Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

[Chronomaster]

Creating a new topic to create a new central focus. Don't judge me.

SO. The first episode of the new FMA series was officially released in English today. How about some thoughts?

I love the intro. I can't seem to get enough of it. I've probably played it back way too many times (probably to get Ready Steady Go out of my head, but anyways). The episode itself was alright for an introduction episode. Since I have the basics down from the last anime, I didn't have much of a clear head as to whether this was a good beginning or not. I did like the episode itself, even if it falls into some of the climax traps anime/drama usually carries. The scene with Kimbly doesn't seem like it will pay off much. Some things felt like they went over too fast (the introduction to Hughes and his invitation to the Elrics to live at his house, most notably). The 'short' joke was played way too frequently in a short set of time, but these are all my gripes.

I'm liking the art direction. The colors feel right this time (Edward's hair doesn't look golden any more, instead it looks more like a natural shade of blonde). The animation is pretty fluid, and the fight scene felt unique in that it wasn't overly dramatic (at least, not outside expectations). The dialogue seems about right; a little rough, but better than most anime series out there. I'm going to have to save most of my judgment for the middle of the series, however. The story in the first kicked up about that time, and I expect it all to pay off at about that time in the second. I am looking forward to it.

So, there's my stream of consciousness. Make what you will of it and post your own opinion.

[Phades]

I didn't realize that they were doing a remake of this series. The first was done to a standard that can be considered good, so i am a little confused at the re-hashing of this series and the point of it. Do they intend to re-tell the story again, or just a different perspective? I remember talk of season 2 of the original deviating from the literature, but i'm not versed enough to really weigh in on that one specifically.

[DWildstar]

They're following the manga more closely this time through. Whereas the original anime broke off from it about halfway through its run so the story is very different. I haven't been keeping up with the manga, but where I'm at it's already very different from the original anime. I watched the first new episode and it seems like a fine start, the animation is still really great. I agree though that it was far far too many "chibi" or "small" jokes for one episode, maybe enough for six or so

Also most of the voice actors have been replaced apparently. The only one that stuck out so far was Roy Mustang because the original voice was deeper than the new one. Not sure just how much they're going to rehash though because the preview of the 2nd episode indicates they're doing at least the very beginning of their origin story.

This episode just seemed to be to reintroduce the fans and indicate who is back, and just how much of the original is still in this new series.

[Phades]

Well, i'll end up seeing it at some point in time regardless. Although since both of you mentioned an overabundance of short jokes, perhaps they are reinforcing his overly sensitive reaction to them, as shown later in the series where he makes the jokes himself before others had a chance to. Which was something of an "er, why?" moment to me whenever it happened.

[Chronomaster]

Well, second episode has been out in America official. It proposed a different sequence of events to The Gate, and things are just a bit more interesting.

Again, the art direction is nice, but we're coming up on the dreaded third episode curse, so we'll see how well it holds until then.

[Romdeau]

3rd episode curse...?

[Chronomaster]

3rd episode curse...?

In anime, budget rates plummet after the second episode. Often, the quality of art in the 3rd episode is severely lowered, but slowly improves over time. I don't think BONES will have the same problem, but we'll see.

It's a curse because it happens pretty frequently with newer anime. I think it might be limited to less mainstream series, but there have been several instances in shows even like Bleach where QUALITY truly comes through.

[whisper]

it has the same story plot as the first one right?

[Peralisc2]

Not really. But it has a similar story line at least at the beginning and it starts to get very diffrent ...

[Eladin]

my only question is why?

i just started watching too, and honestly, the art is ok. not that big of a leap from the original stuff, just different style at points i guess. intro is cool...not that has much to do with...well...anything.
but yeah, i've watched the original, and all i'm doing is watching the same stuff, but slightly altered to make it a little darker it seems like? i mean, was there a point to this creation other than to cash on the fans of the original?