Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)

Written 09/07/26

This review is based on rewatch of the 2003 adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist. After watching brotherhood and rereading the manga, I found myself questioning if 2003 was actually all that good or if I'm just biased out of nostalgia. Last time I watched it I was 14 and now Im getting to 22 so I have a slightly more experienced eye to view the story with.
Despite all that though, I'm glad to say that this adaptation still holds up and is 100% my favourite interpretation of this story.
FMA 03 covers a similar story to brotherhood and the manga up to a certain point where it branches off and does it's own thing. It does set up the changes it makes in earlier episodes though so it's not all out of nowhere but does have some filler episodes that aren't too consequential.

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Visually speaking it's presentation is top notch and compliments and the darker tone of the show whilst not looking too drab. Colors pop out more and avoid looking slightly desaturated or washed out. The animation is good and there aren't any noticeable dips in quality for the most part. It's not as flashy as brotherhood is at its best, but when the animators give attention to particular scenes they give it a more grounded kind of spectacle whether it be by good character acting or technical fight scenes.

Some scenes have nice direction too, like Dante's conversation with Ed before she sends him to the other side of the gate.
Lastly, the music is superb and I adore the entire soundtrack. Like I said in my old review, it gives 03 this classical 20th century cinematic vibe. The music of 03 is quiet and contemplative in a way and fits scenes well without being too in your face. My favourite tracks are the song of parting, the main theme, 恩愛(onai), 贖罪(shokuzai), brothers and 無窮(Mukyu). My favourite OP and ED of 03 are Ready Steady go and I will. I especially love the RnB influence on I will. The visuals for that ED are great too.

Moving onto the story, the beginning of 03 is a lot slower and recontextualizes some of the early events of the manga to take place whilst Ed and Al are still just 12 and 11. I think having these things framed in a context where Ed and Al are younger is good, especially with how 03 focuses on deconstructing their world view and morals. We also get to spend more time with characters like Nina, Tucker and especially Hughes, which makes their losses feel a lot more substantial.

The filler episodes within the first half of the show weren't all that bad honestly. I had gone into it thinking they'd be nothing of note but most of em were pretty decent. Favourite from the bunch was the one where Ed meets with the veteran soldier whilst on the way to Resembool. It's a pretty quiet episode and nothing is really advances but he conversation Ed has with that Ex-soldier was interesting to me because of how he brings Ed's values into question, asking him if he should live with the mistake he made and make the best of it or continue chasing his dream. Considering the ending of the show it makes me wonder how Edward would think about that exchange after all he went through with Alphonse.
On the other hand though, the first filler episode with Majhal irritates mildly because of how he ends up killed because of Edward defending himself however, Ed seems entirely unbothered by it which is weird to me since he's even younger here and we see later on how averse he is to killing people. The rest of the filler episodes in my opinion are inoffensive to good and have at least one thing I like about them. I also appreciate how it slows the story down a bit and fleshes Amestris out a little more.

Once the split from the manga storyline actually takes place, 03 maintains its quality. I found the direction 03 went in to be interesting despite its conflict being relatively smaller scale.
We see Ed and Al get kicked down and struggle a lot more, getting their view of certain things challenged or outright debunked. Then there's the homunculi who are far more intruiging conceptually compared to their manga counterparts and all make for more interesting antagonists, given their origin as the remains of a failed human transmutation. Not all of them get explored with the same level of depth, such as Pride and Envy to a lesser extent, but characters like Lust and Sloth are made 10x more interesting than their manga counterparts. Even Gluttony gets slightly better characterization. The origin of the homunculi also allows for really good drama. I like how it forces the Elric brothers and Izumi to face their mistakes head on. In Izumi's case it particularly saddens me because I'd like to think Wrath might have ended up in a better situation if Envy hadn't influenced him. Additionaly, seeing Izumi so adamant on trying to raise him at first to then attempting to kill him and not being able to bring herself to do it makes my heartache. Wrath and Izumi's existences in this adaptation just makes me sad especially with how it's followed up in the movie.

Another change that 03 makes that I like is the protrayal of the continued oppression and discrimination of the Ishbalans after the genocide campaign. I prefer the significantly more muddied depiction of the already corrupt military of Amestris and of course it parallels certain happenings in our history. Then there's Scar in 03 who I think is a little weaker than his manga counterpart but I still have things I like about him here. I like how we get to see him early on at the very moment he decides to hunt down state alchemists and I like how he interacts with Edward and Alphonse. I found the way Al treats Scar and vice versa later on, to be sort of sweet in a way. After a certain point Al doesn't seem to find Scar to be a bad person despite being a murderer and Scar ends up sacrificing himself to save Al when he's turned into a bomb. Considering there is no hint of hypocrisy in his hatred for the military and those associated with it in this version of the story, his sacrifice for Al's sake and entrusting of the stone to the brothers shows a little change in him which I appreciate. Scar seeing himself and his dead brother in Edward and Alphonse makes me smile too.

03 has a little bit more of Roy's gang in the military but besides Riza, Roy, Hughes and Armstrong, they don't play too big a role compared to the manga. However we do get to see them just be themselves a little more, in episode 13 and 37, which was fun I suppose. There's also quite a lot more of Sheska which was an additiobn I didn't think I'd like as much as I did. I like how she continues to seek the truth behind Hughes in her own.
Roy in 03 comes off a lot more cool and collected compares to Brotherhood. It might have been the direction Travis Willingham was given but he didn't have that commanding tone of voice he does in brotherhood and lacks a little of the snarkiness I feel he had in brotherhood too. Anyways Roy's character in 03 is good and I think him being ordered to kill Winry's parents and having more focus on his ptsd from the Ishbal civil war adds to making his moitvations of getting into a position of power, with the aim of bettering his country, more interesting and rounds him out as a character better. I like his relationship with Ed too and how they have a stronger mutual respect for each other by the end, despite the somewhat one sided bickering on Ed's part. The last scene between the two in the car displays this wonderfully whilst showing how much they've changed too. Ed now being the one to set his goals aside to do what's most important for the everyone whilst Roy is abandoning his own dream of becoming furher with the nation's best interest in mind, to go after what he believes matters most to him in the moment which is to avenge Hughes.

In addition to that Ed brought up how all of the conflict in the show arose from people's desire for the philosopher's stone and even if the homunculi fanned the flames, they were ultimately a product of humans as well. I don't know how to transition better into talking about Dante so yeah.
I personally like Dante as villain because of how deluded she in regards to how she views herself and others. She claims to do what she does for the sake of humanity and preventing them from misusing the stone, hence has quite the god complex. Despite that and how she presents herself though she's kinda petty and weird, particularly with how she behaves around Hoenheim. Although it's not her primary source of motivation, it's clear that she's miffed about Hoenheim leaving her and wants to get back at him once she realises he's not helping her make the stone again. Later on she states she planned to make love with Ed after taking Rose's body too and I guess the contrast between her seeing herself as above human despite desiring to do such a thing is bizarre to me in a good way. I suppose I'd expect someone like her to act with more grace but I like this aspect of her nonetheless. I do think she and Hoenheim could've been better if their backstory was more detailed and we could see how they may have changed over their long lives.
Speaking of Hoenheim, I take back my statement of him being a bum in this adaptation. Whilst I don't like him as much as his manga counterpart, him being the way he is in 03 makes sense and I really like the words he gives to Ed at the end of the series. I also really like the scene where he confronts Dante in her crib, it's pretty cool.

Lastly, I wanna talk about the ending. I think it's good and delightfully bittersweet. Although the stuff regarding the other side of the gate could've been foreshadowed better to make it feel less sudden, I like how it is used in the story nonetheless. It goes back to living with mistakes and learning from them instead trying to balance a wrong and get back what was lost. Edward at the end of the series is at a point where he understands that equivalent exchange isn't a persisting truth of world and he comes to terms with the circumstances he is in and doesn't fight against it, instead accepting them and doing what he can. Even if the world seems unfair or cruel at times, you ought to get up on your legs and keep moving foward.
This aspect of the ending and the series as a whole just resonates with me immensely and is why I love it so much.

Anyways it was nice to get my thoughts on this show nice and organised after so long. It's definitely remains one of if not my favourite anime ever.

Old review(2024)

okay so I'm probably not gonna write all of my thoughts because I haven't watched it in ages but I just wanted to talk about how I feel about it briefly. Simply put, This adaptation. resonated with me emotionally way more than brotherhood or,to a lesser extent, the manga did and I can confidently say I prefer it other the two, particularly Brotherhood. I like the overall tone and presentation of '03 more and the themes and messages it conveys.
Whilst the manga and Brotherhood have a more optimistic view when it comes to its messaging, '03 feels, at least to me, a lot more realistic and grounded because of how bittersweet and somewhat tragic certain events. A lot of stuff isn't resolved perfectly or given what may be considered proper closure and because of that it makes the story feel more real. Life doesn't always give a fair deal to all of it's participants as we see with examples such as Winry never getting closure with the death of her parents, Hughes never being properly avenged and, in the end, the brothers both being alive but seperated. Yet even though they are seperated, they hold out to the hope that they mayy see each other again. It's because of moments like these that '03 left a lot more of a mark on me than Brotherhood did.
I don't think Brotherhood is bad by all means nor do I think having a good ending for almost all your cast is either, but I suppose I find it somewhat predictable and a tad bit idealistic when thinking about it deeply but I digress. That's about all I have to say for the time being, Other than that I like the music for 2003 waaaaaaaay more due to it's more classical, cinematic vibe which feels like it belongs in some kind of drama from the 20th century.