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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #3 (TIE): Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009)

 

 

Director(s): Seiji Mizushima (2003), Yasuhiro Irie (2009)
Script: Various (for both… okay, the list is too long to list)
Music: Michuru Oshima (2003), Akira Senju (2009)
Alright, so I cheated here. But both Fullmetal Alchemist series hold a special place in my heart. The first one, though varying from the manga, has such a great focus and powerful emotional punch to it. The story of these brothers who would (and do) sacrifice everything for each other is so moving, it restored my faith in anime. I’m aware of some of the niggling flaws with certain plot elements, but to me the first series is all about emotions, and narrative, while good, is secondary. A fantastic Japanese cast and Michuru Oshima’s soundtrack really help to color this heartfelt epic. The second series, Brotherhood remains more faithful to the manga source, and has a very well-constructed, consistent world and concepts. I may have found certain decisions from the author poor, and Edward (Romi Paku) and Alphonse (Rie Kugimiya) seem to disappear into the background for too long, but the story is still powerful, with its elements of comradery and responsibility played out very well, with solid direction throughout the presentation. The characters are colorful, the action is exciting, the concepts solidly built and themes thoughtful. Fullmetal Alchemist is the my favorite title of the last decade. I can’t choose a favorite of the two shows and you can’t make me. 
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 51 ENGLISH DUB Review

 Episode 51, "Immortal Army"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: The officer who activates the homunculi dolls is eaten by them, and they turn o the scientist that was with him next. Edward, Scar, and the chimera arrive at the doorway near where Barry died. Ed tries to open it, to no avail. Suddenly it opens and the homunculi dolls pour in. Olivier takes a general hostage, but he orders his subordinates to shut the gates so that Mustang’s and the Briggs forces can’t get in. Sloth attacks, but Olivier moves out of the way and the general is crushed instead. Edward’s group tries to fight off the dolls, but they don’t have any luck. Edward suddenly realizes what they are. He shuts the exit to the room so they can prevent them from escaping. Back at the mound, Heinkel realizes that Pride has been sending out morse code signal, but it’s too late. Kimbley attacks, breaking the mound, which releases Pride. Underground, Mei runs from the dolls, balancing the jar with Envy on her head, but Envy is swallowed by one of the dolls and takes control of it. Devouring the other dolls, Envy returns to his original form. Olivier tries to fight Sloth, but isn’t damaging him. When she is about to be crushed, her brother Alex arrives to assist her. Alphonse tries to help Heinkel and escape from Pride and Kimbley, who shows him the Philosopher’s Stone he saved from the mine. Alphonse uses it to challenge Kimbley and Pride, to Kimbley’s amusement.    Comments:   Envy returns to form in this episode, meaning more of Wendy Powell’s grainy, pained sounding voice for him. Well, actually, Powell’s Envy wasn’t that bad in this episode. In fact, I quite enjoyed her delivery when Envy returned to his usual form and thanked May for it. The dialogue was well read and fit the mouth flaps perfectly. This is probably as positive as I’m ever going to be about Powell’s Envy, which I’ve never been fond of.    I still think it’s stupid that they brought Envy back into the mix. His defeat at the hands of Doctor Marcoh was a great way to have him meet his end, by the hands of one of the lowly humans he’d been taunting for so long.    Stephanie Young’s Olivier is still strong in this episode as she begins her fight against humungous Sloth. I guess Sloth sounds as he should, big, slow, and tired. Eric Vale’s Kimbley still seems a bit too scratchy for my liking. The delivery is decent enough, he sells the lines most of the time, but as for his voice, it’s iffy. Maxey Whitehead’sr Alphonse was solid, geniunely sounding concerned for Heinkel’s well being. The VA for Heinkel even did a decent job.      All in all, not a lot to say about the performances, because they seem to be good, overall.     Overall ENGLISH DUB Score:    4 out of 5  
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 50 ENGLISH DUB Review

 Episode 50, "A Disturbance in Central"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Roy Mustang and his group are joined by troops from the East who support them. The higher-ups notice that Roy’s group is not killing anybody, only disabling them. In the council room, Olivier mocks the other officials for the weakness of their soldiers. She suggests taking over the Central toops herself, but is told that she’s only there to restrain the Briggs troops. She laughs at this, as she is sure if it came to that, her troops would abandon her instead of giving in. Elsewhere, Briggs troops, led by Buccaneer, prepare to go into battle at a location in Central. As Roy’s troops run out of ammo, help arrives in the form of an ammo-filled supply truck. Roy finds Maria Ross in the front, and it’s revealed the person who put it all together is none other than Jean Havoc. Edward, Hohenheim, Scar, and the chimera (save for Heinkel, who is hurt) head for Central. Mei is in Central with Envy and heads to the underground. Olivier kills one of the generals and injures another. Pride’s clanging on Alphonse’s head is heard by Father in Central. Edward and the group enter the path to Father via Laboratory 3, where they split up into groups. One of the remaining officers activates the white "immortal army" homunculi, whose screams can be heard by everyone.    Comments:   It’s been a while since I did one of these, so bear with me.    There seems to be an overall good quality to the English dub of this episode. That is to say, pretty solid performances from the voice cast and a good script. It’s not perfect- every now and then you get a minor character with a truly grating voice or a VA performing woodenly. It’s things like this that prevent it from excelling from "good" to "awesome". Maybe I’m just being a perfectionist, but then again there are some English dubs which I think are a lot better than this one, so I’m not biased against dubs in of themselves.    Stephanie Young is a really excellent Olivier Mira Armstrong. It’s important to me, since she’s one of my favorite characters. You can tell she’s enjoying herself playing the role and it’s working well. She has that real air of confidence to her, bordering on arrogance, that comes across in the perfomance and voice quality. I really buy her as this character, this badass hardened soldier who lives by different rules than most. She’s especially good in this episode.    Travis Willingham’s Roy Mustang continues to impress, as well. He sounds really natural in the role. I even found that his subordinates sounded good in this episode, which is a rarity. Most of the VAs for them I could take or leave, leaning towards the latter. But Havoc sounded good and even Fuery. It felt like a special effort was put into this episode.    I was even comfortable with Vic Mignogna’s Edward. It’s not what I prefer for the character, but he did well for the few lines he had.    Overall, a solid dubbed episode.   Overall ENGLISH DUB Score:    4.5 out of 5    
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 49 ENGLISH DUB Review

Episode 49, "Familial Love"

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*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: Hohenheim tries to get Alphonse to wake up as Pride detects him and plans to lure him out. Greed takes back control of Ling’s body as the group continues fighting Pride. Alphonse finally wakes up and asks his father to help him in a plan. Back at the fight, Pride is easily overwhelming Edward, Greed, and Ranfan, when Hohenheim shows up. Alphonse runs up behind Pride, but is caught. Pride calls Al foolish, which angers Hohenheim, who springs the plan into action. As Alphonse grabs Pride, Hohenheim uses his power to cause huge chunks of the ground to come up and close around Pride and Alphonse. The plan is revealed to have Pride trapped in total darkness in the giant mound until after the Promised Day. Realzing Pride is out of comission, Greed races towards Central, planning to take over the world. Scar, Marcoh, and their chimera companions meet with homeless folks who inform them of the blowing up of Bradley’s train. Meanwhile, Kimbley kills several Ishbalans in the Central area. Inside the dark mound, Pride tells Alphonse of Mrs. Bradley’s kindness. Scar’s group meets up with Ed’s group and Fu goes ahead to Central. Daylight comes and Edward puts on hs red coat for the Promised Day. In Central, Roy’s rebellion begins. read more

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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 48 ENGLISH DUB Review

Episode 48, "A Vow Made Underground"


 
*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: Ling and Ranfan team up to take on Gluttony, easily taking out several of his lives due to their ability to sense him, which Fu (who suddenly appears) explains to Edward. The lights in the slums begin to come back on, concerning Ed and Darius, and Ed comes up with a plan involving Fu. Heinkel continues to attack Selim, but doesn’t make very much progress. Meanwhile, Roy meets with Madam Christmas and recieves confirmation that Selim isn’t human. Villagers happen upon Heinkel and Selim and Selim scares them, causing one to drop a lantern. The fire allows Pride to use his abilities, but Edward saves him. In Central, soldiers try to get at Roy at Madam Christmas’s bar, but he blows it up and the two escape in the sewers. Roy meets with Hawkeye, Breda, and Fuery in a hideout underground as they prepare to go into action, and he tells them not to die. Pride, unable to hurt Ed because of his use of carbon hardening on his automail, decides to use Alphonse to fight Ed, but Ed has Fu use a flashback which seperates Al long enough to be carried off. Gluttony races to meet with Pride, who he informs of the many lives he’s lost. Pride takes this chance to devour Gluttony to gain his sense of smell in order to find his opponents in the dark. In Central, Father wonders what Roy plans to do next, and Olivier says that he will probably kidnap the Fuhrer’s wife. Roy does just that. read more

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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 47 ENGLISH DUB Review

Episode 47, "Messenger of Darkness"

*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: Edward, Greed, Darius, and Heinkel arrive in the slum town of Kanama, where they meet up with Hohenheim. That evening, he tells them all his story, which Edward has a hard time dealing with. Edward tells his father his mother’s last words, which provokes Hohenheim to cry. Feeling akward, Edward goes to eat, and then creates a new red jacket for himself. Walking towards the woods, Ed, Greed, and the chimeras are approached by Alphonse. However, Ling detects a homunculus, and it becomes clear Pride has posessed Alphonse. In the east, Grumman oversees the search for Bradley’s body, but Miles has his suspicions over the lieutenant general’s motivations. Pride attacks the group, but Edward uses all the lights in the village, sending the whole lot into darkness. Heinkel finds Pride’s container, attacking Selim. Gluttony attacks and Darius tries to take him on, while Greed gives Ling control of his body again due to his ability to detect homunculi. Gluttony gets fed up and transforms into his fake Gate form, but Ranfan arrives, with an automail arm, attacking him. read more

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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 46 ENGLISH DUB Review

Episode 46, "The Creeping Shadow"

*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: Time passes, and the time of the Risembool Sheep Festival arrives. A military train is at the train station, and Miles is among soldiers there. Winry is escorted secretly back to her house, where she encounters Edward, Greedling, and the chimeras. Winry tells Ed that Alphonse is in the train, but Ed decides is safer not to go visit him. Winry adjusts Ed’s automail and tells him about Lior’s recovery and that she knows about "the promised day". Ed and his group leave at night for Kanama, to meet up with Hohenheim. In Lior, Scar and Marcoh meet with the other chimeras, and they all meet up with a group of Ishbalans. More time passes, and in the East, the training excercises between the East and the North are being overseen by Fuhrer King Bradley. This concerns General Grumman and Miles who try to come up with a plan to get rid of him. Alphonse wanders out of the train and is chased by Gluttony and Pride, who eventually capture him. In Central, Roy pays Olivier a visit and passes along what he knows about Selim. General Hakuro informs Bradley of the information he gathered about a coup attempt about to be made with the help of the Ishbalans, leading Bradley to take a train home, which is destroyed by soldiers working for Mustang and Grumman. In Central, Olivier considers making her move, but Father arrives with Sloth. read more

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