An expanse which stretches as far as the eye can see which is filled with meaningless, repugnant, stinky garbage of every kind, a grim atmosphere. And in the midst of all the senseless trash is a single small patch of beautiful flowers, whose area is utterly insignificant to that of the expanse and among those flowers, one of them, the one which puts a smile even on the most hopeless person's face have a name, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. This is the best description I could think of for this benison of an entertainment. This anime is widely regarded as one of the greatest anime of all time and this will make sense once you experience it.
STORY
The story is one the main pillars of this show. It commences with Edward and Alphonse chasing the wanted Isaac McDougal aka The Freezing Alchemist. Isaac learns about the secrets of Amestris' government and endeavours to solve everything solely by himself. While he dies in the process the statements made by him leaves the viewers in a state if intense curiousness which is the perfect initiation for any show. The story is facile to follow but at the same time too complex that once you begin to dwelve deeper into it you will realise that you've only touched the tip of the iceberg. While Brotherhood skips past the early manga chapters assuming people have already watched the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist series, the adaptation was so good that we do not feel it's fast pacing at all. The plot unravels it's mysteries slowly at the right time and the last 15 episodes (The promised day arc) have the best buildup in any anime.
CHARACTERS
The great cast of characters is probably the strongest aspect of this anime. FMAB did something in a short amount time that many shounen anime could not do even with hundreds of episodes. Edward and Alphonse are not your typical "I have a dream" main characters. Like many in the show, both of them are products of tragedy and you will easily sympathise with them. Edward Elric's character starts off as a selfish, irate character full of pride, like when we see him getting enraged whenever someone calls him short. As the story moves forward he learns to rely on others rather than shouldering everything on himself and begins to trust and form strong bonds with others. By the end of the show Ed have become a self-accepting, trusting and a placid character. Alphonse Elric starts off as a kind, peaceful and very much dependant on Ed. Even after everything they've gone through, he trusts Ed and deeply cares for him. The literal name of this anime "Brotherhood", the profound relation between Elric brothers is explored during a plethora of instances like the entire aftermath of the events at laboratory 5, when Scar attacks them the first time, when Al gets “posessed” by Pride, when Greed abducts Al in Dublith and much more that it does not leave the viewer questioning about the deep connection between the Elric brothers.
Another aspect I love about FMAB is no matter how insignificant or lame you are, you have a significance to the story. It shows that every person plays a role and has a consequentiality. It makes us feel Ed and Al to be a part of the world rather than stars of the show.
Arakawa(the writer of FMA) is not the type of writer to make a character who has lived for hundreds of years a flat one. The lack of discussion about Van Hohenheim on social media deeply pertubs me. You could even say that FMAB is Hohenheim's story said through the eyes of his sons. He's incredibly nuanced for a character to be properly introduced so far into the story. He loves his family and devotes himself to them, while also being full of culpability about Xerxes. He talks to everyone and gets to know them. He also brought his knowledge to Xing, implying he travelled, helped people and taught them. He has troubles showing his emotions, and he's self aware enough to know he's no genius. He isn't incredibly brilliant or talented but rather everything he is is the fruit of years of work and study. He's a flawed, nuanced character with a lot of growth and without a doubt a great character. When he wanted to die, he lived and when he wanted to live, he died, the irony of it. Scar is a great antihero who was initially an antagonist who uses religion to justify his sins. He’s discriminated against for what race he is, where he came from and that’s something a lot of people can relate too. His chemistry with Winry, a person who would have been completely justified seeking revenge for the deaths of her parents but, instead, chooses to forgive is done very well. The Military is a major driving force of this anime and has many major players from it. The death of Hughes establishes that no one is safe and takes a deep emotional turn from then. Mustang's character arc is also very well done. FMAB excels in creating many well-developed and interesting female characters. Rather than fanservicing the hell out of them, Arakawa gave them depth in terms of writing. Winry, Riza, Olivier, Izumi, Maria, Mei, all are individuals (not just a "woman" archetype) with their own interesting personalities, goals, and skills.
Arakawa did a great job in representing the Homunculus as The Seven Deadly Sins while also perfectly connecting them to Father's desire to become God and hence to the story, giving meaning to their names. The names used also gives a psychological advantage as the viewer automatically assumes the existence of other Homunculus when Lust and Gluttony are introduced early in the show. Lust and Sloth had greater characterisation in 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist anime but they clearly manages to leave a mark of their presence in the Brotherhood too.
Lust and Gluttony make a great duo and made a wonderful job as antagonists in the early episodes. Pride was the first Homunculus to be created by Father. Introduced as the adopted son of King Bradley, his real appearance is based on Father's original form, the Dwarf in the Flask during the time of Xerxes. Sloth is the most uninteresting of all the Homunculi but his importance in digging a gigantic transmutation circle beneath Amestris to be used in turning the country into a Philosopher's Stone is immense. Greed is an extremely well executed anti-hero. As his name literally suggests, he is introduced as a greedy character who will do anything to accomplish his selfish needs. By taking over Ling Yao, Ling helps him to make him understand that what he truly craves for is not money, women or power but simply friendship. His turning of antagonist into an anti hero is truly marvellous and he is a character that everyone can easily root for despite being evil in nature. Envy is probably the most hated antagonist along with Pride in FMAB. He is a selfish and sadistic character who does not have any high ideals. He manipulates those weaker than himself and is constantly trying to play power games with those around him. Envy will constantly use dirty tactics to deceive and gloat all in the attempt to reach his goal that goal being self-affirmation. The feeling of unfairness and foul play, it is a feeling that is what makes this villain so hateable. Envy is jealous of the camaraderie and unity of people when it's temptation to get the others to turn against each other's fails, he is confused and unable to understand why these people would work together despite their backgrounds and history with each other. Envy needs attention, Envy means affirmation but there's no one to give that to envy. When Envy one last time tries to manipulate others as it always does, there's no response no change in emotion no rebuttals no anger in anyone, it is this the enemy seems to fear most, the fear being ignored, a sign of being unworthy, something that is worthless, this realization of jealousy is humiliating to the point where is better to die than to live on. In the end, Envy ends up being a tragic and a great antagonist. King Bradley is not a great personification of the deadly sin that he was named after. He is much less of the classic temperamental anger that may have been expected and much more of a man depicting a cold unrelenting fury dictated by his hatred of humanity and his idea of how people should live their lives. Despite going through life following a path that had been laid out for him from the start, Bradley's Philosophy is one predicated on self-Reliance. He has a true respect for those that rely only on themselves to strive forward towards their ambitions because he can relate and knows how difficult and admirable this is. He has a huge amount of disdain for the concept of a God and he is very anti religious chastising the Ishvalans for over alliance on deism and scorning Scar for his beliefs. He hates that these ideas tend to regress mankind and make them meek and unwilling to act for themselves if God exists. Bradley believes that living for others should not be a concern for a true King. He finds the idea of altruistic sacrifice to be abhorrent and an insult to life itself this is likely why he displays such a respect for exceptional fighters like Mustang, Lan Fan, Fu, and Scar. He has lived a life completely lacking in freedom except for one thing his wife and so he'd used her as a representation of his freedom to choose even if he was just limited to one choice. Humanity gave him a chance to fight with his all against Fierce opponents humanity gave him some fun and entertainment, and most of all humanity gave him choice this is why Bradley considers his life to have been one worth living he died satisfied.
Another interesting aspect of FMAB is that every Homunculus dies in an ironic way.
☆ Lust, the embodiment of the sin that makes men kneel, dies kneeling to a man.
☆ Gluttony, the embodiment of greed in food dies getting eaten by Pride.
☆ Pride gets defeated by a lifeform he considered to be inferior to him.
☆ Sloth, the symbol of laziness dies due to over exerting himself.
☆ Greed dies satisfied.
☆ Envy commits suicide after discovering that he has been envious of the humans.
☆ Wrath is killed by Scar who has overcome his own wrath.
It is not surprising that a mere human cannot understand Father or to be more accurate, to feel Father as a rather bland character. He strips himself off his seven sins or his human side because of his aspiration to become a literal GOD. This and his appearance being similar to Hohenheim somewhat makes Father an uninteresting/boring character. While at the surface this may seem to be underwhelming considering the big bad of a great show who orders around other more interesting antagonists is boring, there is a lot more to it than seems. One of the philosophical message this story delivers is that one gains stature not by directly removing the sins but by overcoming it, Father took the former, the easier way and becomes bland in the process. The Homunculi Father created is a part of him and Father is a part of them. So while considering the character of Father or more accurately The Dwarf in the Flask, he is all of the homonculi combined. His relationship with the Homunculi is being overshadowed by the blandness of Father which makes people to assume him as a bad antagonist while when you look from a greater perspective, he is not.
ART AND SOUND
The source material and it's adaptation are hardly related to each other than being a plot source. A great source material does not necessarily mean it's adaptation will be as phenomenal, Berserk 2016 for example and vice versa. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood will go down in history as one of the best adaptations in anime history, thanks to great work of Studio Bones. The artstyle is nothing phenomenal but perfectly fine. The art becomes simpler in random comedic moments which does not feel off at all. The top notch voice acting makes us feel rather than view the show and the music by Akira Senju beautifully fits the anime. Trisha's Lullaby, Lapis Philosophorum, Xing Symphony, Homage to the Alchemist, you name it there were are a lot of memorable soundtracks from this anime that I was listening to even after completing it. All of the 5 openings and endings were nothing short of great.
CONCLUSION
While there does not exist a literally "perfect" anime, FMAB is one of the closest ones with very few issues. Like I mentioned earlier Brotherhood skips a few of the early chapters, while this may not affect a person whose first Fullmetal Alchemist experience is FMAB, there is a slight chance this may affect the manga readers or FMA 2003 viewer's experience. There is also a problem of tonal shifts, random comedic moments with lesser animation quality pops up in the midst of a serious situation and there is a slight chance that this may affect the viewer's experience. But the quantity of this shift gets reduced as the show progresses forward mainly due to Edward growing both physically and mentally. Personally though, these two issues did not affect my experience.
There are a lot of themes that this anime explores and develops overtime. Tragedy, Loss, hatred, pointlessness of revenge, value of a human soul, embracement of one's humanity, equivalent exchange and much more. I do not believe Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was about it's beautiful story, it's phenomenal characters or astounding music but instead about it's philosophical messages and it's application into real life. The difference in Isaac McDougal and Edward Elric is that the former did not trust anyone, was reckless and tried to solve everything by himself and failed but the latter made good relationship with people, formulated a plan and succeeded in achieving the common goal. The conclusion of Father teaches us an important lesson that one must not aspire to become someone else but stay true to themselves. Science and religion are two clashing subjects of utmost importance to humanity. While the preference depends on individuals, FMAB manages to excellently display the light and dark aspects of both sides, signifying that none is superior to the other. For example in the case of Rose, the pathetic side of religion is shown, she is blinded by faith and believes that Father Cornello can successfully bring back her loved one. While in the case of Shou Tucker, the cruel side of science and importance of morality is demonstrated. Equivalent exchange, the very core of this anime have a lot of analogies in real world. In order to gain something we have to sacrifice something of equal value first, this can be money, time, health anything. The value that we place on these things differs, but each is extremely important and can have adverse effects on our lives. If you try to achieve something you may make mistakes. Rather than failures you should view them as lessons, or painful lessons. If you manage to do that and not be afraid to make mistakes and learn from them, than you will reach your goal eventually.
"A lesson without pain is meaningless. For you cannot gain anything without sacrificing something else in return, but once you have overcome it and made it your own...you will gain an irreplaceable Fullmetal Heart"
~ Edward Elric/Hiromu Arakawa
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