All I can say is "Wow". This is an excellently done Anime. Kudos Bones. Most Anime fans will love FMA. It is very well done with great dubbing and fluid fight scenes. The story line twists and turns keeping you on the edge of your seat and constantly saying "this is getting intense" FMA is never predictable and always leaves you guessing. The relationship between Ed and Al is truly something to be admired and your really begin to feel for the two as if they were your own brothers. FMA takes you through an emotional roller-coaster with strong character development that keeps you engaged in the series. If the measure of a good show is its ability to leave you wanting more, then this anime really makes the grade.
Now that I got the praise out of the way, let's talk about the reason this anime didn't get a 10 from me. If anyone has read my reviews in the past they will note that my biggest pet-peeve when it comes to movies is a poorly thought out "cop-out" ending. Low and behold this anime, unfortunately, doesn't fail in that. The build up in FMA is so intense that nothing short of a great ending would suffice. It seemed as if the ending to this series was forced out in the last two episodes because they ran out of funds or something. For those of you who have not seen FMA, I recommend you do so, and then read this as it will spoil the series for you. Everyone else, feel free to read on as you already know the basic story and I don't have to explain the entire thing. So Ed and Al get the philosopher's stone. So they should be able to just make everything right in the world. But I guess not, they find out they have to fight Dante who has the ability to send them through the gate. Rose sends Ed and his dad through the gate. The other side of the gate is our world, London in WW2. This is just stupid. All this build up for that! All I can say is this was a big let down. So Ed makes his way back and gets killed by Envy, who is his step brother. Al uses the stone and revives him, but is taken to the gate and is floating between worlds with his body; witch again is stupid because he shouldn't have had to this happen to him as he was the philosopher's stone. Then Ed transmutes to the gate and destroys the city that all the bad stuff happened in. Al appears in Risunbule with no memory of the events and is in his 10 year old body. We don't know where Ed is. It then turns out Ed is trapped in our world with his father. Now Ed and Al have to be separated until they find a way back to each other. I thought this was such a horrible ending, that didn't explain anything and made all the events of the series completely pointless. Here are some key points of needed explanations:
1. Why did Wrath have such a strong connection to Ed and Al's mother? 2. Why did Ed and Al's step brother turn into a dragon while going through the gate? 3. What was the gate and why was it there? 4. Why do Humunculi float in between worlds? 4. Who was Rose's baby and how did she get it? 5. Were homunculi partial human transmutations that just needed the soul to be reattached? 6. Was the philosopher's stone really what it claimed to be? If so, why couldn't Al get his and Ed's bodies back no problem?
So as you can see this series completely bombed in the end, but it was fun while it lasted. And call me cliché, but when people go through so much, give them a happy ending! Sometimes I like to feel all warm and fuzzy inside and cheer when the heroes achieve what they went through so much to get.
Now that I got the praise out of the way, let's talk about the reason this anime didn't get a 10 from me. If anyone has read my reviews in the past they will note that my biggest pet-peeve when it comes to movies is a poorly thought out "cop-out" ending. Low and behold this anime, unfortunately, doesn't fail in that. The build up in FMA is so intense that nothing short of a great ending would suffice. It seemed as if the ending to this series was forced out in the last two episodes because they ran out of funds or something. For those of you who have not seen FMA, I recommend you do so, and then read this as it will spoil the series for you. Everyone else, feel free to read on as you already know the basic story and I don't have to explain the entire thing. So Ed and Al get the philosopher's stone. So they should be able to just make everything right in the world. But I guess not, they find out they have to fight Dante who has the ability to send them through the gate. Rose sends Ed and his dad through the gate. The other side of the gate is our world, London in WW2. This is just stupid. All this build up for that! All I can say is this was a big let down. So Ed makes his way back and gets killed by Envy, who is his step brother. Al uses the stone and revives him, but is taken to the gate and is floating between worlds with his body; witch again is stupid because he shouldn't have had to this happen to him as he was the philosopher's stone. Then Ed transmutes to the gate and destroys the city that all the bad stuff happened in. Al appears in Risunbule with no memory of the events and is in his 10 year old body. We don't know where Ed is. It then turns out Ed is trapped in our world with his father. Now Ed and Al have to be separated until they find a way back to each other. I thought this was such a horrible ending, that didn't explain anything and made all the events of the series completely pointless. Here are some key points of needed explanations:
1. Why did Wrath have such a strong connection to Ed and Al's mother? 2. Why did Ed and Al's step brother turn into a dragon while going through the gate? 3. What was the gate and why was it there? 4. Why do Humunculi float in between worlds? 4. Who was Rose's baby and how did she get it? 5. Were homunculi partial human transmutations that just needed the soul to be reattached? 6. Was the philosopher's stone really what it claimed to be? If so, why couldn't Al get his and Ed's bodies back no problem?
So as you can see this series completely bombed in the end, but it was fun while it lasted. And call me cliché, but when people go through so much, give them a happy ending! Sometimes I like to feel all warm and fuzzy inside and cheer when the heroes achieve what they went through so much to get.