Fullmetal Alchemist Manga vs First TV Series – ROUND THREE
The third volume of the FMA manga covers the Elric brothers’ trip back to Risembool to get Edward’s automail arm fixed (it was destroyed by Scar), the research at Central’s library into the Philosopher’s Stone, and most of the Laboratory 5 incident. The first animated series stayed pretty faithful to this portion overall.
EVENTS:
Chapter 9: A Home with a Family Waiting
Fullmetal Alchemist Manga vs First TV Series – ROUND THREE
The third volume of the FMA manga covers the Elric brothers’ trip back to Risembool to get Edward’s automail arm fixed (it was destroyed by Scar), the research at Central’s library into the Philosopher’s Stone, and most of the Laboratory 5 incident. The first animated series stayed pretty faithful to this portion overall.
EVENTS:
Chapter 9: A Home with a Family Waiting
Event(s): Edward, Alphonse, and Major Armstrong visit Resembool, the Elric’s hometown, to get his automail and Alphonse fixed.
Episode 17: “House of the Waiting Family”
Event(s): Edward, Alphonse, and Major Armstrong visit Resembool, the Elric’s hometown, to get his automail and Alphonse fixed.
Judgement: Rather poignant in both versions, but slightly more subtle in the anime one.
MANGA < ANIME Chapter 10: The Philosopher's Stone Event(s): Ed and Al make use of bookworm Sheska to obtain Tim Marcoh's notes after the Central Library has been destroyed, but are horrified to discover that behind the doctor's code, the secret ingredient behind the stone is human lives. Episode 18: Marcoh's Notes Event(s): Ed and Al make use of bookworm Sheska to obtain Tim Marcoh's notes after the Central Library has been destroyed, but are horrified to discover that behind the doctor's code, the secret ingredient behind the stone is human lives. Judgement: The events are essentially the same in both with negligable differences that don't really add or subtract from the experience in both. MANGA = ANIME Chapter 11: The Two Guardians/Chapter 12: The Definition of Human Event(s): Ed and Al sneak into Laboratory 5 and do battle with guardians- souls attached to armor like Al, but psychotic killers. Episode 19: The Truth Behind Truths/Episode 20: Soul of the Guardian Event(s): Ed and Al sneak into Laboratory 5 and do battle with guardians- souls attached to armor like Al, but psychotic killers. Judgement: Though there are slight variations, these chapters are translated very well into the anime, with little positive or negative added or lost. MANGA = ANIME And now for more character comparisons, based on the 93 chapters of FMA so far and the 51 episodes of the first series. This time, we'll do some homunuculi. CHARACTERS: Envy Judgement: The manga Envy's powers are more fleshed out and he's far more brutal and threatening. He's also a completely monster without any reason, whereas the anime one did have actual envy towards the Elric brothers. However, when it comes to Envy, I prefer him being a more forward monster than a sympathetic one. MANGA > ANIME
Lust
Judgement: In the anime version, Lust is more relevant to the overall plot and seeing her struggling to come to terms with what she is and what she wants to be is interesting. In the manga, she’s really just a bitch monster. I prefer her anime version.
MANGA < ANIME Gluttony Judgement: Gluttony's the same in both versions. He may have one extra capability in the manga that comes later on, but it's really of no importance. MANGA = ANIME Next time we start to do some material that differs more in the manga and anime than the material thus far. The Lab 5 incident ends up different in the anime version, because the homonuculi use that opportunity in that version to try to get Edward to transmute a Philosopher's Stone for them.