Fullmetal Alchemist Manga vs First TV Series – ROUND TWO
Fullmetal Alchemist Manga vs First TV Series – ROUND TWO
In this round, I’ll cover comparisons between chapters 4-8 and the episodes that correspond to the events in them. It’s in this volume of the manga, volume 2, that Scar first appears and menaces the State Alchemists, and it all happens in “present” time, meaning none of it in a flashback like in the anime. The incident where Ed gets his automail broken by Scar comes shortly after the Tucker incident. In the first series, the Tucker incident occurs in a flashback, so chronologically, Scar’s main attack in Central doesn’t occur until around the time Ed and Al encounter Dr. Marcoh. Also, Marcoh isn’t killed shortly after the encounter by Lust and Gluttony in the manga like in the anime.
In fact, Tucker and Marcoh seem to switch places. In the manga, Tucker is killed right off after turning Nina into a chimera by Tucker while in military custody, whereas Marcoh goes on to help the Elrics and travel with Scar and Yoki. He even defeats Envy a later chapter (Envy gets better). In the manga, Marcoh is killed soon after being taken into military custody by the homonuculi while Tucker becomes a chimera obsessed with bringing Nina back. Strange how things work between versions.
EVENTS:
Chapter 5: The Alchemist’s Suffering
Event(s): The Shou Tucker/Nina Tucker chimera happenings.
Episode 6: The Alchemy Exam/Episode 7: Night of the Chimera’s Cry/Episode 8: The Philosopher’s Stone
Event(s): Edward prepares to qualify for State Alchemist/the Tucker chimera happenings.
Judgement: This area of the story has so much more emotional impact in the anime.
MANGA < ANIME Chapter 6: The Right Hand of Destruction/Chapter 7: After The Rain/Chapter 8: The Road of Hope Event(s): A mysterious man called "Scar" hunts State Alchemists, including Edward. After the brothers are injured in battle with Scar, they head back home to get Ed's automail fixed and run into Doctor Marcoh, who gives them information on the Philosopher's Stone. Episode 14: Destruction's Right Hand/Episode 15: The Ishbal Massacre/Episode 16: That Which Is Lost Event(s): Ed and Al find Doctor Marcoh, who deserted the military in the war of Ishbal. Following this, the alchemist killer Scar tries to kill them and they're injured. They decide to go back to Risembool to get Ed's automail fixed. Judgement: This portion feels far more fleshed out in the anime and is more exciting, to boot. MANGA < ANIME Let's continue the character comparisons, based on the 93 chapters of Fullmetal Alchemist thus far and the 51 episodes of the first series. CHARACTERS: Roy Mustang Judgement: Roy's basically the same guy in the anime as he is in the manga. He probably gets to do more in the manga version, though, but there's some awesome things he does in the anime to balance things out, like his confronting the Elric brothers about deserting and his fight with Anime!Pride in the final two episodes. Nothing quite at the level as his battle with Lust in the manga, but I just can't say that the two versions are different enough to make a judgement call for one over the other. MANGA = ANIME Riza Hawkeye Judgement: Riza is more fleshed out and more capable in the manga version. She's less of a Roy fangirl, too. She seems to have more independence, though still extremely loyal. I look forward to seeing this Riza in the new series. MANGA > ANIME
Winry Rockbell
Judgement: I can’t really tell the difference between Winry in the manga and in the first series. She’s about as developed in both, I’d say. I don’t particularly care for the character either way, because I don’t see any real reason to give Edward a potential love interest. It adds nothing. I was not one of the people who were disappointed that Winry didn’t hook up with Edward at the end of Conqueror of Shambala.
MANGA = ANIME
End of ROUND 2 still has the first anime looking fairly good. Though I’ll admit that in cases like Riza Hawkeye, certain characters are just a little more fleshed out in the original manga. Volume 3 is next, in which Ed and Al sneak into Laboratory #5! Please, watch the new FMA series and buy the DVDs should it be licensed for R1.