Apr 06 2009
First Impressions: Full Metal Alchemist ~Brotherhood~ Episode 1
How dare you forget about me!
It has been a while since I’ve last seen the original Full Metal Alchemist series, and just watching this episode brings me back. A lot of familiar faces make their appearances and we’re thrown straight into the action even before we hit the second episode already. While it might seem a bit fast paced for those unfamiliar with the original story, it still does well to create the sense of urgency and mystery that pervaded the first series, with the standard ‘poking fun at Edward’s height’ gags making their long lost comeback.
Behold this Mace +5.
Even though the first episode is a filler in terms of where the story went in the original anime and manga productions, and the Ice Alchemist Isaac’s (whose power is rather cool I would like to admit) role merely fodder in the grander scheme of things to come, it still comes off as well produced, with an amiable plot and hints at the underlying secrets that we’ve seen before. The animation itself is as expected from a Bones production, high in quality, with the myriad of special effects quite masterfully done (the spinning Armstrong heads had me laughing at the absurdity of it). The facial expressions were also very detailed, and the changes in some of their moods from normal to insane (in Isaac’s case) make their characters that much more expressive.
Which one is the coolest?
I also particularly liked the opening. Yui’s ‘Again’ is quite catchy, fast paced and elicits quite the desperate feeling that reminisces of both Edward and Alphonse’s quests. It was a nice effect to have some parts of the song lip synchronized with the characters singing the words, and we got to see quite a number of recurring characters, with the Homunculi Greed, Envy, Lust and Gluttony making their debuts early on. Hohenheim’s appearance is rather unexpected though, which makes me wonder what sort of importance he’ll have in the first half of the story. The ending wasn’t as nice in comparison (’USO’ by Sid), being slower and more ‘pop’ (which isn’t my thing really), but it still have a nice feel to it. The animation for it is rather difference and consists of an interesting array of animated crayon drawings. Different but nice all the same.
Let’s spread the love XD
In any case, it’s a good beginning of a highly anticipated series, and I can’t say I’ve been disappointed so far. It’s pretty much as I would expect from FMA - action, comedy and a good mix of the supernatural and the dark secrets hiding in the closet. I just have a bone to pick with the random announcer who says ‘Full Metal Alchemist’ in English during eye-catch - it’s not just random, but sounds annoyingly like the beginning of an advert. On another note, King Bradley is simply awesome. On another further note, Roy Mustang sure is useless when he’s wet.
Opening~
Unfortunately, I was unable to find the ending due to it being removed from Youtube.
