In response to that user who asked how 2003 improved upon the manga/Brotherhood (the thread got archived):
>spent more time focusing on the brothers' relationship with their mother, giving her death more impact and the eventual resurrection attempt more meaning >took the concept of "equivalent exchange," something that was mostly akin to a plot limitation in the manga/Brotherhood, and fleshed it out into a centralized theme for the show to revolve around >also turned equivalent exchange into a core principle by which the Elric brothers live by, not just in alchemy but in all walks of life, giving them more well-defined character and a reactive philosophy which informs everything they do >made the search for the philosopher's stone THE integral plot motivator for almost every relevant party, allowing the sequence of events in the story to play out in a concise, logical way based entirely around the characters' motivation; whereas in the manga/Brotherhood, the philosopher's stone quest ends up getting benched (and is somewhat of a red herring) in favor of dealing with Father and the Homunculi >the Homunculi themselves are fleshed out to be better, more interesting and well-rounded characters with solid desires and motivations that mirror that of the protagonists (the need to obtain the philosopher's stone and become human); every Homunculus in 2003 is a better developed and more interesting character than their manga/Brotherhood counterparts without exception (except MAYBE King Bradley) >rounds down the side cast to a core handful of characters who are individually allowed to have more face time and thus become more developed (Sheska, Lt. Ross, Hughes, Hawkeye); manga/Brotherhood at around the Briggs arc starts throwing characters at the story and muddles the core cast of characters we're supposed to be invested in >Mustang is arguably elevated from important side character to secondary protagonist
Absolutely based OP. Brotherhood just devolves into generic shonen, with lame anime gags and giant world ending conflicts.
Isaiah Myers
The 2003 greed was great, had much more impact as a character and the end fight was top. I enjoyed the movie, it was really well done
James Russell
I'm iffy on the movie. I remember liking it all right up to the Gluttony/Wrath fight, then it went pants-on-head retarded with the gates shit. I found the "two worlds" gimmick way less tastefully done than it was in the series. I'll admit it's been a while since I've seen it though. Can you explain what you liked about it?
Joseph Gonzalez
Brotherhood was really just another forgettable shonen. FMA 2003 was remembered as a masterpiece for years which led to a revival with brotherhood.
Jason Jones
So we can all agree that 2003 was pleb filter?
Ian Sullivan
Fullmetal Alchemist is the most overrated anime of all time. Not even Code Gayass comes close
Carter Miller
Agree with basically everything you posted. 2003 meandered a bit with Wrath but god damn did it do a better job providing motivations for the homonuculi and what I consider a stronger backstory for each one. The final confrontation between Ed and Dante i feel had a much stronger weight to it than Ed vs. Father. youtube.com/watch?v=wqcLKS3xCyA
Noah Perez
'03 is way better than Brotherhood. Way more emotional depth, better writing, shit isn't rushed, the OST is objectively better and so are the openings and endings. Also Scar has one of the best redemption arcs I've ever seen. Doesn't come close to earning it in Brotherhood. I could go on and on, but yeah. '03 is better. You know it, I know it, your mom knows it.
Logan Price
>Brotherhood Better story, art direction, emotion; sticks closer to the book, better music and intros.
>'03 is way better than Brotherhood. Way more emotional depth, better writing, shit isn't rushed, the OST is objectively better and so are the openings and endings. LMAO! This has to be a shitpost.
Fucking thank you. Only autistic mangashitters like Brotherhood.
Benjamin Nelson
I think I've been looking for this thread my entire life. I appreciate FMA 2003 for being a more grounded series with the occasional bursts of humor to break up tension, I felt like Brotherhood was the total opposite being mostly over the top and lacking that sense of reality that FMA 2003 had. This is an impossible discussion to have on the internet though since the general opinion seems to favor Brotherhood.
Luke Murphy
Nah dude. The only things better about Brotherhood are the animation quality, sound design, overall voice acting performances and world building. That's it. '03 had way more heart put into actual drama unlike Brotherhood that turns into a typical shonen show after a while.
Julian Harris
Holy shit this is exactly how I feel about it. 2003 is more of a character study, focusing on the brothers and Mustang - Brotherhood has too many characters and its humor is awful. Father is an uninteresting character, and the homunculi are infinitely better characters in 2003.
Cooper Mitchell
Based retard.
Xavier Baker
>better story the story is a fucking mess user. >better art direction I don't know how you could possibly believe this. everything from the lighting, directing, mood, cinematography and character art is vastly superior in 2003 compared to Brotherhood, which looks washed out, bland and tonally incoherent. >better emotion Can't think of a single thing in Brotherhood that even TOUCHES the Nina moment in 2003. >sticks closer to the book The manga is fine as a manga, but as an anime it was a clusterfuck. New characters being introduced out of nowhere, pacing fucked to hell. Not to mention the visual gags in the manga can be sort of skimmed over for a light chuckle, whereas in the anime you have to spend actual time delivering them, wasting minutes spent on tone-deaf nonsense in the middle of dramatic moments like Havoc's quips during the Lust fight. >better music and intros Wrong. youtube.com/watch?v=BXQLrkW33f0
FMA is probably my favorite anime. If you removed the filler episodes in the beginning and the cliffhanger ending i think it would be perfect. i didnt think the movie was that good though
Ayden King
Episode 37 from Full Metal Alchemist shits on every Brotherhood episodes by itself. Truly the chaddest episode of them all.
I think because Brotherhood has the double amount of side characters, so 2003 has more room to development, not because of their relevance but for their lack of original characters at that point.
Jordan Mitchell
This. I liked Hughes' storyline better in 2003 than in Brotherhood too.
Nicholas Brooks
Brotherhood has the lust incineration scene therefore its superior
Easton Campbell
FMA 2003 is still the best anime I've ever seen and pretty much ruined every other anime for me. I can't even imagine watching Brotherhood since so much of what made 2003 so amazing was the stuff that came after the plots diverged
Robert Baker
javascript:quote('114187847'); Based post user . Sorry I couldn't reply
Cooper Anderson
>liking a cartoon that is voiced by a sexual predator
i liked that the homunculus were basically immortal in FMA. but her death scene was cool in Brotherhood
Matthew Foster
Hughe's arc was the last thing from the original manga adapted in the 2003 anime, and tbqh his death and burial scenes where the high moment of the manga, which make them adapted to start with (that and the nina one below). You don't get any other scene in Brotherhood with the same emotional impact as all those Maybe Greed stuff in general was good, but yet he's ok in both versions, even being adapted differently
Also because of Yea Forums we should also talk how dreadfully bad this was
Both series' have great moments and do different things better, but honestly Brotherhood has the more complete, satisfying narrative, even if it misses a few beats along the way.
Easton Jenkins
>in the manga/Brotherhood, the philosopher's stone quest ends up getting benched (and is somewhat of a red herring) in favor of dealing with Father and the Homunculi Christ, what an absolute clusterfuck. Did the writers of the 2003 show go on to do anything else?
Camden Ortiz
Really mediocre. Think of a Takashi Miike adaptation but less funny and boring. They also made a totally who general character from the original story the big baddy. As always Nina and Hughes parts were ok, you can't fuck them up much.
Luke Fisher
Pretty sure some of the animators did Boku no Pico so at least they stuck to some quality stuff.
Those 2 were the most responsible ones of the filler version of 2003 so check it by yourself if they were competent or not. The latter also did the filler storyline for Soul Eater anime
Jackson Johnson
Knowing how anime industry works you can't even deny that's a real posibility, lots of people for all the charges in an anime production started in hentai one way or another.
William Collins
>Russian proof chicken.png
Jose Brown
Just because you got a shitty happy Disney ending montage doesnt mean its a better story. Why does the source material get a free pass? Look how shitty dragonball became when they gave toryima full creative control of the show.
Thomas Ross
>Soul Eater Is that any good?
Julian Russell
I liked both but for different reasons, you have to be the biggest contrarian not enjoy Brotherhood at least
Josiah Cook
It was for me, yet I watched it like 10 years ago so dunno. The guy also work during golden years of Gintama, he's good at comedy. They also made a spin-off/sequel which everybody said it was horseshit so didn't bother to check that one.
Yes, I can enjoy Brotherhood. Sometimes. If I don't think about it for too long. Especially when the characters aren't just sitting around and expositing what's about to happen to us. It's the exact same way I can enjoy capeshit, or GoT, or other junk food spectacle media. My entertainment is purely superficial; I'm being stimulated by high-octane and "cool" moments and imagery instead of being truly fascinated or moved by the depiction of the thematic struggle between characters and ideas.
That's the difference here. Brotherhood is capeshit. 2003 is literature.
>2003: The philosopher's stone should not be weilded by anyone. No one's desires can ever be equal to the price of the human lives used to make it. Anyone who uses it will inevitably endure suffering by their own volition.
>fma:B: philosopher stone bad but like, we already kinda made it. Break me off a piece of that human suffering so I can run the country.
