Review: "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" ep. 1
I find the whole conceit of kind-of-sort-of remaking FMA a little hard to swallow. I loved the original series and thought it was probably the strongest shonen show to come out in the 2000s. It also had an ending that succeed in being both poignant and perfect. It's a show I can still re-watch and enjoy, or at least appreciate during the sadder moments. So, much the same way I wondered how anyone can watch the Utena movie and enjoy it, I wonder how fans and non-fans alike will learn to appreciate FMA's reboot.
On one hand, it would seem pointless to start the series over from the beginning, since the first season of the original FMA is exactly in sync with the manga. On the other hand, the short and overly succint 1st episode of "Brotherhood" will neither attract new fans nor please old ones. There's nothing new going on, it's just a series of re-introduction, but at the same time these introduction are far too abrupt to really stick in a newcomer's mind. Whereas the original series carefully introduce the reasons and mysteries behind the Elric brother's journey, "Brotherhood" simply sticks them in Central without any explanation. It seems a shame, since the original series did it's introduction so well.
It's hard for me, as a fan of the original, to see Ed and Al backtrack. Although I am thrilled to see my favorite characters on the screen again, and happier still that some of the characters we lost in the original series are alive again, I can't be entirely happy with the results. Al is still naive to the true goals of the military and the truth behind the Philosopher's Stone. Terrible fates still await them and their fellow alchemists. It leave a highly usatisfied feeling in one's gut.
Another frustration was the need to have the Water Alchemist suddenly infer about what happened to Ed and Al, where in the previous series it seemed as though knowledge of what happens when one tries to resurrect humans wasn't at all widespread. It was equally painful to sit through Al and Ed's transformation-- especially since their square heads and simple line drawings are less pleasing to the eye that the first series' designs are.
I've always been curious about what happened in the manga and I also know that no anime can truly create an replica of a manga onscreen. It seems a futile effort to reboot a series as well-respected and well-done as "Fullmetal Alchemist," but I must admit I'm thrilled at the thought of seeing the Elric Brother's continuing adventures. I just wonder if they can ever surpass the original.