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Toonami |OT9| This thread is made of LOVE and PEACE

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Branduil

Member
The high point of FMA '03 was
Scar destroys Lior with the philosopher's stone.
Everything was downhill after that, culminating in Shamblah as the low point of the entire series.
 
B

Branduil

Member
GMN said:
Eh. Him fusing his arm with Al was dumb
Click to expand...

It was plausible enough within the context of the series, and it provided an emotional and exciting end to his arc.

Robo-Archer is completely ludicrous and the other side of the gate being the real world is just trite and cliched, a stupid idea taken to its logical conclusion in Shamballa. Only decently good part in the last few episodes is Mustang vs. Pride.
 
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BassForever

Member
It's funny, if Bones hadn't felt the need to jam this "other world" concept into the story I feel like the ending would be fine. Having Ed transmute his mind, body, and soul to save Al and the price he paid was all the blood, sweat and tears from their journey thanks to all the people they helped would have been a perfect ending with a perfect message. Ed and Al would have been united (even if Al lost his memories and was a 10 year old again) and Ed's believe that hard work pays off aka equivalent exchange would have been a fine end note. All this nonsense about another world and Ed being trapped their just feels like an excuse to have a movie ending when without it the story would have ended on a perfect note.
 
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BassForever

Member
Schadenfreude said:
So in summary: Just watch Brotherhood.
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Or read the manga

And I don't want to bash FMA 03, it's a perfectly good anime despite it's quirks and flaws. Some quick positive/negatives comparing the manga/brotherhood story to the 03 version

What I liked that 03 did differently

+Conceptually the idea of the homonculi being born from failed human transmutation was great, but they should have flat out dropped the deadly sins naming convention as it doesn't work when only half the homonculi match said sins. They also left poor Gluttony and (kinda) Pride without an alchemist to be connected to.

+Even if the filler wasn't always great the slower paced opening because of said filler allowed us to establish Ed, Al, and the rest of the cast really well before shit hits the fan when Hughes dies. Even in the manga his death happens really early in the story and I can appreciate them extending his life the way they did.

+The idea that equivalent exchange may not be real is a interesting idea that (again) the series never explores enough with.

+Lust expanded role in the story worked really well and she's by far the best handled homonculi in terms of being based upon a real human and the conflict within her of what she is.

-Roy's character on the flip side was completely botched, his characterization was all over the place and he never got to have any great bad ass moments like he does in the manga/brotherhood. His one signature moment fighting Bradley is pretty disappointing for the big final fight of the series.

-Anytime original filler was written by Bones it was god awful, particularly the fake brothers was a plot line that was awful and went no where outside of being a dues ex machina for Ed to find Dante's hideout.

-Dante is an awful villain and an awful character who simply exist in the plot to give the story a evil mastermind. The problem is Dante never comes off as charismatic or powerful enough to do the things she's credited with doing. The character either needed a complete rewrite or more scenes depicting her as a master manipulator.

-The other world concept also needed to either be scrapped completely or completely rewritten and introduced WAAAAAAY earlier in the plot. Especially when it seems to contradict the laws of the story up to that point. Ed and Izumi passed thought he gate along with other alchemist attempting human transmutation, they saw the truth, paid a price, and gained the power to transmute without a circle, all of the sudden passing though the gate takes you to another world? What?

If the gate was meant to be a portal between the two worlds then human transmutation should pull the person from the other world into the Alchemist world. This would have created an interesting mechanic of the homonculi actually being the same versions of people from our world and perhaps their motivation would have been trying to find a way back home but having no way to access the gate because they can't use alchemy.

---

FMA 03 has a lot of great ideas and a lot of great moments, but clearly the story needed a bit more refinement before it was finished. I'd say it's a solid 4/5 mostly hurt by the last 5ish episodes where things fall apart quickly and often.
 
D

Doctor Decimate

Member
Branduil said:
It was plausible enough within the context of the series, and it provided an emotional and exciting end to his arc.

Robo-Archer is completely ludicrous and the other side of the gate being the real world is just trite and cliched, a stupid idea taken to its logical conclusion in Shamballa. Only decently good part in the last few episodes is Mustang vs. Pride.
Click to expand...

i'd say it's plausible only by comparison to something like Archer the Terminator. Scar's just a guy who destroys stuff; the idea he can do something like that seems a little ridiculous to me, especially when human transmutation is supposed to be some extremely difficult process. also Mustang vs. Pride is hilarious because his son just randomly brings him some kryptonite.
 
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BassForever

Member
GMN said:
i'd say it's plausible only by comparison to something like Archer the Terminator. Scar's just a guy who destroys stuff; the idea he can do something like that seems a little ridiculous to me, especially when human transmutation is supposed to be some extremely difficult process. also Mustang vs. Pride is hilarious because his son just randomly brings him some kryptonite.
Click to expand...

The fight is literally just

WORDS
3 SWORD SWINGS
1 EXPLOSION
WORDS
1 STAB WOUND
WORDS
HI DADDY LOOK WHAT I BROUGHT
DED
 
S

Schadenfreude

Member
BassForever said:
Sesshomaru is so awesome he can throw his sword backwards with perfect accuracy
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TIL Sesshomaru is Chuck Norris' ancestor from Japan:

xoiNWlA.gif
 
S

Seda

Member
BassForever said:
Sesshomaru is so awesome he can throw his sword backwards with perfect accuracy
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And now I'll quote InuyashaGAF's reaction to that moment.

Seda said:
Sesshomaru is a baller
Click to expand...

Seda said:
a true baller
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Andrex said:
BOSSHOMARU

SUCK IT BAND OF BITCHES
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Levyne said:
Concur.
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lazybones18 said:
holy shit that was awesome
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Schadenfreude said:
I guess that's one way to a person's heart.
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Andrex said:
Kikyo + Sesshy TEAM UP AWWW YEAH THIS EP IS TOO AWESOME
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MikeMyers said:
Inuyasha: An anime where the rivals do better than the title character.
Click to expand...
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Seda said:
v
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Pulling nearly 1.4 million as an average over 2.5 hours means the numbers for the start of the movie especially must have been MASSIVE. Helps that it was also a much tighter presentation with significantly less dead air to fill than Akira.
 
B

BassForever

Member
GMN said:
unfortunately the show trying to make you feel bad about Suikotsu was kinda forced
Click to expand...

I was half hoping he'd in fact live (as a villain) after all the "words words words" moment there. He's probably the first Bo7 member I was sad to see killed without really getting an awesome fight.
 
B

BassForever

Member
EPIC BETRAYALATHON in Darker Than Black episode 10

and with that I'm finally caught up on everything again, minus that one episode of Clone Wars which LOL
 
Z

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
I kind of figured from the get-go it was once per week. Oh well, wonder when they'll start announcing winners or shipping shirts out.
 
B

BassForever

Member

Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll somehow knock off Medara and take his rightful place as the final antagonist, then we can repeat the same 50 ish chapters a 3rd time with a different final boss
 
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