this all relates to the biggest critic of the show. That is the final few episodes and the ending. While I thematically appreciate what the show was going for, it was done in the most "shymalan" way ever. So many contrivances, plot devices, plot holes, lack of foreshadowing and out-there twists, that it soured my mouth. The bittersweet end in itself wasn't the issue, it was the path to it which was the issue. Aside from that a lot of tragic events that occurred didn't feel all that convincing, and gave a forced melodramatic feel to them, which I didn't like. Despite all this, the series for the most part was really solid, and the end still had a lot of redeeming moments which made me favorite it. Overall the show is full of highs and lows and sometimes its apparent that it was wrote by a screenwriter and not the OG creator, but still nonetheless it was a great, yet flawed experience
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MUSIC And ART
Like Brotherhood, this one has a beauty of a soundtrack as well. Brotherhood has Trisha of lullaby while this one has bratja. I just love the 03 soundtrack. As I love melissa and cool joke. The Art and Animation was great for its time and has aged really well (especially some clips from the 4th OP) and the audiovisuals played a huge part in immersing me in the show
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MY Conclusion
Hush, despite my utmost efforts, this still turned into a comparison based review. The gist of it being that both are great series, with the 03 being flawed yet shining brightly on its own. To any newcomers or brotherhood onlies- I recommend this show whole heartily and plead you not to listen to "03 is trash". This ones a personal favorite although due to some glaring issues, It barely makes it into my favorites- thus it gets a score of

85/100
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