Short Synopsis: The Lior-Episode.
Episode Rating: 6,5/10 (Lacking, but that was to be expected)
So yeah, with this you can consider Natsu no Arashi dropped and FMA picked up. Just don’t think that I’m going to sing continuous praises for this one though; be sure to expect me to whine about this series a lot during the beginning episodes. It took me three attempts before I managed to get through those very dull first thirteen episodes of the original series. Because of that, this episode was the fourth time I had to sit through the Lior-story, so yeah: it did get on my nerves.
Thankfully, Brotherhood handled it better than the original series did: it condensed everything effectively to only one episode and it still managed to show the most important things of this arc. What I’m hoping for with this series is the Glass Mask effect: the original Glass Mask series of 1984 was utterly terrible, but the 2005-remake, which adapted the exact same manga chapters and took nearly the exact same amount of time somehow made the exact same story awesome. While this episode wasn’t exactly good, I do have to admit that the first few episodes are a major improvement on their counterparts in the original series.
My only fear is that the creators may be trying to rush through the first chapters a bit too quickly. Rose and the priest for example, were just as dull as I remembered them, but what I really liked in this episode is how the chemistry between the characters is much more enjoyable: especially Ed and Al are now much more interesting to watch, and I wonder whether the creators can keep this up. One of the major flaws of the original series was that the creators wanted to show off Ed’s l33t-powers a bit too badly. While the radio in this episode was cute, in the subsequent arcs, whenever Ed and Al arrived in a new town, there was always some sort of Timmy that fell in some sort of well that happened to be near Ed so that he could show everyone how awesome his powers are by saving him. I’m interested to see how Brotherhood is going to avoid this.
Also, there’s one part I didn’t get about this episode, so perhaps the manga readers can fill this in for me: how exactly did the priest know exactly that Ed and Al performed human transmutation? I mean, there are other ways in which people can lose limbs, aren’t there? If Ed didn’t happen to live near a very good artificial limb creator (or whatever they’re called), he’d still be limp at this point, and I’m not sure why a body-less armor immediately means a failed human transmutation either. I mean, in the original series, none of the other people who transmuted brought whatever soul they sacrificed back into an armor, did they?
So yeah; I like Full Metal Alchemist, but just not the beginning. I believe that the turning point for me was the arrival of Armstrong, so until that point you can pretty much expect me to be rather negative on this series. Brotherhood really improved the chemistry between the characters, but the plot right now still is preachy and uninteresting.
“How exactly did the priest know exactly that Ed and Al performed human transmutation?”
The most telling sign is that Ed can perform transmutation without a circle. In the manga, attempt resurrection is the only way to obtain it. The other facts are just icing.
You won’t have to worry about the first 13 episodes. A lot of stuff in the first anime is not in the manga: the thing with Mahjal, the fake Elric Brothers, the episode with the town like Venice. So you will notice that they will get through things a lot quicker (they are rushing things though and I am not exactly pleased about that). And actually they should get to Armstrong by episode 5 or 6.
They couldn’t skip Lior though as it is important later (although in a different way than the 1st anime). That’s the thing about the manga storyline there is very little that happens that doesn’t come back later (even if it seems insignificant at first).
I am glad you like Ed & Al’s relationship in this. They are much more of a team in the manga. 🙂
psgels, I love you. I love your reviews and I am incredible happy that you picked up this series. And please whine so much about it you want 🙂 I look forward to any critism, good or bad, that doesn’t matter. Sorry for that unnecessary comment^^
I agree with noname. Your reviews are worth looking forward to since they will not be the usual reviews that many others reviewers will give.
I haven’t read the manga (glanced at a couple of pages). I think the reason that the priest realized that they did a human transmutation comes from the combination of the missing limbs, missing body, and the capability of transmutation with out the circle. It is very rare to see the latter two, and when someone who knows about the taboo sees them, he can guess that they did something that is avoided by many- a human transmutation.
God, even the most crappy of bloggers can have their own fans nowadays…
Well, it will certainly be interesting to see your thoughts on this, considering most bloggers just vouch for mainstream I LURF FMA HERP DERP stuff. I found the first series extremely overrated and I haven’t read the manga either, so it will be interesting to see how this series turns out.
Whilst it seems a shame you have to bestow your opinions on the mainstream, I guess it couldn’t hurt to see how the blogging goes – yours is the most interesting episodic blogging around.
This adaptation was overly dramatized in my opinion, when compared to its manga counterpart… But ohh well, not everything can be one to one, I guess…
Although Monster actually was made EXACTLY like its manga, and the results weren’t nowhere near disappointing. I really hope they don’t screw this one…
I’m pretty sure Rose will remain dull. I was very surprised that she got such a big role in the first anime. If not I would have completely forgotten her. I’m not sure which role she plays in the manga. I remember she even appeared in the actual latest chapter but I already forgot why^^
But overall I think the Lior-Arc is not THAT bad. It was the first chapters of the manga and for the very first chapters the mangaka did a nice job. For the anime: I’m glad that the creators decided to retell this arc, because it is necessary. I thought after seeing the first episode they would skip it.
@karry: some people really have to tell there opinion even if its not needed, hm?
Glad to see you blog this show. I almost envy you who can watch it without too much pre-expectancy. So I kinda interested what your experience with this one will be like.
Speaking of the dull first-first thirteen episodes. Ironically now they’re rushing madly to get the old event-but-new-consequence told, so I’m quite sure there won’t be any fillers. That’s mean this time you might reach half of the events that happenned in the first anime in more or less than, well, 13 episodes.
Yeah, if next episode is Nina, then the episode after that will bring in everything about Scar, including Armstrong’s entrance, then I think Marcoh is next, then going back to the Rockbells, then Central with Scieska(and Ross and Brosh), and then 5th lab(which will include some of the earliest, most noticeable and plot important changes.:) ). So, it will get significantly more interesting in 7 or 8 episodes at most.
Thanks for dropping Natsu no Arashi that not enough people are blogging as it is and jumping on the bandwagon with this remake… I’d give you the dropping if you didn’t like Arashi enough, but your reason to start blogging FMA is pretty lame, especially after saying “I’d much rather devote my attention to a show that actually needs the popularity” in the VC ep 2 post, and already having picked up Arashi before. You were right the first time, with your “Seriously, what is it really that I can add to the already sixty other bloggers?” Yeah, whatever…
FMA is highly overrated, both anime and manga. Having seen (read) both, I have no reason to believe that this show would be anything more than mediocre.
Of course it’s going to be overrated. Come on, it’s a remake of an anime made years ago. But in it’s time it was pretty awesome for its viewers. Since then, also because of it, the popularity of anime has sky rocketed, countless of good animes have come out, it’s pretty reasonable that your/our pallet would be too jaded for this kind of show.
not sure if someone already answered. so, do you remember seeing the priest talking to some shady people? the same who gave him the philosophers stone? well, the information came from them. how did they know it? that implies major spoilers.
although I still have to watch this episode, it was like this in the first anime and in the manga. even if the shady people didn’t appear, they will probably make a reference to it in a future episode
Just as a reference I looked up the first 13 anime episodes and the following episodes do not appear in the manga in any shape or form: episodes 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, and 12
Episode 5 (the train) and episode 9(coal mine) appear in the 1st volume of the manga but it looks like this anime is skipping them (personally I am not happy with them skipping the coal mine story as it comes back in the manga)
I am not sure if they will be doing episode 13, it is in the manga but it is more of a side story.
About fma being overrated: Well… I would even say Naruto isn’t overrated. Even though the show is incredible stupid, it makes a lot of people happy. That’s a good thing and I wonder what else is important? Not every show is able to do that. I can enjoy shows like Ergo Proxy or Noein the same as Prince of Tennis or Inuyasha. LOL. Why not?
And FMA is fun. I’m sure I laught yesterday while watching this episode much more than I did the whole week. By the way: the fighting scenes were incredible bad O_O Why the hell the priest transformed in such a monster?!?
psgels, you always blog shows you like very much, you are praising them to heaven. It’s fun to read your opinions on a show you don’t like soooo much. I am just a little afraid that you will love it at the end? Please don’t^^ Just a joke.
So far, as fan of manga and someone who has seen previous adaptation, it’s a letdown. Hopefully, it’ll pick up later.
“Lacking, but that was to be expected.”
Why? Because it’s a remake of a great opening story to both the manga and the original anime?
“how exactly did the priest know exactly that Ed and Al performed human transmutation?”
This is the one thing that has irritated me about the remake, on both occasions (Ice Alchemist – 01). In the manga Edward himself reveals to Rose that ‘this is what happens when you play God with human transmutation’ while showing his metal limbs.
I don’t mean to be offensive as I agree with your opinions on some anime, but you often come across as being full of crap based on unreasonable bias. This episode was great (and much better than the first) and you think it’s shit (mainly because ‘you disliked the first 13 eps’) yet you can say you prefer horrible convoluted messes like Pandora Hearts with atrocious art and production quality? And shows that have yet to prove anything like Shangri-La (beyond pointless plot and sub-standard action) because… you trust the staff?
Your scoring system also makes no sense. You give almost all episodes either an 8/10 or 7.5/10 despite your opinion of them. Every episode you love (including the beyond-awesome that is Eden of the East and Cross Game) gets a simple 8 and yet you give almost everything else a 7.5 simply for being a ‘solid’ (AKA average) episode despite how little actually happens – in many cases they were pretty boring.
Where does this ep’s 6/10 come from, then? Way, way, way below ‘solid’? It always had something going on: great comic dialogue, well-done action scenes and some good story progression conversations. The only possible way to dislike it as much as you do is to decide you do beforehand.
Finally, I have to say this because you made no sense: how is it even possible to consider that Eden has a lower budget than SnM? Everything in Eden is incredibly beautiful, art is crisp and detailed, animation is fluid, amazing OP video and song (how many anime pay to use a top-name English band’s brand new single?), first-rate character designs and clearly excellent writers. Production I.G appear to be going for a classic that will be remembered for many years to come and clearly aren’t skimping on costs. Seirei no Moribito was a ‘solid 7.5/10’ for me. Nothing really stood out and the conclusion was disappointing.
Wait..wait, i thought you someone who won’t blog mainstream anime?
I’m sure that, as one of “big shounen”, FMA is clearly fall under “mainstream” anime.
@Mark: I don’t see how you can come accross and call Pandora Hearts a convulted mess when it ACTUALLY IS trying to keep its mystery aspect well hidden but at the same time still keeping general enough info for one to follow the story. I think its too early for you to judge the series as a convulted mess, especially if you’re not even aware yet of how the following expositions regarding the mystery will take place. I think you’re somewhat missing the point thinking that the series is convoluted when its just at its initial phase, even then its not like there are THAT MUCH questions dropped onto the viewer like say Eden of the East or Casshern SINS at the initial episodes. And yes it may be lacking in animation quality in comparison to bigger budget shows but I think the creativity of its environment does win out for its production, and just how is its art “atrocious” it looks good or rather faithful to its style. I don’t understand how you can jump the gun so quickly with that show. And I do think it is understandable to a degree WHY FMA would rate lower, though that isn’t to say it wasn’t solid, I would say novelty DOES indeed play a factor. Face it re-watching episodes 1-3 of the remake isn’t particularly easy since you already know the little twists and plot that would go on with the episode, in other words its sense of mystery that leaves you to keep on guessing and be shocked at what it had to reveal, so it is hard to go into the series with an empty cup so to speak and just enjoy it for what its worth.
Mark: The biggest factor in deciding my rating for this episode is the fact that, like mentioned above, I’ve had to sit through this episode for the fourth time by now. I’m not sure about you, but when you have to watch a story you don’t like for that many times, of course it’s going to get on your nerves. To add to that, this episode also was rushed so Rose and the priest received hardly any depth, and I found these opening stories a bit too preachy to begin with.
My rating system is based on how much I end up enjoying an episode. For most of the shows I’m blogging this season, it’s either simply solid or excellent (after all, if I didn’t enjoy those episodes, I wouldn’t have chosen to blog them), but nothing really special yet. The thing is, that it’s all based on my opinion, not yours. You may hate Pandora Hearts and its ‘atrocious art’, but I personally love it.
Oh, and Seirei no Moribito’s budget was absolutely huge (just look at some of the fight scenes). To say that Eden’s budget was lower doesn’t mean that it looks bad, just less impressive. I’m still puzzled as to why the creators ended up using as much CG as they did.
Oh, and Mambo: I’ve blogged Gundam 00 and Macross Frontier. Aren’t they mainstream as well? Basically, every season I try to blog some combination between a few popular shows (FMA, Eden, Valkyria) and some underlooked ones (Phantom, Anne, Pandora Hearts, etc).
@Machi
I was simply talking about the episodes as they’ve been shown to us so far. You clearly have experience with the manga so you know what’s going on but the presentation of the plot (as well as really poor production values) make the whole thing incredibly confusing to those it should be attempting to target: the viewers who haven’t read the manga. The entire first episode seemed pointless to me and the violence thing it had going (where the characters seemed to truly enjoy causing each other pain) rather sickened me.
@psgels
You never bothered explaining what it is you disliked about it though. The only thing you’ve said is that the initial episodes are dull which is clearly a false representation of your opinion. ‘Dull’-ness is a rather clear characteristic that tends to be evident to most. Being dull suggests simple, plain, nothing interesting happening at all. You’ve said you don’t like the story of the episode but for what reason? Why have you watched it three times before if you dislike it so much? And how can you claim to dislike it as much as you do yet somehow you feel like blogging it despite saying it was too popular for you to bother with?
OK, I just found out that you only watched FMA 6-7 months ago. You think you aren’t biased? As amazing as a show might have been a few years ago, of course you’re going to think it’s overrated if you compare it to the greats of modern times. The elements you found boring or done-to-death possibly have been by now.
Your rating is on a scale of 1-10 including half points. That’s fairly broad. The fact that ‘excellent’ is a simple half point above ‘solid/average’ is what I don’t understand when you appear to enjoy them at very different levels.
Searching through your blog, a 9/10 for an episode seems to be an incredibly rare ocassion in which your impressions are full of nothing but immense praise (isn’t that normally reserved for a 10/10 or 9.5/10?). You’ve never given a 10/10 and only one 9,5/10. In contrast, your monthly reviews seem to give people an idea of what you thought with ratings that actually seem real.
In places, Seirei no Moribito is prettier than I remembered but hardly as nice looking as Eden no Higashi. I don’t see how you could believe it had such a huge budget. Personally, I felt underwhelmed as I watched the series as nothing stood out. In regards to fight scenes, there were a couple at the beginning that gave me high expectations which it never lived up to. You talk about EnH having tons of CG but… do you have some high-profile experience with CG that most people don’t? Even when I’m keeping an eye out for it I don’t notice much and the stuff I do notice fits in really well. In contrast, I absolutely hated the CG used at the end of SnM…
Mark: the reason why I decided to blog this show is simple: because of all of the stuff that happens after the introduction is over. Especially since the manga-original parts is rumoured to be so much better than the TV-Series, I’m willing to go for it, and watching the first few episodes just for completion’s sake. Nearly every show has an underwhelming start, but I’m less patient with FMA because it took me three tries to finish the original series (of which the first attempt was around four year ago, by the way.
Oh, and as for the reason why I didn’t like this story: Rose. The whole issue with her and her brother in the original series already was overly preachy, but in the new series she simply has the personality of a paper bag.