I'm a big fan of Japanese art and anime. Hayao Miyazaki's Porco Rosso, My Neighbor Totoro... all that stuff is just great entertainment.
I recently ended the long Fullmetal Alchemist anime serie, which was just marvelous piece of alternate universe set parallel to early 20th century during World War I. The FMA universe has alchemy which has replaced science. It's just really well thought science fiction fantasy world with some harsh plot twists that absolutely shocked me during the first view. The seventh episode may have one of the most brutal plot twists I've seen in the history of animation.
There's some typical goofy Japanese humour here and there to soften some of the overall seriousness and melancholy which the whole serie reeks in. I haven't seen the movie Conquer of Shamballa yet, but I'm sure it continues the charm and weight of the show. The Japanese voice actors rule. Elric's screams and passion is just dead on, but the English voice actors sound somehow stale and uninspired. I just couldn't watch the show with English audio track, so the Japanese was a must for myself.
I'm a big fan of Japanese art and anime. Hayao Miyazaki's Porco Rosso, My Neighbor Totoro... all that stuff is just great entertainment.
I recently ended the long Fullmetal Alchemist anime serie, which was just marvelous piece of alternate universe set parallel to early 20th century during World War I. The FMA universe has alchemy which has replaced science. It's just really well thought science fiction fantasy world with some harsh plot twists that absolutely shocked me during the first view. The seventh episode may have one of the most brutal plot twists I've seen in the history of animation.
There's some typical goofy Japanese humour here and there to soften some of the overall seriousness and melancholy which the whole serie reeks in. I haven't seen the movie Conquer of Shamballa yet, but I'm sure it continues the charm and weight of the show. The Japanese voice actors rule. Elric's screams and passion is just dead on, but the English voice actors sound somehow stale and uninspired. I just couldn't watch the show with English audio track, so the Japanese was a must for myself.
Five homunculus out of five
-- Edited by Nope at 20:55, 2008-04-11
I don't like anime or manga or the sushi. But the Japanese women do dress very stylishly. They carry purses as fashion. Not many North American women walk around with purses anymore.
I haven't seen any of it but have heard mention of it here and there.
Isn't there a video game of it too? Or at least some comics?
So did you watch it with subtitles or do you speak Japanese?
Sounds interesting.
With subtitles. A few of the DVDs have both Japanese and English audio tracks, but the Japanese voice actors were better. There's both manga and anime version of the whole story. The show is really well-thought, but the undertone is very melancholic. The basic principle of alchemy is an equivalent trade. If you trade your original Diary of a Madman, you'll get a copy of Mob Rules. I think you and Squidhammer might enjoy this serie. 51 episodes plus the movie.
"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth."
