Forum - View topicFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV) (w/ index).
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Dune
Posts: 223 |
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Episode 20... You know, I actually enjoyed this episode. A lot.
-I was expecting Hohenheim to be a big jerk from the way you guys were describing him. But the impression I got was of a man who put up a stern persona if only because he himself has trouble communicating or reaching out (literally) to his own son. While the emphasis on his colder side is different than the aloof man we get in the manga, I think it still works. (slight Evangelion spoiler: spoiler[This Hohenheim is a little more reminiscient of Gendo Ikari, who put up a harsh facade because he shared his son's fear of dealing with people, thus he avoided direct contact with his son]) With Hohenheim acting a bit colder, that scene of him reaching to Ed scene gains a slightly different, possibly even more intimate context. The humor is welcome in the manga but isn't entirely necessary for this interpretation of the character. We're given enough hints about whether Hohenheim is a good or bad guy and his relationship with the other characters is pretty well defined now, and that is basically all that is needed at this point. -They cut a lot of information, but that's hardly surprising since almost an entire volume was spent on exposition. When I first read that book I thought, 'Wow, if there's ever an anime version of this, it's going to be edited.' Edit: Though now that I think about it they still could have done a better job explaining the essentials. -FINALLY. The music editing was done.. well? Took me by surprise. First: silence. Beautiful, glorious silence for some of the early scenes, allowing the characters to just be themselves in simple conversation. Second: beginning a musical piece during the climax of one scene and then continuing it in the next scene to signify a parallel is usually a sign that somebody knows what they're doing (as was the case with Al's sleepless night->Ed's nightmare). Also: no melodramatic music playing during the grave scene, thank goodness. The music remained a low rumble, allowing the morbid nature of the scene to speak for itself. Though I still feel like punching the 'Fullmetal Alchemist!' guy. While the Elrics making a bold dramatic promise again should bother me more, I'm just glad they finally used that tragic choral piece the way it should be used. In the commercial where they first played that piece, that theme was used to signify the aftermath of some tragedy and the characters' resolve to carry on despite the hardships. But it's usually been misused within the show itself, now it's finally used to attain that same sort of 'aftermath' effect. The Winry part was ok but I don't think her inner dialogue was necessary here, it contrasted a little too much with the dramatic music. Maybe what I like most about the episode is that the characters don't break out into abrupt melodramatic comedy that kills the momentum. Before, it was almost like Brotherhood was afraid of having two characters carry on a serious conversation uninterrupted. So far episodes 14 and 19 are likely the best episodes, and by all means they are pretty good; but as end-of-arc action episodes they serve mostly as payoff, and sometimes the payoff is only as good as the setup. Since Brotherhood has done a good job at the beginning of this particular arc, it may make the payoff down the road that much better. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2634 |
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I know a lot of people think there was too much information in Vol 11 and were glad some of it was cut. But I think cutting it hurt the explanation. To the point that I actually saw a lot of people were confused on other other message boards/blogs about what Ed actually discovered until missing information from the manga was explained to them. |
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Dune
Posts: 223 |
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I think you're right on that. They definitely could have done a better job with the information (which was the point of the episode after all), even if it meant adding just an extra line or two.
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8501 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I'm of two minds on the stuff cut. On the one hand, I felt volume 11 was extremely talky, and some things felt a little overexplained with little bits that just retread unnecessarily.
However, they cut out two pretty important things: the reason why digging up the "thing" proved Al's body can be brought back and why Ed brought up the memory thing. |
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RhymesWithEmpty
 Posts: 208 |
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Well, I rewatched it at funi's site, thinking maybe it wasn't fair to have watched it after pulling an all nighter. Maybe I was a bit too hard on it before, I certainly don't think it was a bad episode, I just miss all of the bits that didn't make it. I can appreciate how tricky it must've been to find a good ending point while trying to fit all of that material in there. But that's got me wondering, would it have been easier to do if they had not rearranged recent events and cut certain material? Hard to say, I guess.
But yeah, I kind of had to go back to the manga to reread some stuff after this ep, not really a good sign. |
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kpk
 Posts: 484 |
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Is that true that this week an episode is not going to be air?
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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Yes, and with a bit of research you could've found that the next episode (21) will air on August 30, 2009. |
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r3a93r
 Posts: 51 Location: colorado |
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i liked this episode i thought it was pretty good . i haven't read the manga but i like the way this series is going its way better than the first one. i am enjoying it far more. i know someone who has read the manga so he's told me some stuff and so far its happening just like he said.
 i think i am going to read the manga though.
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Sariachan
 Posts: 1507 Location: Italy |
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^ You should, it has more details than the anime.
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penguintruth
Posts: 8501 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Episode 21 was pretty good. It had some good moments with Roy and his crew, some action, and plenty of humor, most of which felt natural.
spoiler[ As it's been mentioned, trying to link together Hohenheim and Father, as if they were the same, seems a little pointless now that they have two noticably different voice actors. It was interesting, though, that they got through the whole "why Wrath didn't kill Roy" scene so quickly, and without Father even being there. I've never been a particular fan of any one member of Roy's group. As a whole, I think they're one of the best teams in manga/anime, but none of them stood out in particular to me. But now I've sort of become a fan of Havoc. He never hit me so much in the first series or the manga, for some reason, but in this series I just want to root for the guy and hope for the best for him.] spoiler[ I'm pretty upset at the lack of Marcoh scenes. I realize they can save up all that for later when Envy threatens him in his holding cell, but the build up of Marcoh as this guy who is too weak-willed and feeble to do anything is important for later actions. One of my favorite later scenes is Marcoh-related, and I can't see it having as much impact now that there's so little of him in this series. I mean, at least the first series killed him off when they were done with him. In this series, since he plays a bigger role, he should be there. They sure did resolve the problem of the Xingese having not encountered the homunculi until now, just with a few lines. Frankly, I'm impressed, though it would have been nice to have seen Envy turn into the dog. The part where Ed goes around fixing things and everthing gets real baloony and super-cartoonish was hilarious.] I'm so glad the show is done with volume 11. It was one of my least favorite volumes of the manga. Next week should have plenty of action with the brothers continuing to keep Scar at bay and the Xingese taking on Wrath and Gluttony. [EDIT: Please use spoiler tags. -TK] EDIT: Those really weren't spoilers, unless you haven't been watching the show at all. Last edited by penguintruth on Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:41 am; edited 2 times in total |
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RhymesWithEmpty
Posts: 208 |
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Man, been so piled up with work lately, I think this might have been the 1st time I actually first saw the episode at Funi's site, haha.
I liked it. Loved that they actually went and did all of the parts with Roy and his crew well. The scenes with Havoc were great, and I'm especially happy they kept that scene with Dr. Knox in, as he's one of my favorites. It's nice to see that they can actually pull off a riveting scene without just cutting straight to the action.
About that - spoiler[it actually seemed to me like they were trying to make that connection at the beginning, when Bradley says "Father has left him to me," and then it actually cuts to Hoenheim, rather than having Father be there. Not a bad decision - I think they have to keep at least some of the ambiguity there, until that whole issue is explained with Hoenheim's backstory, because even after you know they're 2 different people, there's still a lot of mystery about their connection.] spoiler[ I'm upset they cut the Marcoh scene as well. They could've put that in, and ended this episode at Scar's arrival. And Scar's arrival kind of bugged me again, as well - it was too much of that distorted Ed face, straight into Scar being there. I wouldn't have been devastated if they'd cut that bit of humor, really - the transition just didn't work here, for me. That was probably my biggest problem with the episode. Otherwise, the humor wasn't too bad. I was surprised they actually did the whole Ed's soul coming out gag, not sure how much I liked that, especially after all of that serious talk about souls and bodies and whatnot. But the cartoony bits where Ed is running around fixing everything were amusing. I've always loved the baby carriage with the giant drill on it  ]
And yeah, they did resolve the whole Xingese being able to sense the homunculi thing pretty quickly. Would've been nice to have seen their earlier encounter with them, though. Hopefully they nail that certain Winry scene next week! And this is around where Ran Fan becomes one of my(many) favorite characters, so hopefully that'll be good, too! Last edited by RhymesWithEmpty on Fri Sep 04, 2009 2:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Dune
Posts: 223 |
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I don't know whether to be happy that Brotherhood is finally comfortable in its pacing or disappointed that it's taken this long to reach this point. A little of both I suppose (Oh why couldn't we have had this from the beginning?). I enjoyed this new episode fairly well, for many of the same reasons why I enjoyed the previous episode: silence, characters having simple conversations, letting the drama speak for itself, etc. It's nice to again have the music selections edited well, though it's a shame that they're starting to feel overused just as they're being used properly. The artwork was pretty nice, little surprise there... Ed's reconstruction throughout the city translated better to TV than I thought it would, though I could have done without lizard-face Edward. As expected, the Xingese figuring out the Homunculi fits much better here, with the bonus of making it the perfect moment for Bradley's entrance.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Well ****ing THANKYOU you piece of **** for ruining that for me. Not everyone has read the Manga; get that through your brain. Reported. You too penguintruth, although you weren't quite as blatant. |
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RhymesWithEmpty
Posts: 208 |
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Ah, man, seriously sorry, I don't know how that slipped my mind. I've had way too much of FMA spoiled for me, I know how bad it sucks, so I've really got no excuses. Brain fart. My fault, my bad.
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egoist
Posts: 7762 |
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Well then dtm, now we are 2 with that spoiled. Hopefully I'll drink enough tonight to make me forget it by tomorrow.
But seriously, stop mentioning the manga here, please. If you wanna compare the anime to the manga make a thread for it. |
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