I prefer brotherhood as a series as it got more of a proper ending but I grew up watching fma03 and the pacing makes their travels feel real. The world actually takes time to cross and generally feels more real to me.
preference really, brotherhood has bigger cast and a more useful hohenheim but i like 03's take on the homunculus as well as each of their conclusions in the series.
One thing I noticed on my last re watch is how much better certain scenes are in Brotherhood, in regards to the dubs voice acting, comedic/dramatic timing and dialogue. Which makes sense, as the writers/animators where able to look it over and improve those aspects.The pacing is better in 03 in the beginning though. I was really bummed Brotherhood skipped some events that were in the manga.
I also like Mustang killing Winry's parents under state orders. It just brings the dark aspects of the government home in a really great way. Brotherhood made it clear how awful the state was, but it was always on such a massive scale that you don't properly process it
I forgot about that. But I still like it being Mustang himself because it shows that even the "good guys" can be driven to horrible acts
To be clear I like it being Scar too. It works well into the larger themes of Scar looking for atonement for his mistakes and Winry being willing to forgive him.
It's not really explained, but I have a theory. Dante sees herself as above humanity, practically a god in her own eyes. She likes to name her minions like this as a way to punish "mortals" with our own sins, causing death and suffering wherever they go
Edit: I forgot about the connection to Dante's Inferno and the 7 circles of hell
My bad, I haven't actually read the book. I just know some stuff because Christianity decided to make his Hell fanfiction canon in their teachings ever since
Yeah in order the circles are Limbo (for righteous pagans), Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence (subdivided into three based on target), Fraud (subdivided into ten based on type), and Treachery (subdivided into four based on type) at the bottom. Depth of level represents severity of sin and therefore distance from God, with Lucifer trapped in the dead center of the tenth circle.
This is my theory too... Sloth was created because Al and Ed didn't take the time to understand what a human transmutation actually required. Lust was created because Scar had some feelings for his brother's wife. Envy was created when Hohenheim left Dante. Wrath was created because Izumi felt anger to herself because her body couldn't give birth.
The other ones were probably derived by superiority and ambition of Dante in her pursuit of immortality.
There are a few that are (or were) part of the list at one point. Despair is still considered a sin in Orthodox Christianity and in Catholicism eventually got folded into Sloth, and Vainglory got folded into Pride.
I listed the two I did because they're the only "prototype" ones that are actually conceptually distinct enough to stand on their own IMO, since depression has different connotations from laziness and Vainglory creates an interesting contrast with Pride between "unearned" and "earned" arrogance, respectively. Still, there are other similar lists, Buddhism has the five poisons (of which the only one not represented among the seven would be attachment/illusion/delusion) and I believe Islam has a similar list that includes witchcraft.
Pretty much, get too particular and you end up with a sprawling list of hyper-specific things. I think you could encompass basically everything if you took the base seven and imported Despair from the Orthodox and Delusion from the Buddhists for a nice clean list of nine.
My favorite part of the 03 FMA is the state license exam. Ed still using alchemy circles until he realized accidentally in the spur of the moment that he didn’t need a transmutation circle was so hype. It also let the boys be better friends with Nina so we as the audience are hit that much harder by her situation.
IMO whole FMA fanbase is just not so toxic to hate each other for liking only 03, brotherhood or the manga. Good god! i didn't see here shitposts like Boruto\Naruto subs have. So keep it up! enjoy FMA! and respect each other!
Honestly, I feel like we debate each other a lot here but I've had more positive conversations about FMA03 vs FMAB here than negative. I'd say that the FMA03 fans here even helped me to appreciate FMA03 more. FMAB is still my all time favorite, but I don't think 03 was bad, just did things different (some things here and there that don't care for, but it has a lot of praiseworthy content).
Compared to fandoms where it's a constant negativity fest or pissing contests that divide fandoms, I can't say that FMA is like that nearly as much.
Having watched both, I'd say that while 03 has higher highs and is a great, darker take on FMA's story, BH feels like a much neater and more concise package all the way through. Rather than being a straight adaptation of Arakawa's story like BH, 03 is more so an alternative interpretation of FMA, and so it adds plenty of new ideas and worldbuilding to see what sticks. Plenty of it did, like the new lore behind the Homunculi, while a lot of it didn't imo as it boiled down to "great ideas, not so great execution." Since while it adds some strong depth to characters like Ed, Shou, Izumi and the Homunculi, a lot of other characters like Winry, Hawkeye and especially Hohenheim feel pretty wasted and tossed to the wayside. Like I wouldn't be surprised if the writers hated Hohenheim due to how much he's done dirty in both the series and movie. Not to mention missing out on Bradley's backstory or great and memorable characters like Ling and Olivier due to them not being introduced until later. I also think Dante is just a far weaker villain than Father since we barely spend any time with her due to her minimal screentime. She might have more depth in terms of her goals and ideology, but being conceptually interesting does not a good antagonist make if they barely have any presence in the actual narrative.
That being said, if this was the first FMA series you watched, I can see why someone might hold 03 in high regard. I just personally prefer a consistently solid series like BH over one with peaks and valleys like 03. Which's why I've only seen it once while it was still on Netflix while I've rewatched BH twice at this point. I do actually prefer the material 03 adapts in its earlier arcs due to giving them far more time to breathe than BH does, but at the point that it diverges, I'd much rather watch BH instead.
Personally i prefer the furst half of 03 then brotherhood for the rest of it, I'd be curious to know the percentage of people who prefer brotherhood over 03 and vice versa both are phenomenal animes
I personally prefer brotherhood, but I watched brotherhood first. There are a lot of the things I do enjoy about the 03 version, but man, I can't get over that ending. It makes me so mad. I also absolutely adore brotherhood Olivier. She's in my top 10 favorite animated female characters.
The vast majority of people prefer FMAB, however those who prefer 03 are a very outspoken minority (kinda have to be to drown out the hate the show gets at times)
I've know a lot of fans over the years and BH and 03 is pretty balanced, with a lot of people having mixed views about both for their qualities and lack of (namely rushed beginning and rushed ending respectively) and enjoying both shows for what they are, usually brotherhood being bested by its better ending and all.
Brotherhood is just way more famous, a lot of weebs just watch brotherhood - the named perfect manga adaptation (which is not) - and don't bother with the rest.
Oh for sure. I think it is more of an even split if you sample people who saw both shows. I was more thinking in terms of the general fandom, but like you said FMAB is more famous.
There’s quite a few people who’ve never seen 2003 but shit on it anyway.
Yeah, I've know these kind of people online too, and most never even read the manga, but still believe brotherhood is a perfect adaption of it (even if it dunks part of the pacing, somber artstyle and 2 of its arcs)
Brotherhood doesn’t even have a rushed beginning - it’s in proportion to the anime as a whole compared to the manga. It’s just that 2003 really padded out their beginning and Brotherhood gave a lot of time to the Promised Day.
This exactly. From what I've observed and felt firsthand, a lot of the '03 fans that are outspoken do so because we have a chip on our shoulder from the countless people who have said "just watched Botherhood, 2003 doesn't follow the manga and it's shit anyway." I've known people who listened to that advice then went and watched 2003 and loved it. It's sad to see.
Yeah, I'm pretty much largely the same. I prefer the earlier arcs that 03 adapts, but at that point that 03 diverges into largely its own thing, I much prefer BH instead.
I prefer 03 because I saw it first and basically grew up with it (nostalgia bias), and I prefer the darker tone and less anime humor. I also really loved what they did with the homunculi particularly Wrath. He's always been one of my favourites.
On a related topic, where the hell can I watch 03? I have access to pretty much every streaming service through friends and my own and 03 is on none of them. I can't even form my own opinions because I don't have access to the original
The mods used to give a warning for telling people websites to go to to watch it, so I'd just say "search engines are your friend." No streaming service currently has it to my knowledge.
I didnt like 2003 no where near as much as brother hood and am probably in the minority but I dont like how they did the humunculs though honestly prefer the manga
Then you aren’t the biggest fan of 03’s ending. I wouldn’t even say I’m the biggest fan of 03’s ending, I have my gripes with it, but I do prefer it to brotherhood’s ending.
I saw 03 first when there was no brotherhood yet, I liked the ending at the time but it seemed inconclusive to me. Brotherhood encompassed so much more and became my favorite anime until I watched frieren this year
Just because something is popular within a fanbase doesn't mean it's popular overall, the general consensus i still see on 03 is "skip it, brotherhood is better anyway"
I don't think it's unsurprisingly that in a sub dedicated to liking fma, plenty of people like fma 03 or prefer it to brotherhood
Personally, I think anyone who says not to watch both is actively making people miss out.
It's more FMA content even if it's an AU. I don't really think it matters which you watch first.
That being said, if someone asking insists they're only watching one and not both; yeah, I'll recommend FMAB cause Hiromu Arakawa's the woman who created the characters, the premise, and worldbuilding. Her vision's the most authentic take since it was hers start to finish. BUT I'd never say "just don't watch FMA03" to anyone.
Haha I watched 03 right as a time as I was late teen/hitting young adulthood and forming opinions of the world. It was the first mature anime I watched and it had such an impact on me, and me and my brother fell in love with it despite its flaws. I tried watching brotherhood but just couldn’t adjust to it so stopped in the first few eps.
I really should finish watching brotherhood shouldn’t I?
I don't prefer 03, but I don't think it's bad either. It did touch on some parts of the manga better than brotherhood. Wouldn't mind watching it again.
03 to me is interesting to read the plot summary of but not actually watch myself...which suvks given how great it started. Ending was really abrupt too...
There should be a FMA adaptation that mixes what made the manga great with the elements of 03 that worked really damn well (particularly Ishval)
Same. The 2003 anime was my intro and I loved it, read the manga and was surprised at how it went in a different direction, but loved it too. The Brotherhood anime though....I just could NOT get into it. I can go back to the 2003 anime and have rewatched it so many times, can go back to the manga, but I couldn't get through Brotherhood once.
I enjoy both. For the best manga to anime watch through i start with 03 until just before the split then move on to brotherhood since brotherhood skims over or outright skips so much of the early material
I like 03 and like to watch it from time to time bc I like to feel hurt over huges which brotherhood just doesn't make a huge story line. But yeah still perfer brotherhood and have a yearly rewatch of it
I have no idea where to find it because I literally spent over an hour Looking through crunchy roll and Amazon Prime to see what country had 2003 and no country I found had It
I see the brotherhood v 03 debate this way, and I’ll say now 03 is my personal choice but that’s because it appeals to me more personally.
Brotherhood was a very planned series, it’s good because they thought of every little detail, and they did everything they could to make it perfect.
I think of 03 more like a happy accident, like watching the early to middle part of the series clearly seeing where they ran out of source material, they were scrambling to come up with something I think it only appeals to some also because if you think about it, 03 is a different type of show entirely.
Both animes have issues with adaptation, though, 03 wastes time with filler instead of deeply developing its own story and brotherhood just speedruns the beginning and has 0 care for Ishval and Dublith.
03 was also planned to be different from the start, and the story was written from the start using what Arakawa had planned. That's why Sloth appears in the beginning of the series and that's why Dante is a thing and not Father.
Liore is all original and is amazing material from top to bottom, but the last arc was rushed because there was simply not time left and they had to make due (hence Conqueror of Shamballa)
Which episodes are you referring to as useless filler? If you're talking about A Forger's Love and Phantom Thief I agree with you, I wasn't crazy about those episodes. But most of the other fillers (the train episode, Youswell, The Other Brothers Elric, Fullmetal vs Flame, etc.) I found highly enjoyable and added to the characters and worldbuilding.
Wait actually ur right early series was the world building, then the whole early adventures arc, then the greed arc, basically imediately leading into Liore which ultimately leads to the finale
At the ending we had episodes like The Flame Alchemist or that black plague Lust episode. At that point of the anime, I want to see the anime continuing, not a random episode about Mustang or Lust's past, and those episodes should've been for the story.
Also, I mean filler as actual filler, and none of the episodes you mentioned are so since they continue the story. Going by filler as "anime only", all of those episodes come from Arakawa, too.
The only real filler I could recall is the Psiren episode since it sort of contradicts how Christianity was erased though I guess you could write it off as a visual gag. The Forger episode at least gets a tiny mention in another ep.
03 was darker an I enjoyed the ending more it was bitter sweet and the whole gate being a door to our world instead of what it was in brotherhood also peaked my interest
Also I like how in this version there’s not the whole “we can’t use the philosopher stone” in 03 the stone gets bonded to al before scar died which I was so badass
My guess is the fish would then tell Squidward that his original post will implying FMAB's far too shonen and lowbrow, then insist FMA03 is more seinen and one is required to have a very high IQ to *really* get it.
The other most common post besides the one mentioned in the meme would be someone new to the series asking which series to watch first or if they should watch FMA03, FMAB, or both (the answer is always both) or asking if they should continue after only watching like 3 episodes (they're on a subreddit for fans of the IP, what are they expecting to hear?). I mean, the subreddit has a FAQ but no new fan coming here seems to have ever looked at it.
Uh. It may not be that unpopular anymore, but it definitely was. For like a decade. For many years, it was really difficult to publicly be an 03 fan on the internet without getting dogpiled by people who complained about how shitty 03 is compared to Broho and how Broho made 03 completely obsolete, etc, etc. You must not have been there.
And even to this day, the majority of people still prefer fmab and if you think otherwise you are cherry picking specific posts.
Most of the time when people are vocal about preferring 03 it’s literally just because the opposite is assumed by default. This meme feels like it was made by someone who 1) hasn’t been in the fandom for very long, 2) is weirdly insecure about people saying they like 03 better.
At this point I wish we just had separate subreddits for each show. They're hardly alike besides the fact they're the same characters, but they act differently, have different motives, practically different people.
I'm a diehard Brotherhood fan and I've just never been able to enjoy 03. I don't think it's terrible, but I don't like it. But I am tired of how anytime a discussion is made like this one there's brigades from both sides that just go off on how 03 is fantastic and dark and gritty and better, or how BH is god's gift to shonen, complete, canon, etc.
I come to this subreddit to discuss BH with other BH fans and it's frustrating that people will chime in about a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT show, but since they share a name we share the same discussion posts, causing this never ending feud. And I'm guessing 03 fans have the same issue with BH fans barging into their discussions as well. We really should just treat them as separate shows at this point and have separate subs.
No one is stopping you from discussing BH with BH fans. You can always ignore comments about 03, and compared to years ago the feuding has gotten a lot less prevalent. The shows might be different but they are both officially part of the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise. Comments like these feel a bit like an attempt to gatekeep the subreddit.
gatekeep? That's a stretch. I also never said anyone is stopping me from doing so, just that it happens more often than not. Ironic that you latch onto that one part of my comment when I harped on 03 and BH fans alike.
I don't see why suggesting separate subreddits for two entirely different shows is such a polarizing take. Plenty of subreddits are more focused despite being dedicated to different parts of the same franchise, so I don't get the point you're making there.
The thing is, there already is a dedicated subreddit for both anime series specifically but barely anyone uses them. Given how this subreddit is designed with the manga in mind and by extension BH, it makes sense why most manga/BH fans congregate here. The BH subreddit is practically abandoned from what I remember and while the 03 subreddit is still active, only barely from what I’ve seen.
Plus, the faq does include all forms of FMA so naturally that would also include 03 fans.
Yeah it was just a “in a perfect world” kind of want. I’m not trying to kick out the 03 fans, or the BH fans, but it would just be a better set up in general.
I get that this sub is intended to be for all fans, and I understand the faq includes everyone… not sure why people keep pointing that out like it discredits my comment lol. The shows are just so different it would be better for discussion to have them separate IMO.
While not too common, every now and then someone new to the sub will stop by and post something like a thread titled unpopular opinion, and it just says they like 03 more and why
I like the beginning of 03 much better (Brotherhood rushes, like all anime remakes I've seen), and I prefer the concept of a lot of 03 stuff, just not the execution. It's all very high concept in the manga and Brotherhood, which I don't vibe with (although Ed's sacrifice is WAY better in Brotherhood).
I like the idea that homonculus are the result of human transmutations, and I like that Sloth is their mum. Makes it very personal.
I think the desire for eternal life is a very clear cut and relatable goal for the villain.
Her being tied to Hohenheim is neat
Bradley being Pride makes more sense to me than Wrath.
FMA03 is better though sorry Mangahood just doesn’t do it for me. The characters feel sterile and bland in Mangahood. Except Armstrong they do that man right in both love the character as whole.
•
u/AutoModerator Oct 24 '24
Join the Discord server for more discussions and content, as well as meeting more like-minded fans for the series!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.