Lions Led By Robots 27: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood: Part 1
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Tom and Joe watch episodes 1-4 of FMA: Brotherhood! State sponsored nominative descriptivism, maintaining the internal logic of an in-world magic system, big guys, little guys, trains, and of course, one of the most affecting standalone episodes in anime history.
Comments (62)
Schartdenfreude, worth the patreon donation alone.
Hawkeye Pegs Mustang !!!
Soooo excited to see you guys watching this!
Re: The Vomit Alchemist, State Alchemists take their title after their main area of focus, because in-universe alchemical circles are extremely precise tools, with the best case scenario for being a few degrees off on an angle being the circle fails completely, worst case being connected to Truth's WiFi along with the rest of the city block. McDougal could have used theoretically any transmutation circle, but he's hyperspecialized in ones that manipulate water temperature, so that's what he uses. Ed can get around this because of plot magic, but for the vast majority of alchemists they basically have to hyperspecialize out of practicality. So the Vomit Alchemist isn't unlucky, he's just really really into the study of puke.
PATLABOR MENTIONED!
FMAs manga has much better pacing, I will say. They sped through the stuff that the 03 series covered (up to Greed) because FMAB only came out 6 years later in 09. I do like FMAB but imho the manga id the best version because it lacks the same pacing issues. Tho im very biased as I was reading the manga way back in 08 before it ended and before FMAB was even announced lol Also re: anime outpacing the manga. It is luckily way more rare now due to a shift in the anime industry and how shows come out; instead of airing consisently for years on end and catching up and needing filler, most showd now come out in seasons of 12-30 episodes and there can be a year or more between seasons to keep from needing any filler. So anime like jujutsu kaisen and my hero academia have very little filler and follow the manga faithfully despite being from the same magazine as the likes of DBZ, one piece and naruto. Even OP itself, infamous for its slow pacing and heavy filler in order to air weekly for years without catching up with the manga has ended its "first" season and will be seasonal from now on.
Also fun fact: FMAs manga was still ongoing when FMAB aired; FMAB came out in 2009 and the manga ended in 2010, very close to when the anime ended. It was close to the end tho since its a monthly manga.
Behold the Full Gatorade Alchemist! Clencher of thirst, Exchanger of water for coloured mystery fluid
If you like Studio Bones please please watch their movie Sword of the Stranger. Some of the absolute BEST Sword play ever .
Also Gundam Unicorn is great too but I’ll forwarn everyone. If you haven’t watched all of the UC Gundam series (MSG79, Zeta, Double Zeta), 0083, and the movie Char’s Counteratack (great movie too) you won’t get nearly as much out of it. It really depends on the viewer already being a UC Gundam fan and having seen the other stuff first.
On another note, I thought this was primarily going to be about mecha? Everything so far has been somewhat mecha related, even fooly cooly. I’m cool with it but there are some other mecha shows you really need to check out (I’m a big mecha fan; I’m way pickier with other anime). 1. Gundam 0083: My favorite Gundam series of all time. But I’ll admit that objectively it’s not as good as 0080 which y’all already watched. But the mecha designs are truly spectacular and as an exploration of political radicalization and the fucked up shit governments do for power, it’s great. 0080 is a better war story while 0083 is a better mecha series in my opinion. In 0080, the mobile suits are really background for how the war is fought more than anything else. The story works without them. 0083 is mecha through and through; without the mecha designs the series just doesn’t work at all. 2. Gundam: 8th MS Team. Another fantastic Gundam OVA series (big UC Gundam nerd here) that’s set at roughly the same time as 0080 and the original MSG79. During the later part of the One Year War, Zeon and the Federation are in an all out brawl mixed with counter insurgency in Southeast Asia. It’s kind of a trope to say this, but it really is the Vietnam War with Giant robots. 3. Patlabor: The Movie 2- imo, the best anime film of the 1990s. It’s by the same guy who directed Ghost in the Shell. It’s a super political movie dealing with how the main antagonist wants to confront the Japanese government on their hypocrisy and wake up the Japanese people by staging elaborate terrorist attacks. The mecha are police robots called Patlabors. 4: Macross: Do You Remember Love: Best anime film ever made in my opinion. It’s that good. It’s essentially a compilation film of the tv series SDF Macross but it’s way better paced and they completely reanimated it. And the animation quality holds up; looks better than most modern anime. And it’s from 1984. Honestly this would be my pick for the next thing you do on Robots. Everyone should see it once. And the best thing is there is a full subtitled copy on YouTube that is good quality that you can easily look up. So no need to even pirate it.
While I do love some brotherhood, not gonna lie I actually prefer the 03 series primarily because of the lore changes it made vis e vis the Manga. Specifically how the Hommunculi work in 03 versus Manga/Brotherhood is the biggest change and it really works. I’ll also admit that the primary antagonist of 03, Dante, kind of sucks compared to the main antagonist of Brotherhood, which I won’t spoil for anyone watching it for the first time.
You cannot trust the state You cannot trust religion You cannot trust science & reason But in the manga the Nina thing also happens real early on chapter 6.
What I don't get is WHY IS ALEXAINA A BIG DEAL WHEN HEINKEL?
Read the manga. Hiromu Arawaka is a genuinely moving mangaka. I did not see the anime until many many years after having had to read piecemeal translations of the manga downloaded at 1 bit per diem. The comic brooooooke me & healed me & that story is one I have revisited so many times always finding something new. Also the tragedy which befell FMA TAS is the GRRM Oubilette
It has long been a gripe of mine that people are all "alchemy is a magic" when like "all they did to make chemistry is drop the arabic definite article!" But in the case of FMA it... The ultimate metaphor legitimizes the things that would cause me conniptions (insert esoteric grumbling... they're notae; encoded philosophies slash angel doorpaths) Oh Maes Hughes. A good man, sharp as fuck despite being a mallowmarsh & given more time in the manga, but
If we watching FMA for LLBR, does that mean Al is classed as a Gundam?
Eureka Seven mentioned
Joe, as someone who has nearly finished Dagger and Coin on your recommendation: check out an author named KJ Parker. I would recommend either The Engineer trilogy, Sharps, or Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City. The first two are more serious in tone.
I always liked FMA more than FMA:B as far as the arcs they share. But Brotherhood is by far the better overall series. But if Joe hasn’t seen the original finale movie can we get you guys to watch that? Mostly just cause it goes all the way off the rails and I wanna hear Joe lose his mind about it.
Conqueror of Shamballa? The problem is that if they just watch Brotherhood absolutely NOTHING about that movie will make sense because it's pretty much entirely built on concepts from the 2003 series.
excited for this series, not looking forward to the end of this episode lol
When my kid was going through a hard time adjusting to a new school and living situation I thought it would be a good idea to watch some anime together. So we watched Girls Last Tour, which was kinda depressing. So next I picked FMA:Brotherhood, which I'd heard was good. I think I accidentally destroyed my kid's mental health forever.
Tom go read this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection Basically this happens because you have a cheap dock. Any HDMI receiver must be registered to play content that’s protected and cheap docks often are made by Chinese companies that don’t have the licensing. Just pirate it lol
Someone please bring these guys plain egg whites at the live show…
This isn't the wars of religion I was hoping for this week but rock on.
Really enjoyed the "lankys" series. They are very self aware
As someone who is a walking Dead comic fan (it really is a cheesy 80s action flick. Over the top violence, sexual, bad guys are assholes meets boy meets world. And zombies) I completely understand a show outpacing the book. Like, fo real. Darryl is the reason you don't let boba fett live. Much better as a wives tale legend. We did get 'Carl Poppa' from bad lip sync however. Ying/yang
I got hooked on FMA's original series by my wife, who knew my obsessions and said it would hook me. Joining you in adoring Roy Mustang!
Tom - I didn't pirate it. Also Tom - I used my friends Netflix. Hilarious, fuck Netflix. Yar matey.
Maxey Whitehead does an amazing job as Alphonse. She sounds almost the same as the VA from the 2003 series, who was an actual young boy. Also, as far as I remember, to do the metal effect, they did something that involved putting a metal bowl in front of the microphone? It's been a while and I don't know how that kind of tech works, but it was a practical thing they did in recording instead of just a filter.
I’m going to just point out that Fullmetal Alchemist was written by a woman named Hiromu Arakawa. Also she always depicts herself as a cow because she comes from a dairy farming family. She also helps further my point that Shonen manga written by women just tend to be better.
They tend to get less wrapped up in wanting to jerk it to their own characters at the characters' expense.
I think the tattoo/glove transmutation circles works fine! Because that person can ONLY DO ONE THING with those circles, and there are rules about them not working, like with Mustang when his glove is wet, and we see later that tattooed transmutation circles can be messed with if the person gets cut. It's not like there are no rules now, it's a subset of rules. Edward operates with no rules, but everyone with "premade" transmutation circles can only do ONE THING and it can be sabotaged.
for FMAB at least the guys who do sort of break that logic like Iron Blood get killed mostly off screen.
Yeah, an unfortunate thing about Brotherhood is that it kind of starts off with an attitude of "you know this, you read the manga/watched the first series", which sucks because otherwise it's a pretty clean adaptation of the manga. I might recommend Joe checking out the first volume of the manga to get a feel for how it starts at a normal pace—as well as to fill himself in on info about the mining town that they didn't do a Brotherhood episode on for some reason (Provided he doesn't remember it from the 2003 series). I also highly recommend that anyone watching Brotherhood read volume 15, as a lot of it gets cut so that Hawkeye's war flashback could fit into one episode, which was a HUGE MISTAKE on the anime director's part, because it's all great and one of my favourite parts of the series.
Incredibly stoked for this series
loved the episode as a lifelong fma head, but small correction because it will bother me if i don’t mention it: the writer Hiromu Arakawa is actually a woman. which, honestly, kinda explains why all the female characters are well-written and cool as opposed to most other shonen of the time. just had to be pedantic about this because Arakawa being a woman was important to me when i first saw this at a far too young age. can’t wait for the rest of y’alls commentary! i know i’ll have the time of my life.
It really surprised me that that wasn't mentioned, as I thought her being a woman was pretty common knowledge now, but Tom and Joe talked about Arakawa with a sensibility like they didn't really know who she was at all, which I found odd.
Tom, I understand your feelings for Lust, but COME ON, RIZA HAWKEYE IS RIGHT THERE!
Can confirm the live-action FMA movie is dreadful. Campy, no plot resolution, cheesy acting and closing scene. It’s like a fan film that would place second at a regional comic con.
I really like how this story right away both-sides religion and science in order to show it doesn't have a bias and that it's more nuanced than "religion bad and dumb, science good and logical". No, religion can be used to manipulate people, but science and it's pursuits can be used to commit horrific atrocities as well. It's about the people using it.
I don't think it's so much "both-sidesing" as it is just not being outright critical of all religion and nuanced about science. Religion doesn't come up a whole lot after this. I think it definitely originates from Arakawa being Japanese, and how a really "worshipful" type of religion isn't really ingrained in the culture like how Christianity is in the Americas and Europe.
Back in 2017 I made a new buddy who was into anime. I mentioned loving toonami in middle school but dropping it in high school for fear of being a nerd. He knew I was now a professional sciencr nerd and said I should watch this show. Now crunchyroll is the most used app after youtube may god have mercy on my soul.
Congratulations on finally becoming a 40k podcaster with Robert Evans, Joe.
I, like Joe used to watch it on Adult Swim when I was a kid. The 4th episode I know now when I watch it later today is going to make me bawl my eyes out. Excited for Scar’s introduction. Say he is probably one of my favorite antagonist not just in FMA but most anime’s. Along with General Armstrong, but that’s because I too like punching things with my shirt off 😂
Haven’t watched this episode yet, but as a huge Fullmetal Alchemist fan I’m hyped. I standby the fact that Brotherhood is superior than the first series. I especially love the attention to detail to the Amestris military uniforms, gear and everything.
"Those Who Challenge the Sun" was the only better part of the original run. The scene where Ed is listing off the ingredients of a human being is just overall better acted and animated.
Joe likes a series where the protagonist has an absent father and joins the military. I am unsurprised
That or the phrase, "charnel house"
Guessing it's too late to switch but really reccomend watching season one of the original full metal alchemist anime, fma:b season one kinda speed runs itself because it assumes you want to get to the point where the last anime diverged from the magna
That's not entirely accurate. Brotherhood skips the train and mining town, but after that it doesn't really rush anything more than the manga itself does until one part much later in the series. I would argue that the 2003 series actually has too much filler up front, as a lot of what is done in Central City before the incident with the Tuckers is non-canon. It feels fast-paced compared to the 2003 series, but it's very similar to the manga.
So... I'm sitting in my living area/kitchen. If necessary I could bind myself to a sword, a lava lamp, a VCR, a DVD player, a Wii, a PVR, a cleaver, a cast iron fry pan, a pasta machine, my cat, any of the Series 2 and Series 3 Skylander figurines, a silver tea pot or coffee pot, any of 3 dragon statues, a phoenix statue, a turtle statue, a tiger statue, a griffon shaped candle, a dodo statue, many many books, 2 arm chairs, a cane arm chair, a microwave, a kettle, a KitchenAid mixer, a KitchenAid food processor or a butchers' bone saw.
I don't think you can bind yourself to a cat, because they are living creatures? I don't think the series really gets into if animals have souls like humans and/or if two souls can exist in one body. Edit: When Scar kills the Nina/Alexander chimera, he says he's sending "two souls" to god, so there is at least an existing belief that non-human animals have souls.
Read the whole series last year. This new season of LLBR is validation that it wasn't a waste of time.
Fully agree that Brotherhood was the right choice, rough first episode aside. Pretty sure it's the only non-manga scene in the show
Before I even get into the episode proper, I also read Frontlines as a reset sometimes. I’ve finished the series but going back to the first few books is always excellent.
I don't know if y'all say this later, but Fuhrer King Bradley's title is not "Fuhrer King" his first name is King, it confused me for a long time too
Just saying, I liked it the other way.
We're using Science-Magick to reform Our Fascist state Baybeeeee
I'm using science-magick to reform my concious' state.
Siked to finally have watched a show that they are reviewing. Let's go!