To be perfectly honest, I've only seen a small handful of posts anywhere on the internet I've looked since the show started that have been written by eager newcomers to the franchise. All two or three of them (that few, I admit, but still!) were asking things you'd expect of a total newcomer, like "Should I just start with this one or should I watch the original first and then watch this one second?"
So no worries. You caught it really fast and were very obliging to my perhaps over-paranoid request. Thank you for being so courteous to me and to the FMA virgins. (LOL)
I knew it was a remake going in 'cause I'd heard the news for weeks in advance, but I've never read the manga and don't much care for spoilers (even for shows I've seen older adaptations of! ^_-) so I had no idea what to expect from the remake. I've been disappointed by (like I said) how it feels like it's on Fast Forward as compared to the original series, which I think handled the basic foundation of the plot much more deliberately than this one has ... but at the same time, the fight scenes in this version are far and away superior. The one in Episode 1 against Isaac and the one in Episode 5 against Scar stand out in my mind as best fights I've seen in a while. Well-choreographed ... in that the characters feel like they're really damn strong but at the same time not "larger than life," as per the old saying. They really do feel like real human beings who just happen to (a) be ripped because they're in the military (like Isaac or Armstrong) or they have a vendetta against someone who is (like Scar) and have to be beefy to stand a chance. But beyond that, all the leaps and stuff they do is almost always assisted by their alchemy (like Isaac's ice mountain or Ed's creation of rocky arches to run up along).
I really like how they are going through the early parts of the series because there are still a lot of ground to cover that they haven't shown from the manga.
I'm not a great manga reader, and I've also not read the manga so no comment on ground covered yes or no. I agree they jump in a bit quick in this one, giving you a bit of a floaty feeling (well that's the feeling for me at least), otherwise I think they're doing well. I also noticed the fights being much better than the old FMA (where fights were already pretty well thought out), it really is an anime that comes recommended especially for people who don't watch alot of 'other anime' (i.e. the naruto/bleach/one piece only people of this world)
Well, there are a few caveats. I think Naruto is more accessible than some of its contemporary "pop culture classic" animes and mangas because of its initially broad platform. By that I mean ... the author didn't really do anything or say anything to alienate major sects of society.
On the other hand, FMA wastes no time challenging the value of religion in society and typically portrays it as a source for barbarism, war, and terrorism. Most of the educated people in the show are portrayed as atheists while most of the overtly religious characters are either portrayed as simple fools or as the series' major antagonists.
Other things to watch out for when recommending FMA to a wide audience:
- be sure to not recommend it to people who are the least bit sensitive about blood, gore, and mutilation. The series relishes in showing flashbacks to when Edward lost his leg and arm, and it also shows grotesque horrors like homonculi and chimeras
- be sure to not recommend it to people who are the least bit sensitive about sex. The character Lust provides more than enough reason for the skeptical observer to change the channel and no longer listen to your recommendations if he's the sort of person for whom sex has no proper place outside the privacy of his own bedroom. (PROBABLY not going to be a problem for anybody who comes to Akiba-Online! :lol: But it could be a problem for you if you try to recommend the show to, say, your parents, brothers, or sisters.)
- probably shouldn't recommend the series to someone who is militant, since the series establishes an anti-war message very early on. All of the protagonists within the military are disgusted with their obligation to kill in the name of protecting the empire whereas all of the military men who enjoy what they do for a living (e.g. the Crimson Alchemist) are portrayed as homocidal maniacs. Furthermore, many of the show's star characters -- including Ed and Al, Winry, and Scar -- all express a personal disgust with war.
When you look at a show like Naruto, you realize that while it may similarly have adopted a specific platform (or platforms) over the last few years that in the manga's early stages it was pretty wide open. Kishimoto didn't necessarily celebrate nor condemn war. He didn't touch on religion at all. He pretty much left well enough alone as far as sensitive issues are concerned and he focused his early writing on the ninja's non-religious non-political backstories and character developments. With most of the focus just being on Naruto and Sasuke gaining power-ups, of course, leading up to the climactic end to the original Naruto (pre-Shippuuden, pre-tons of filler) story.
Not trying to argue, btw!! o_o; Just replying to what you said. :) It made me think! :)
And I do agree that by-and-large FMA TOTALLY does fit into that category of "highly recommended to Joe Average" animes! :D I was just saying that out of all of the shows WITHIN said category, FMA is probably one of the most sensitive, and that shows like Naruto are probably safer bets. (One Piece has got lots of violence and sex to it, too, and I've never seen Bleach but I'm pretty confident that the whole shinigami thing might alienate a lot of religious people while Orihime herself ~ purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :3 ~ would alienate those who dislike sexual stimulation outside of the bedroom.) Of course FMA is a much safer recommendation than, say, Pani Poni Dash,Minami-ke, X/1999, Ah! My Goddess!, Chobits, Elfen Lied, Neon Genesis Evangelion, (the list goes on and on and on ...) :)
Well, there are a few caveats. I think Naruto is more accessible than some of its contemporary "pop culture classic" animes and mangas because of its initially broad platform. By that I mean ... the author didn't really do anything or say anything to alienate major sects of society.
On the other hand, FMA wastes no time challenging the value of religion in society and typically portrays it as a source for barbarism, war, and terrorism. Most of the educated people in the show are portrayed as atheists while most of the overtly religious characters are either portrayed as simple fools or as the series' major antagonists.
Other things to watch out for when recommending FMA to a wide audience:
- be sure to not recommend it to people who are the least bit sensitive about blood, gore, and mutilation. The series relishes in showing flashbacks to when Edward lost his leg and arm, and it also shows grotesque horrors like homonculi and chimeras
- be sure to not recommend it to people who are the least bit sensitive about sex. The character Lust provides more than enough reason for the skeptical observer to change the channel and no longer listen to your recommendations if he's the sort of person for whom sex has no proper place outside the privacy of his own bedroom. (PROBABLY not going to be a problem for anybody who comes to Akiba-Online! :lol: But it could be a problem for you if you try to recommend the show to, say, your parents, brothers, or sisters.)
- probably shouldn't recommend the series to someone who is militant, since the series establishes an anti-war message very early on. All of the protagonists within the military are disgusted with their obligation to kill in the name of protecting the empire whereas all of the military men who enjoy what they do for a living (e.g. the Crimson Alchemist) are portrayed as homocidal maniacs. Furthermore, many of the show's star characters -- including Ed and Al, Winry, and Scar -- all express a personal disgust with war.
When you look at a show like Naruto, you realize that while it may similarly have adopted a specific platform (or platforms) over the last few years that in the manga's early stages it was pretty wide open. Kishimoto didn't necessarily celebrate nor condemn war. He didn't touch on religion at all. He pretty much left well enough alone as far as sensitive issues are concerned and he focused his early writing on the ninja's non-religious non-political backstories and character developments. With most of the focus just being on Naruto and Sasuke gaining power-ups, of course, leading up to the climactic end to the original Naruto (pre-Shippuuden, pre-tons of filler) story.
Not trying to argue, btw!! o_o; Just replying to what you said. :) It made me think! :)
And I do agree that by-and-large FMA TOTALLY does fit into that category of "highly recommended to Joe Average" animes! :D I was just saying that out of all of the shows WITHIN said category, FMA is probably one of the most sensitive, and that shows like Naruto are probably safer bets. (One Piece has got lots of violence and sex to it, too, and I've never seen Bleach but I'm pretty confident that the whole shinigami thing might alienate a lot of religious people while Orihime herself ~ purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :3 ~ would alienate those who dislike sexual stimulation outside of the bedroom.) Of course FMA is a much safer recommendation than, say, Pani Poni Dash,Minami-ke, X/1999, Ah! My Goddess!, Chobits, Elfen Lied, Neon Genesis Evangelion, (the list goes on and on and on ...) :)
Well I'm Dutch, so my culture is very open and noone really... at all would care about all of this. They either like it or not. The afore mentioned reasons are only mild turn-offs to most people I know, more like turn-ons :P. For me those things aren't what makes the show though. The animation is great the story is very true and real to itself, the arcs are doable and it's not a 200+ ep series. Every single show is probably a re-evaluation of my likes and dislikes. Something being in a certain genre... having a certain type of 'thing' in it never really guaranteed my liking or disliking of something. I'd still recommend it to most people, your mentioned things aren't what drives FMA and what makes it what it is. You need to be real touchy touchy to dislike it; if you already are in to Japanese animation, you've been corrupted long ago
I agree that the things I mentioned aren't the reasons one would choose to watch FMA. But you intelligently observed something I neglected to, and that's that we're from two very different countries. ^_^; There's the Netherlands ... and then there's the United States of America. lol Where I come from, sex and violence are hot-button topics for many people.
Bump. After Ben's encounter with the Man, I decided to give up the FMA remake also. Torrents were being sniffed and the legal streams just weren't working. But the other day on a whim I decided to try and play catch-up. And while I haven't gotten very far yet, I did want to share this information with fans of the original series:
Episode 20 in the old series = Episode 8 in the new one
That should give you a fair idea of two things:
(1) how over-laden the original series was with filler episodes, and
(2) how serious the new series seems to be about getting the fans as painlessly and as quickly as possible through the material they're already familiar with
I mean, seriously. I already saw what I remembered thinking of as "around the end of Season 1" and I'm only through episode 08. Remember the fight the boys have with the two Lab 5 guards? Yeah: it's a little bit different towards the end, but more or less all I have yet to see is
Maes Hughes
's death and I'll pretty much be done with 50% of the original anime's material. o_o;
Btw, they've aired through Episode 16, so
Hughes
is totally dead. Even the Gen 2'ers shouldn't be spoilered by that now. BUT STILL! Out of consideration for people who've never seen the show, I thought I'd hide the name anyway.
You know, though: Hughes has had so little screen time in the remake as compared with the original that I can't imagine his death would turn on the waterworks for the newbie fans the way it did for those of us who watched the first series. But then again, I haven't gotten to the episode where he dies yet, so maybe that'll change. Who knows?
I downloaded a bunch of these episodes a couple weeks ago. Haven't gotten in trouble for it yet, so hopefully Peer Guardian is working. Woo.
Sadly I haven't watched any of these yet except for the first episode. I'll get around to it at some point... or end up waiting for the whole series to come out. Not sure.
I was wondering if I should go back and watch the original series again or not. I'm thinking not since they cover all that in this new series, but I can't remember a lot of what happened.
I would advise you to not do it. I did not do it, and I think it was the correct choice. The familiar episodes are very familiar, and their entertainment value crops up from minutiae that I have forgotten. Here are some specific examples to help you get a feel for what I mean.
About the boys' sensei:
I remembered what she looked like, but forgot her name.
I remembered that she was deathly ill, but forgot that she spewed blood.
About Maes Hughes:
I remembered that he never showcased any alchemical talent, but I forgot that his specialty was mid-range combat with daggers.
About Greed:
I remembered that his ultimate shield had a weakness, but I forgot what that weakness was.
I remembered that Martel (the female chimaera of Greed's gang) was inside Alphonse's body, but I forgot why she went in there in the first place.
I remembered that Martel died, but I forgot about how, in her moment of death, her blood splashes over Edward's blood seal inside Alphonse's suit.
Things like this. You know what I mean? If you go back and rewatch the first series, then you're going to remember everything when you rewatch the second series, and I think it'll be even more intolerable. Right now, I wouldn't call it "intolerable" : I just feel like it's only mildly entertaining and not nearly as fun to watch as it was the first time around years ago because I already know the outcome to so many fights, when and how so many of the main characters die or become maimed, etc.
Also, I believe that you're going to be in for an unpleasant surprise if you do rewatch all of the original series. XD
Episode 34 of the original series = Episode 14 of the new one
Yeah. Yeah. There was a shit ton of filler in the original show, apparently. Click the tag to read more.
I'm in shock at just how many of the characters in the original show were either completely made up out of thin air or else were minor characters in the comics who were given fleshed-out backstories in the first series.
Some examples that nobody would care about being spoilered on:
- "Barry the Chopper," the serial killer who later becomes #66 at Laboratory 5 in Central City (the one who fights with Al and tells Al that maybe he's nothing more than a figment of Ed's imagination), was given his own episode in the original series. The boys confront him and help to put him behind bars. When Al later meets #66, he recognizes Barry.
In the new series? The break-in of Laboratory 5 is the first time Alphonse meets Barry. In fact, he even tells a disappointed Barry that he's never heard stories of "Barry the Chopper" before, probably because he grew up in the eastern countryside.
- Yoki was a jackass villain in the original Season 1. Ed reveals that Yoki is a hack and ruins Yoki's career. Yoki swears vengeance against Edward.
Well, in the new Season 1, the first time we even see Yoki is long after he's already lost his honor. He's a peasant living in Central City who swears he will one day exact vengeance upon Edward Elric. Then, through a series of bizarre events, he becomes Scar's undesired servant. LOL. Yoki's lucky Scar doesn't just blow him up. Yoki is the means through which characters not seen in the original series are introduced to us. (Episode 15.)
- Remember the brothers who looked sort of like Ed and Al? And who were really interested in botany? Completely made up from the looks of things. They're totally not in the new series.
- Remember that retarded villain from Season 2 who ends up becoming an automail cyborg? He was a high-ranking officer in the army? Pale white skin? I forget his name. Anyway, he's not here. And in the original series, he was here ages ago.
