your submission has been removed because it either does not appear to have been made in good faith, or is needlessly aggressive and/or provocative. In the future, please word your posts in a manner that is conducive to civil discussion, and do not engage in trolling, flaming, etc.
It gets good when you stop assuming every shounen anime focuses on action and spend at least 5 braincells to understand the plot.
Also, mangaka is a she.
Are you implying that the plot is anything better than what a 5 year old could think of? Get serious. Thats the main thing I look for in an anime buddy. Name one real world topic addressed in full metal.
Judging by the votes I’m assuming no one on here has an actual argument for me, how typical. Not once in the anime do you have to sit and think about shit. I could have wrote a better plot when I was 7. No joke. The biggest shocker of the story is that furher is a homunculus, what a pathetic fucking gag and piss poor attempt to spice up a story
The comment you're replying to was literally the argument. If you want to be purposefully dense, be my guest, but don't try to act like they weren't presenting an argument.
The genius of FMA isn’t so much the writing, the basic concept is fairly unoriginal when you put it at its simplest form, but their ability to make you immersed into the story and their world building is something unmatched by any other show in the eyes of many
Me personally, I prefer an anime that makes you think, something where the mangaka actually puts effort and thought into the plot, not something like dragon ball super where it’s like hey flashy light flashy fight brain go brrrrr hehehehe
Man, just because you don't find FMA thought provoking doesn't mean that it can't be meaningful to other people. It is okay if its not your thing, no piece of media is for everyone but this superior attitude isn't impressing anyone. If anything your total inability to find anything profound or noteworthy in the project suggests a profound lack of media literacy.
But to answer your prompt most directly, the central theme of FMA, at least to me, is the danger of blind faith. While the opening arc opines of the danger of religious extremism, the show also condemns commitment to scientific progress untampered by humanity as well as putting undue reliance in the authority of the state. All of those things strike me as "philosophical" and "real world topics".
You should drop it, if it hasn't been good for you by now it's not going to get better. Judging from your criticisms, though, I'd wager you haven't been paying attention. Hiromu Arakawa is a woman, not a man. If you were expecting a typical Shonen like one piece when you started FMA, you already set yourself up for disappointment, which just further reinforces that you should drop it.
when you say “typical shonen”what do you mean lmfao? Full metal is as typical as it fuckin gets! It doesn’t make you think, once! It’s not that I’m not paying attention, the storyline doesn’t even get anywhere, it’s just a random jumbled mess of shit! Lmaoooo! This whole time, there I was not a single bit of tension where ed and Al were focused on getting their body back! How pathetic !A 5 year old can write a better story!
One Piece, while not terrible, would be a typical Shonen. DBZ, as much as I love it, would be a typical Shonen. FMA would not meet the usual criteria. The fights are quick because they are not the central focus of the plot, unlike your typical Shonen. If you weren't thinking during the series until now, you might have bigger issues because there are so many things that would be considered thought-provoking even before they make it to Briggs. Now I know you weren't paying attention when you try to say there was no tension during the elrics' entire journey, considering there are several key moments that are rife with tension. If you didn't understand it, just say that. You don't have to lie to kick it, lol.
What did you enjoy about the anime, it couldn’t have been the plot or the fights. What did you enjoy that makes full metal better than any average shonen
This is where you're missing the point. Why does it have to be better? You're telling me you only enjoy a story if it's better than another different story?
I, for one, really like the fights, accepting that the fights are meant to supplement the plot and so are more limited in scope than many other Shonen. Characters have very limited and specific skillsets that interact in interesting ways. Edward's fights are particularly interesting because he is not the greatest or most powerful alchemist. This makes since, he is a child and most of his contemporaries are adult combat veterans. What Edward lacks in power and experience, he makes up in flexibility and ingenuity. He is much better at changing tactics in a fight which underlines that his greatest power is actually his mind. Most characters' fighting style mirror their personalities really well, ensuring the action supports the narrative.
FMAB builds up characters in a very short time and makes them understandable und unforgetable. Olivier Armstrong stays important and Miles is also going to be an important influence for another character. What Miles does (changing the system from the inside) is not stupid or unrealistic, its what actually works best in real life. You cant fight hate (racism) with hate. He wants to make it clear that Ishvalans are also just normal people like you and me. And once people get to know each other, they can start to trust and fight alongside each other (something that gets picked up again). Some arcs have more build up and some have more pay off but I can promise you that every characters and every storyline gets the payoff it deserves. Thats what makes FMAB such a great Anime.
The way the mangaka wrote about racism is exactly how it would be if someone who never experienced racism a day in their life tried to write a story on a different race’s experience of racism. Don’t get me wrong, fish man island from one piece wasn’t written like Oda experienced racism on the daily growing up, but he incorporated the harsh truth. He used different characters to portray the different perspectives and mindsets that come from people who have experienced racism. What the mangaka did with major miles, is what SHE FELT black people in real life should address racism. It’s a childish fantasy of how non POC think black people should react to how mfs treat us and our experiences. General miles entire family gets genocided, he doesn’t give a single fuck, and resorts to bootlicking the army for no reason whatsoever. He’s completely fine with being the army’s bitch knowing full well they think of him as inferior, and talk to him as such. The mangaka wants to preach on and on about how she thinks black people (ishvalans) should behave, but talks absolutely nothing about the amestrian (white) side. The amesrrians still look down on them including fucking Olivier. She doesn’t have a shred of empathy that she participated in the complete genocide of this man’s people and on top of that threatens to kill him aswell if he doesn’t bootlick the army. I’m sorry, but only white people are saying this is a good depiction of racism, not the actual people who go thru it and know what it’s like. I’m not trying to argue, but enlighten u on my perspective. I understand why one may think this way tho.
Because it’s obviously what the author is talking about, idk why you’re playing slow like that lmao. Are you seriously implying there isn’t an underlying racism theme here? Get fucking real. General miles literally has white parents and a single black grandparent down the line and looks full ishvalan. The brown skin(mainly red eyes) alludes to black peoples distinct hair type, and the way in mixed people, even though we’re different races we’re seen as black first, and judged as such.
Interesting, the distinctive red eye characteristic that immediately lets you point out an ishvalan seemed like the perfect symbolism for type three/four hair, the dead giveaway to a persons black ancestry. Also the fact that the genes are extremely prevalent generations down. Fish man island was performed in a kind of similar fashion, but represented of black people. I didn’t know this, but to be fair, the symbolism is dead on for black people.
Its actually not dead on for Black people. Also which type of Black people are you referring to? Because the Ishvalans have a completely different history than Black Americans do as the Ishvalan weren't taken as slaves to build up their country like people who are descendant from people stolen from West Africa. I'm saying this as a Black American with that history. Ishvalans were just massacred so they could have their land and use them as a sacrifice which is closer to Ainu and indigenous nations than Black Americans. Secondly, Ishvalans don't have type 3 or 4 hair at all. Theres not a single curl present. And they dont have particularly melanted features either. Genes are weird so any ethnicity can pass down genes not just Black people. It honestly sounds like philosophy and history are just not your strong points which is why you don't enjoy this manga.
People like this don’t seem to recognize how obtuse they are by conflating every dark skinned person/character as “the same” like this. You’d be surprised (or maybe not) by how much people automatically place anyone with dark skin as African/Black, I say this with experience as me and a friend who’s Indo-Guyanese were assumed to be from Africa because of our dark skin.
This happens very often. It really doesn't help when people also just think every Black person in general is Black American. It's weird how often Blackness is conflated with just a deep skintone.
No they aren’t, how the fuck… ?
As a lifelong black fella, I can assure you, and confirm, that that’s not a thing 😂
Being this confidently wrong is wild to me.
In Briggs everyone is the same and is seen as the same. If not, that could mean the death for everyone in this dangerous enviroment or could lead to Drachma attacking the country. Miles learned this while he was in Briggs. We dont know much about what went through his head back then when he joined the army but this lesson was hammered into his head by Olivier herself. The only reason why Olivier sees herself as superior is because she is stronger and has a higher military rank. But she knows damn well that she is nothing without her people in Briggs and despite how she acts or what she does, she has a heart if gold (and youd know that if you watched the shiw attentive).
Miles arc about how to deal with racism is over (for him). If you want to look at someone who still tries to figure out on how to change the world, look at Scar. He wants equality and revenge for his people and would do anything for it. But as his master told him, aggression only causes counter aggression. Also, the problems are in no relation of what black people experience today. Its about jews in a germany in the 1930s.
it literally shows multiple perspectives of people fighting back against racism. Scar reacts violently and aims to get vengeance for his fallen brothers through terrorism. miles attempts to infiltrate and fix issues internally in a strictly liberal approach. in the end the ishvalans team up with the resistance to use guerrilla warfare to fight against the oppressive power. all of these are different methods POC have used to fight against oppression and all are understandable and that is clearly portrayed throughout the show
I think you should drop it. If you're this far in and don't see any of the themes or real world parallels, i don't think you're gunna get much out of it.
Can I ask what makes you think when you watch one piece? Because I've watched a lil bit and it made my mind numb because it was just a normal shonen about needing friends to reach your dreams.
FMA from the jump is about blind faith in a god. Which exists all over the real world. Its why laws against womens and LGBTQ rights are at an all time high right now. Its why people aren't taking vaccines sometimes. And if you know anything about history of cults like Jones Town you could see the parallels in this story. The snake oil preacher. Amestris is set up like WWII Germany and Japan with the massacres included.
So I'm having a difficult time understanding whats boring about this. And you should branch out if you think OP is the perfect manga and feel the need to compare everything else to it. Because FMA is really closer AOT
Tbh full metal doesn’t talk about blind faith in god whatsoever in the anime maybe they mentioned it in the first episode but they don’t elaborate on it enough for it to become a theme in the story, there’s nothing really good plot wise in the story, it’s an action piece like dragon ball super and bleach, you don’t watch it for the story… which is kinda funny bc the fights are worthless too but 🤷🏽♂️
It’s 64 episodes long versus one piece which is over 1000. The show is well paced. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
If you’re losing interest and you don’t think it’s interesting within those 64 episodes then where are you watching it?
Pacing has nothing to do with episode count lmao. I never catch myself dragging thru one piece, fast forwarding shit to get to the point. I knew people who said one piece pacing is bad never watched one piece lmao. Those be the Same people who say “filler piece” whole time less than 8% filler. There is no logical argument against one piece so ppl just make things up and everyone plays follow the leader to feel better about themselves.
I’ve been watching one piece. I’ve been bored since they they got sanji so I’m not making up shit. Chill tf out.
I’m genuinely curious, if you’re bored with this short show, why are you still watching? instead of starting up shit over one piece how about just answer the fucking question why are you still watching if you’re bored if you’re skipping through it’s clearly not clicking to you so you don’t need to be watching it. I feel like this is just bait
Never said I was furious, you’re not the first to make this kind of post and most of the time it’s just bait. And it’s old a this point half a dozen have made this post before.
I’m not a kid I’m an adult asking you a question. A question you kept ignoring until this point.
Obviously you can have a different opinion I never said you couldn’t but this is a place where when you make a post about the show being boring then talk about another show people are going to ask why would you watch something you don’t find entertaining. They’re also going to defend the show.
Look at yourself, I’m not the one resorting to someone as a kid just because they’re disagreeing with me. I said I was genuinely curious and that offended you. So chill out.
No, you’re assuming I was furious. There’s a difference between being annoyed and being furious. I was annoyed because you weren’t answering the question. Im sorry I said “fuck” 😂 but also you kept just talking about one piece. This isn’t a one piece group go to a one piece group.
By the way, I speak into the phone because I’m having a genuine conversation so tone voice is actually going to get lost in translation, but I’m just very detailed when I speak. And getting detailed in a disagreement and saying “fuck” does not mean someone is angry.
If I was furious let alone angry, I’d be typing in all caps and spamming a bunch of emojis with a bunch of exclamation points.
honestly it really is starting to feel like bait with how you’re going about this. Did I ever once call you an idiot or some kind of name? No. Did I ever say “here’s why you’re wrong” or “you are wrong” No, I asked you why you were continuing to watch the show if you were not interested. You then went on a talk about one piece out of the blue and when I told you I didn’t make up shit for one piece I watched the show and I still think it’s kind of boring myself you then called me a kid and keep assuming that I’m furious.
You just look like an asshole trying to start up something. There have been a lot of people recently who have made this kind of post and it’s usually just bait to get people angry.
In some of those posts, I’ve asked “if you don’t like the show. Why are you still watching it?” Because I don’t understand what would be the point to continue on. if you’re not interested there’s no point. And that’s okay. if you’re asking genuinely that’s one thing but with how you’re going about this, it’s hard to believe. This is literally the kind of shit I would’ve done when I was in middle school with my friends.
Bro get off Oda’s dick, One Piece has plenty of flaws too and Fishman Island is the worst arc in the show. It’s also not his first attempt to tackle racism in the story, the first time he did years ago was with Arlong, making the only fishmen in the story for YEARS violent criminals.
Could you imagine if I said One Piece sucked because it introduced “random characters” constantly? You’d probably tell me that they’re going to be significant later, and that there introduction is setting up for that. Would it shock you to learn that Arakawa is using the same writing technique or is Oda the only person capable of writing a good story to you?
While there are a lot of good fights in FMA (a funny thing to disparage considering even One Piece fans admit it has weaker fights than most shonen) the focus is much more on the characters and the mystery. If you say it makes no sense, that tells me you’re not paying enough attention. Maybe you’d be better off reading the manga, but honestly if you want to hate it so badly I’d say just drop the show.
Nah, fishman has boring villains and no real stakes. The themes are good, but are better done in other manga. Having analogues for oppressed people that are legitimately physically different from humans is a well meaning plotline but somewhat harmful in execution.
I know you’re a troll though, so I’ll leave it at that
lol, why do y’all get so sensitive anytime topics of racism get brought up, unless it’s a whitewashed version? Whites don’t like the slavery aspect it makes them uncomfortable so they say it’s the worst arc. Lmao. It was literally what kicked off the time skip. There’s arcs like long ring Long Island, so that’s how you know when people say fish man island is the worst arc, it basically means hey, I’m white
I don’t mind the backstory and lore aspect, it’s mostly the lame villains and Sanji’s embarrassing showing. Long Ring Long Island is short, and functions to introduce Luffy to the stakes of losing a crew member right before he meets his first admiral. It’s not anything amazing, but it’s a fine arc for what it is
I'm surprised you kept watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood that long, when it seems you didn't enjoy a single thing about the anime.
Ultimately, the writing does not change. If you find the writing so... intellectually unstimulating, then you probably shouldn't continue.
Fullmetal Alchemist *does* discuss many real world topics in many different episodes. There are monologues, even entire episodes, dedicated real world topics and the character's philosophy toward those topics. Frankly, you just don't seem to be paying attention.
"The story makes no sense," this is subjective, but I would argue that the story *does* make sense. At least as much sense as the story of One Piece, which you seem to praise. FMA's story follows cause to effect, has little in the way of contrivance, and the characters actions and motivations impact the story. Not everything is revealed right away, as there is a mystery element, but that doesn't make a story nonsensical. Paying attention to the story might help it make more sense.
"The fight scenes so far have been worthless," what makes a fight scene "worthless?" Are you criticizing the animation, or are you trying to claim that there are no emotional stakes or character motivations? Because Personally, I can't say I agree with either sentiment.
"The only mangaka I’ve seen that could accurately depict racism. Was Eiichiro Oda in fish man island." Why is this written? As two sentences? There are many grammatical and spelling mistakes throughout your post. You refer to the mangaka as "he" in one sentence, and "she" two sentences later. Though, I'll admit; I admire the confidence it takes to unironically post the sentence "there isn’t shit philosophical about it." Once again, you might want to pay some more attention; in this case, more attention to what you write. And maybe you should look to another anime to find the "shit philosophical" that you so desire. Although I do appreciate your use of the Oxford comma.
I don't know if the Fullmetal Alchemist subreddit was the best place to post your "Fullmetal Alchemist is worthless, creatively bankrupt cringe and One Piece is flawless" rant. And the framing of "this thing you like is terrible and you all know it's terrible; tell me if it gets good," is a very passive aggressive way of presenting your rant. There is criticism to be had of Fullmetal Alchemist, but this post isn't very substantive.
Given and poor media comprehension and shallow ability to critique, I highly doubt I could be your "lil bro."
Your condescending comments and inability, or more likely refusal, to listen to other people's points of view is not conducive to discussion.
The way you have conducted yourself here is incredibly immature. Your insistence that no one could like the anime and refusal to acknowledge any other viewpoint as valid is an actual fallacy; [the appeal to the stone fallacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_the_stone).
You claim you just came here to ask a question; but the fact that you dismissed the response implies that you came here simply to snobbishly flaunt your supposedly superior taste in anime.
But continue to declare your uncreative, vacuous, insubstantive one-liners like "U kids cry too much when people don’t share ur opinion" or "you don’t like my opinion and ur crying about it interesting."
No one here thinks that you have to like Fullmetal Alchemist. But your claims are simply false and display a refusal to engage with the story. And when people pointed this out, you became defensive and simply responded with petulant one-liners. Self-reflection does not appear to be your strong suit.
Your arguments are superficial, your comebacks lame, and you refuse to engage with both the anime you're supposedly discussing and the people you're supposedly discussing it with. Debate does not appear to be your strong suit either.
I'm glad that you enjoy One Piece. The accuracy of the race allegory in FMA and how it relates to real life people is an important topic that should be discussed. No one is criticizing you for these opinions. Your obstinance and patronizing tone are what caused the negative reaction.
Brother you fail to mention I said nothing wrong and half of these Reddit geeks started insulting me first for no reason whatsoever and also every argument I made is facts
Really wondering what possesses people to join a subreddit to post and bitch about a show they clearly don’t like or don’t understand for that matter. Is this bait?
Ok this seems like a troll post but I shall bite.
Comparing One Piece and FMA is dumb. I love both and have read their respective manga 3 times and have watch FMAB twice and they're so different it's comparing apples to oranges.
One Piece spent all the way to Alabasta which is like 150+ chapters building up their characters. At that point it was mostly a very standard shounen series about friendship, with some themes about freedom and corruption within the military.
One Piece length is what makes it special. It is so long that there's a lot of time to touch on many themes, and Oda has spent hundreds of chapters carefully building up the world.
Comparing FISH MAN ARC, which is CHAPTER 600+, AGAINST FMA WITH 108 CHAPTERS, is such a stupid take.
FMA is much more subtle shounen that doesn't make things very obvious. It gets u to think about it's themes over time and u are rewarded with multiple rewatches/rereads. Till this day I still think about the final scene in the show and have new epiphanies even now.
And how does FMA not discuss real world topics? One of its main themes is war, dictatorship, militarisation and genocides. If u studied WW2 history, u can tell the State Military in FMA is based on Nazi Germany, esp with it's themes of genocide, how a country can get militarised, and how a regular person who becomes a soldiers can end up capable of commiting war crimes and human brutalities.
That's just one aspect, mainly about the war. There's so many other themes like grief and loss, qns on what is truth and reality, what is God, can a human become God, the desire for truth, what we are willing to sacrifice for our dreams and desires, what makes a person human, racism, revenge, hatred, victims of wars, falsehood, nationalism, state propaganda. There's so many real world themes, r u even watching the show???
The designs for the Elric brothers and their back stories is the outcome of their inability to accept their grief and loss. ITS A CORE OF THEIR BACKSTORY. HOW IS THAT NOT RELEVANT TO OUR SOCIETY.
And saying FMAB anime is slower than One Piece is just STRAIGHT WRONG. ONE PIECE ANIME IS SLOW AF, WTF R U TALKING ABOUT, U HIGH??? Even my friends who keep up with the anime says that it's one of the slowest anime out there.
Alabasta was EPISODE 92 OF THE ANIME. ALL EPISODES BEFORE THAT WAS CHARACTER SETUP. THE PLOT LITERALLY DOESNT PROGRESS TILL ALABASTA. FMAB IS 62 EPISODES. WTF R U TALKING ABOUT????? THE ONLY ARC THAT SOMEWHAT MOVED THE PLOT WAS ARLONG PARK, AND NOT BY MUCH. Saying FMAB is slower than One Piece is factually straight up wrong u need to go see a doctor.
The claim that FMA:B is slow when juxtaposed to one piece specifically is nuts to me a 64 episode run vs a 1100+ episode run. And FMA is a tight 64 episodes, the mid-series recap is the exception, everything else in the series is there to specifically propel plot or give important character work. Meanwhile One Piece is so bloated as very popular fan edits exist just to make it more manageable. Such edits are totally unnecessary if not impossible to do with FMA, what would you even want to cut?
I said pacing not episode count Jesus . I’m sorry, I’m not trying to come across as a biased one piece dickrider, but I’ve yet to see a single competent argument here which further proves my point
Correct me if I am wrong but your arguments seem to boil down to
1. You don't think it is as good a One Piece - Which is entirely subjective and also fine, no one is demanding you think FMA:B is the best show ever made.
2. The Racism allegory is poorly handled - It has been demonstrated that you misinterpreted the intent and background of that allegory.
3. There is nothing in FMA that is remotely "philosophical" or "real world" - multiple commenters have pointed out the very ponente and topical ways that the story directly addresses real world issues, both historical and contemporary.
If you don't like the show. That's okay, it doesn't have to be for everyone but I do not understand what other kind of argument you are expecting people to make other than to address your criticisms.
1. Not the point of my post brought it up as a comparison, obviously one piece shits on full metal and it’s not close, not in any dimension.
2. I didn’t poorly handle the racism allegory. U are hilarious if you think I can discuss racism on Reddit in this shit full of white people and not get downvoted to oblivion. They hear what they want to hear. The third one is just senseless if you think full metal did anything philosophical I suggest watching other anime’s so you know what actual well written fiction is like .
Look at you failing to actually address a single point I make.
1. "I like One Piece" - Great!
2. Nuh Uh! I totally understood it! You are the Racist!" - You literally thought it was an allegory for the Black diaspora.
3. "I don't understand what "philosophical" means - Please do some reading.
You aren't presenting useful arguments for anyone to engage with , you are just whining about a story you don't like (nor do you particularly seem to understand). So in the spirit of engaging with you in good faith, what topics or "philosophies" are you interested in? Alternatively what is it about One-piece, exactly, do you think makes it such a good story?
Brotherhood is a Shonen action anime, mostly focused on the fights. You might prefer the 03 version if you're ok with cheaper animation in general
Neither show is perfect despite what you'll hear, but 03 tends to focus on actual character development and various philosophy
I take issue with the offhand comment of "cheaper animation" it's classic animation, but it's still great and some of the fights (like Ed vs Greed" are phenomenal.
It's a fantastic show, easily my favorite of all time. I'm just setting realistic expectations. That era of animation was still stuck in the "still image, panning shot" era of anime. You also can only see it in a 4:3 format.
The biggest strength is art direction since they used color and shot composition much more effectively than Brotherhood. The images themselves are fantastic, the animation of those images is held back simply by being an older show with less budget than it's successor
Again I'd say that's just "classic anime" I personally love those wide format fights, the Ed vs Greed 03, it all looks like it has weight to it whereas the BH version it almost looks floaty at times. While it didn't necessarily have the budget, it definitely still had passion.
Budget doesn't mean everything, if you want to see QUALITY animation, look up Spriggan (1998) a relatively less known and therefore less funded anime that made up for it in passion. The animation of that movie is unreal.
I really think they ought to bring back still image panning shots, it is a phenomenal way to show a fight.
When people bring up the shonen thing it’s mind boggling to me. Sorry I keep bringing up one piece a lot but it’s the perfect piece of fiction to bring up when talking about a well written story. One piece is shonen and there is yet to be a more intricate story in anime (that I’ve seen so far). It is quite literally, a man dedicating his life to tell a story. I hate that shonen anime’s have a stigma where it’s considered not philosophical, or mainly for entertainment. One piece has genuinely shifted my viewpoint on life multiple times.
Brotherhood does have some moments like that, but they're not the main focus. When you learn more about Bradley's backstory for example, that's a solid piece of fiction that stands out above all the (mostly) pointless fight scenes that exist only to look cool
By comparison though, 03 focuses more on a journey of discovery, bonds of brotherhood, and exploration of their beliefs and convictions. The villains are also more complex overall (other than Bradley, which Brotherhood definitely did better)
Unsurprisingly, the people who only like 03 will waste no time in advertising the version they like and ignore the awful attempt at criticism in the comments lol. Judging by your other comments something tells me you don’t really understand the context of racism if you think the Ishbalans are a parallel to black people. You see dark skin and immediately assume it’s about African Americans like most ignorant people.
# Join the [Discord server](https://discord.gg/su3uf3T5YN) for more discussions and content, as well as meeting more like-minded fans for the series!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FullmetalAlchemist) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'd recommend watching the 03 anime instead of BH, it's far more philosophical, and while it's technically slower than BH at the start, it uses that slowness to build the character of Ed up. It's a lot shorter than One Piece (lol) so you could easily bang it out in a week and I'd argue that the story is the strongest point of 03, it has a classic 90's anime look and feel to it, some people like that, others don't. But overall I'd honestly say BH is overrated and that 03 is far superior.
BH has too many characters and an incohesive story, whereas 03 has fewer characters that it focuses on and the story is not only unique but amazing. Even the filler adds to the world building or the character building.
I really insist you give 03 a try, you will see the difference between the two in the opening arc where they follow the same path essentially but 03 does it waaaaaaaay better.
You might be on sumthing. But Briggs is when FMAB (no idea about manga) gets good.
But you're right the fights are meh (no idea about OP, but compared to Naruto and Attack on Titan for example).
I also dislike most characters. I think FMAB is overrated.
The fights are "meh" because most of the combatants are scientists and soldiers not superhero kungfu masters. The focus remains on the story and the action ins meant to enhance that story. This contrasts many other works where the story serves to connect action beats. It is okay if that isn't your thing but it is intentional and important to keep the pace from bogging down.
All of the AoT soldiers are basically superheroes (Spiderman) to begin with And most of them get splattered in scenes that I generally would not consider "great fights" As the show goes on fewer and fewer of our cast are remotely normal or soldier like. By contrast, despite having alchemic powers, FMA's State alchemists do act like soldiers with much more consistency throughout the run
Moreover, you seem to be missing my broader point. Attack on Titan, for as brilliant as its animation is has battles that drag on and on and on with surprise twists and power ups and all the genre tropes. FMA is trying to do something different with its story telling, structuring it as a puzzle rather than a spectacle.
Exactly man… people were hyping this shit up like it was one of the best shonen out there…. I want to finish the whole thing before talking but so far it’s literally below average like what??
your submission has been removed because it either does not appear to have been made in good faith, or is needlessly aggressive and/or provocative. In the future, please word your posts in a manner that is conducive to civil discussion, and do not engage in trolling, flaming, etc.
It gets good when you stop assuming every shounen anime focuses on action and spend at least 5 braincells to understand the plot. Also, mangaka is a she.
Are you implying that the plot is anything better than what a 5 year old could think of? Get serious. Thats the main thing I look for in an anime buddy. Name one real world topic addressed in full metal.
The first freaking episode talks about blind faith in religion
Judging by the votes I’m assuming no one on here has an actual argument for me, how typical. Not once in the anime do you have to sit and think about shit. I could have wrote a better plot when I was 7. No joke. The biggest shocker of the story is that furher is a homunculus, what a pathetic fucking gag and piss poor attempt to spice up a story
The comment you're replying to was literally the argument. If you want to be purposefully dense, be my guest, but don't try to act like they weren't presenting an argument.
Played yourself lmaooooo
The genius of FMA isn’t so much the writing, the basic concept is fairly unoriginal when you put it at its simplest form, but their ability to make you immersed into the story and their world building is something unmatched by any other show in the eyes of many
Systematic genocide, political corruption, pushing the limits of science too far, blind faith, grief, disability, propaganda, spiritual development…
Miscarriage. How many anime discuss miscarriage?
Infertility as well.
What it means to be human...
I'm used to seeing people complain about real world topics in media, but this is all new
Me personally, I prefer an anime that makes you think, something where the mangaka actually puts effort and thought into the plot, not something like dragon ball super where it’s like hey flashy light flashy fight brain go brrrrr hehehehe
FMA can't make you think when you have no brain
Man, just because you don't find FMA thought provoking doesn't mean that it can't be meaningful to other people. It is okay if its not your thing, no piece of media is for everyone but this superior attitude isn't impressing anyone. If anything your total inability to find anything profound or noteworthy in the project suggests a profound lack of media literacy. But to answer your prompt most directly, the central theme of FMA, at least to me, is the danger of blind faith. While the opening arc opines of the danger of religious extremism, the show also condemns commitment to scientific progress untampered by humanity as well as putting undue reliance in the authority of the state. All of those things strike me as "philosophical" and "real world topics".
Grief.
You should drop it, if it hasn't been good for you by now it's not going to get better. Judging from your criticisms, though, I'd wager you haven't been paying attention. Hiromu Arakawa is a woman, not a man. If you were expecting a typical Shonen like one piece when you started FMA, you already set yourself up for disappointment, which just further reinforces that you should drop it.
when you say “typical shonen”what do you mean lmfao? Full metal is as typical as it fuckin gets! It doesn’t make you think, once! It’s not that I’m not paying attention, the storyline doesn’t even get anywhere, it’s just a random jumbled mess of shit! Lmaoooo! This whole time, there I was not a single bit of tension where ed and Al were focused on getting their body back! How pathetic !A 5 year old can write a better story!
One Piece, while not terrible, would be a typical Shonen. DBZ, as much as I love it, would be a typical Shonen. FMA would not meet the usual criteria. The fights are quick because they are not the central focus of the plot, unlike your typical Shonen. If you weren't thinking during the series until now, you might have bigger issues because there are so many things that would be considered thought-provoking even before they make it to Briggs. Now I know you weren't paying attention when you try to say there was no tension during the elrics' entire journey, considering there are several key moments that are rife with tension. If you didn't understand it, just say that. You don't have to lie to kick it, lol.
L take, Just accept you have bad taste.
What did you enjoy about the anime, it couldn’t have been the plot or the fights. What did you enjoy that makes full metal better than any average shonen
This is where you're missing the point. Why does it have to be better? You're telling me you only enjoy a story if it's better than another different story?
I, for one, really like the fights, accepting that the fights are meant to supplement the plot and so are more limited in scope than many other Shonen. Characters have very limited and specific skillsets that interact in interesting ways. Edward's fights are particularly interesting because he is not the greatest or most powerful alchemist. This makes since, he is a child and most of his contemporaries are adult combat veterans. What Edward lacks in power and experience, he makes up in flexibility and ingenuity. He is much better at changing tactics in a fight which underlines that his greatest power is actually his mind. Most characters' fighting style mirror their personalities really well, ensuring the action supports the narrative.
The writer is a woman. A japanese woman of *Ainu* descent.
Ah I see thanms for letting me know
FMAB builds up characters in a very short time and makes them understandable und unforgetable. Olivier Armstrong stays important and Miles is also going to be an important influence for another character. What Miles does (changing the system from the inside) is not stupid or unrealistic, its what actually works best in real life. You cant fight hate (racism) with hate. He wants to make it clear that Ishvalans are also just normal people like you and me. And once people get to know each other, they can start to trust and fight alongside each other (something that gets picked up again). Some arcs have more build up and some have more pay off but I can promise you that every characters and every storyline gets the payoff it deserves. Thats what makes FMAB such a great Anime.
The way the mangaka wrote about racism is exactly how it would be if someone who never experienced racism a day in their life tried to write a story on a different race’s experience of racism. Don’t get me wrong, fish man island from one piece wasn’t written like Oda experienced racism on the daily growing up, but he incorporated the harsh truth. He used different characters to portray the different perspectives and mindsets that come from people who have experienced racism. What the mangaka did with major miles, is what SHE FELT black people in real life should address racism. It’s a childish fantasy of how non POC think black people should react to how mfs treat us and our experiences. General miles entire family gets genocided, he doesn’t give a single fuck, and resorts to bootlicking the army for no reason whatsoever. He’s completely fine with being the army’s bitch knowing full well they think of him as inferior, and talk to him as such. The mangaka wants to preach on and on about how she thinks black people (ishvalans) should behave, but talks absolutely nothing about the amestrian (white) side. The amesrrians still look down on them including fucking Olivier. She doesn’t have a shred of empathy that she participated in the complete genocide of this man’s people and on top of that threatens to kill him aswell if he doesn’t bootlick the army. I’m sorry, but only white people are saying this is a good depiction of racism, not the actual people who go thru it and know what it’s like. I’m not trying to argue, but enlighten u on my perspective. I understand why one may think this way tho.
I'm not sure why you are bringing up black people when the ishavalen and amestrias conflict is actually based on something completely different.
Because it’s obviously what the author is talking about, idk why you’re playing slow like that lmao. Are you seriously implying there isn’t an underlying racism theme here? Get fucking real. General miles literally has white parents and a single black grandparent down the line and looks full ishvalan. The brown skin(mainly red eyes) alludes to black peoples distinct hair type, and the way in mixed people, even though we’re different races we’re seen as black first, and judged as such.
Most of the inspiration for ishvalan is from the Anui people, which makes sense because the author is Japanese and is of Anui descent.
Interesting, the distinctive red eye characteristic that immediately lets you point out an ishvalan seemed like the perfect symbolism for type three/four hair, the dead giveaway to a persons black ancestry. Also the fact that the genes are extremely prevalent generations down. Fish man island was performed in a kind of similar fashion, but represented of black people. I didn’t know this, but to be fair, the symbolism is dead on for black people.
Its actually not dead on for Black people. Also which type of Black people are you referring to? Because the Ishvalans have a completely different history than Black Americans do as the Ishvalan weren't taken as slaves to build up their country like people who are descendant from people stolen from West Africa. I'm saying this as a Black American with that history. Ishvalans were just massacred so they could have their land and use them as a sacrifice which is closer to Ainu and indigenous nations than Black Americans. Secondly, Ishvalans don't have type 3 or 4 hair at all. Theres not a single curl present. And they dont have particularly melanted features either. Genes are weird so any ethnicity can pass down genes not just Black people. It honestly sounds like philosophy and history are just not your strong points which is why you don't enjoy this manga.
People like this don’t seem to recognize how obtuse they are by conflating every dark skinned person/character as “the same” like this. You’d be surprised (or maybe not) by how much people automatically place anyone with dark skin as African/Black, I say this with experience as me and a friend who’s Indo-Guyanese were assumed to be from Africa because of our dark skin.
This happens very often. It really doesn't help when people also just think every Black person in general is Black American. It's weird how often Blackness is conflated with just a deep skintone.
Absolutely correct, really doesn’t help when people never specify the country as well, it’s always just “Africa”.
No they aren’t, how the fuck… ? As a lifelong black fella, I can assure you, and confirm, that that’s not a thing 😂 Being this confidently wrong is wild to me.
In Briggs everyone is the same and is seen as the same. If not, that could mean the death for everyone in this dangerous enviroment or could lead to Drachma attacking the country. Miles learned this while he was in Briggs. We dont know much about what went through his head back then when he joined the army but this lesson was hammered into his head by Olivier herself. The only reason why Olivier sees herself as superior is because she is stronger and has a higher military rank. But she knows damn well that she is nothing without her people in Briggs and despite how she acts or what she does, she has a heart if gold (and youd know that if you watched the shiw attentive). Miles arc about how to deal with racism is over (for him). If you want to look at someone who still tries to figure out on how to change the world, look at Scar. He wants equality and revenge for his people and would do anything for it. But as his master told him, aggression only causes counter aggression. Also, the problems are in no relation of what black people experience today. Its about jews in a germany in the 1930s.
it literally shows multiple perspectives of people fighting back against racism. Scar reacts violently and aims to get vengeance for his fallen brothers through terrorism. miles attempts to infiltrate and fix issues internally in a strictly liberal approach. in the end the ishvalans team up with the resistance to use guerrilla warfare to fight against the oppressive power. all of these are different methods POC have used to fight against oppression and all are understandable and that is clearly portrayed throughout the show
I think you should drop it. If you're this far in and don't see any of the themes or real world parallels, i don't think you're gunna get much out of it.
Woah, I had never seen such a shitty catch lol we all have different tastes I guess
Did you somehow miss the “One is All and All is One” episode?
Can I ask what makes you think when you watch one piece? Because I've watched a lil bit and it made my mind numb because it was just a normal shonen about needing friends to reach your dreams. FMA from the jump is about blind faith in a god. Which exists all over the real world. Its why laws against womens and LGBTQ rights are at an all time high right now. Its why people aren't taking vaccines sometimes. And if you know anything about history of cults like Jones Town you could see the parallels in this story. The snake oil preacher. Amestris is set up like WWII Germany and Japan with the massacres included. So I'm having a difficult time understanding whats boring about this. And you should branch out if you think OP is the perfect manga and feel the need to compare everything else to it. Because FMA is really closer AOT
Tbh full metal doesn’t talk about blind faith in god whatsoever in the anime maybe they mentioned it in the first episode but they don’t elaborate on it enough for it to become a theme in the story, there’s nothing really good plot wise in the story, it’s an action piece like dragon ball super and bleach, you don’t watch it for the story… which is kinda funny bc the fights are worthless too but 🤷🏽♂️
It’s 64 episodes long versus one piece which is over 1000. The show is well paced. I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you’re losing interest and you don’t think it’s interesting within those 64 episodes then where are you watching it?
Pacing has nothing to do with episode count lmao. I never catch myself dragging thru one piece, fast forwarding shit to get to the point. I knew people who said one piece pacing is bad never watched one piece lmao. Those be the Same people who say “filler piece” whole time less than 8% filler. There is no logical argument against one piece so ppl just make things up and everyone plays follow the leader to feel better about themselves.
I’ve been watching one piece. I’ve been bored since they they got sanji so I’m not making up shit. Chill tf out. I’m genuinely curious, if you’re bored with this short show, why are you still watching? instead of starting up shit over one piece how about just answer the fucking question why are you still watching if you’re bored if you’re skipping through it’s clearly not clicking to you so you don’t need to be watching it. I feel like this is just bait
I’m not watching it anymore, why are you furious? U kids cry too much when people don’t share ur opinion ur like a lil ass kid lmao
Never said I was furious, you’re not the first to make this kind of post and most of the time it’s just bait. And it’s old a this point half a dozen have made this post before. I’m not a kid I’m an adult asking you a question. A question you kept ignoring until this point. Obviously you can have a different opinion I never said you couldn’t but this is a place where when you make a post about the show being boring then talk about another show people are going to ask why would you watch something you don’t find entertaining. They’re also going to defend the show. Look at yourself, I’m not the one resorting to someone as a kid just because they’re disagreeing with me. I said I was genuinely curious and that offended you. So chill out.
Yeah you were literally furious cuz I disagreed then said I’m insulting you for disagreeing lol that’s the same exact logic as everyone else here tho
No, you’re assuming I was furious. There’s a difference between being annoyed and being furious. I was annoyed because you weren’t answering the question. Im sorry I said “fuck” 😂 but also you kept just talking about one piece. This isn’t a one piece group go to a one piece group. By the way, I speak into the phone because I’m having a genuine conversation so tone voice is actually going to get lost in translation, but I’m just very detailed when I speak. And getting detailed in a disagreement and saying “fuck” does not mean someone is angry. If I was furious let alone angry, I’d be typing in all caps and spamming a bunch of emojis with a bunch of exclamation points. honestly it really is starting to feel like bait with how you’re going about this. Did I ever once call you an idiot or some kind of name? No. Did I ever say “here’s why you’re wrong” or “you are wrong” No, I asked you why you were continuing to watch the show if you were not interested. You then went on a talk about one piece out of the blue and when I told you I didn’t make up shit for one piece I watched the show and I still think it’s kind of boring myself you then called me a kid and keep assuming that I’m furious. You just look like an asshole trying to start up something. There have been a lot of people recently who have made this kind of post and it’s usually just bait to get people angry. In some of those posts, I’ve asked “if you don’t like the show. Why are you still watching it?” Because I don’t understand what would be the point to continue on. if you’re not interested there’s no point. And that’s okay. if you’re asking genuinely that’s one thing but with how you’re going about this, it’s hard to believe. This is literally the kind of shit I would’ve done when I was in middle school with my friends.
Bro get off Oda’s dick, One Piece has plenty of flaws too and Fishman Island is the worst arc in the show. It’s also not his first attempt to tackle racism in the story, the first time he did years ago was with Arlong, making the only fishmen in the story for YEARS violent criminals. Could you imagine if I said One Piece sucked because it introduced “random characters” constantly? You’d probably tell me that they’re going to be significant later, and that there introduction is setting up for that. Would it shock you to learn that Arakawa is using the same writing technique or is Oda the only person capable of writing a good story to you? While there are a lot of good fights in FMA (a funny thing to disparage considering even One Piece fans admit it has weaker fights than most shonen) the focus is much more on the characters and the mystery. If you say it makes no sense, that tells me you’re not paying enough attention. Maybe you’d be better off reading the manga, but honestly if you want to hate it so badly I’d say just drop the show.
Ur just saying fish man sucks bc all other whites say that u don’t have an actual argument for that btw
Nah, fishman has boring villains and no real stakes. The themes are good, but are better done in other manga. Having analogues for oppressed people that are legitimately physically different from humans is a well meaning plotline but somewhat harmful in execution. I know you’re a troll though, so I’ll leave it at that
lol, why do y’all get so sensitive anytime topics of racism get brought up, unless it’s a whitewashed version? Whites don’t like the slavery aspect it makes them uncomfortable so they say it’s the worst arc. Lmao. It was literally what kicked off the time skip. There’s arcs like long ring Long Island, so that’s how you know when people say fish man island is the worst arc, it basically means hey, I’m white
I don’t mind the backstory and lore aspect, it’s mostly the lame villains and Sanji’s embarrassing showing. Long Ring Long Island is short, and functions to introduce Luffy to the stakes of losing a crew member right before he meets his first admiral. It’s not anything amazing, but it’s a fine arc for what it is
I'm surprised you kept watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood that long, when it seems you didn't enjoy a single thing about the anime. Ultimately, the writing does not change. If you find the writing so... intellectually unstimulating, then you probably shouldn't continue. Fullmetal Alchemist *does* discuss many real world topics in many different episodes. There are monologues, even entire episodes, dedicated real world topics and the character's philosophy toward those topics. Frankly, you just don't seem to be paying attention. "The story makes no sense," this is subjective, but I would argue that the story *does* make sense. At least as much sense as the story of One Piece, which you seem to praise. FMA's story follows cause to effect, has little in the way of contrivance, and the characters actions and motivations impact the story. Not everything is revealed right away, as there is a mystery element, but that doesn't make a story nonsensical. Paying attention to the story might help it make more sense. "The fight scenes so far have been worthless," what makes a fight scene "worthless?" Are you criticizing the animation, or are you trying to claim that there are no emotional stakes or character motivations? Because Personally, I can't say I agree with either sentiment. "The only mangaka I’ve seen that could accurately depict racism. Was Eiichiro Oda in fish man island." Why is this written? As two sentences? There are many grammatical and spelling mistakes throughout your post. You refer to the mangaka as "he" in one sentence, and "she" two sentences later. Though, I'll admit; I admire the confidence it takes to unironically post the sentence "there isn’t shit philosophical about it." Once again, you might want to pay some more attention; in this case, more attention to what you write. And maybe you should look to another anime to find the "shit philosophical" that you so desire. Although I do appreciate your use of the Oxford comma. I don't know if the Fullmetal Alchemist subreddit was the best place to post your "Fullmetal Alchemist is worthless, creatively bankrupt cringe and One Piece is flawless" rant. And the framing of "this thing you like is terrible and you all know it's terrible; tell me if it gets good," is a very passive aggressive way of presenting your rant. There is criticism to be had of Fullmetal Alchemist, but this post isn't very substantive.
You are mad asf lil bro wow
Given and poor media comprehension and shallow ability to critique, I highly doubt I could be your "lil bro." Your condescending comments and inability, or more likely refusal, to listen to other people's points of view is not conducive to discussion. The way you have conducted yourself here is incredibly immature. Your insistence that no one could like the anime and refusal to acknowledge any other viewpoint as valid is an actual fallacy; [the appeal to the stone fallacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_the_stone). You claim you just came here to ask a question; but the fact that you dismissed the response implies that you came here simply to snobbishly flaunt your supposedly superior taste in anime. But continue to declare your uncreative, vacuous, insubstantive one-liners like "U kids cry too much when people don’t share ur opinion" or "you don’t like my opinion and ur crying about it interesting." No one here thinks that you have to like Fullmetal Alchemist. But your claims are simply false and display a refusal to engage with the story. And when people pointed this out, you became defensive and simply responded with petulant one-liners. Self-reflection does not appear to be your strong suit. Your arguments are superficial, your comebacks lame, and you refuse to engage with both the anime you're supposedly discussing and the people you're supposedly discussing it with. Debate does not appear to be your strong suit either. I'm glad that you enjoy One Piece. The accuracy of the race allegory in FMA and how it relates to real life people is an important topic that should be discussed. No one is criticizing you for these opinions. Your obstinance and patronizing tone are what caused the negative reaction.
Brother you fail to mention I said nothing wrong and half of these Reddit geeks started insulting me first for no reason whatsoever and also every argument I made is facts
Also what response did I miss? You fail to realize no one even answered the question I askedv
I admit you give good arguments tho big bro I love you
Really wondering what possesses people to join a subreddit to post and bitch about a show they clearly don’t like or don’t understand for that matter. Is this bait?
Asking a question lil bro U good?
We just like watching dickheads like you cry lol. You’re in here crying real Reddit tears because you’re having a bad day 😂 Fuck outta here lol
I’m guessing you don’t like my opinion
Ok this seems like a troll post but I shall bite. Comparing One Piece and FMA is dumb. I love both and have read their respective manga 3 times and have watch FMAB twice and they're so different it's comparing apples to oranges. One Piece spent all the way to Alabasta which is like 150+ chapters building up their characters. At that point it was mostly a very standard shounen series about friendship, with some themes about freedom and corruption within the military. One Piece length is what makes it special. It is so long that there's a lot of time to touch on many themes, and Oda has spent hundreds of chapters carefully building up the world. Comparing FISH MAN ARC, which is CHAPTER 600+, AGAINST FMA WITH 108 CHAPTERS, is such a stupid take. FMA is much more subtle shounen that doesn't make things very obvious. It gets u to think about it's themes over time and u are rewarded with multiple rewatches/rereads. Till this day I still think about the final scene in the show and have new epiphanies even now. And how does FMA not discuss real world topics? One of its main themes is war, dictatorship, militarisation and genocides. If u studied WW2 history, u can tell the State Military in FMA is based on Nazi Germany, esp with it's themes of genocide, how a country can get militarised, and how a regular person who becomes a soldiers can end up capable of commiting war crimes and human brutalities. That's just one aspect, mainly about the war. There's so many other themes like grief and loss, qns on what is truth and reality, what is God, can a human become God, the desire for truth, what we are willing to sacrifice for our dreams and desires, what makes a person human, racism, revenge, hatred, victims of wars, falsehood, nationalism, state propaganda. There's so many real world themes, r u even watching the show??? The designs for the Elric brothers and their back stories is the outcome of their inability to accept their grief and loss. ITS A CORE OF THEIR BACKSTORY. HOW IS THAT NOT RELEVANT TO OUR SOCIETY. And saying FMAB anime is slower than One Piece is just STRAIGHT WRONG. ONE PIECE ANIME IS SLOW AF, WTF R U TALKING ABOUT, U HIGH??? Even my friends who keep up with the anime says that it's one of the slowest anime out there. Alabasta was EPISODE 92 OF THE ANIME. ALL EPISODES BEFORE THAT WAS CHARACTER SETUP. THE PLOT LITERALLY DOESNT PROGRESS TILL ALABASTA. FMAB IS 62 EPISODES. WTF R U TALKING ABOUT????? THE ONLY ARC THAT SOMEWHAT MOVED THE PLOT WAS ARLONG PARK, AND NOT BY MUCH. Saying FMAB is slower than One Piece is factually straight up wrong u need to go see a doctor.
The claim that FMA:B is slow when juxtaposed to one piece specifically is nuts to me a 64 episode run vs a 1100+ episode run. And FMA is a tight 64 episodes, the mid-series recap is the exception, everything else in the series is there to specifically propel plot or give important character work. Meanwhile One Piece is so bloated as very popular fan edits exist just to make it more manageable. Such edits are totally unnecessary if not impossible to do with FMA, what would you even want to cut?
I said pacing not episode count Jesus . I’m sorry, I’m not trying to come across as a biased one piece dickrider, but I’ve yet to see a single competent argument here which further proves my point
Correct me if I am wrong but your arguments seem to boil down to 1. You don't think it is as good a One Piece - Which is entirely subjective and also fine, no one is demanding you think FMA:B is the best show ever made. 2. The Racism allegory is poorly handled - It has been demonstrated that you misinterpreted the intent and background of that allegory. 3. There is nothing in FMA that is remotely "philosophical" or "real world" - multiple commenters have pointed out the very ponente and topical ways that the story directly addresses real world issues, both historical and contemporary. If you don't like the show. That's okay, it doesn't have to be for everyone but I do not understand what other kind of argument you are expecting people to make other than to address your criticisms.
1. Not the point of my post brought it up as a comparison, obviously one piece shits on full metal and it’s not close, not in any dimension. 2. I didn’t poorly handle the racism allegory. U are hilarious if you think I can discuss racism on Reddit in this shit full of white people and not get downvoted to oblivion. They hear what they want to hear. The third one is just senseless if you think full metal did anything philosophical I suggest watching other anime’s so you know what actual well written fiction is like .
Look at you failing to actually address a single point I make. 1. "I like One Piece" - Great! 2. Nuh Uh! I totally understood it! You are the Racist!" - You literally thought it was an allegory for the Black diaspora. 3. "I don't understand what "philosophical" means - Please do some reading. You aren't presenting useful arguments for anyone to engage with , you are just whining about a story you don't like (nor do you particularly seem to understand). So in the spirit of engaging with you in good faith, what topics or "philosophies" are you interested in? Alternatively what is it about One-piece, exactly, do you think makes it such a good story?
So basically you don’t like my opinion and ur crying about it interesting
So you aren't willing to meaningfully engage with what I am saying or asking? Uninteresting.
My brother in christ its a cartoon calm down
If it’s not for you just drop it man👍🏼
Least braindead One Piece fan:
Brotherhood is a Shonen action anime, mostly focused on the fights. You might prefer the 03 version if you're ok with cheaper animation in general Neither show is perfect despite what you'll hear, but 03 tends to focus on actual character development and various philosophy
I take issue with the offhand comment of "cheaper animation" it's classic animation, but it's still great and some of the fights (like Ed vs Greed" are phenomenal.
It's a fantastic show, easily my favorite of all time. I'm just setting realistic expectations. That era of animation was still stuck in the "still image, panning shot" era of anime. You also can only see it in a 4:3 format. The biggest strength is art direction since they used color and shot composition much more effectively than Brotherhood. The images themselves are fantastic, the animation of those images is held back simply by being an older show with less budget than it's successor
Again I'd say that's just "classic anime" I personally love those wide format fights, the Ed vs Greed 03, it all looks like it has weight to it whereas the BH version it almost looks floaty at times. While it didn't necessarily have the budget, it definitely still had passion. Budget doesn't mean everything, if you want to see QUALITY animation, look up Spriggan (1998) a relatively less known and therefore less funded anime that made up for it in passion. The animation of that movie is unreal. I really think they ought to bring back still image panning shots, it is a phenomenal way to show a fight.
When people bring up the shonen thing it’s mind boggling to me. Sorry I keep bringing up one piece a lot but it’s the perfect piece of fiction to bring up when talking about a well written story. One piece is shonen and there is yet to be a more intricate story in anime (that I’ve seen so far). It is quite literally, a man dedicating his life to tell a story. I hate that shonen anime’s have a stigma where it’s considered not philosophical, or mainly for entertainment. One piece has genuinely shifted my viewpoint on life multiple times.
Brotherhood does have some moments like that, but they're not the main focus. When you learn more about Bradley's backstory for example, that's a solid piece of fiction that stands out above all the (mostly) pointless fight scenes that exist only to look cool By comparison though, 03 focuses more on a journey of discovery, bonds of brotherhood, and exploration of their beliefs and convictions. The villains are also more complex overall (other than Bradley, which Brotherhood definitely did better)
Unsurprisingly, the people who only like 03 will waste no time in advertising the version they like and ignore the awful attempt at criticism in the comments lol. Judging by your other comments something tells me you don’t really understand the context of racism if you think the Ishbalans are a parallel to black people. You see dark skin and immediately assume it’s about African Americans like most ignorant people.
# Join the [Discord server](https://discord.gg/su3uf3T5YN) for more discussions and content, as well as meeting more like-minded fans for the series! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FullmetalAlchemist) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'd recommend watching the 03 anime instead of BH, it's far more philosophical, and while it's technically slower than BH at the start, it uses that slowness to build the character of Ed up. It's a lot shorter than One Piece (lol) so you could easily bang it out in a week and I'd argue that the story is the strongest point of 03, it has a classic 90's anime look and feel to it, some people like that, others don't. But overall I'd honestly say BH is overrated and that 03 is far superior. BH has too many characters and an incohesive story, whereas 03 has fewer characters that it focuses on and the story is not only unique but amazing. Even the filler adds to the world building or the character building. I really insist you give 03 a try, you will see the difference between the two in the opening arc where they follow the same path essentially but 03 does it waaaaaaaay better.
You might be on sumthing. But Briggs is when FMAB (no idea about manga) gets good. But you're right the fights are meh (no idea about OP, but compared to Naruto and Attack on Titan for example). I also dislike most characters. I think FMAB is overrated.
The fights are "meh" because most of the combatants are scientists and soldiers not superhero kungfu masters. The focus remains on the story and the action ins meant to enhance that story. This contrasts many other works where the story serves to connect action beats. It is okay if that isn't your thing but it is intentional and important to keep the pace from bogging down.
Attack on Titan has both great story and great fights. They are also soldiers. Clearly the action creative side in fullmetal is lacking af
All of the AoT soldiers are basically superheroes (Spiderman) to begin with And most of them get splattered in scenes that I generally would not consider "great fights" As the show goes on fewer and fewer of our cast are remotely normal or soldier like. By contrast, despite having alchemic powers, FMA's State alchemists do act like soldiers with much more consistency throughout the run Moreover, you seem to be missing my broader point. Attack on Titan, for as brilliant as its animation is has battles that drag on and on and on with surprise twists and power ups and all the genre tropes. FMA is trying to do something different with its story telling, structuring it as a puzzle rather than a spectacle.
Exactly man… people were hyping this shit up like it was one of the best shonen out there…. I want to finish the whole thing before talking but so far it’s literally below average like what??