Forum - View topicREVIEW: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood DVD Part 1 (Hyb) DVD
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8488 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Within the context of the first series, wanting immortality, switching bodies to desperately stave off death is a perfect motivation for Dante, precisely because it seems petty. That Dante is willing to put the country through that much turmoil for that ambition makes her all the more hateful a villain.
I think this "final battle" has gone on way too long, to be honest. It's starting to get like Nightow's "final battle" in Trigun Maximum. But as far as the elevator thing, it's not always necessary to have a big showdown between good and evil. Some times a bad fate is dealt onto an evil person through their own deeds. Now, I'm not saying the final battle in the manga is bad. I'm saying that in my opinion, both seem as valid. |
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Dune
Posts: 223 |
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You may need to clarify this point, Charred Knight. spoiler[The first anime features "Incomplete Philosopher's Stones", which are tiny mass-produced alchemic power-ups created from hundreds of human lives. They are used to give life to the Homunculi and are very powerful, though they pale in comparison to the true Philosopher's Stone. Meanwhile the Manga/Brotherhood features "Philosopher's Stones", which are tiny mass-produced alchemic power-ups created from hundreds of human lives. They are used to give life to the Homunculi and are very powerful, though they pale in comparison to the true Philosopher's Stone. Just sayin'...] |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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The only difference is the spoiler[amount of souls each stone contains], the only being with unlimited power is spoiler[God].
I mean how the hell would a complete Philosopher's stone even work? spoiler[ The stone uses the souls contained within as part of equivalent exchange. Once the stone runs out than its destroyed and the alchemic reaction backfires. If nothing is ever used how is Equivalent Exchange matched?] |
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amarielah
 Posts: 178 |
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Charred Knight:
Not all Fantasy is Epic Fantasy, and I don't see why that's a bad thing. Are you really under the impression that your personal preferences for how fantasy should be approached ought to define the entire genre? Because that's what it seems like to me. Anyway, if you didn't like Dante having petty ambitions, then you would absolutely hate A Song of Ice and Fire, which is essentially about noblemen in a fantastical version of Medieval Europe squabbling over land and titles. |
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Shirochan88
Posts: 20 |
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I remember when I used to like the first FMA anime series . That was of course before I read nearly all of the manga excluding the final chapter...now in hindsight, its almost completely and utterly ridiculous how f$%*ing terrible the plot to the 1st series was in comparison to Arakawa's manga. Glad they're finally doing justice to her great story. Not to mention, I've never read such a hostile review and seen the overall grade be that high. Interesting to say the least.
If all you ever ate was McDonald's, you would think it tasted good too. |
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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Never read the "A song of ice and fire" but my problem is that Dante is not a compelling villain. She's nothing but flaws, she's petty, she's stupid, she doesn't have the abilities far above the other characters that would allow her to stand up to the rest of the heroes. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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Funny, I loved the first anime, then read the manga, and think the manga is only a little above average. I think it comes back to the villains. Sure, Dante was petty, and the desire for immortality is pretty cliche, but it's hardly as bad as what Father is trying to do, and all of his minions (except Greed), are one-dimensionally evil, while the first anime's homunculi were more complex. Also, I find it frustrating when a story has to constantly jump between scenes because there are too many action sequences going on at once. Finish one fight then move on to the next. The audience won't forget about a character just because they didn't appear in one episode, plus it can help build tension. |
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amarielah
Posts: 178 |
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Shirochan:
At first, I liked the manga and the anime about equally. But, over time, the manga lost my interest, and I now definitely prefer the first anime. Charred Knight: You may not find her to be a compelling villain, but that's plainly not universally the case. Your reasons are much too subjective to be convincing to anybody but those who already agree with you.
THIS. I'm glad I'm not the only one who found this to be a huge issue in the manga. I find Arakawa's narrative style to be very...impulsive. While her ability to plan out the plot is clearly very good, her ability to tell it, I find, is less impressive. The are some chapters that really shine through in terms of storytelling (the Hoheheim flashbacks come to mind), but in others it comes off as incredibly clumsy. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2634 |
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First of all it isn't one episode..it is one chapter that comes out every month, not every week like most other shounen series. The audience might not forget about a character but I can guarantee the readers will complain that Arakawa forgot about a character if he/she doesn't appear in every chapter (even worse if it happens to be Roy or Ed). And you know how I can guarantee this because I have seen constant complaints about "where is such and such character" every month for years while reading this manga. By breaking up the scenes more events happen in each chapter and more characters (of a very large cast) are featured each month. But still despite this characters do go missing in chapters for months at a time. So I hardly think Arakawa worries that they will be forgotten. But that is what I find ironic about complaints. One person will complain about one thing and someone else will complain about the exact opposite thing. Personally I find the way Arakawa tells the story to be quite excellent but it all comes down to personal preference. Also I believe the villains also come down to personal preference. Personally I don't think a villain has to have a sob story for being evil to be a good villain. Sure not every villain in Arakawa's story is complex but I find Kimbley and Bradley pretty darn interesting but again to each their own. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8488 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Well, back on the subject of this particular release, I just got mine in the mail and am very much looking forward to watching it in Blu-Ray quality, even if this set doesn't have my favorite episodes on it. The postcards were a neat bonus and I love the packaging.
I saved room for Brotherhood in the same plastic drawer I put the first series, and now I can finally put something in that space! |
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everydaygamer
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yea the blu-ray is great can't wait for part 2.
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amarielah
Posts: 178 |
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If anything, the fact that she jumps from scene to scene so often makes these complaints more legitimate. I don't think she's "afraid that the audience will forget that characters are there", but rather that she is, as I said in my previous post, a rather impulsive narrator. It seems to me that she's so eager to get the story out with events going in a certain order that she spends much less time on aesthetic and narrative concerns. Then again, I think she should have started by following all the main members of the ensemble from chapter one, instead of just focusing on the Elrics. It would have made the entire manga seem more even, and would have given the more 2D members of the ensemble some time to be developed properly. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2634 |
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If you don't like how she tells a story fine but the narrative flow of the story works fine for me. And it seems to work fine for most other fans of the manga as well. People complain when a character is not in a chapter for months or that they haven't done something for chapters (and yes this may seem longer in a monthly manga) not that she doesn't wrap up a storyline because she jumps from scene to scene. In fact I think it makes sense due to the fact that it is a monthly work. You get more scenes/characters in each chapter this way. If she didn't jump around then fans would have to wait even longer to see what is happening with their favorite characters and a month long wait is long enough. And it's not like there are a million things happening in each chapter. At the most she might focus on 2 or 3 events in a chapter. Again it is not a flaw it is a preference.
That's quite a lot of characters to introduce in one chapter. The way I see it is the Elric Brothers were what introduced us to this world and as we got more immersed into the world we were introduced to more characters. And I find all the important characters (and quite a few of the minor ones) to be developed wonderfully. I care more about minor characters in FMA then I care about major characters in some other works. Again that's just me. Although if we are talking main main characters I only count Ed, Al, & Roy. |
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amarielah
Posts: 178 |
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You misunderstand my criticism. I'm not saying that having several different events in one chapter is a bad thing--I'm saying that I find the way she jumps from event to event within a single chapter to be sloppy. She often doesn't really allow scenes to reach a point of resolution or climax before jumping to another scene. So, my issue is more with the transitions themselves.
Some literary snobs would disagree with you on that score, but I'm not one of them.
Fair enough. Let me rephrase that: I think that all the characters who became significant later should have been introduced within the first ten or so chapters, and that the entire story should have been told through the eyes of an ensemble as early as possible. It may not bother you, but I think it's poor form to have bait-and-switch protagonists. Ling, Ran-fan, Mei-chan, and Olivier are all severely underdeveloped given their roles in the story (not Greeling--just Ling by himself), and being introduced earlier would have a) given them much-needed backstory, and b) provided even more in-depth world building, without the need for exposition. Instead of having Ling and Mei explain their origins, we could have been shown them. And the general understanding is that showing > telling. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4424 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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Well I dont think that. Sure it felt rushed, but the directors was definately in a rock and in a hard place. But its still earns some credit by follwing the manga unlike the other one. Sure this is inferior to the other FMA series but it's a really really good series. the dub is another story. Don't get me wrong, I really like the dub , but Al's and Scar's new voice is inferior to the originals. So what if Al's old VA went Puberty , but he still sound preety good in the OVA. |
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