Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 Review Im going to warn you outright Im not the best at analysing anime but Ill try my best . . I dont think of Equivalent Exchange as a law of the world anymore. I think of it as a promise between my brother and me. 220https://i.ur.com/qiLF9RZ.gif Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 FMA 04 was the first anime adaption preceding Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood FMAB which came out 2009 and is usually praised as the better of the two. That being as FMAB follows the manga to the very end while FMA 03 takes an alternate pathway as at the time of production the manga had only been partially completed. Because of this both anime tell very different stories and because of that for the most part I will be disassociating the two ill do a quick comparison between the two at the end though. Fullmetal Alchemist 03 tells a story about two brothers Edward Elric and Alphonse Eric who are in search of the Philosophers Stone in an attempt to get their bodies back after a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life. This attempt causing Ed to lose his arm and leg and Al to lose his entire body and having his soul bonded to armour. From that base plot we are welcomed to the world of alchemy the magic that harbours the world but is treated more like a science under the idea of Equivalent exchange. To obtain something you must pay a price of equal value. 220https://i.ur.com/mndOSjY.gif The way they treat alchemy is very well done they explain it well enough that it makes sense there arent too many flaws in the way they use it and it seems quite grounded to some degree though sometimes it does feel like the writers just went with things that kinda made sense. Which works with the anime. The entire series has a very wellgrounded feeling. Especially within the characters all the characters in the series get a fair amount of development even in the side characters sometimes. We get to understand everyones separate motivations their personalities and most importantly their faults. No character in the show is a completely good person everyone is in a moral grey area. Everyone has done wrong things and the show doesnt hide it these wrong doings also for the most part harbour consequences a misdoing a character does will be brought up 20 episodes down the line and have actual implication. That is too say that isnt with every character. Some of the main villains receive some barely bleak character development and their motivations dont really make sense and one of them even passes it off by telling Ed he should understand even though their situations barely intersect at all. A lot of villains also get the whole I just like watching people suffer trope which for a series so focused on character building really shouldnt be doing for such significant characters in the plot. Luckily this isnt apparent for all of the villains but sadly for strong chunk of them. I feel as though personally the writing of the other characters more than makes up for this from a subjective view though. The characters go hand in hand to create the plot of the series and while not as grand of a plot as FMAB it is still quite a well put together one it isnt fully cohesive at certain points it feels disjointed and jumps a bit around there were many times is later parts of the series Id felt like Id missed something and had to stop to make sure I hadnt. Now lets have a look at the animation and the sound which are both quite superb. While being made in 2003 the animation barely has any low points and even has some really high points. There is a few hand to hand combat moments that look really cool in motion even if they dont last long lmao. The OST is also is just as good especially with openings such as Rewrite by ASIAN KUNGFU GENERATION and READY STEADY GO by LArcenCiel. The ost really also fits with the overall mood and aesthetic of the art style to the point where I actually prefer the styling of this against FMAB. 220https://i.ur.com/8dcVKXB.gif FMA 03 and FMAB are very different anime FMAB is more shonen focused story with masterfully written characters and a very solid and cohesive plot. FMA while is comes from the same source material deviates from that shonen focus and becomes something entirely different while I believe the plot isnt as strong as FMAB I do prefer the darker aspect of it and the way they answer certain plot points shown in the manga in comparison to FMAB. Overall Id reccomend this anime to anyone who wants to watch a more plot focused anime with shonen parts sprinkled in and to people who have seen FMAB and are interested in an alternate version of the story.