Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)

Series experience:
I watched Brotherhood a few years ago, and I read the manga earlier this year

Short review: Fullmetal Alchemist is a dark action-adventure sci-fi tale which ponders themes on humanity, sacrifice, and loss. A character-driven series that moves you along through the motivations of our two heroes, you'll have to suspend your disbelief for a bit and go along with the flow. Throwing comedy and action into the heavy mix, you get a more existential piece but with a rather flimsy plot and a lackluster ending.

Full review:

Warning: review contains spoilers

I can't help it. I've seen the originals so in my mind I already had biases towards certain things in FMA. Either way, I sat down to watch this entire series for the first time, and these are my thoughts.

FMA starts off strong. With a similar beginning to FMAB, people do mention how FMA fleshes out it's characters better, giving them backgrounds and screen time, making the loss of certain supporting characters more emotional and with depth. Personally, I do like this aspect of the anime, because we get to see the people that affect Ed and Al's purpose for their journey.

There are some bits of the manga that are only adapted in the 2003 series as well, so that's always a plus. Fun omake chapters such as the Military Festival being expanded on or the origin of Black Hayate's ownership sort of add a more friendly feel towards the Mustang unit. There are some background stories (with one adapted from a light novel) that show us Ed and Al's rough start in their Philosopher's Stone research, and the casualties that accumulate in their travels. The setting up of everything in the first half of the anime was done really well, we learned a little bit with every few episodes - the pacing is really good.

I think the second half of the show, though, does not live up to the first. A few gripes I have - first, the writers did put in some twists and turns, but nearing the end, the plot was veering so far off the tracks I wasn't sure what was happening anymore. Now I know it is a fantasy anime to some extent, but so many things just didn't follow the rules set by the world. Philosopher's Stones were made so easily by the end; and the gate led to.. our world? Even equivalent exchange felt like such a loose rule because Ed kept transmuting tiny things to big things OR kept changing chemical compositions but only when convenient to the plot. My personal favorite plot twist they added was the birth of the homunculi. Having them be the result of human transmutation is really interesting, and also a great angst driver, but it renders their entire OWN characters useless beyond who they were modeled after. This makes their names and traits kind of pointless - why is Sloth Sloth? Why is Wrath Wrath? Which then kind of contrasts with the other homunculus written after the manga characters who stay true such as Greed. The new plot, although interesting, did not feel as planned as the the manga's/Brotherhood's.

The praise 2003 had over 2009 was also mostly for the characters. I liked the idea - what they were trying to do. A gray area, nothing is black and white, etc. Ed's character in this version really does grow up a lot. He sacrifices so much and makes difficult decisions. I personally think that's great. We have interesting takes on the war too. The reality of following orders as a soldier, the infinite number of casualties that will traumatize one, and the endless cycle of revenge that follows are all topics that FMA covers pretty well. As a watcher it gives you second thoughts on your favorite characters, reminding you your heroes are just people too. A downside though, for me, is that this comes at the expense of a lot of supporting characters - and erases some strong qualities of some female characters too. I've heard people say FMAB is more shounen. I think that makes FMA 2003 seinen then. Being directed towards more mature male audiences has its upsides, but as a female watcher it does disappoint me sometimes with the unnecessary fanservice. It's in the small things I honestly don't think a lot of guys would notice but that awkward Winry ending animation, the drawing of Riza's chest at times, making Sloth sexy for no reason (even though Lust is supposed to be the homonculus representative of that), focusing on Rose's body even though she had other things to worry about, etc. all of those could deter a possible female fan (who would in turn enjoy Brotherhood more). Winry's character here is more shallow as well, and Ed hardly cares about her (Envy doesn't even bother copying her face when they are goading Ed.) She's an automail otaku caricature and by the end I don't know exactly what was her purpose in the show. When her parents were revealed to be murdered by Roy we even get more Roy angst that anything about her. Hawkeye (as much as I love Royai) is also here not Mustang's underling who he respects the most but more of the lover/bodyguard type. It's so out of character when she cries his name and breaks her soldier character. The writing for these girls just becomes inconsistent and wonky.

I could go on and on about the female characters but sort of all the characters just suffer loss of personality and development. The villains are so 2D - Frank Archer is ?? evil for the sake of being evil I guess. Kimblee? Likes violence. Bradley? Yeah he's a homonculus so that means bad. Wrath? A spoiled child who was really interesting until the writers decided to kill off personality and make him mentally age backwards or something. The big bad created for the series, Dante, is also quite bland. Popular characters like Havoc and Armstrong are reduced to caricatures too, becoming comic relief in scenes where laughter is wholly unnecessary.

Lastly, animation and music. The fight scenes are animated pretty nicely but I feel like they could have been smarter. Ed doesn't feel as snappy as he does in Brotherhood and as smart as in the manga with what he can do with his arm and his alchemy. He just keeps trying to punch his way through (and get beat a lot). Same goes for a lot of the other characters. Roy snapping his way through everything is pretty accurate, yeah, but it's like they forget he's a pro strategist. I could go on. Music wise, I personally think sometimes the atmosphere is a bit forced on you. I get that the anime wants to go a darker route but I'd prefer to not be told so directly. I don't quite know how to explain this right but some of the "oriental" sounding music is also a bit off-putting to me in such a steampunk looking setting. The openings and endings are pretty good, but even having watched them all (I don't skip OP/EDs) they're not as memorable as FMAB's.

Overall, I don't think it's close to Arakawa's original tale. While trying give us more to think about, FMA tends to lose itself in its own introspection, making the story fall apart at the seams. As a standalone anime, I would say it's all right - it plays out like a typical shounen, crazy OP fight scenes, some fanservice here and there, lack of care for it's own world's rules; but with a darkness unique to it that still draws and maintains a group of fans loyal to the series.

Plot 6/10
Animation 8/10
Characters 8/10

Overall personal enjoyment 7/10

Top 3 fave characters (this is so different from my faves in FMAB lol)

Lust probably - her motivations were quite unique and her realization at the end (I hope) earned her her catharsis
Maria Ross except when she went all fangirly on Hohenheim - I like how she was a good mother figure to Ed and Al
Wrath before he went bonkers on Sloth - his wanting to be whole/wanting to be human bit was really sad and his dynamic with Izumi was pitiful

Others: Izumi, Ed, Roy

Thank you for reading!

Review for the manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Review
Review for the recap OVA: Fullmetal Alchemist: Reflections Review
Review for the sequel movie: Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa Review
Review for the Premium OVA Collection: Fullmetal Alchemist: Premium OVA Collection Review