(no subject)
I just saw the new FMA anime, and WHAT THE CHRIST.
What, the, hell, was up with that first episode.
No really.
You know what was great about the start of the FMA manga? It unravelled itself OVER TIME, eventually revealing the main heroes piece by piece, showing them as real people with flaws and secrets instead of dumping their entire character concept in one episode. More characters were introduced over the next few chapters, slowly lifting the veil on who they were and what they were capable of. You were INTRODUCED to these people like you would in real life.
This first episode, in comparison, was like one long massive run-on sentence in one breath. Look there's Ed and Al and they're looking all dramatic and HOSHIT he can use alchemy without a circle and he has automail and hey there's Hughes with a picture of his kid and he's smothery and there's Roy getting wet LULZ and there's Armstrong smashing shit and Roy is finally burning stuff and OMG AL IS EMPTY INSIDE and the Fuhrer is superhuman oh my god! *GASPGASP*
It also doesn't help that they're talking about important plot points that aren't discovered until FAR LATER in the plot. Edward didn't discover what the 'country was for' until chapter SIXTY or so, so why are we bringing it up now when we haven't even seen the most basic beginnings of the evil plot? It's not actually relevant right now! I'd feel sorry for anyone who doesn't know the story, because they'd be feeling awfully lost with all these anvil-like plot points being thrown at them when it'll be ages until they're explained. This isn't supposed to be Lost, people. (Not to mention the opening animation, which shows hints that don't show up until EVEN LATER.)
Can anyone also explain how the hell the Ice Alchemist figured it out? Or how the hell alchemy, which manipulates ELEMENTS based on CHEMISTRY, makes water boil like magic?
But if you really wanted a good pilot episode just to show Edward and Alphone off and have a good action-packed episode, why not use the train hijacking chapter? It hits all of the important points that a pilot episode should -
1. It introduces Ed and Al in a natural way by meeting them while they're on their journey, showing off their little behavioural quirks;
2. It shows how Ed and Al are very much not normal people ("We're ALCHEMISTS!") and you get a lot of hilarious action;
3. You get to see what both of them are uniquely capable of (you could fudge it a little to show that Al is empty inside);
4. Ed's automail introduced in a plausible way ("Ohh, another automail user? *slice*") rather than someone just going 'OMG';
5. And you're intoduced to Roy and what he's capable of, again in a plausible way that flows from the story.
There, that wasn't so hard. It'd make a better pilot than this Ice Alchemist nonsense.
Now the second episode - god, this one made me want to tear my hair out. Did these guys have ANY idea how long we waited for this stuff to be revealed? What made the horror of these sequences great was that we saw them in small, bloody chunks, slowly crafting a terrifying picture until we're given the whole truth. It was a wonderful gutpunch.
And they dump EVERYTHING IN THE SECOND EPISODE. Are they NUTS? What anime shows EVERYTHING from the horrific backstory in the second episode? I'm aware that many people watching this show would have watched the original anime or read the manga and already know this, but I love those scenes because HOW and WHEN they were presented. Shoving it all into one episode really ruined lots of them for me.
If they really wanted to keep it fresh, they could have done small changes or framed it differently, really freak the shit out of the older viewers as well as the new ones. How creepy would it have been if the failed human transmutation didn't just instantly die, but slowly tried to inch itself across the floor towards Ed, using that one perfect hand to scrape at the stone like it really was Trisha? That would have been terrifying.
I mean, what next, show all of the Ishbal Campaign in episode three? Ugh.
I don't want to sound like I'm horribly bashing this - there is some absolutely lovely animation, funny parts, and somehow I like Edward a lot more in these episodes than the original anime. I just hope they get back on track, and fast.
What, the, hell, was up with that first episode.
No really.
You know what was great about the start of the FMA manga? It unravelled itself OVER TIME, eventually revealing the main heroes piece by piece, showing them as real people with flaws and secrets instead of dumping their entire character concept in one episode. More characters were introduced over the next few chapters, slowly lifting the veil on who they were and what they were capable of. You were INTRODUCED to these people like you would in real life.
This first episode, in comparison, was like one long massive run-on sentence in one breath. Look there's Ed and Al and they're looking all dramatic and HOSHIT he can use alchemy without a circle and he has automail and hey there's Hughes with a picture of his kid and he's smothery and there's Roy getting wet LULZ and there's Armstrong smashing shit and Roy is finally burning stuff and OMG AL IS EMPTY INSIDE and the Fuhrer is superhuman oh my god! *GASPGASP*
It also doesn't help that they're talking about important plot points that aren't discovered until FAR LATER in the plot. Edward didn't discover what the 'country was for' until chapter SIXTY or so, so why are we bringing it up now when we haven't even seen the most basic beginnings of the evil plot? It's not actually relevant right now! I'd feel sorry for anyone who doesn't know the story, because they'd be feeling awfully lost with all these anvil-like plot points being thrown at them when it'll be ages until they're explained. This isn't supposed to be Lost, people. (Not to mention the opening animation, which shows hints that don't show up until EVEN LATER.)
Can anyone also explain how the hell the Ice Alchemist figured it out? Or how the hell alchemy, which manipulates ELEMENTS based on CHEMISTRY, makes water boil like magic?
But if you really wanted a good pilot episode just to show Edward and Alphone off and have a good action-packed episode, why not use the train hijacking chapter? It hits all of the important points that a pilot episode should -
1. It introduces Ed and Al in a natural way by meeting them while they're on their journey, showing off their little behavioural quirks;
2. It shows how Ed and Al are very much not normal people ("We're ALCHEMISTS!") and you get a lot of hilarious action;
3. You get to see what both of them are uniquely capable of (you could fudge it a little to show that Al is empty inside);
4. Ed's automail introduced in a plausible way ("Ohh, another automail user? *slice*") rather than someone just going 'OMG';
5. And you're intoduced to Roy and what he's capable of, again in a plausible way that flows from the story.
There, that wasn't so hard. It'd make a better pilot than this Ice Alchemist nonsense.
Now the second episode - god, this one made me want to tear my hair out. Did these guys have ANY idea how long we waited for this stuff to be revealed? What made the horror of these sequences great was that we saw them in small, bloody chunks, slowly crafting a terrifying picture until we're given the whole truth. It was a wonderful gutpunch.
And they dump EVERYTHING IN THE SECOND EPISODE. Are they NUTS? What anime shows EVERYTHING from the horrific backstory in the second episode? I'm aware that many people watching this show would have watched the original anime or read the manga and already know this, but I love those scenes because HOW and WHEN they were presented. Shoving it all into one episode really ruined lots of them for me.
If they really wanted to keep it fresh, they could have done small changes or framed it differently, really freak the shit out of the older viewers as well as the new ones. How creepy would it have been if the failed human transmutation didn't just instantly die, but slowly tried to inch itself across the floor towards Ed, using that one perfect hand to scrape at the stone like it really was Trisha? That would have been terrifying.
I mean, what next, show all of the Ishbal Campaign in episode three? Ugh.
I don't want to sound like I'm horribly bashing this - there is some absolutely lovely animation, funny parts, and somehow I like Edward a lot more in these episodes than the original anime. I just hope they get back on track, and fast.