#(I have only watched fmab and dont know much about fma03 but I will watch it someday)

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Rewatching some clips of King Bradley fight scenes(fmab, particularly the ones during the end) and i am sorry for this but Zarkon deserved that- he deserved a climatic fight to the death at the end of the series with his character foil (who themself had a character arc and introspection throughout the series symbolically shown during this fight), he deserved to go down fighting where it took blood, sweat and tears of several people to get here and has audience knowing this was not a fair fight and if he had been in his top condition and not wounded he would have won but still cheering for his death. He deserved death at the hands of all those whom he hurt and he deserved to be remember as a monster he was

[calangkoh]

I'm n 09 fan but you hit the nail on the head with the Ed review tbh. 03 got a lot right, the intensity, the tragedy, color, framing, and Ed's characterization, and I feel like 09s biggest weakness is that Bones didnt see it worth the time to put that buildup and care back in the series. Like there's some assumption you've seen 03 so they didnt need to build those things up again. I cant stand the first arc of 09 because 03 did everything better and the conclusion to 09 is more satisfying when -

-when the early bits hit harder. Feels more earned than just hopeful. I really wish they'd just combined the two to get that really emotional impact alongside the earned happy ending.

thank you, anon, for the back up here. i know this is just one, definitely unpopular, opinion, and i don’t expect people to agree with me, but it is nice when people do. 

i understand why they had to rush it, because then the already long 64 episodes would be around 75-80, and only so much time had passed between the two series that it would be tedious to retread the same material. but when most people now skip the 03 series, they dont know what theyre missing with that intensity and characterization and its really unfortunate. then they hear bad things about 03 and assume theyre true. 

i would agree that fmab is the Technically better (as in, from an actual technical standpoint...its more polished, but that doesn’t mean it’s overall better) but i think 03 is still equal to it in terms of quality and impact, and in many (but not all) areas exceeds it in emotional weight and depth. and as far as the happy ending goes, i agree. the fmab ending (the general climax/resolution: ed beats father, gives up his alchemy, beats truth, and reclaims what he lost and got even more than he started with) is amazing and clever and satisfying. but parts of it while watching, like when he mentions nina, im like...wait really? you’re mentioning nina? i hardly remember her in this series. 

and ed has learned this huge lesson in fmab leading to him beating truth, but in comparison to 03 ed i feel...what did he really learn? fmab ed learned friendship is the real alchemy lol (that’s very reductive i apologize. it is a really good lesson--that we’re simple humans and that’s okay because the bonds we make are worth the weakness--and i love that scene so so much). i feel fmab didnt earn much because in comparison to 03 (and again, i only feel this negativity toward fmab because ive seen 03. the comparison is the real enemy here, because otherwise i wouldn’t have a problem with fmab beyond maybe just not caring for ed because he’s just not my kind of character, but i wouldn’t have much backing to WHY i dont care for him. 03 gives me the specific reasons by having what fmab doesnt.) 

he didnt truly get challenged. 03 ed had all his beliefs, morals, and worldview challenged, while fmab ed was usually just right about everything. the lesson he learned was one he should have learned after he transmuted his mother. it was an obvious lesson “hey youre just a human accept it. one is all and all is one.” while 03 ed learned that lesson long ago. the lessons ed learns are more extensions of accepting that he’s a small human. he learns about what that means. what his impact on the world is. what consequences are. what the value of believing in something is. what it means to lose something. the flaws of equivalent exchange as a philosophy of life. etc. his lessons are far more applicable to real life and honestly, at the risk of sounding pretentious because “blah blah mature story = better” which is something i don’t generally believe (though it is case by case), are more mature. 

i probably went on a tangent, but point is, fmab good, but i do find 03 to be more mature, deeper, and have a more compelling interpretation of edward. and i agree with anon that the rushed beginning of fmab (remember fmab covers what happened over 33 episodes of fma03 in a measly 12!! fma 03 had fillers and anime-original plotlines, sure, but they were good--except for episode 4 i fucking hate that episode. and the tree people episode is a little weird but was important for lust’s character--and all added something. “fillers” arent bad! they’re important for pacing and development!) contribute to why fmab ed as a character falls flat to me (but there’s also a lot more than just the beginning as to why he does).