Anime 5114 Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Reviews Filter Check 3

*Spoiler Warning

Aside from the usual everyday anime Art and Sound standard(of which most animes pass anyways), there are essentially three main factors that I see as important in Anime:

1. Complexity(detail) (which adds Depth)
a. Characters
b. Plot
c. Setting

2. Progress (which adds Depth)
... a. Character Development
b. Plot Development
c. Shifts of Setting

3. Novelty (which, again, adds Depth)
a. Characters
I. Personality
b. Setting
c. Plot

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1. Complexity(detail)

It's understandable that because FMA: Brotherhood paid attention to its simple-minded viewers(readers), the resulting complexity of the entirety of the anime would turn out bland. The characters were too simple, particular the main characters. The plot was horrendously predictable after 3-4 episodes and then there was the lack of focus in the setting. We see an icy place, dessert place, and then there's the ordinary regions where the main characters dwell.

a. Character

Edward Elric, supposed talented alchemist(or close), with a terrible past. He is strong-willed but at the same time childish. He gets very attached to acquainted "war" victims and is always affected by the past. He uses automail(right arm and left leg) and alchemy to fight his way through almost everything. *At first, He hates his father*. He wants to bring back his and his brother's bodies. That's it. No deep personal philosophy. No internal struggle. No moral ambiguity. No split "demonic" personality. No subconscious complications. No crazy stuff. No bullshit. He just does what he feels is right. True, Ed experiences things such as guilt and sorrow because of the things he feels as mistakes. He consistently feels regretful for trying to transmute her own mother, and his own dad accused him for actually just being a coward. Nevertheless, said reaction and thoughts are way too simple. In the end, the show just forces the viewer and Edward to just swallow everything and move on.

Alphonse Elric. I actually preferred this guy over his brother. I mean think about the psychology of a character stuck on an empty armor? Think about its implications. I also liked the idea that Alphonse is naive yet inhumanely able. He doesn't have to eat or sleep and is almost immortal. (though arguable since it was mentioned that there is a possibility that the armor would reject his soul eventually.) Link "naive" to his actual physicality. His main vulnerability is still an internal idea---the seal transcribed within his metal body. The only problem with the character is the lack of focus on his own thoughts and so on. The lack of exploration in his psychology. There was one episode that showed Al's doubt of his own existence, but this wasn't clearly detailed enough.

B. Plot***

Not much to say here. Mother dies. They become state alchemist. Look for philosopher's stone. (How are they even allowed the time?) *They meet homunculus. They save everyone from homunculus at the same time they get their bodies back. That's it. They should've at least included Lin's "chinese struggle" and absorbed the surrounding nations within the plot.*

C. Setting

Automails? Interesting idea. Problem: Detail, no elaboration.
How many nations were there? I only remember desert, snow, and the rest of the dullness. Where is the economy?
Alchemy. The main idea of the show. Quite elaborate in terms of "the gate", "immortality", and other plot-devices. Problem: How much variety of alchemy did Ed and Al actually use? Move rocks and move more rocks. Mustang did fire tricks. Where are the complicated algorithms? The "super moves"? The classification of alchemy? There were mentions of "eastern alchemy", "western alchemy"; "comprehension, deconstruction, reconstruction"; "equal exchange" but these things weren't sufficiently fused and utilized as a basis for a unique battle system. sigh.

2. Progress***

***Ok. What happened again? They walk everywhere and found out that what they were looking for was right beneath their city and that it's sourced out of human souls? How did they change physically and mentally? ***

A. Character Development

How much did Ed grow? How much did his personality go from A to B? How much did his height go from A to B? Ask yourself.

How much did Al grow? After experiencing all those moments, you'd think they'd have a more bad-ass versions of themselves...

I mean at least change the character's appearances. Transmute Al's armor into some flexible form or cut Ed's hair.

B. Plot Development

When I said I already knew the outcome after 3-4 episodes, I wasn't kidding. Maybe that's exactly why I felt there wasn't much change. These "homunculus" just won't die. They keep coming back and it's like a show of power-puff girls where the girls continuously fight their arch-nemesis's. And don't even get me started on the shallowness of the homunculus'. (though I particularly liked Envy and his end.) Almost nothing, aside from what was already known, was happening. They found out about city's secret and they go back to their traveling and meeting new friends and then they go back traveling and finally they decided to finish the job.

C. Shift of Setting

I guess I shouldn't have expected One Piece. There were some interesting places such as the destroyed kingdom or the northern camp but almost everything happened in the same region.

3. Novelty
Alchemy and Automail(Shounen) is an interesting combination. If I hadn't watched the first anime, It wouldn't better. Not really. They give you interesting general ideas and they stop there. More details would have produced more novelty. Character-wise, the two had too normal personalities. Interestingly enough, the flashbacks had a more novel point of view than the original.

A. Characters

What would have really gotten well was if their circumstances actually shaped a plenty of their personalities. The loss body parts didn't serve much meaning in terms of their character build up. What I saw was stubborn kid and naive brother. How swell...

B. Setting

Good General Idea - Not detailed = meaningless.

C. Plot

Novel in general but the lack of detail lessens the entire novelty.

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Clearly not for CPN(character, progress, novelty)-oriented individuals.

Full metal alchemist brotherhood the anime that has been called a masterpiece for so many years well to day I'm here to tell you my thoughts on that.Many people feel this way because it strictly follows the manga but just because an anime follows the manga doesn't necessarily mean its good.

Full metal alchemist brotherhood is about 2 brothers Edward and alphanse Eric. After attempting to bring their mother back from the dead using human transmutation Edward lost his arm and leg while al lost his entire body and had his soul sealed inside a suit of armor the two brothers set out to find ... the philosopher stone hoping to get their bodies back to normal.

Story- Now I will spoil some of the story in this review. FMAB started off pretty good then I realized a lot of stuff was not being explained the pacing was getting more and more shitty. Now many people say FMAB has a amazing story and its a masterpiece well It might've started off like that but it slowly evolved into a save the world from the big bad villain with a god complex kind of story. Now some parts in the story were very suspenseful and had my full attention. Then some parts of the story were really boring and I found myself zoning out continuously. The story had some really grasping scenes like when Hughes was murdered and when the guy with the blonde hair who loves to smoke(forgot his name lol) was stabbed in the back and was paralyzed for the waist down for the rest of his life and when Roy mustang flipped his shit and roasted Envy alive, those scenes were timed really well and caught me off guard. One thing FMAB did was focus on the drama to much which resulted in a shit ton of over dramatic scenes. Some of the dialogue was cliche and I couldn't stop fucking laughing because they were trying to be serious but I just couldn't take it serious, and I even started predicting some of the events in the story would happen. Anyway the story starts to go down hill and now the elric brothers new objective is to stop the bad guy who wants to obtain the power of god with them finding their bodies being their side quest. Then they have this cliche shounen ending where a seventeen year old kid beats the shit out of god. I mean this is just beyond cliche, the fight was good but i wasn't suprised because in the end i knew he would win. And the fairy tale happily ever after ending was disappointing to. They never explained the origins of alchemy clearly nor do they explain anything else clearly so I was left with a shit ton of questions but no fucking answers. The story just didn't pull me in and It felt like I was just watching your typical action anime the story wasn't shit it just wasn't a masterpiece like everyone said it was.

Animation / Sound : The Animation was pretty good the character models and the back grounds were well done and so was the animation and art for the alchemy. The fight scenes where pretty neat but nothing too flashy. The voice acting was A1 I thought the sound effects for the fights and explosions were done well to. The intros and ending were just mind blowing sometimes I would just go on YouTube and just watch and listen to the intros.

Characters: This is the weakest part of the anime.
Our 2 MCs Edward and Al do not change through out the whole series they remain the same naive little boys they were at the beginning hell the only thing that changed about Edward was his height he became taller as the series continued. Most the characters in FMAB get no development at all and some are just useless as fuck cough...cough... winry, now I don't dislike winry but sometimes she just annoyed the hell out of me and got in the way. The only characters in this show who got good development was Roy Mustang, Envy, crippled cigarette guy(forgot his name), hoenhime (I think I spelled it wrong), and Ling/Greed. Half of the villains on here are evil just for the hell of it and oh yeah the main villain with the god complex is called father he basically created the rest of the villains. Each of them are named after the 7 deadly sins and called homunculus. Apparently each villain represents a fragment of his soul you have
The homonculus were extremely shallow and were evil to be evil. I mean out of all seven only three shine and those three are Wrath, Greed, Envy. The rest are extremely uninteresting including father. If i had to compare him to a villain it would be Aizen from bleach.
Now out of all of these villains the most memorable was Envy because of his hatred of humans and his twisted personality he was very exciting to watch and his death was put together really well. Now back to the other characters Scar was very interesting at first but as the series continued he started to bore the hell out of me until I finally wasn't interested in him any more. Like I said before Roy Mustang got a lot of development he went from the cool and calm guy we know and love to a bloodthirsty animal obsessed over finding out who killed Hughes. Now full metal alchemist brotherhood has some interesting characters but failed to give them any development to the point where I didn't give a fuck if they died.

In the end by no means was FMAB a bad show no it was a good show that had a lot of potential but it failed to amaze me the unique story was ruined after a couple of episodes. I personally think this anime is overrated as fuck it wasn't bad its just overrated and it just didn't prove to be a masterpiece like everyone claimed it was , but in the end this is just my opinion . The funny thing is I watched this before the FMA 2003 version because everyone kept telling FMA 2003 was trash and the funny thing is I ended up liking 2003 more. Do i recommend this show No you might find your experience different than mine after all we are two completely different people but i don't recommend it bruh. Well I'm done i hoped you enjoyed this review Peace!!!

Fullmetal Alchemist, a story about 2 brothers going on a journey in a magical fantasy world, which brings us as the audience closer to the interesting idea of equal trade. “Giving something in order to get something” A very realistic idea but in this universe much more effective. To make a material out of another, a dream of the ancient alchemist to create gold and probably an idea that will occur to us in a distant unknown future. Fullmetal Alechemist is an anime I only can look fondly back to.

7 years after the original anime fascinated many of viewer studio Bones decided to make ... Fullmetal Alchemist again, with a slightly inproved art style and more accurately following the manga and it seems like that Brotherhood is even better than the original, at least the majority of people on this website think so.

I think it is quite understandable why the Brotherhood series is more popular and more liked than the original, at least on this website. It is also my biggest problem about it. Firstly, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood had more action scenes and secondly, a bigger and at the same time better explained storyline. That seems quite good doesn’t it? Well the problem is Brotherhood explains every detail of the story, as if the storywriters think the audience can’t think for themselves. The character constantly reminds you of several things so you absolutely can’t forget them. Half way through an episode it also has to remind you of the anime you are currently watching, with shouting its name out loud, just to make sure. Jokes aside, this penetrating need to explain everything goes way beyond normal story explanations. I mean, I understand that "show dont tell" isnt always the best choice (even though i normally prefer it), but a story shouldnt lay out all its cards. It just bothers me when villain out of no reason start telling you their whole plan, or what evil stuff they already did, especially when they don’t need to. Why would they do that? And when they tell you everything about their plan why do they stop there? Why not telling the audience WHY they did that, WHAT motivations they had? Maybe going a little bit into the depth of characters? Sadly we dont get any of that in this anime.

But let’s go to the analysis:
As previously established the story had a more immature writing style. As further proven by the fact that you can’t take a show seriously that constantly includes comedy parts, with a funny artstyle, which doesn’t even spare villains. From the story part, compared to the original there isn’t any uniqueness anymore. The anime really tries to be in the shounen genre since it lacks of consequences, motivations and logic in many cases. Even though this anime explains everything there are still many open question to it, which are very important once, maybe even plotholes or contradictions and not some simple questions like in the original, which are a matter of your own creativity.

The pacing for the show changes a bit. First it starts of very fast, as if it wants to go through the story that the original had as fast as possible, and then it comes to a normal pacing. Besides the fast start the pacing was quite enjoyable. The start was a pretty important and emotional part in the original. But Brotherhoods because of the rushed pacing doesn’t manage to create the same effect as the original at the start.

Like I said before the animes main thematic is equal trade. It was everywhere in the original. So many little details were made, from the beginning to the ending to bring this realistic idea closer to its viewers. The “Brotherhoods”-series lacks so many of these points. At the start you can see it, but the more the story progresses the more it goes lost until it’s completely forgotten in the end. It is unbelievable that the writer of the manga doesn’t even get the point of his own manga, why else would he make such a consequence free story.

The anime is also very popular because of its action scenes. But they are way too uncreative. Think about it, in this world they could make every material out of everything (at least they make steal out of stone, so silicon into iron + carbon(you also have to consider the high temperatures that have to be created), which is already hell of a transformation) It is idiotic to fight just with your “sword” when you have such an ability. You could create a vacuum or make the bottom liquid and then trap them. There are sure even far more greater ideas than that.

But Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood not only wants to be shounen it also tries as hard as it can to be accepted for mature audience as well. The unfitting and forced inclusion of dark gore themes and making some appearances especially bloody, but sadly they didn’t manage to do that in terms of characters and basic of story. It’s a childish story wrapped up with mature themes, explained to the audience as if they were kids.

A very big shounen inclusion and a very annoying story-part is the love story they written into it. In the original the fact that the blond mechanic chick is so unimportant to Ed is a very nice thing. It’s a story about 2 brothers going on a journey not a typical love story. Therefore the inclusion of such a thing only makes it feel like the storywriters tried as hard as they could to make it appealing to as many viewers as they can. And dont get me even started on how bad the consequence free, deus ex machina ending was... but it was pretty fitting for a shounen anime.


The character are written more to appeal to a younger audience as well. You can clearly see that. Ed and Alfonse act only a little bit differently than in the original but its significant change made there. In the original they had childish attitude and believes, but unlike in shounen anime the show doesn’t give them the opportunity to change the world. The thing that bothers me about shounen anime is the fact that the storywriters take a childish main protagonist who thinks that he alone could change the world and the storywriters give him the ability to do that. The drama in such shounen anime is reduced to pathetic written melodrama and the invention of motivations hasn’t been done in any kind of way.

But let’s go back to the protagonist and his brother. The thing is, in the original they followed a goal which they wanted to accomplish with everything they did. The grow over the duration of the show and get more mature. In brotherhood they rather help everyone out, what makes them common “hero-typed, being nice to everyone, expect for the bad guys”- characters. They never grow and never learn anything or change their behaviour.

All the other characters in Brotherhood are either annoying or unfocused or badly written. You have for example arrogant, very little knowing characters as the “good” guys, whom the storywriters use to explain the plot to the audience and we got emotionless, unmotivated and idiotic enemies who have not the slightest abilities to come up with a working plan and therefore aren’t able to create any threat to the audience.
Just look at Van Hohenheim. In the original a serious guy with a goal, for which he even could make sacrifices to achieve it. And a caring father for his children, while keeping his distance. He has his secrets which makes him interesting. In Brotherhood: A typical whiny guy, who cant see anyone dying and who wants to save everyone, without goal and with a past that is completely idiotic.

I also have to mention the homunculi, which are a very important group of character. For those who doesn’t know the original: The homunculi are the anti-heroes or the enemies if you like. The original gave them background story and motivations. Normally I don’t think it is important for an action based anime to go into the depth of characters especially villains, but besides the fact that Fullmetal Alchemist has a lot of character conversations it’s also every time a nice thing to do. In this case it feels also very special, since the homunculi represent the 7 deadly sins. Everyone acts like the deadly sin he represented which makes everything quite accurate and detailed.

The homunculi are now in brotherhoods not only rather unimportant but completely forgotten in terms of personifications, depth, motivations and everything else that made them likeable in the original. They have no background story or any kind of focus.

The homunculi don’t act like the deadly sin they represented anymore. Envy acts arrogant all the time only saying he is envy, but there is no explanation why. Greed also has to tell the audience that he is greedy else you wouldn’t know. The characters have to tell you what they are, they can’t SHOW you. The whole story has to be told to you to explain it and can’t be shown to you. And Wrath said something like: I’m proud of being a homunculus. Sloth is the worst of all because he is working overtime. In fact Brotherhood doesnt have any vilains that are interesting, or that could create any sort of threads.

Artstlye and soundtrack of "Brotherhood" were very good.The animations looked clean and the backgrounds and characterdesign was very well and detailed drawn.
Soundtrack was better in the original but "Brotherhood" had a lot of nice tracks as well.

In conclusion Fullmetal Brotherhood was an enjoyable anime and maybe it would have been even a decent one, if there wasn’t already an anime that is the same thing, only superior in every important aspect. Brotherhood only shines in the shounen aspect with illogical inclusion, annoying overused character, lack of motivation or any kind of uniqueness and plotholes unable to count.

STORY: Alright, alright.... So Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood follows the original Manga more closely than it's predecessor, Fullmetal Alchemist. I'll introduce you to the so called "story". Ed and Al are brothers who lives with their mother, Trisha in a small village of Risembool. Trisha dies of a strange disease and Ed and Al try to bring her back to life by using a magic called Alchemy, in doing so Ed loses an arm and a leg and Al loses his whole body. Ed and Al set out to look for the Philosopher stone that is said to break the rules of Alchemy. There is also ... some military business and something about Homunculus but for the life of me I can't pay attention to it. And thus the "journey" begins. So FMA Brotherhood... I keep on reminding myself of how good the first series is. You see, where as the first FMA was a fantastic fantasy world, Brotherhood fails to pull me in or build up on any atmosphere or charm. Without atmosphere it's very hard to be sucked into the story, but that isn't to say the story is not good, the story is very good! The story has a ton of twists and turns with a lot going on but there is no charm which makes all the events just seem bland. Sure it may of not needed charm if it weren't for the fact that the story has an absurd amount of comic relief, maybe the comic relief was supposed to be charming however the comic relief is so misplace and awkward it kills any atmosphere the story was trying to build up upon. The drama is also very weak, it actually is more soap opera like than the first series, barely any of the moments manage to squeeze a single tear from my eyes. It's that weak. Moments that brought tears to my eyes in the first series are just a side note in Brotherhood. It is also worth noting that Brotherhood absolutely does not feel like an adventure but more like a series of events, so much happens in a single episode that all the episodes just seem to run together. This is alright if you are heavily into action but it really gets in the way of any heartwarming or tear jerking moments. One more thing I think I should talk about is the symbolism and Philosophy, The symbolism in Brotherhood is barely noticeable, but even if it was why should I care about it if the show doesn't even let me into it's world? If I was sucked into the world then I would care, then I would say "THIS IS BRILLIANT!" The philosophy has an entirely different problem. Brotherhood has many different themes like, "Friendship (Yu-gi-oh)", "Revenge (Naruto)" and some old Greek philosophies. This is all well and good but it's hard to take it seriously when there is some silly comic relief taking place only a few moments after "Za Meaning of Life". All in all the story does seem like it has a lot to offer but the bad pacing, comic relief and overall lack of tone and atmosphere brings it down. All it needed is some better direction. 5/10



ANIMATION: The animation is actually pretty decent, I can't tell how they did the animation however the world of Brotherhood lacks color, this is a huge problem for a fantasy title. The only time the animation looks good is when an action scene is going on, Brotherhood has some of the best looking fight scenes I have ever seen but this is also a problem because it looks like the animation gets a sudden boost in quality as soon as someone enters looking like s/he is about kick some ass. Overall the animation is mostly lack luster only saving the extravagance for the action scenes. 5/10

MUSIC: Oh god the music! OH GAWD! Don't get me wrong, some of the music is incredible but the way they use it is so wrong. Barely does the music support any scenes often using some of the most bland songs from the soundtrack to make the scenes dreadful to watch. Add that to the already bland animation and the end result comes off as dreadful. This is too bad because I've listened to the soundtrack and the songs aren't really that bad, the soundtrack could of easily made up for the bland animation but... I'm starting to wonder if the director really cared about this series. 4/10

CHARACTERS: At least the characters are decent! At least! You got Ed and Al who's relationship is downplayed from the first to make room for it's large cast members. Yes, this is a series with loads and loads of characters. Does it handle it well?.... To a certain extent, yes! All the characters get their moment to shine and they are all well developed HOWEVER one thing that makes me want to bitch slap the writers into another dimension is their over used comedy gags. How am I supposed to take their emotional side seriously if they just crack a joke right after some dark and brooding moment? How am I supposed to take the fights seriously if they just randomly go into their chibi-form right in the middle of a fight scene? They did this is the first series a lot too but it wasn't shoved in your face (well... not as much) as in Brotherhood. Overall the characters could of been very good but if it weren't for their quirky side being shoved down my throat it would've been so much better. 6/10

OVERALL: I hear so many people calling this a masterpiece but It's too flawed on so many basic levels to even be called good. It's an average anime. This is really too bad since I loved the first anime so much. Do yourself a favor and read the manga instead, don't let bad art, bad pacing and terrible music do the job for you. I give Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood a 4/10



Brotherhood also gets an award or being the most overrated anime of all time (currently the third highest rated anime on anime news network and ranked FIRST on this site)

Look, I can see why this anime is really loved, but I just don't think it's that good.

No, this is not a troll, and I think it's silly that people might think I'm trolling simply because I don't like a show, but when it's the highest rated anime on the sight I can probably come to expect some hate. But Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is just not that good.

For one, the pacing is really messed up. In the first season (12 episodes) we jump from past to present and zoom through something I can tell was probably a really important part of the story, ... and it left me with no way of attaching myself to any of the characters. Several characters die and impact the story and the mains but it's so rushed that as a part of the audience I can't find it in myself to care, really. It seemed like they were plot devices.

Another thing I think is bad is the way things are revealed. Without getting too much into spoilers, we're kept in the dark of a character's past until some part of the story like 40 episodes in, and then all of a sudden it's dropped on us and we're expected to get it. The anime also has a lot of "philosophical" undertones, I guess, but the philosophies are really weak and surface level. Such as Edward in the first few episodes when he's in that town and talks to the Rose character, telling her that humans can be made with ingredients found in the town market and that alchemists are atheistic because they know these things--but Edward has SEEN god. This, also, is conveyed after the fact, which just makes it even more confusing.

And really my biggest issue with the anime is that there seems to be an inconsequential bit of tension. IT's so repetitive. Ed and Al fall apart and we all know they'll just get put back together again The whole reason Ed has automail is so that it can get wrecked in the story so he seems to be in danger. Nothing ever comes of it! By the end all the characters are pretty much the same, no development has been done, but the show has a Disney ending anyway because, for some reason, a show with philosophical undertones needs to end happily.

The animation was really good, and I enjoyed fight scenes well enough, even if a power like alchemy is poorly explained. It looked good all the way through, and there's no character designs I dislike either, but they use the same music tracks over and over in the show and I started to get tired of the music overall. I will say this, though, the openings and endings are pretty top notch.

So overall I didn't really like this show at all. My biggest thing is that I think this show has a high score because it came at a time that anime was booming, and it successfully adapted the source material in a way that the original failed to do. You know everyone says "the book is better than the movie" even when the movie was good? That's because, for some reason, people just think the thing that came first is better. So when a bad show is made from a bad manga, people think it's good because it stays faithful, but I don't like it. If you did, that's fine, but you have to remember that the philosophy is weak, the characters don't develop, and the ending is predictable.

Fullmetal Alchemist brotherhood is a straight up mediocre show. I came into this anime so excited. I would always hear people say "its a masterpiece" or "its the best anime of all time." Its even the highest rated anime on mal. I was hyped up and ready to see what the show had to offer. However, I was immensely disappointed. This show is so overrated it is unbelievable. It is so corny and ridiculous I am convinced only children enjoy this show. During "serious" fight scenes there are always bursts of unfunny comedy that is just straight up cringey. There is no sense of suspense ... or nothing that keeps you engaged in the story. The characters are lame (especially that annoying crybaby talking robot boy), the music is meh, the animation is decent for its time. But I mean wow this show is so corny and is obviously targeted towards little kids. Corny does not mean bad tho. However this anime tries to be serious and corny at the same time which just completely ruins the shows atmosphere. This is by no means a masterpiece and should not even be in the top 50. Attack on titan is 10 times better I cannot believe the amount of people that overrate this kids show.

Jesus where do I begin,

First of all, the story is NOT the incredible masterpiece everybody claims it is. The characters are shallow and filled with tropes and gags that are repeated CONSTANTLY. The art is ok I guess but none of the fight scenes that are promised in the openings actually seem to happen in the show itself, and besides the occasional flashy 5 seconds at the end of a fight there isn't much happening in the fight scenes.

The story feels incredibly rushed at times, which is strange considering that this was studio Bones' second attempt at this show. The sound is the best part ... of the show honestly as the sound effects are perfect, the voice acting is stellar, and the op and end themes are all bangers.

Overall I'm giving this show a 1 because not only is it seriously overrated; but it's also just not very good at all.

This is a very easy review. This show does not hold up on its own in anyway shape or form. It literally requires you to have read the manga or seen the previous anime. The original series diverged from the manga and became something truly special because of it. Brotherhood, while being very true to the manga moves at such absurd speeds as to literally ruin it. It leaves absolutely no room for characters to establish themselves or breathe. The show assumes you're either a fan of the previous anime or the manga and does nothing but pander endlessly to ... people who claim "BEST EVER" because they get to see their favorite character in their favorite scene. It's a real shame, because there was a lot of potential here ruined by Bones pandering towards the established fans. The series slows down to an acceptable pace at around the twentieth episode, but by then the damage is already done.

Other than its problems with pacing, story and characterization, the art and animation are fantastic. The voice acting in both languages is superb. The soundtrack really works well with it as well.

Extremely overrated and it is beyond me how this anime has such good ratings. The highlight of this anime for me was when Ed encounters the chimera girl, it was a super dark and sad moment that made me think the rest of the series would be of this quality. But no, it then becomes an unfunny boring cliche mess with stupidly one-note characters.
This show has many attempts at humor but it just fails, it seems to be catered at kids and teenagers, with a somewhat "dark" tone. I felt like I was watching a marvel show at times. I mean seriously the villains character ... design is so boring it is beyond me, so many other great anime deserve the spot this one has. ill never get how this is so popular, but maybe I just didnt get it. It was a slog to get through. The only reason im giving it one more point in the score is because of the Amazing music, as a musician I can tell a lot of effort was put into it, but apart fom that this anime is terrible. Avoid and watch Hunter X Hunter instead.

This is probably an actual enjoyable anime in a way the story was pretty alright kind of mediocre compared to my expectations the only solution to which it may be able to reach the requirements of my expectations is if they added a little bit more unpredicatbility some plot twists and thickening and then it will probably reach atleast a 5. The animation was pretty poor only 1 good fight and the art as was not my cup of tea. The characters are not hot at all and sometimes kind of stupid. The sound design is basic and bland too and the overall anime was ... below mid. Very overrated

Conclusion: Probably a good anime for normies but true anime enthusiasts wouldn't appreciate something like this. I would only recommend this to my 3 year old brother

The art and action scenes are great. The writing is terrible and the "expansion pack" of characters (saying this having watched the 2003 anime) is annoying.

Some side characters are too dramatic and have more story than they need to, well other more important characters lack story and depth. With really got me with the comparison between a certain character's death scene. In the first anime he's happening slow motion and there are flashbacks, and another character sees them again, and it's powerful how this character effected the other characters. It's beautiful. It's art. I cry everytime. In the second anime that character just dies. The ... others are affected by it, but it's not as meaningful.

I felt that way most of the events that went on. They were hardcore action, but they lacked emotion, and the lackluster writing really didn't help.

The humor is soooooo fucking insufferable. Really. Who is the target audience of this, I suppose it's meant to fully commit to the shounen genre and younger audiences or something? It's just awkwardly stuck into situations where there's absolutely no place for it, ruining the atmosphere completely. A fight for life and death? Uhh yeah let's stick a gag into there so the viewer doesn't stand a chance of being invested in the story.
The fights are okay graphically, or action-wise, but the realism. God. So much plot shield. So much plot-making-someone-get-away. So sad this is the version that covers the entirety of the manga.

While I did finish the series it did not live up to my expectations. I personally had a hard time trying to follow along with the story on what is happening and how it's happening. The story starts off with one plot, but then decides to dive off into a completely different plot. The story makes you think the main villain is person A, but then makes you think it's person B just to make you think it's person C only to finally reveal who the real villain is (character names redacted to prevent spoilers). The are jokes are overused and overplayed. There are situations ... where the art doesn't fit with the tone the series is trying to take. Some of the characters take a complete 180 on their moral stance and it feels like it came out of no where because they are trying to get the viewer's sympathy.

This is a very easy review. This show does not hold up on its own in anyway shape or form. It literally requires you to have read the manga or seen the previous anime. The original series diverged from the manga and became something truly special because of it. Brotherhood, while being very true to the manga moves at such absurd speeds as to literally ruin it. It leaves absolutely no room for characters to establish themselves or breathe. The show assumes you're either a fan of the previous anime or the manga and does nothing but pander endlessly to people who claim "BEST EVER" because ... they get to see their favorite character in their favorite scene. It's a real shame, because there was a lot of potential here ruined by Bones pandering towards the established fans. The series slows down to an acceptable pace at around the twentieth episode, but by then the damage is already done.

Other than its problems with pacing, story and characterization, the art and animation are fantastic. The voice acting in both languages is superb. The soundtrack really works well with it as well.

To conclude, do not waste your time on utter garbage. People say it's good, but it really is not.

Very overrated

This review probably contain spoilers.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is without a doubt the worst crap I ever wasted my time on. I can't complain much about the sound or art. It was good.

Why this anime has the top spot on myanimelist is a complete mystery to me. I'm repulsed by many of the characters. Too many of them.

The bad guys in Fullmetal are quite typical of what we expect in these types of anime. They are supernatural beings without any regard for human life. Humans are nothing but tools in their quest for power. This is nothing new. These kind of villains are ... often quite entertaining.

The problem lies with the so-called "good" guys: Mustang, Hughes, Hawkeye, Armstrong, Marcoh and many more. I think we are supposed to root for them as they assist Ed and Al in preventing the bad guys from winning. But they are worse than the bad guys. All of them willingly participated in a war of ethnic cleansing. And they all did it knowing it was wrong. They are no better than the nazis who assisted in the Holocaust. I wouldn't mind any of this, if they weren't portrayed as the heroes in this anime.

Who have we got left? Scar. I like him, but he has killed innocent people in his quest for revenge. Yao was quite entertaining until he chose to become a monster in an attempt to secure power for his clan. Then we have Edward and Winry, who both take turns sobbing their eyes out. In each and every episode, at least one of them have a big crying scene. Left is Alphonse. He's ok.

If i had managed to watch beyond episode 30 or 31, I would have been forced to root for "Father" and his creations. The problem is, I only found one or two of the Homunculi entertaining. Nowhere near enough to keep me watching.

I don't think this anime is as good as the ratings. in my opinion, this anime story is 'ordinary'. It's a good story line, and it's a bit complicated, but I don't like anime with lots of characters in it. because it makes me confused to understand the story. the story in this anime is not only serious, there are comedy scenes in it so that add this story to be interesting. and what I like, the graphics in this anime are good, although it was released in 2009, this anime is still worth watching in 2020, and the graphics are not age-consuming. one more ... thing that I like, the effect of alchemy stance every user is very good. and when compared to the naruto shippuden anime (which in my opinion is almost similar), it is still better naruto shippuden than FMA: B, both from the storyline, characters, and stance. but in terms of graphics, FMA:B is still better than Naruto Shippuden. indeed everyone's assessment is different, and anime that has a high rating is not necessarily preferred by some people. and one more thing, the first episode until the 40s episode was very boring. too many characters are displayed, too many story lines, and the plot is less exciting. indeed each battle scene is quite exciting, but there are some battle scenes that are easy to guess.

in my opinion, episode 50+ is more interesting than the previous episode. where episode 50+ features the war between Central and Briggs, as well as the battle of all the troops against the villain 'homunculus father'. but as I said before, the battle scenes are easy to guess.

Well, I really don't like this anime even though the rating is high. reasonable, because everyone's tastes are different. Also, I feel that this anime doesn't live up to the expectations I wanted. I think this anime will be very, very good and interesting, also fun, considering the anime's rating is number 1. It is not. in my opinion, this anime is 'just ordinary'. there is nothing special that shows this anime number one. there may be 1, the graphics.


Well, the point is I don't like FMAB. placing it at number 1 is a bit over the top and didn't meet my expectations when I watched it.

To be Honest, the story isnt bad, but my experience was bad to the bone.

I just finished watching the Original Full Metal Alchemist Anime and loved it.
I didnt like the Artstyle in Brotherhood nor did I like the different storyline
(it gets a 7 in story anyway because it's closer to the Manga so I've heard so it gets some bonus points there.)

The soundtrack was nothing memorable for me and the Characters are kinda interesting but I still dont like them. (Both 5/10)

In terms of enjoyment I'll give this Anime a 1/10 that's just my Opinion.

Overall Rating is a 4 for me. ...

It is a Decent show, but unless All other Anime would Vanish overnight I wouldnt bother rewatching.

All i can say is finally. I've been putting this show off for two years.
I read the manga about 3 years ago.

OK ill start with the story. its a nice blend of military and shounen. but it feels horribly mixed with comedy. umm not really anything negative about the story besides the pacing it feels waaay to long during the later half of the anime.

the art is OK better than the old one by a bit. the op and ed are where the art really shows. probably just me but i hate it when anime try to pull manga style gags with the art. ...

the music really didn't get my attention for any of this so i gave it a 5

overall it started out good but started to really drag halfway through it has a nice ending though. a bit to militaristic for my tastes. worth the watch but I don't get the hype

While watching, I found myself constantly falling asleep in boredom. It was never really captivating or fully investing. I discovered that when I watched, I was appearing to get dumber. I began to believe in capitalism for the slightest moment before I was able to hold myself at bay. The animation was subpar at best, having moments where I was disgusted at even wasting a minute of my time by watching. There were moments where it seemed that they weren't even trying with the art. There were details lacking in Alphonse's face and armor completely. The story seemed to be barely held together by the ... idea of getting Alphonse's body back. The voice acting lacked emotion and impact. I could barely focus on anything else because I had to struggle to hear what they were trying to say. The only redeeming quality is the opening song that is a fuccin banger dood. I'd rate this a zero if I had the ability to, however this flawed system doesn't allow for such a score.

Review In short, Let me keep it real. This anime isn't worth your time there you go.

I have Dropped this series for many reasons alone that I did to where I was watching at and its pretty simple why that is and why It makes sense for me to review full metal alhemist desu ga. Firstly I base this series on the analogy of 2 words that continues to irk at my own viewing experience of watching this for a long while now.

Those 2 words would be Annoying Tendency!

Not only just that, This anime has dragged onto the point where I know longer care where ... this story is heading because unfortunately its writer, likes to Time waste way too often.
And now the fans have overate this to the point where literally the story has not changed or mature with its premise as its still follows the same freaking formula of repetitive shonen nonsense of its character troupes with most episodes from 1 to god knows what episode its currently on right now and with the exception of thinking that this is a pirate adventure which is totally dumb as hell and has lost credibility in claiming that this is about pirates.

Just like the Naruto series lost credibility thinking its own series projects ninjas in its own show and just as similar as that is to full metal alhemist desu ga its those flaws that just keeps continuing on and on.

its like the equivalent of that bad TV series Lost but on crack with many bad implants to its female characters which I mean Lots.

Reading its Guinness book of its trash manga doesn't even help or even give me value for reading through it as it has loads of the same reasons of problems as I've mentioned above.

If that wasn't enough of an issue. Its story of its characters and its events always end up being a very similar Forced Melodramatic story writing that you have seen and heard loads of times which in turn only forces you to endure this along with bad side stories that contribute into an even slower pace for this show in its build up with each Arc of episodes later by then it becomes unacceptable!

From each arc to arc for me did not guarantee any love or charm what so ever to lots of its characters like the time you are first introduce to them in the series upon viewing.
Instead it only just copies and paste stuff mostly of the same scenarios that you would see far too often in this series for most of these characters along with their progression except for some few that show to get more abilities than others really makes it fair in its togetherness doesn't it?
Some bonding that is if there are only certain characters that can do certain things most others couldn't do even when uniting the strawhats together it only makes it for a more cheesy affair than ever most of the time when you would obviously expect it, Especially when it comes off as cliche as it does.

Which also regards to parts where full metal alhemist desu ga wants to go dark and its so desperate to up the ante but only to result into a similar conclusion like before.

I mean come on its way past most of the amount of standard shonen episodes! which reminds me of Detective Conan, However in Conan's case the Difference is between these 2 series is in its Fandoms. full metal alhemist desu ga fans try to Overhype the crap out of this which is really unnecessary even when lots of people know clearly that it is the case.

We already got the basic gist of things of this series from the beginning, Even through its world setting up and till now is still not even well structured since it throws random places for us to be distracted so that fillers can help maintain its bad pace let alone does it even make that much sense to begin with especially when trying to use foreshadowing to justify the ridiculous amount of episodes that is in this series as it is to make us feel like we have feel invested in the unknown mysteries of the show which actually does the opposite effect.

I believe the full metal alhemist desu ga fandom have gotten mixed up with what world building actually is with the amount of episodes there have been especially focusing on stuff that this show thinks I should see but I don't and no I don't need to have to skip arcs just to enjoy something, Why should I? that is just retarded. Is that why its Manga counterpart is in the Guinness book of records because of its pacing and complacency? Makes sense for whatever parts of this series gains popularity in much of its story for being pointlessly repetitive i suppose.

1. First off regarding what I've mentioned so far,
If you have an immersive world and there is already enough content in the story/journey in your world building never mind how vast or mysterious it is, Don't pointlessly drag it out instead USE IT! and stop milking it with stupid character expressions of coincidences full of plot devices and plot armour, I do not care that it is a dumb shonen. At least FMA knew this a lot better.

2. Pointless prologues to your episodes.

3. Bad morals in many different situations of the story with its writing.

4. Stupid journey objectives that hardly revolves around the plot of the treasure of full metal alhemist desu ga until twelve of episodes later on to the point which is unacceptable along with milking its main characters most of the time of this franchise that gets to the point where it feels like its turning into filler which by the way there are a lot of them no matter what fans try to say against this.

5. Stop foreshadowing something in the story that was mentioned its not good story telling neither is it clever in any way since it never justifies its consitency for constantly dragging on in the way it does.

6. Over hyping stronger characters that don't really get involve in the story that much anyway.

7. Most of the times bad animation no doubt

8. its voice acting well its just mostly tedious and over the place nothing great or over the top despite how he writes the story (Bad writing Btw) that even after listening to lot of these characters it just makes me want to listen to a dying mule instead. Nothing weird or wonderful about that my friends.

With all that being said, Its only qualities that I like about full metal alhemist desu ga are the art designs of certain characters and the fact there is a series that stars pirates, since there are very few anime series that have pirates (not that they are suppose to be role models in any way)
but those are the only positives with this series in general for me and honestly nothing more.

Overall its an over exaggerated series of repetitive outcomes that I have not enjoyed in its long run about dumb wannabe pirates quote PIRATES! It's only real positive here is HEY ITS ABOUT SWAG WOW THATS RARE TO FIND IN ANIME ISN'T IT???..WRONG BECAUSE CONSIDERING WHAT good ARE LIKE IN REAL LIFE WHO CARES ANYWAYS. Thats like me wanting to write a story about slavery on different Ethnicity/Races but NOOOO.. that won't be right so why not glorify slave traders into being these nice dumb heroes because you know? It's fiction and it sounds interesting right? RIGHT??... AGAIN WRONG.

Now going back to my point of Watching this crappy cartoon this only makes me or most viewers seem to have to glorify such a pathetic outlook of a premise with its stretched out world building that is not even incisive enough to its history of the story, neither is it memorable for me enough to even care about it to watch it any longer as it doesn't reward me growth in their characters, a decisive objective or consistency of its so called journey within its story in general.

Last but not least The Comedy really suck! seriously do yourselves a Big favour there are better Shonens and many other Animes out there that is worth watching that has better characters, better story, better pace and better growth than this long turd of a show that seems to overate a lot in Japan above others which unfortunately is the world we live in tHey. Consider this dropped and good riddance.

Excuse me for being honestly critical as I am, I do not sugar coat a series if thats what you really wanted about this show in general, well too bad. You can go to other reviewers that are giving a ten towards this Overrated piece of fiction that's overstayed it's welcome.

To all of you who have read my review thanks for taking the time and take care.

FMA still superior than these one