This review contains major spoilers for the series later on.
My thoughts about FMA03 aren't affected by its sequel movie, Conqueror of Shamballa.
> "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain something, something in equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange. In those days, we thought that to be the world's one, and only truth."- Alphonse Elric
Fullmetal Alchemist needs no introduction. It is one of the most popular anime ever. As you all probably know, this anime has 2 versions. One being Brotherhood, which adapted the manga. The other being the 2003 version, which made its original story loosely based off the manga. I will be reviewing the 2003 version. I may make some references to Brotherhood, but I will try to avoid spoiling Brotherhood's events.
Unlike most adaptations that go their own path, FMA03 is one that actually works – mainly due to it being mostly planned out from the start. Though, that doesn't mean it is flawless – far from it.
# After a few paragraphs, I will enter major spoiler territory. If you haven't watched the series, I'd suggest you to skip to the end.
Story:
The story follows the two iconic brothers, Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric.
After the Elric brothers mother died, they were determined to bring her back, no matter what. After learning Alchemy and making the necessary preperations, they end up doing Human Transmutation – a taboo – to bring back their mother. However, it goes horribly wrong. Edward ends up needing automail to replace his lost limbs, and Alphonse became a suit of armour.
After they learnt their lesson the hard way, the boys join the military to help raise their chances of finding a Philosopher's Stone – a stone that can get their bodies back.
In search for the Stone, the Elric brothers and other characters get mixed up in a bigger scheme that they have to face.
For the most part, the story is great. It has a strong beginning, in-depth themes about sacrifice, war, religion and family, many emotional moments, and an amazing journey. Plus, you're never really sure about what's going to happen. The big plot twist is neatly foreshadowed and the series manages to stick the landing.
However, it is pretty rough at some places. For starters, the pacing is unbalanced. Sometimes, the story is paced well, but many times it isn't. For example, the Nina episodes are paced great, not too fast nor too slow. It brought out the maximum emotional impact in the right amount of time. Remember the big plot twist I mentioned? In my eyes, it isn't a bad twist at all, but rather a fantastic one. Like i said earlier, it's neatly foreshadowed (pictures of World War 2, Christianity remains in the Alchemy world after it died out), and I liked how our world is connected to the Alchemy world. I'll say it again, it's a fantastic twist, however, I do think all of what happened in the last few episodes could've benefited a little if it had just even one more episode.
My biggest problem is the consistency. The issues lie in the narrative and Alchemy. There are some episodes where I just wonder "Did I skip an episode?" Let's use the Lust backstory episode as one of the examples. It has some really good backstory writing and a strong ending what shows the state of the village in the present. However, it's like the writers completely forgot that the Elrics, Winry, and some other random side character, who never appeared again never saw the village. It feels like they never actually met, since there is no follow up to any of the present events in that episode. The follow up is jarring because of it, especially with the tone change. It's a shame, since Lust's backstory was really good.
The filler is very minimal. Despite Episode 4 being classified as filler, it's actually a very important episode. Episode 37 is a goofy episode that focuses on Mustang's crew. While it doesn't add anything to the story, it does a little for those characters.
Episode 10 is really the only filler episode in my eyes. It doesn't add anything important and you can understand everything that happens without it.
Alchemy worked well when FMA03 was adapting chapters from Arakawa's manga. Though, the same can't be said about the times it was doing its own thing. Scar once copied the contents on a paper to his arm, which I guess is cool, but it makes no sense at all. The power levels of Alchemy feel inconsistent at times too. But aside from the inconsistent power scaling and abilities, I really like the reveal for that in a different version of our world. That being the fact that dead souls from our world are used as energy for Alchemy in the Alchemy world.
Characters: The characters are pretty good. There are some well explored and developed characters (Edward, Lust, Roy, Scar), but also underwhelming ones (Archer, Kimblee, Winry, Riza). There are also some that don't have much screentime, but they play their role well (Dante, Greed, Tucker family, Hohenheim).
The series also offers some interesting dynamics. For example, Edward and Dante. Throughout the series, Edward always believed in Equivalent Exchange being the law of the world. His philosophy got challenged really easily by Dante. Their conversation about Equivalent Exchange is one of the best scenes in the show. What makes it even better is the buildup to it.
Another great dynamic is between Edward and Alphonse. This is the main dynamic, so it naturally gets the most focus, and it ends up being the best one in the show.
However, FMA03 also has underwhelming dynamics. Winry and Roy being one example. Roy ended up killing Winry's parents, which is, in theory, great potential for an interesting dynamic. However, the circumstances in the story don't allow it to be put into practice. Roy, at that point, has changed from when he had killed her parents, which is fine. What really makes this underwhelming is Winry's reaction. It's just disappointing.
The antagonists of FMA03 is one of its stronger points (besides the underwhelming Archer and Kimblee). Dante, the Homunculi, and Scar offer a lot to the table.
By far the best are the Homunculi. They are well balanced, threatening, and their origins are incredible. Homunculi are created when an Alchemist does Human Transmutation. This makes the conflicts a lot more personal, and gives Human Transmutation a bigger effect on the story. Their biggest weakness is the original body parts of the person used during the transmutations, which is so much better than just emptying their regeneration capabilities via only damage.
Dante is the main antagonist of the series. She is overall a solid antagonist. Great dynamic with Edward, flawed personal goals, and a fitting end. The only negative thing about her is that she was introduced pretty late. Her former lover, Hohenheim, (though not an antagonist, but still an important character), has some solid aspects to him, but also suffers from being introduced late.
And finally, the protagonist, Edward Elric. He's easily the most developed and explored character in the show. A flawed, but human character. This will be a comparison to Brotherhood, but in my opinion, Edward is a way better character in the 2003 version. Brotherhood Ed is still a good character, but 2003 Ed is comfortably above his Brotherhood version.
He is constantly challenged emotionally and also philosophically. One of the best parts is how he breaks his no killing rule. In Episode 4, Ed accidentally kills Majahal, which I didn't think was handled well at first. But then came Episode 34 and the follow up conversation to it. In E34, Edward ends up accidentally killing Greed. However, unlike in E4, Edward ends up breaking down. In a following episode, Edward talks about him killing to Al and Winry. Edward mentions him killing Majahal, and Al tries to convince him it was just an accident, but Edward wasn't having it anymore. He accepts he killed both, and will kill more if he has to. Later on, Edward has to kill Sloth – the Homunculus he created and the one that looks just like his mother. The prior incidents allowed him to do it.
At first, like I said, I didn't like how E4 was handled. But that conversation managed to change my opinion of it. While I don't think E4 is anything really great, I don't think it's entirely bad too. The head writer managed to handle the situation well, which made Edward an even more complex character.
2003 Edward is a shining example of what makes this series so great. There's more I could say, but I'll leave it here.
In conclusion, Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) is, in my opinion, a fantastic series. While this series isn't exactly flawless, its positives heavily outweigh the negative ones.
If you skipped here to avoid spoilers, I recommend checking out FMA03. And if you took the time to read my review, thank you very much. This is my first written review, so it was probably rough to read at some points, but I hope you enjoyed it.