She has stated that she grew up in a tough family and surrounded by strong women, and the influence shines in the characters such as Winry, Riza, Lan Fan, Izumi, Olivier, and Mei Chang.Īn issue I have with some manga is when the art style gets so similar I can’t tell characters apart. This is probably a personal preference as well but Arakawa writes some of shounen’s best female characters. The lack of flat side characters makes Fullmetal Alchemist so refreshing. There is depth and growth in the love interests, the parent figures, and the villains. Maybe because Arakawa is a female author writing a shounen series but I felt the significance of most of the main characters in such a way that other mainstream shounen titles are unable to pull off. For such a large group, as a reader, I still ended up appreciating more than enough of my share of the cast. Speaking of the characters, Arakawa did a great job of writing fleshed out ensemble characters. This is told to us not only through Ed and Al, but eventually with the help of the Mustang Unit, the Briggs team, and even people from another country, Xing. And all of this is revealed so artfully, letting us know bit by bit about the homonculi, the nationwide transmutation circle, and Father. We may begin our journey with a fourteen and twelve year old boy, but by the end we are witnessing the story of an entire nation. One more of the best things about the series is the scope. We get to feel every loss and every discovery with equal parts terror and wonder, making each reveal more and more interesting. I think that what the manga has over both the 20 series is that here Arakawa tells the story how she likes - and that greatly gives us the pace we need. There is never a moment you will be bored, and it’s exciting to uncover the bigger picture along with the protagonists.įrom the beginning where we have Ed and Al and the introduction of our basic concepts - The Philosopher’s Stone, transmutation, equivalent exchange - everything is weaved together in a way where things are not revealed too quickly for us to stomach, or too slowly that we would get bored. I can hardly find faults with the plot - it’s not too fast paced, and it knows when it needs to end. From the beginning where everything is set up, instead of a linear direction where you feel like you’re following one hero up and down a path, FMA gives me that feeling of sitting on large bird that flies up slowly and reveals the entire landscape. I’ll have to say that out of all the manga I’ve read, Fullmetal Alchemist is so far the only one where I feel like every event is really connected to the others. Not forgetting to pack the comedy (and a little bit of romance), the series mixes everything into a beautiful tale that will always be great to go back to. Following two young heroes, the story grows and our characters get entangled with creations and monsters beyond their imaginations. Short review: Fullmetal Alchemist is little step up your average shounen action-adventure series, creating a unique world with memorable characters, lore, and legend. Overall, I still say read FMA if you want a memorable and iconic experience to shonen genre. I say the main theme is that Hope/Friendship is still relevant esp in nowadays but the manga-ka never hits the readers so heavy-handed that it becomes trite than significant. It's interesting to see how the main characters grow from inexperienced kids to relatively confident teens and happier adults. The series does have a rough start as we're not exactly sure how a child can enlist in the army and become a soldier but everyone does treat Ed and Al like kids which is much better than say small adults. I feel like it aged pretty well other than some of the physical gags/jokes which feel out of place now and the omake added some comedy to otherwise dark scenes. Although FMA's cast is pretty large I managed to keep everyone's face and histories apart which is impressive and I can see how their lives changed for the better or worse due to the events. I liked how even minor characters were noted and had different designs vs just NPCs. Also, no creepy scenes b/t them and the male characters which is awesome. I feel that most of the main story beats still hold up and avoids some of the traps of long shonen like a meandering quest objective, no real ending, or too many similar cast members that go nowhere.Īlso, how the manga-ka handled all the female characters who all had agency in her life and actions was great compared to some modern stories. It's been almost two decades since I first completed FMA series back when I started in JR High and it was an amazing exp to grow up with the Elric brothers from their mistakes and how they managed to resolve to get their bodies back.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |