C2Comics Blog

Finally, I have gotten around to watching the new Fullmetal Alchemist series.  Of course, I must admit that although I have been looking forward to it, I put off watching so I could get some back-to-back viewings in.  So now, having dedicated the last three days to six hours of the new series, I must say….I’m disappointed.

yes, I said short

Don’t get me wrong, it is not that I am one of the purist, who cursed the day they heard a new series was on its way – I enjoyed the old series, very much, but I also enjoy the original comic storyline and cannot wait to see some of those in action.

The problem lies in that the new series cannot wait to get to those storylines either.  There is an old saying: “If you drop a frog in boiling water, it will jump out right away.  However, if you drop a frog in room temperature water, and slowly bring it to a boil, it will not leave.”  As a biologist I have to say that, in terms of actual frog behavior, that is completely untrue.  However, it is a good comparison for the new and old series.

The great irony that stands out right now is that this new series is supposed to more accurately reflect the comic than the old series but for the first few episodes the case is just the opposite.  Both the comic and the old series started out somewhat benign (well, as benign as a story about two boys who failed to resurrect their mother from the dead and suffered horrible consequences could be….), adding darker and darker elements until, at one point you suddenly pull away and say, “how did things get this bad?”  The adventures of the Elric brothers gradually became less fun and more dangerous, and the heat was noticed too late.  That is some damn fine storytelling!  That damn fine storytelling is lost on the new writers, who drop you into a big vat of “Oh shit, everything is horrible and dangerous these kids are in soooo much trouble!” right off the bat.  It makes you want to jump out.

Admittedly, the new series has a huge disadvantage the old one didn’t.  It needs to straddle the line between attracting brand new viewers and keeping fans of the previous series, a difficult feat that it is not winning.  In trying to get to the “new” stuff for the “old” viewers but trying to get in the “old” background for the “new” viewers the first several episodes, indeed the entire first dectet, cannot find a balance.

The first episode of the new series is original, and in all honesty should probably be skipped by brand new

the new anime will include characters not shown in the original, such as Major General Olivia Armstrong

viewers.  The majority of main characters are shoved into your face and introduced here – an exercise that is unnecessary for “old” viewers and unecessarily complicated for “new” viewers – as is the major plot.  While the old series took a while to string together the many small incidents being connected to a bigger, larger problem, the new series slams it onto the table the first episode.  Back-tracking follows in future episode, but it is too late – we know the problem is there.  The comic, too, took its time to string together and, since the third and on episodes try to follow the comic, the actions of the main characters make little sense in light of what happened in the first episode.

As the new series progresses, the balancing act continues, without much more success.  Some stories are replayed from the first series (so far as some of the original footage being re-used) with very little change.  The changes certainly pull the storyline closer to the comic – with scenes becoming more of what they were in the old series (more funny, more grim, more sad) and more accurately reflecting Hiromu’s original work – but it can get to be tedious waiting for that 5% which is new.  To compensate for the tedium, stories are cut.  Sometimes they are cut in length, sometimes they are cut entirely, which is worse than it being tedious.  The Youswell story seems to have been cut entirely, despite a character introduced in that storyline, Yoki, having a large part later.  This is taken care of by someone passing around a picture of Yoki and saying, “Oh, Fullmetal took care of him!”  A poor device, in my opinion.

Technically, the art style is somewhat the same. Ed is blonder than before, with a darker yellow outlining his hair instead of the former black, which isn’t much by itself, but combined with the fact of the other blonds in the series retaining the black outline of their hair, it is a little weird. The cinematography has changed a bit. The over-use of split-screen detracts from the experience, but the gradual color wash-out, fading almost completely to grayscale, during the creepier scenes, adds to the experience, so overall it’s no better, no worse.

Some voice actors have changed – Romi Paku is still doing Ed’s voice, which is fantastic, but the voice actor for Roy Mustang is new. Miki Shinichiro is doing an okay job, but he seems to lack the essential smarminess Toru Ohkawa brought in the first series. My brain cannot comprehend a non-smarmy Roy Mustang. Once again this is neutralized as the voice actor for Envy has been change to Takayama Minami, who is just better at delivering the lines than Mayumi Yamaguchi was. In fact, although there’s been a step back in Roy’s va, there’ve been two steps forward for Envy’s, so the voice work is better than series one (so far). I was surprised to see Rie Kugimiya was still the voice actor for Alphonse, as it sounded much different for the first episode, though it could just be the distortion needed for Al’s voice has been changed.  Some of the fluffier scenes have been removed so there is less adorableness for her to voice.

Overall it’s still a great anime, but not as good as the previous one in terms of storytelling and music.  Although a cartoon it is still a more intelligent story than most television shows on these days.