Full Metal Alchemist

[JexKerome]

Escaflowne rocks. Got the full set of videos (subbed) a couple of years back, and watched it in one go.

No, wait, it wasn't a couple of years. It was more like six. And yet it feels like it was yesterday.

God, I'm old. Just not as old as Warren.

[MixedMyth]

Heh heh. I don't know why he did it, but it's hella creepy! Creepiest story I've seen in a long time, actually. Mad props for that.

I loved Escaflowne, except for the last five minutes. Literally.
I got the movie, too. Series is much better. The movie is pretty, but depressing. Havn't been able to watch it for a while. Not something you want to sit down to often.

[Keffria]

I don't think I ever saw the entire series -- there are probably a few episodes in the middle I missed, having had to watch it on television. Is it true that they compressed the first two episodes into one for the television version...?

[JexKerome]

I don't think I ever saw the entire series -- there are probably a few episodes in the middle I missed, having had to watch it on television. Is it true that they compressed the first two episodes into one for the television version...?

For the american television version, they made the first episode out of the first THREE. Here in Mexico we got it raw and uncensored (not that there was much to censor; american censorship's double standards never cease to amaze me). It also managed to avoid the eye of the nuts here who managed to have Slayers cancelled, so we got to see it complete.

I had my videos by then, though. A friend got me hooked on the first four or five episodes he got from somewhere, those translated "by fans for fans". So when I saw my chance to get the whole shebang, and to do so legally, I went for it.

[MixedMyth]

I...don't know? It seems to be paced alright and make sense, but I've only seen the tapes/DVDs. I've heard tell that Fox got their hands on it and aired it on tv, cut the living hell out of it and spliced it at nigh random so that none of it made any sense. But I've never seen that version. No wonder it didn't do well on Fox, though.

[Grabmygoblin]

I hate bumping, but I wanted to talk some more about FMA now that Adult Swim has finished broadcasting all the episodes. (no announcement yet on when they will aquire the broadcast rights and then run the movie)


...FMA seriously is now one of my favorite televison shows ever. it literally had me looking forward all week to new episodes.

I was kinda disappointed by the last episode, but I don't think anything produced could have lived up to my expectations. looking forward to the movie so I can fully digest the series.

as an American, the re-occuring theme ofcorrupt officials taking the nation to war for selfish reasons and powerstruck a nerve. when was FMA originally made in Japan, before or after the US entered Iraq?

[MariaAndMichelle]

We stoppped watching it because they played reruns for a while, and we never knew when they started playing new ones again.

Also, the manga first appeared in February 2002, and the anime started in October 2003.

[Cope]

as an American, the re-occuring theme ofcorrupt officials taking the nation to war for selfish reasons and powerstruck a nerve. when was FMA originally made in Japan, before or after the US entered Iraq?

According to Wikipedia, the anime came after (but only just, debuting on October 4, 2003) and the manga came before (February 2002).

EDIT: D'oh, why didn't I notice that M&M had already answered this question? -_-

[Keffria]

I've got a question: at what point does the anime totally diverge from the manga (as it is rumoured to do), thus rendering it safe for me to watch it again? ...I kind of got bored after about 20 episodes of the series before.

[Mercury Hat]

By my recollections, the anime and manga really start to diverge around the time Ed and Al meet up with their old teacher and remember being on the island which I think was around episode 26 or 27. At episode 20 the two are still pretty much the same.

[Keffria]

Ahh, then I've caught up with the anime. Everyone keeps telling me how good it is, and (*looks back at her older posts*) I was really gung-ho about watching it, but ... ehh, perhaps it was because I'd seen the first twelve-or-so episodes I-don't-know-how-many times because people kept showing them to me?

[Isukiyomi]

Adult Swim interviewed the director of the FMA anime and here are a few excerpts:

"SM: In the second half, the series takes a departure from the original manga, and the story becomes an original creation from the animation staff."

AS: How did you develop the storyline for the second half? Did you know that you would have to create a story different from the manga from the beginning?

SM: Yes, you see, the original manga had only been sold for a year, so there were only three volumes available, so we knew that there wasn't enough to work with, so from the start, we were planning on probably going with an original storyline. Several times, we presented Miss Arakawa with the plans for the storyline that we had come up with for the second half of the series, she looked at them and discussed them with us, had meetings with us, that's how we created it.


(from a convention panel): What's the most difficult part about working on an anime?

SM: Well, I've been able to work on two animated series based on long-running manga series, Shaman King and Fullmetal Alchemist, and the most difficult thing with on-going series like them is to create, in just one year, with about fifty-one, maybe fifty-two episodes, an encapsulated storyline. Within that limited span of time, you have to take all of the interesting points from the original manga and put them into the series. You also have to work with the creator to come up with an ending original to the anime. That, and quality control.

I think Full Metal Alchemist is really a great show and I'm hoping Adult Swim gets to air the movie ^__^