Top Ten Reasons Why The FMA Anime Rocks

Note: I am not putting this list up looking for a critique. I do encourage discussion in the comments, but if all you're interested in is composing a reason as to why I'm wrong, or a point-by-point rebuttal of my statements, do it in your own journal.



Everyone agrees, more or less, that Fullmetal Alchemist is truly a masterful creation, a story universe that borders on a work of art. It began life as a manga series, went on to become an anime, then a movie, and even several games.

But although the universe, many of the characters, and much of the storyline is the same from one aspect of canon to another, there are also differences, sometimes significant, between them. The devil is in the details, they say, and the details vary from one version of Fullmetal Alchemist to another.

Many fans of Fullmetal Alchemist hold the opinion that the manga, as the original source of the Fullmetal Alchemist concept and material, is the paramount and primary version of characters, plots and events. Oftentimes they come to be irritated or upset when a favored detail is changed in a later version of the story, and complain about "mistakes" or "errors" or things that were "done wrong," or even that the Fullmetal Alchemist anime "ruined Arakawa's original work."

But the manga and the anime are, as they always have been, two distinct entities, in completely different formats. Comparing details and trying to judge quality between them is like judging apples and oranges. It's ridiculous to say that an apple is bad because it doesn't taste enough like citrus, or that an orange is the wrong color because it's not red enough. I'm of the opinion that people don't take enough time to stop and appreciate, completely independent from Arakawa's original work, the things that make the Fullmetal Alchemist anime great.

And so, I present to you:

The Top Ten Reasons Why
the Fullmetal Alchemist Anime

is not a travesty, is not a disaster, does not butcher the story, does not suck, but in fact

ROCKS

Please keep in mind that these aren't the top ten reasons why Fullmetal Alchemist, the story, rocks, although it does. These are the features which are unique to the anime, which make it, as an example of its media and format, magnificent.


1) ( the art. )

2) ( the animation. )

3) ( the voice acting. )

4) ( the soundtrack. )

5) ( the choreography. )

6) ( the villains. )

7) ( character design. )

8) ( character expression. )

9) ( character growth and development. )

10) ( the plot. (plot spoilers) )

Conclusion

We humans, often, are creatures of habit. It is often the case that the first version we see of something becomes the 'true' version, and all things that follow must be measured and compared against it, and differences criticized as mistakes. So it can be important, for an adaptation, to take a step back and make an effort to count up the true strengths and weaknesses of the medium, as a work of its own, not as a true or a false copy of anything else.

The standards by which the quality of the FMA anime must be judged are not those of the original manga series, which is in a different media and ultimately not comparable, but compared to other works in anime format. Its worth is determined not only by its comparison to the original but by how well the elements that make up the anime itself succeed or fail, by its production values and by the vision and labor that was poured into its creation. And by those standards, the FMA anime was unquestionably a success.