Should the FMA anime be redone?

[older_gohan]

Despite the fact that the manga is WAY better, for what the anime has done; it has done it exceptionally well. Given it may not be as good, it's still pretty darn good for an anime.

[Super Shanko]

The anime just has some moments that were worth being made like that, like oh i dont know....showing Scar killing Bass Grand rather than mentioning it....

[EmilLang1000]

I really doubt they'll ever want to produce a remake. True, the manga has more development in the way of character relationships, but the sheer powr and magnitude of the show is unbelievable.

The show, especially the second season, gives a feeling of humanity to the characters that were never there, and in many ways fixes how the characters actually realte to one another or to the plot in general. A few examples:

1. Having Mustang be the murderer of the Rockbells is a much more powerful revelation than Scar. In the Manga, it's like "Oh, wow... yeah, I can see that," whereas with the show, your reaction is more along the lines of "Oh, SNAP... that... wow, that sucks;" not to mention, it lends more to the reasons behind Roy's obssession with rising to power (he wants to atone for his sins, especially that one) than his reasons in the comic.


2. Making the Homonculi the attempted ressurections of loved ones was more interesting a plot-twist than having them just be humans-turned-homonculus.

3. The story was more well rounded when incorporating Dante into trying to create the Philosopher's Stone, and how Hohenheim was involved in the whole matter.

4. The homonculi's desire to become human is more understandable a motive for creating the Philosopher's stone than they simply being pawns for "Father."

5. Izumi is MUCH more important to the world in general in the show than she is in the comic, being that she was responsible for creating Wrath.

6. Making Bradley able to have a son of his own, and then kill him in cold blood, makes him even more of a monster; simply having adopted his heir in the comic distances him from humanity (something is construed as more monsterous the closer it is to being human).

7. Everything in the show happens for a reason, and everything comes 'round full-circle; Rose and Lior are introduced in the first episodes, and become pivitol to the story at its climax.

8. The show's resemblence to World War I Europe and the Holocaust of WWII strikes a greater note with the audience than a detatched war story; as the comic stands, though it deals with the war very well, the Ishbalan Rebellion is the only form of ethnic cleansing seen, and without the conspiracy involved as told in the show, seems to be of much smaller a scope; having the Fuhrer and Sloth cause the rebellion reminds us much more of Hitler's rise to power, and is more intriguing.

9. Having Sloth be the Homonculus created by the Elric brothers lends to more psychological a dillemma than not having her at all in the comic. In the Manga, there is almost no doubt in the brothers' minds that the Homonculi need be killed; in the show however, both - especially Al - have to cope with and understand that they are not human, and don't have a soul. This comes to an emotional apex when Ed has to kill Sloth, much to Al's dismay, in that he can't let go of the idea that she may actually BE Trisha, not a soulless husk. It also doesn't help when Al comes to the realisation that Ed desicrated their own mothers' grave in order to gain the key to killing Sloth.

10. Envy being the "lost" Elric brother, or rather his effigy, gives more motivation for Envy doing what he does, and for his apparent resentment of Ed.


The changes the characters have in the show are slight, but noticable, and are somewhat slow to come (as changes are in reality). The comic, however, sees changes happen very quickly and dramatically; this lack of subtlety, however, lends to the comic being less personal or HUMAN, and thus less believable, than the show. I will say this, though: if you're an Ed/Winry shipper, please PLEASE read the comic... you will not be disappointed.

I suppose, where the comic DEVELOPS the relationships between the characters more than the show does, the show establishes that those relationships are ALREADY there, whether the characters know it or not. The show paints an image of a story resembling a Greek tragedy, in that all the characters' fates are intertwined long before they even meet, and that the boys' punishment for their hubris in defying God (or Nature) is the fact that they will never know true, full happiness - that something will always be missing (in the show's finale, though both gain their original bodies, they lose one another, and even when they finally are together at the end of the movie, neither will ever see their family, friends, or loved ones again).

[older_gohan]

Also with the show apart from the manga you have a visualization level. Instead of just having different panels the cartoon flows through making every seem that much more aparent.

Although I am not sure myself if some of the homunculi's role wasn't played big enough. As you can tell they all offer something yet it seems a few end up dragging behind in their ability to use their powers.

Like with Fuhrer king Bradley/pride. Despite the fact you do see him fight roy and appear you don't actually see much of what he accpmplishes as a fake fuhrer. He had to have done some pretty drastic stuff in that position otherwise it would of be all for naught on his part.

[wurpess]

Also with the show apart from the manga you have a visualization level. Instead of just having different panels the cartoon flows through making every seem that much more aparent.

Although I am not sure myself if some of the homunculi's role wasn't played big enough. As you can tell they all offer something yet it seems a few end up dragging behind in their ability to use their powers.

Like with Fuhrer king Bradley/pride. Despite the fact you do see him fight roy and appear you don't actually see much of what he accpmplishes as a fake fuhrer. He had to have done some pretty drastic stuff in that position otherwise it would of be all for naught on his part.

He gave the orders to send the military into battles that shouldn't have exsisted in the first place except that Dante/Homunculi needed all the death, destruction and unhappiness of war to create the philosophers stone. You might not have actually seen him do anything except fight Roy, but really, he probably had one of the biggest hands in creating the philosopher's stone.

[Super Shanko]

Hold on a sec. in the 6th example,

That was Bradleys actual son? and the cold blood remark was him trying to choke him?

Time for another Complaint: One of the things about the show i really didn't like, and i actually thought to be annoying was how Al was being treated like a big pushover, i mean he acts like a civilian and pretty much gets his ass kicked all the time, while in the manga he's standing busy standing his ground to Lust taking a beating like everyone else.

[older_gohan]

[quote=spoiler]Yes it was bradly's son but not the homunculi bradl;y. If you listen to earlier dialouge people started noticing that the fuhrer was acting weird about the time lab 5 or 7 or whatever number it was happened. They hinted that the actual change happened about the time the homunculi failed to get ed to use the red water to make a philosipher's stone the first time. So pride must of killed king bradley then and taken his place.[/quote]

[Cornwiggle]

I really doubt they'll ever want to produce a remake. True, the manga has more development in the way of character relationships, but the sheer powr and magnitude of the show is unbelievable.

The show, especially the second season, gives a feeling of humanity to the characters that were never there, and in many ways fixes how the characters actually realte to one another or to the plot in general. A few examples:

1. Having Mustang be the murderer of the Rockbells is a much more powerful revelation than Scar. In the Manga, it's like "Oh, wow... yeah, I can see that," whereas with the show, your reaction is more along the lines of "Oh, SNAP... that... wow, that sucks;" not to mention, it lends more to the reasons behind Roy's obssession with rising to power (he wants to atone for his sins, especially that one) than his reasons in the comic.


2. Making the Homonculi the attempted ressurections of loved ones was more interesting a plot-twist than having them just be humans-turned-homonculus.

3. The story was more well rounded when incorporating Dante into trying to create the Philosopher's Stone, and how Hohenheim was involved in the whole matter.

4. The homonculi's desire to become human is more understandable a motive for creating the Philosopher's stone than they simply being pawns for "Father."

5. Izumi is MUCH more important to the world in general in the show than she is in the comic, being that she was responsible for creating Wrath.

6. Making Bradley able to have a son of his own, and then kill him in cold blood, makes him even more of a monster; simply having adopted his heir in the comic distances him from humanity (something is construed as more monsterous the closer it is to being human).

7. Everything in the show happens for a reason, and everything comes 'round full-circle; Rose and Lior are introduced in the first episodes, and become pivitol to the story at its climax.

8. The show's resemblence to World War I Europe and the Holocaust of WWII strikes a greater note with the audience than a detatched war story; as the comic stands, though it deals with the war very well, the Ishbalan Rebellion is the only form of ethnic cleansing seen, and without the conspiracy involved as told in the show, seems to be of much smaller a scope; having the Fuhrer and Sloth cause the rebellion reminds us much more of Hitler's rise to power, and is more intriguing.

9. Having Sloth be the Homonculus created by the Elric brothers lends to more psychological a dillemma than not having her at all in the comic. In the Manga, there is almost no doubt in the brothers' minds that the Homonculi need be killed; in the show however, both - especially Al - have to cope with and understand that they are not human, and don't have a soul. This comes to an emotional apex when Ed has to kill Sloth, much to Al's dismay, in that he can't let go of the idea that she may actually BE Trisha, not a soulless husk. It also doesn't help when Al comes to the realisation that Ed desicrated their own mothers' grave in order to gain the key to killing Sloth.

10. Envy being the "lost" Elric brother, or rather his effigy, gives more motivation for Envy doing what he does, and for his apparent resentment of Ed.


The changes the characters have in the show are slight, but noticable, and are somewhat slow to come (as changes are in reality). The comic, however, sees changes happen very quickly and dramatically; this lack of subtlety, however, lends to the comic being less personal or HUMAN, and thus less believable, than the show. I will say this, though: if you're an Ed/Winry shipper, please PLEASE read the comic... you will not be disappointed.

I suppose, where the comic DEVELOPS the relationships between the characters more than the show does, the show establishes that those relationships are ALREADY there, whether the characters know it or not. The show paints an image of a story resembling a Greek tragedy, in that all the characters' fates are intertwined long before they even meet, and that the boys' punishment for their hubris in defying God (or Nature) is the fact that they will never know true, full happiness - that something will always be missing (in the show's finale, though both gain their original bodies, they lose one another, and even when they finally are together at the end of the movie, neither will ever see their family, friends, or loved ones again).

But 6 doesn't make sense in the anime. Homunculi are NOT supposed to be able to reproduce. Hell if they COULD do that, then aren't they pretty much human already? And there is no explanation as to why Bradley ages in the anime either.

[EmilLang1000]

Homonculi aren't supposed to AGE, either; yet they say that Bradley is Dante's masterpiece - able to both age and reproduce.

There are theories about how this is possible:
Initially, all Homonculi are, are the ingredients of humans thrown together to form BASICALLY what a human is, though they apprently show no signs of their bodies actually following bilogical rules

However, both Wrath and Pride do. This is because, perhaps, more thought was put into their creation. In other words, not just assmebling, on the macroscale, the physical features of the body, but going down to the molecular level. Notice how the only Homonculi whom are ever shown eating (Gluttony not included... he doesn't need to eat to survive) are Wrath and Pride. It is possible that Izumi and Dante both had enough knowledge of the human body to reproduce the "preplanned obsolesence" of the human body, so much so that they are effectively exact copies - down to the cellular and molecular level - of humans. This means that their bodies actually produce new cells, old cells divide and eventually die, and their bodies actually require new material and resources be introduced to continue this process of regeneration and development. This doesn't mean, though, that they could die of starvation; perhaps they would end up in a state of perpetual fatigue (like Alucard before Integral found him and gave him blood). In Pride's case, he could have been designed so immaculately and with such obsessive detail that even functional reproductive organs and DNA were present, so that he could mate with humans.

Wrath and Pride have, at the same time, very weak AND very strong abilities: Wrath, the ability to conduct Alchemy without a soul (or rather, with the little bit of a soul that exists in Ed's arm and leg); Pride, with his "Ultimate Eye." Neither were complete freaks like Sloth, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, or Greed, who could morph their bodies. Rather, all they had was the regenerative ablities of the others (which can be explained by having an accelerated regenerative system programmed into all cells in the body). Their bodies weren't bizzare in any way (except for their abilities already stated), and this may be because they WERE so close to human on the microscale, whereas the others seem to be little more than Golems or dolls - mounds of biological matter thrown together... perhaps not even a brain present. You could think of Wrath and Pride as being near-human or pseudo-human (Replicants, even) and the other five being sentient blobs of biological "goo," yet none have the "Spark of God" that makes a human, human.

Also, remember that it is not the lack of human features that makes an Homonculus inhuman - it's the lack of a soul. THAT is what separates them from us; that is what makes them monsters.

[Cornwiggle]

Oh, I guess I wasn't into the anime very much so I missed almost all of that. I should watch it again, just to see the different version.


Also, if I recall isn't Wrath different, because he was one of those black faces (person) on the Gate? You know the ones who stretch and take pieces away from you. So that also explains why he can stretch (along with Alchemy thanks to Ed's limbs). He wasn't originally a Homunculi either, only until he ate the red stones if I remember correctly. But Wrath wasn't created by Dante (at least as far as I can remember).


And in the anime, I just don't see a point of having Bradley aging and reproducing serving any important point.

I should look into the anime again, since this time (only because I'm into FMA a lot more now) I will notice things I never saw before.