A Revamp and a Rewind: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

The year 2004 may still be fresh and not too distant for some – but in a world of fast growth and speedy advancements, the five years that has passed is like a stretch of infinity for most. It has been five years since the release of the highly commended anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. Due to its successful run, a rerun of sorts was in order. And this year, fans experience a rewind and a revamp in the release of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. For anime fans who have been watching long enough to see Fullmetal Alchemist, or FMA for its adoring fans, its story is well known and has left an impact to those who have stayed to watch. But for those who aren’t aware of the story, here’s a snippet of how it goes:

Edward and Alphonse Elric are young boys with a passion for discovering new things and learning. They live with their mother in the small peasant town of Resembool. With their absentee father’s alchemy books lying around the house, it didn’t take long for the two to begin studying alchemy. Their calm lives are shaken upon the death of their mother due to a plague. Unable to accept this loss, the two breech the rules of alchemy and commit the unforgivable. With the use of alchemy, the two try to resurrect their mother. Things go horribly wrong and their mother is not resurrected, Alphonse pays the price and loses his body, requiring Edward to sacrifice his arm to bind Alphonse soul to a suit of armor so that he may continue to live.

A few years later, we find Edward with Alphonse working for the military as a state alchemist. Here, he is given enough funds and special privileges to advance his knowledge and do his research. He opts to find the evasive and long sought Philosopher’s stone in hopes of correcting what he did wrong in the past. Here he faces enemies beyond human and alchemist with abilities as his own – all in the road to achieve his goal of restoring his and his brother’s normal bodies.

While Brotherhood relives the first Fullmetal Alchemist series, it follows the original work more closely. It follows the storyline from the manga more and some scenes are changed from the first anime in order to cater the changes that will be adapted later on. This new series is expected to run longer than its predecessor a few years back. But new fans need not to watch the original 52-episode series in order to understand Brotherhood as it can be watched and enjoyed as it is. For the new fans, Brotherhood will be a good way to worm in into the FMA fandom without the agony of going through the first rendition. But for the older fans, Brotherhood will likely appear to be a bad case of déjà vu as it will feel like re-watching the first FMA series.

The new series opens with a new episode, different from its original anime version and surprisingly, despite their claim for manga-adaptation – still different from the manga opening. This time, the Elric brothers are introduced differently. A fast forward of sorts, the brothers are already in the city state – fighting an anime exclusive villain which harnesses the power of water and ice. This paved way to the exhibition of the anime production team’s capacity for effects and fluid animation. This new opening episode may confuse some viewers for it would appear as a different take on the series, but given a few more episodes, Brotherhood will catch right up with its original source. The new voice cast for some of the main characters, like Roy Mustang, may require a few episodes to get used to and may throw off original fans. But some voices have been told to be a nicer change like Lust’s change of voice actress implying her greater role in this new series. Ed and Alphonse’s voice actors have been retained and are back for this new series, fans are sure to feel nostalgic upon hearing their voices.

The new series boasts new features that are sure to string back the original FMA’s adoring fans and attract a new following for the series. It hosts new music from the highly popular band L’arc~en~Ciel and other popular artists like YUI and SID. However the insert songs and musical scorings in the anime itself are yet to surpass the original.

The pacing starts slowly in the beginning but picks up three episodes and so on. Some cuts on some scenes from the original material are quite noticeable; it can be assumed that these cuts have been made in order to hasten the pace and jump right on where the first series left and to steer the anime to the manga’s direction. Some of these cuts have been found to be somewhat detrimental to the characters, but fans are pretty accepting at this point – willing to wait for what lies ahead.

The usual case goes for most fans: if you’re looking for something to watch with quality animation, are pretty willing to endure quite a number of repetitive episodes and not mindful of some cuts from the original story, FMA: Brotherhood will make the cut. There’s always something new to see in FMA: Brotherhood as far as the animation and story changes goes – but if you’re in it for the story and the character depth, sticking to the manga might be a better option.