Fullmetal Alchemist

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One of the problems with something being truly good is that every so often it becomes a victim of its own success, and in a sense that's what happened with the fans of Full Metal Alchemist.

Arakawa Hiromu's tale of two brothers and their adventures in alchemy is one of the most well known stories in anime and manga to date, and has spawned a horde of games, a movie (with a second one planned), numerous doujins and fanfics, piles of merchandise ranging from tatoos to chibi plushies, and two very different anime series. The story itself is very typically shounen at times, however there is ... a depth to proceedings that belies the initial look and feel of the manga. While things begin innocuously enough, it's not long before the reader finds themselves wrestling with moral, religious, and even philosophical motives and actions as the Elric brothers make their journey towards their destiny.

Enough waxing lyrical, on to the nitty gritty. Anyone familiar with Arakawa's other works, especially her one shot manga, will undoubtedly find some surprising similarities to certain events and situations that occur in Full Metal Alchemist. The reason for this is because Arakawa had the foresight to test out various ideas in another form and format before adapting them for use in her flagship title, and this refinement process shows throughout the story. Although this is a shounen tale in the truest sense, there's a degree of complexity and innovation which has been carefully applied in an effort to draw the reader in, and this is one of the hallmarks of Arakawa's storytelling style.

As with any work though, there are a few areas that could have been improved upon. In an effort to lighten the mood from time to time the mangaka has seen fit to apply a few doses of comedy here and there, and while stories like Raiden 18 make it clear that Arakawa has some skills in that department, the application of humour in Full Metal Alchemist is sometimes a bit haphazard. That said, it seems like the mangaka herself also had a similar realisation as the tone of the series becomes much more serious during the latter half, and the frequency of comedic moments drops quite sharply. Surprisingly, the humour is less of a distraction and more of an anodyne for the reader during the later stages of the story, which is a testament to the idea that "less is more".

The artwork is very typical of the mangaka, however once more there is that look of refinement about the characters and settings, and even some of the action sequences. One big plus is that the reader is given a more visual, and sometimes visceral, look into the author's world than one might find in other shounen manga. That said, Rumiko Takahashi's InuYasha is a serious contender in this department, but like that manga, Full Metal Alchemist also suffers from the same problem - the highly stylized characters.

The main issue with the design is that some people may find it doesn't suit their tastes, which will in turn impact upon their appreciation of the story. That said, as an advocate of more individualism in manga and anime, it's nice to read something that remains true to the author's style as there are far too many titles that look identical to each other (e.g. harem romantic comedies and about half of the shoujo manga out there).

As for the characters themselves, suffice to say that the development of the lead roles is very good indeed, and the supporting roles are given a healthy amount of space to shine as well. One of the more interesting aspects is the pace at which the characters are developed throughout the story, and a big plus is the degree of attention given to the "bad guys", especially later in the series. It's a sad fact that shounen tales are filled with shallow antagonists who serve no other purpose than to give the lead character a wall they must "beat down" in order to move the story forward, and while Full Metal Alchemist contains the basic elements of this type of progression, it manages to mask them far better than most action manga out there.

Is there a major downside then? Well, unfortunately there is, but it's one that's very much dependent on personal taste. The reason why the Full Metal Alchemist franchise is a victim of its own success is because of the original anime adaptation of the unfinished manga.

Now one of the problems that fans have is that the two versions of the tale are wildly different in terms of atmosphere, story and character mentality (basically they're like chalk and cheese). The main issue at hand is that while the manga version of Full Metal Alchemist is an excellent series, the original anime adaptation is becoming maligned and misunderstood because it deviates too much from Arakawa's story. Personally I consider both to be equally good, just not in the same way.

Here's what I mean.

Arakawa's manga is a very good story that incorporates a number of typical shounen aspects like never giving up, trusting in one's friends and allies, etc, and while the tale is excellent in both content and execution, in all honesty, it lacks a degree of "darkness" that was inherent in the first anime. One of the things that struck me about this dissonance was the fact that the whole theme of obsession seems to peter out by the end of the manga, whereas the first anime actually ended with that theme still running strong.

Now, some of you maybe a little confused by that perspective, especially as both tales feature the same characters to a degree, however one look at their respective endings will begin to make things a little clearer, and pay particular attention to Alphonse Elric as he is the reason why I consider the two tales to be so very different (and if you're still unsure, then feel free to ask me about it).

It's pretty obvious that I enjoyed Full Metal Alchemist immensely, however my only real gripe with the manga, especially after reading Arakawa's other works, is that there are too many occasions where it feels like the author has purposely moved away from a theme or situation that was used in the original anime, and this can make parts of the story feel a bit rushed. That said, this is actually a minor problem as the whole tale fits together extremely well, and in terms of content Full Metal Alchemist is easily on par with Takahashi Rumiko's masterpiece.

What Arakawa Hiromu has given us is a work that is truly good, despite some minor niggles here and there, and while there are some typically shounen aspects to the tale, Full Metal Alchemist, like Inuaysha, is a far cry from what one would consider a typical shounen manga.

Isn't it ironic then, that the two of greatest shounen tales weren't written by men?

It's quite good for a shounen, but placing it in the top 10 manga of all time is a giant stretch.

I think one of its strong points is that it "disguises" the fact that it is a shounen to some extent: yes, it has childish moments, but many of them are also comedic, so they come across as funny or at least cute. Furthermore, this manga also knows how to portray some truly emotional or tragic scenes, and it's not afraid to show some real consequences of violence (like losing an arm), which other shounen tend to avoid.

Also, although it has a good number of ... fights, I like that this comic dedicates a lot of pages to investigations and intrigue (having hidden agendas and mysteries to unravel is way more interesting than just showing action scene after action scene).

However, it also has some serious pacing problems that prevent it from being a masterpiece:

First of all, after a certain point, the plot follows many different characters who are investigating the same "evil scheme" in different parts of the country. This means that every time a group of characters uncovers a new clue, the author has to dedicate several pages to showing how they communicate their discovery to the other groups (and doing this every time can really mess up the pacing), or, even worse, leave the rest of the characters unaware of this new information. In the latter case, constantly switching to the POV of characters who haven't discovered certain information yet and continue to investigate it makes it feel like the plot is moving backwards.

Also, what you could call the "final arc" of the manga occupies the entire last third of it, which is a total exaggeration. This makes it feel too stretched out, with the initial "preparations" filling entire volumes and making it seem as though the author was doing everything in her power to avoid moving towards the conclusion of the story.

Not to mention that some minor arcs feel like complete filler, such as the Ishval War (which takes up several chapters and offers barely a shred of new information).

Besides that, Fullmetal also has some other minor flaws, like occasionally portraying old-fashioned ideas about what a man should or shouldn't do (although this can be somewhat justified by the setting), or the boring explanations/justifications that the "villains" give for their actions (which are completely plain and cliché). And personally, I would also have liked to see more development of the romantic interests of some of the characters.

It should come no surprise that the highest-rated anime on MAL’s manga counterpart should also be near the top, as it is the source material of the anime. It stands that the manga does a better job of telling the story than either anime counterpart while failing in almost every other category. Reading the manga, your opinions will mostly stay the same about the series, however, that does not exempt it from mistakes that the animes fixed or that were written into the story in the firstplace. Perhaps the strongest elements of the Anime are possibly the weakest in the manga.

The characters, its ... art, and story outside of its plot points all fall incredibly short and coincidentally are also what the reviewing criterion is.

Story 6/10
The stories major plot points and setups deserve their score. Two brothers commit a taboo, human transmutation in an attempt to resurrect their dead mother, and when It backfires the younger brother loses his body while the older loses one of his arms and one of his legs, with the result of resurrecting her to die again within seconds. Traumatized and broken, the story starts with the two working under the government as “alchemists” where their underlying mission is to find a “philosopher’s stone” a mystical item that might be the only way to save themselves and their mother. Clearly mapping out the series in advance, the author made sure to implement many twists, world reveals, and one-piece esk examples of great storytelling when it came to organically moving between arcs or setting up some amazing events. The world slowly grows and more gets revealed through each passing chapter and event. Setups from the beginning chapters and subtle foreshadowing builds up to huge events. In terms of storytelling of the larger plot, it truly is a masterpiece

However, the parts outside the large plot points, and the actual storytelling are not on the same level. Not all the missions are the main plot, (I would say around ½ of the manga) and since the story is going for something deep, short and large arcs are needed to build up themes of the world and the story as well. These all were to be told in a manner of different ways, however often held very little relevance to the plot, creating fluff. Arcs that dragged, Arcs that were too fast, Arcs that made no sense. Arcs that had to happen, but were written terribly outside of the larger theme that was being built. These are seen in the first couple of arcs again and again, with themes that suddenly disappear after the arc ends, as filler does. These arcs have four main points that they hit on. Ed and Al, Comedy, a small enclosed story about the world, and themes. Usually, the themes in correlation with Ed and Al do hit well, but the comedy almost always ruins the tone. Comedy can be done in correlation with tension, Oda Eichero’s One Piece an example as such, but here the comedic touches are hardly comedy and ruin what they reach for. And the stories are equivalent to bleach filler in terms of writing, opening up a good concept or part of a world, and then having the main duo falling for all the obvious tricks, traps, however in battle showing their good character, and outside of that having the most basic character interactions and supporting characters. Then forgetting the whole reason for the arc, and just ending with cool fights, that diminished the actual theme of the arc, and never bringing anything up in there again.

The comedy is not funny. Fans and non-fans alike will testify to its truth, and as mentioned it massacres the themes that are portrayed. The story goes out of its way with a lot of these arcs creating a dark picture of the world and building up the characters. However, the comedy not only shallows the characters but ruins the theme and tension of the arcs. The Author has one joke: height, and repeating the same joke over and over is not comedy, and neither is being loud. Combined repeated back jokes with a filler-like plotline of any of the big 3 Shonen, poor character interactions, and then dark and heavy themes, it creates an arc that just confuses you. Its central theme is good, same with the larger story but the pages and the actual content that you read is just so bad

Basically half the time FMA is phenomenal in almost every aspect (The missing aspects will be mentioned later), and then the other half is just poorly written, almost discrediting things they build up, and largely unenjoyable to read.

Art 6/10
Art is subjective and I won’t spend too long on art, as it will just seem like nitpicking. However, this is one of the few that have art that makes me not want to read it.

The art style is possibly the most redeeming part. It’s a great art style that I really enjoy, and while there are a grand total of 5 different designs outside of the two brothers, it's enjoyable nonetheless. Similarly with the backgrounds and details of certain things like uniforms, tanks, and things of its time. Such background detail was rare in the early 2000s unless it was a double-page spread, and the details are really nice.

The Manga paneling and actual fluidity are not. Ignoring the actual content of the fights, the fights are poorly choreographed. In a fight, four methods are commonly used to create action. Speed lines, blurred appendages, hit marks, and the poses both combatants are in. Despite starting in 1989 (12 years before this), the Dragonball manga utilizes these techniques perfectly, while FMA spectacularly fails. Composed of mismatched poses, speed lines in the wrong places, and blurred appendages that make the characters look inhuman, these fights lack any understanding and are hard to read. I don’t know what happens half the time in these fights, and their pacing is atrocious. They seem like they take forever, somehow the way its drawn makes it feel slow and drawn out. Studio Bones really did transform the fights into some really cool fights, but the manga really doesn’t do it properly. The manga paneling and camera angles are also really weird as quite a few scenes are hard to make out. With the limited character designs and the mismatched speech bubbles, it's hard to see who is speaking or what’s going on in the panels leading to misunderstanding scenes, as when characters said things and I would interpret someone else saying it. It's pretty solid most of the time, and when it matters it's really good, it's just that the art itself (not the style) leaves much more to be desired.

Characters 5/10
The Characters suffer from the same condition that the rest of the anime suffers from. The fact they are either really good, really bad, or a mixture of both. The supporting cast is really good, the villains (aside from 1) are a mistake to even exist, and the 3 protagonists are a mix of really good and really bad. So, it’s such a shame that the main characters are there in almost every panel or event, and often their really bad side is present.

First, there is a difference between personalities and annoying anime quirks. Many modern-day manga do this, where a person's character is one quirk that they have, a quirky thing that boils down to one emotion. This can and does easily become grating with characters like in Demon Slayer or MHA, where this “Quirk” is the only part of their character that we know and the only thing that we provide. While fun at first they undeniably get annoying fast if they are onscreen and only do this. MHA does not suffer from this too much because the ones who at least have some sort of personality are usually at the forefront, and Demon slayer does suffer from this quite a bit. However these traits only did get annoying near the end of the season, as these characters got introduced ¼ in, and they were basic mildly entertaining quirks that slowly lost their fun. However, FMA started with possibly the most annoying quirk/comedy routine and beat the chicken to death. The height joke was not funny. Not the first time, not the 5th time, not the 500th time. Same with being loud. When every second sentence is an annoying joke, or just Edward being loud, and the onlookers chuckling at “how silly” he is, it really makes the show drag. And they do it with the military officers, civilians, enemies, and almost interact with another person. It's an annoying quirk that started annoying and stayed annoying throughout the 26 volumes. This, as long as is mostly used with background characters seen in few instances is okay and fun, but for most characters in the story and for most of the interactions, definitely not. This made the majority of the reading quite hard, as the author refused to let them say anything else outside of it, and didn’t focus on anything else. This also happens with the rest of the cast to a lesser degree. Their sensei, a couple of their commanding officers, a couple of the villains, their childhood friend, and the characters of enemy nations also degrade the issue of character developing a singular quirk. This approximates around 40-50% of all the interactions being solely these “quirky” and very uninspired conversations.

As for the rest of the cast, they were all on the path of greatness. They each were given times to shine and given backstories and personal events, the writing of a master, but sadly this time for all of them was not enough. With so many people in the cast, there was simply not enough time for the author to cover their stories or complete them in the 26 volumes that were written. And since the author insisted on making so many characters deep and meaningful, she would give them a set of chapters for the development to happen. For the supporting characters, they all were done extremely well. For the secondary pro/antagonists and the people that we were reading on screen the whole manga and mattered, not so much. Scar, Isaac Armstrong, King Bradley, Izumi Curtis, and more were all victims to this, with halted or partial development. Their stories were undoubtedly the best (outside of the main duo), themes of the horrors of war, the cycle of hatred, loss, sociopathy, and “the mission”. What makes these worse is the transition to gags, or too comedic characters that they turned into following it. Scar a major villain randomly joins the main duo for no reason, Isaac loses his trauma and just becomes a goofy muscle guy. King Bradley just turns into an extreme badass (which while I did enjoy hurt the depth of his character) and Izumi Curtis disappears, appears for some gags, and then goes off again.
Ed and Al were phenomenal characters, and so were Ling, Mustang, and Kimbley, some of the best combined and put in a story. Not much to say about them, aside from the fact that Ed, Al, and Mustang who were constantly on-screen failed to entertain, as their gags and interactions were the least from funny or interesting and ruined the extreme depths of character, but as a concept, really well done.

Enjoyment and Overall 5/10
Most of the low score comes from the actual enjoyment of reading the manga. If you can stomach the terrible dialogue, interactions, weirdly written moments, and hard-to-decipher art, then you will witness some incredible themes and characters. The main issue is the surface-level manga which disappoints. The themes and the depth do exist out of it, but in each chapter, I was conflicted in weather to read or drop. Either it would be a good chapter with really cool reveals, or a really bad and annoying chapter that would be an iteration of a joke said for the billionth time.