#and its fucking Ed and Al from FMA I can never win

[mooneggtarts]

Some modern-esque au thing as a way of coping with the series. Also...

The most devastating realization has dawned upon me... they remind me again of the Elric brothers from FMA Im gonna cry

[jewishrizahawkeye]

hello! welcome to my FMA Characters as Taylor Swift albums!!! we’re going to start out with one of her best albums still to this DAY:

Taylor Swift (Bonus Track Edition)

Winry Rockbell

- debut has some of taylor's best lyrics to date and can cut glass (cold as you still gives me chills)

- the primary theme of the album is about who will i become and first loves while also having a common theme of radio and music being used to describe love. which is important to taylor's character as she was obsessed (and still is) with country music, so her saying "his smiles like the radio" is her evoking a specific feeling of her listening to music on the radio and sharing that to the audience that when her boyfriend smiles it makes her feel like she's listening to her favorite songs on the radio. i definitely over explained it but it's a very sweet and beautiful line to describe how in love you are with a person and how they feel to you

- this idea, while drastically different from winrys loves and goals, radiates her character though

- both winry and taylor had big dreams ever since they were young and went out into the world to make it a reality still at a young age. for taylor, she was able to release her first album at 16 and would later win album of the year on her second album (which i don't think people realize is FUCKING INSANE TO DO ON YOUR SOPHMORE ALBUM AND IT BEING A COUNTRY ALBUM). similarly though, winry starts working at her family's automail shop when she's young, already being ed's full time mechanic at the age of 14, and later takes up an apprenticeship in rush valley and gains a loyal customer base very quickly for her time there. for a girl that young to achieve something like that is INSANE. she's already got her dreams met at the age of 15 and it can only go up from there for her

- but tieing back into the primary theme of the album being "who am i and who will i become" and how that resonates with winrys character. winry is trying to not only find herself in her youth but also how to help ed and al after their accident. her life was shaken after it and she's doing everything she can to help them. if y'all would let me quote a song here, she's "just a girl trying to find a place in this world"

- also songs like TDOMG, Tim McGraw, Invisible, Mary's Song and so many others can be read as edwin coded as they're about a young love that sticks around but not always seeing the other as a potential option until it's to late, or maybe it isn't. you'll never know until you tell them

- at its core debut is just a young girl getting to follow her dreams and do what she loves while not knowing what the future will hold for her. which fits winry going to rush valley and her story arc. she doesn't know what will come but gets to chase her dream very young and only grow from there. especially in the wake of ed and al since her world was shaken and she didn't know what would or could happen to them or her. she doesn't know what will come but gets to chase her dream very young and only grow from there.

[its-no-biggie]

yeah!! like not only is it more realistic for the adults to be super involved and taking charge (instead of just kinda throwing kids onto the battlefield to fend for themselves)- its also way more fun?? we get much more insight into characters like mustang and hawkeye than you usually see with mentor characters, because theyre not just sitting on the sidelines! we get scenes like the armstrong siblings pairing up with the curtises to take down sloth. and it never feels like it comes out of nowhere because we are plenty familiar with the armstrongs and the curtises and mustangs team and ALL the adults. theyre all just as involved in the plot as the elrics are, and it makes for a really fun cast!

and i just love how izumi is the CLASSIC example of a mentor who trains the main characters and then sends them off, never to be heard from again unless the kids actively decide to visit her. but she STILL gets involved with the plan of her own volition, even though she has no responsibility to do so AND shes chronically ill. because of course! any reasonable adult who actually cared about these kids would be on the front lines the MOMENT they saw what these *children* were involved with. and yet its so rare! most mentor figures leave all the dirty work to the high schoolers, and its so ridiculous to watch as an adult. ESPECIALLY when the narrative then tries to convince us that the mentor cares about the kid and wants whats best for them. like. okay??? so act like it!

and like i get why you would sideline the adults- you want your main characters to do all the cool shit. thats totally reasonable. but fma clearly shows that its possible to do both! ed has some GREAT main character moments. figuring out how to escape gluttonys stomach? using his own life force as a philosophers stone? sacrificing his ability to perform alchemy to save al??? hes AWESOME. but hes not the one carrying the entire operation on his back.

in fact, *no one* carries the entire operation on their back- its a complicated plan with a lot of moving parts and every single major character is involved. and its actually central to the story that every character has an important role to play. even the children. even the ishvalans. even the non-combatants. even the non-humans (both the homunculi and the souls trapped in a philosophers stone). the east and the west, alchemy and alkehestry. thats the whole POINT of the show! the kids dont get less important roles because theyre kids, but they also dont get MORE important roles because theyre ~special~. theyre given the role that suits them and they do it well and thats what EVERYONE does and thats how they win. if even one part had been missing it would have all fallen apart. i mean the bit of dialogue toward the end, when ed confronts Truth to get als body back, really sums it up better than i can: Truth is like "you would give up alchemy and become a regular human?" and ed responds "i was always a regular human". the whole point is that ed ISNT special! and its baked into the overall structure of the story from day one! GOD this fucking show

okay i just finished rewatching fma brotherhood and can we please talk about how fuckin 15 ed is. like lots of anime protagonists are 15 but ed is *so* 15.

like- he needs to disguise the car so he makes it into a 15 year olds idea of a really cool car, and its so cringe the adults force him to change it. he makes ling a sword and puts a little skull on the handle (for literally no reason except that he presumably thought it would be cool, even though they were in the middle of getting their asses kicked by envy) and then gets defensive when ling calls it lame. he gets riled up unbelievably easily over NOTHING. his fighting style is scrappy- hes experienced but not disciplined, and he'll use whatevers on hand to get the job done. he'll mess around in the middle of a fight, use unnecessarily flashy moves/weapons, and hes just generally a nuisance in combat. he gets really flustered when people insinuate that winry is his girlfriend, and then when he DOES confess to her 2 years later he uses a fucking alchemy metaphor because hes a NERD.

im saying all of this with affection by the way- hes a cringe 15 year old because 15 year olds are cringe! i feel like most of the time these high school age protagonists are basically just adult characters with more naive ideals, or theyre a bit more emotional, or they have "childish" interests. ESPECIALLY with these high stakes action-adventure stories, where the fate of the world is in their hands. but a kid can have the weight of the world on their shoulders and still handle their emotions poorly, act recklessly, goof off at inappropriate times, and generally think and act in a way that adults wouldnt. and still be mature and competent characters! i mean, ed is a GREAT protagonist. he has a full understanding of the stakes and he knows how and when to get serious. but he also does shit like breaking into a secret government laboratory, alone, in the middle of the night, with no plan, and nearly gets himself killed in the process. because hes a reckless kid! and if he HADNT done that, they never would have found out the enemys plan in time!

and its just so perfectly executed- instead of childish traits being sprinkled on top of adult problem solving and emotional regulation, him being 15 informs how he acts all the time! sometimes this is a good thing because he solves problems in a unique way, and sometimes it causes even MORE problems. its a fundamental aspect of his character that contributes to both his strong and weak points.

and my absolute favourite part is that hes still treated like a person worthy of his title and reputation- not only by the adult characters, but by the narrative itself. but he isnt treated like an adult either! the adults around him dont talk down to him, but they also dont have adult expectations of him. theres a whole bit about how the adults shouldnt stand by while the children are on the battlefield- insinuating that while the children are worthy of standing on the battlefield alongside them, they also feel some responsibility to lead them since theyre the adults. which is super reasonable! its probably the best take on adult mentor figures for child main characters ive ever seen.

and yeah theres an argument to be made that it was pretty fucked up of mustang to recruit ed to the military at 12 years old. but he was super upfront with him about what it would entail and didnt force him into it. so watching it as an adult, yeah, its fucked up. but the target audience is kids and thats how kids want to be treated! yeah its a lot of responsibility, but ed knew that going in AND he has a huge support network of trustworthy adults who are looking out for him. hes fine. and hes DEFINITELY better off than most high school age protagonists, who are just sort of thrust into high stakes, life-threatening situations with little guidance. the dynamic is less "you are The Chosen One who will singlehandedly save the world" and more "i mean you certainly have the skills and we really appreciate you working with us but what the fuck is a child doing in the military. who authorized this?? youre going to get yourself killed PLEASE be more careful!" and like. if youre gonna have a show about a 15 year old saving the world, then thats definitely the way to do it.

and what really seals the deal is how pissed ed gets when people treat him like a kid. thats the most 15 year old thing ever! he FEELS like hes being talked down to and disrespected just because hes not given the same expectations and responsibilities as the adults. watching it as a 20 year old im super impressed by the way the adults treat ed, but i can also understand why ed gets so frustrated. its the nature of being a teenager and thinking you can handle more than you can. which really just solidifies how fuckin 15 he is

btw im not saying ed is the only well written teenager in the show. hes just the clearest example- hes so LOUD about who he is and it makes it really easy to talk about his character traits. also hes like my favourite character ever and i just have to talk about him. so like al and the rest are also really convincing kids, and a lot of this stuff kind of applies to all of them! im just talking about ed because i want to lmfao

[kingofthewilderwest]

what do you think of the ending of fmab? do you think it was well-written how ed was able to give up his gate of truth? i personally think it's a deus ex machina bc even if it WAS possible to give away your gate, it's kinda cheap that it has the same worth as Al's soul when it was established souls are invaluable. also even if ed did learn alchemy isnt all too great, i can still never see him choosing alchemy over their bodies even before he learned this lesson

I think it’s a downright *BRILLIANT* ending.

I would say it’s clearly planned from the beginning. Arakawa established the rules of equivalent exchange from the start. And one of the things she shows is that Ed could trade his leg for Al’s soul. I’m more used to hearing the FMA fandom joking about that exchange rather than Ed exchanging Al’s body and soul for the Gate of Truth, a gateway which is so powerful that entering inside of it provides you with all knowledge and understanding of the universe, not to mention the power of alchemy, which allows you to manipulate matter in magic-esque ways with ease. To me, it’s weirder to swap a leg with a soul, but I accepted the premise there (given as it’s a soul without a body, I can fly with it), so I’m more than fine accepting the exchange of Ultimate Knowledge And Power Of Everything with one human’s life.

Given as every character has a gateway, and it’s tied up into your identity, it seems just as plausible to me that someone could give up your gateway, just as you can a soul, or a leg, or your eyesight.

And it’s to note that... Truth has a say in the exchange. Ed is still the person offering his gate; Truth is the being accepting it. Truth approves of Ed’s loophole. Truth is the arbiter who takes things away when someone commits the taboo of Human Transmutation, and Truth intentionally takes away body parts that are representative of the person’s flaw. Truth knew about Ed’s arrogance from the beginning; Truth knows about what Ed learns now.

And what is it that Ed has learned?

As far as Ed and lessons, I believe that Ed giving up his ability to do alchemy is the entire demonstration of Ed learning a lesson. It’s the culmination of his character growth arc, in a way. 

Ed started as an arrogant character, one who believed alchemy was the ultimate way in which he could solve challenges - in some ways, rise above humanity's struggles. Alchemy will provide a solution to saving their bodies, too, he believes. Throughout the series, Ed and Al realize that they're only human. Moments like being unable to save Nina, or witnessing the birth in Rush Valley, or going through all the near-deaths they have in their adventures... make them see that what's truly great about humanity is its... humanity. Ed becomes humbled in understanding what he can and can't do, and at the same time, comes to find where the greatest value in his experiences are: his friends and family and the people around him.

FMA lets us know humanity's abilities are limited. We can't do everything. We can't raise the dead. We can't create life from nothing. This is all interconnected into the scholarship of Amestrian alchemy, especially as taught by Izumi: all living things are small in the grand scheme of the universe, but they’re interconnected into something incredible. We are one part of All is One and One is All. BUT. Humanity is also beautiful in what it can do: unite together, help one another, live together, fight for what's right. And as the FMA manga and FMAB shows, humanity is a beautiful thing, and all of human life should be cherished. It doesn't matter if you're a chimera, or a soul bound to armor, or Ishvalan, or Amestrian, or Xingese: your life is profoundly beautiful and worth being saved.

It’s to note that the reason the good guys win against Father is because of FMAB’s theme of how humanity unified is the ultimate best thing of humanity.  It’s this bonding strength of humanity that allows them to defeat Father. It’s the Dwarf in the Flask’s downfall to underestimate the power of working together over brute power and alchemical doings.

Likewise, the solution to getting Al’s body back isn’t alchemy: it’s the bond of the human spirit.

Ed giving up alchemy isn't a throwaway last minute deus ex machina, I’d say, because it’s integrated into the biggest themes of the story and the plot developments and Ed’s character development and more. By the end of the series, Ed has become humbler and wiser in acknowledging the limits of alchemy and the strength of humanity. It’s Ed having learned his lesson that alchemy is not all-powerful, to the point that it’s fine to give it up... to sacrifice it, in the ultimate act of solidarity to be with his brother.

The way I read you describing Ed’s exchange, you’re suggesting Ed never learned alchemy isn’t too great, or that Ed wouldn’t prioritize alchemy over physical bodies. Yet I think that Ed giving up alchemy is the culmination of an entire series of Ed learning better about alchemy’s strengths and weaknesses, and Ed growing into appreciating the strength of human character. Ed isn’t just trading clappy science for bodies here. Ed is making a trade to get what he finds most important: a promise to his brother kept, and a sacrifice to make his brother and him move forward in their personal lives. What Ed finds the more important thing isn’t the power of alchemy... but what he can do as a human with his brother. 

ALL of Al is now trapped behind the gate... without this exchange, Ed would never be with his brother again. And that bond Ed has forged with Al was always powerful from the start of the series, and inseparable, and deeper than his love for alchemy. And Ed, with an even greater appreciation for the human spirit at the end of the journey, is more than prepared to drop alchemy for a human bond.

Ed giving up alchemy is fine because he's human, and will be able to experience the great things of human life without alchemy. He'll be able to be with his brother again. He'll be able to live a life with Winry. Alchemy isn't needed for that. Alchemy can't save everything, anyway - they couldn't save Nina with it. Ed's much less arrogant than before, and is willing to give up alchemy for something he understands is much more beautiful and important. 

I’m sorry that this is a skimpy (for me) response, because I’m writing off the top of my head rather than pulling open the text and posting in manga graphics demonstrating my points. It would be fun to talk about this in more depth. Analyzing specific quotes and scenes throughout the manga and anime. Looking in depth at that final conversation with Truth. That stuff. But. I also recognize I have significantly less time in my life than I have in eras past. So I hope this answer suffices! In short, I feel like Arakawa had this ending planned from the start, interwove it with many important concepts that she developed through the series, and came up with a CLEVER AS FUCK loophole as to how Ed and Al can exit Truth’s presence whole - the brothers, who have shown to be intertwined in their beings throughout the series, can now walk together out one door.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 60 Rundown

Code Geass: Oh this episode is ROUGH like I thought I was over this kind of blatant emotional manipulation of killing the kindest character in the series in the cruelest way possible because anime storytelling has evolved a lot in the past decade or so but I AM NOT. The way Euphy’s death is juxtaposed over Lelouch’s war cry and Suzaku’s futile attempts to assure her that all her hopes for peace bore fruit and her realizing she’s going to die and breaking free of Lelouch’s control for one last confession to Suzaku made me FUCKING WEEP. Like not even Lelouch’s stupidly named United State of Japan could cheer me up after that, this bit here really is peak Code Geass, with Lelouch marching on Tokyo, ready to face Suzaku’s justified rage and ready to accept either outcome because he knows he has to do what he has to do but also feels he should definitely die for killing Euphy is fucking great. Like I don’t hate R2 the way some people do but this is where the series was at its best.

Inuyasha: The filler half of the Tsubaki arc finally comes to a close, there’s a fun little fight with Kagura and a zombie samurai from nowhere that has Kagura weakening the Wind Scar so Kagome and Sango have to run interference to make sure Inuyasha can actually hit the thing, it’s very short but kinda fun considering the girls tend to get sidelined a lot. Then giant ogre Tsubaki goes on a rampage and even tanks a Wind Scar, the irony here is the only thing that even slightly damages her is Kagome’s Sacred Arrow, so Kagome’s MVP overall. Gotta let Inuyasha get the kill though so the Backlash Wave destroys the giant ogre body and Tsubaki falls out like she’s controlling a Titan instead of her body being transformed, but somehow destroying the ogre also destroys the original demonic power she made a pact with to keep her young so she reverts to 70 years old and for some reason turns to dust to relieve Inuyasha of the duty of murdering a human while Kagura yoinks the jewel back. Honestly this little scheme was a HUGE gamble for Naraku to risk his 96% complete sacred jewel on cause Tsubaki just up and left with that shit. That being said I liked the little filler touches to try and make Tsubaki more fleshed out, it doesn’t really make her relatable or understandable by any means but it does paint her as someone who used to be innocent before her jealousy and vanity corrupted her and Naraku was able to take hold of that and use her.

Yu Yu Hakusho: The eight finalists of the Genkai tournament fight in the dark in what is the not Dark Tournament. The first couple of ninjas and assassins take each other out in ways that are easy to animate since no one can see anything. Botan shows up to run exposition through Yusuke and Kuwabara is filled in on the situation just in time for his fight with the Samurai that instead of using a real sword and just killing him, uses a wooden spirit sword and smacks him around for a while until he can break part of the sword and make his own spirit sword which they didn’t even try to not use lightsaber sounds for. Yusuke then fights the dude who just happened to pack a see in the dark helmet just in case they had to fight in the dark, boy that sure paid off. And last but not least the preview for the next episode is all “Man Yusuke’s having a tough time fighting this ninja guy, oh wait that’s the next match, I mean he’s fighting the helmet guy, forget that I just spoiled that he wins this, remember the tension!”

Unlimited Blade Works: Shirou continues fighting Archer and they go back and forth a lot without saying anything new, basically Archer says life is shit and Shirou’s a white knight idiot with no character traits and Shirou doesn’t disagree with this but because he’s a shonen protagonist he can’t just NOT be a stubborn self-sacrificing idiot, so he’s gonna keep on keeping on. Meanwhile Lancer doesn’t die when he’s killed and kills Priest Alucard and then dies for real and Shinji goes back to molesting Rin like that didn’t just happen except Lancer STILL doesn’t die when he’s killed and gives Shinji a little prick to go with what he is and THEN Lancer dies for real (probably) and wants to burn Priest Alucard’s body with him which if you have to go that far idk if you can really say for sure he’s dead but Rin’s fine and Shirou’s a moron so it’s okay.

Panty and Stocking: Okay so we got a decent pair of episodes this time, some of these have been hit or miss but I quite liked these two, a generic but cute zombie parody around the time that was starting to really heat up and probably one of the earlier “Kill Zombies with Sex Toys” genre (I can’t believe that’s an actual thing but it is) and then a trial by gameshow episode with a delightful Ace Attorney monkey and a solution that I saw coming but wasn’t immediately apparent so I felt smart for figuring it out beforehand. Overall these “Daemon Sisters have some Team Rocket scheme to kill Pant and Stocking” episodes are turning out fairly well, the series is growing on me the more it goes on. Also the ghosts in the trial episode are Ren and Stimpy for some reason.

FMA Brotherhood: Mustang refuses to do Human Transmutation to save Riza, making him the like one character in all of anime where the “I doomed the world to save someone I loved” thing doesn’t fly. Unfortunately we still have a plot to move forward with so Pride sacrifices a huge amount of his stone to force Mustang through and take his eyesight. Meanwhile Scar starts fighting Bradley in the ‘weird powers but insanely good martial arts skills” bout and May just kinda ditches everyone to go confront Father with Ed and the others while Al selflessly comes back to fight, dooming everyone by reawakening as the final sacrifice, it’s okay Al you tried, doubt you could’ve hid out in the portal of truth all day anyway.

Attack on Titan: The final episode of Season 3 (and for the purposes of this block the final episode I’ll be watching since Season 4 is/was on regular Toonami very recently) Everyone finally reaches the sea but Eren’s pissed because he knows across it there’s just racism and shitty ideas, ngl I feel him, I’m kinda pissed about it to. Floch almost has a few moments of being kinda nice and relatable but has to fuck it up every time by being an asshole at the last minute. It’s really nice seeing everyone playing in the water one last time though before the joyless venture that is the Final Season, rewatching the series as a whole has just made me realize it was never completely bleak until the last season and just makes me kinda mad  that we couldn’t have something a little more balanced in the end.

[darknessfactor]

This is mostly being written because I need to get my own thoughts down about this now, not because I particularly want to get into the Discourse (because I know it exists, and I don’t want to go near it).  Basically, I’m rewatching FMA 2003 and FMAB, and I’m going to talk through my preferences.

I’ll admit that this is my first time watching 03 all the way through.  I got through a little more than half of it in high school, then got bored (ironically right before things started getting good), and tried watching Brotherhood instead.  I did manage to make it all the way through that one.

Having watched both now, I still prefer Brotherhood.  And yes, this is a comparison post.  Untagged, except for my own reference tags.  Like I said: I’m writing this for me.

This list might get long, so if you’ve decided to go ahead and read it anyway, then prepare yourself.  I’ll start with character comparisons, in no particular order.

Roy Mustang: Brotherhood wins by a landslide.  Although 03 does a slightly better job at portraying Roy’s PTSD from the Ishval conflict, I also saw much less of a desire to atone for what he had done.  In Brotherhood, Roy specifically said that he wanted to help rebuild Ishval, and Riza admitted that he planned to allow himself and other state alchemists to be put on trial for their crimes.  In 03, I think that the desire to atone is there, but it is muted, and he seems far more smarmy and power-hungry.  His manipulation of the Elrics is also much more blatant.

Scar: Which leads me to Scar.  Honestly?  This one’s a tie for me.  I liked his ending in Brotherhood more.  I felt he was more threatening in Brotherhood.  I prefer his voice actor in Brotherhood.  However, Brotherhood did one thing that I really, really wish they hadn’t - and that was shift the blame for Winry’s parents from Roy to Scar.  Suddenly it wasn’t alright to root for Scar, because not only had he killed the state alchemists responsible for his people, but he also killed innocent civilians.  Personally, I feel for Scar - he had every reason to believe that his people would never get justice for what had been done to them, so he took matters into his own hands.  Brotherhood was just trying to pull a ‘killing is ALWAYS bad’ thing.

The kids: No, I don’t mean the Elric brothers.  I’m talking about 03′s Wrath and Brotherhood’s Pride.  This time, Brotherhood wins again.  I felt like 03 had the opportunity to go somewhere more meaningful and emotional with Wrath, but instead they just turned him into a psycho (which... considering what he’d been through, it didn’t really surprise me).  Brotherhood’s Pride, however, was almost always a creepy asshole - apart from when Selim acted endearing.  His reveal freaks me out to this day, and to this day he honestly terrifies me.  I do find it somewhat ironic that both Wrath and Pride tried to take Ed’s body for themselves, in the end.

Main villain: Gotta give 03 credit: Dante wins by another landslide.  While both she and Father are fairly one-dimensional, her reveal - as well as her plan - is a lot more insidious, not to mention creepy as hell.  I cringed (in a good way) almost every time she was on screen, and her theme song is AMAZING.  The only time when I really got a ‘what the fuck’ vibe from Father was when he’d half-absorbed Hohenheim just before the country-wide transmutation circle was activated.  For the most part, he was pretty par for the course as far as villains go.  

Bradley: Brotherhood, again.  Much more threatening, much more terrifying.  What happened to Lan Fan, to this day, remains an “oh SHIT” moment for me.  Though personally, I think his death should’ve been more brutal.

Sloth: 03, again.  Really, the only good or interesting thing about Brotherhood’s Sloth was the Armstrong sibling/Curtis teamup to take him down.  03′s Sloth is a hell of a lot more interesting.

Greed: I was kind of surprised by how much I liked 03′s Greed by the time he died.  His arc felt more complete than the arc of the first Greed in Brotherhood.  Still, I’m a sucker for body-sharing tropes, and I love the part that the second Greed played.  So Brotherhood wins this one, though not quite by a landslide.

Characters unique to each series: Brotherhood.  I can’t really think of FMA without thinking of Ling, Lan Fan, Mei, Olivier, or Miles.  Dante is a fantastic villain, and 03′s Sloth and Wrath are interesting characters as well, but Frank Archer almost seems like a Kimblee wanna-be, and I couldn’t give two shits about him.  Ling’s arc might be one of my favorites in Brotherhood, and I can’t not adore Lan Fan and Olivier.  

Riza: Brotherhood, though not by much.  There aren’t too many differences between 03 and Brotherhood Riza, except that Brotherhood went far more in-depth on her character and backstory.  Hell, they devoted an entire episode to it, and though I wasn’t too big of a fan of her learning a lesson from freaking Kimblee, I still appreciate her expanded content.

Worldbuilding: Brotherhood, again.  Brotherhood always felt more... like an actual world, whereas everything in 03 felt sort of... isolated.  In 03 we know nothing about the surrounding areas, and... I don’t know, I just never feel like there are people, anywhere.  I like that Liore got more focus in 03, but overall I prefer Brotherhood - for going more into history, for establishing more of the setting.  (I know it would’ve been tougher for 03′s writers to do such, and I give them credit for writing such a compelling story with what they had.)

Music: Brotherhood.  Oh my god, Brotherhood wins so hard for this.  Dante’s theme is the only one that stuck out to me in 03, but Brotherhood?  I have the names of so many of those tracks memorized.  The Intrepid.  Knives and Shadows.  Trisha’s Lullaby.  I get chills whenever I hear any one of these songs.  

Found family theme: This is something that’s prevalent in both series.  Hell, in 03 Armstrong even says it outright after Ed and Al visit Resembool.  It’s never quite stated outright in Brotherhood, and yet I felt like it carried through more strongly in Brotherhood.

In 03, Ed and Al meet and help plenty of people along their journey, but those people don’t really seem to have an impact on them (except maybe Nina Tucker).  I got the sense that, in spite of that, they were still fairly isolated from everyone else; the Elrics against the world.  They have each other in our world after CoS, but it’s just the two of them.  Against the world.  Again.

In Brotherhood, all those people they meet, and help?  It’s very clear that those bonds are still there.  Just look at the family photo in the credits: look at how many people are in it, even if you count out significant others and the Elrics themselves and their kids.  Paninya and Garfield being there just goes to show that there are so many people that the Elrics could easily consider family, in spite of the lack of blood relations.  Ling, Lan Fan, Mustang, Hawkeye, the Rockbells, all the chimeras that Kimblee brought up to Briggs, Izumi, Sig... in the end, in Brotherhood, it was clear that the Elrics had accepted that they couldn’t get as far as they did without these people’s love and support, and I just love that so much.

Story: Brotherhood’s story just seemed more exciting to me.  That’s all there is to it.  I’m a bit of a sucker for political conspiracies, and this screamed ‘political conspiracy’ a lot more than 03.  Also, though I can appreciate the nuance behind 03′s ending, I’ve always been a sucker for happy endings, and Brotherhood’s was definitely happier.

...well, I think these are about all the thoughts I have on this matter.  If I didn’t mention characters, it’s because I think it was a tie for those characters.  I will say for 03: I’m amazed at how its quality improved over time.  The animation and voice acting get remarkably better over time.  Still, Brotherhood is the one that’ll always be closer to my heart.

[kalosstarters]

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

OK before progressing, I have to mention that I have some pretty strong opinions on certain things so if you can’t deal with that, do not read. This is a long post.

@fairy-amy

Favorite character: 

EDUWARDO ELRICU (I don’t care how it should actually be written, that’s how I hear it) ♥ You’ve come to see how much I’ve learned to like him... But seriously, what’s there not to love? He’s brave, he’s badass, he has dealt with some absolutely awful things, but somehow still manages to keep going (well, these are things that a lot of shounen heroes are, but still he /doesn’t/ feel like just another shounen hero, nope), he’s super duper determined (to the point of being stubborn), and despite doing some “Robin Hood-esque” things (such as the mine incident in the first vol of manga) and claiming that God must hate him for his sins, he’s actually the purest thing I’ve ever seen and has really strong morals (hello?? He didn’t even want to kill the mass murderers in lab 5?? And only used the philosopher’s stone when he /absolutely/ had to i.e. when he was in Gluttony’s stomach). HE JUST WANTED TO SEE HIS MOTHER’S SMILE AGAIN AND CAN YOU REALLY BLAME A _5_-year-old (I think he was 11 when the bad stuff TM happened??) for wanting to do that?? He’s also super smart and the fact that he was the youngest state alchemist ever tells something. He’s also both short and short tempered and honestly those are both things that I can personally relate to, and sarcastic and funny yet also super caring even though he’s bad at showing it... He always puts his important people’s happiness before his and he feels super guilty about Al losing his body AND AND DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO ACCEPT OTHER PEOPLE’S HELP THE POOR BOY until finally he faces Truth on Promised Day and says that he has all these people on his side and ahhh man I love him. He is by no means a perfect character, he makes mistakes and sometimes says shit he shouldn’t, but that makes him feel even more realistic (As realistic as a shounen hero can feel. I would also lie if I said I didn’t like his design, Winry is a lucky girl). OK that was the story of why I love Edward Elric, /in brief/.

Least Favorite character: 

Kimblee. Honestly. I feel the other “bad guys” in FMA at least have some kind of motive to do whatever they are doing, but Kimblee states (at least in FMAB, I don’t remember if this line was in the manga) that he’s killing out of sheer “fun” of killing. Soo yeah. And he’s just gross and manipulative and ugh.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

Do I have more than 3 fma ships? I’m not sure. But my OTP is obviously EdWin, from childhood friends to lovers is always a good trope and even though they bicker a lot, to me it feels they actually enjoy it. Seriously, if you just look behind those wrench throwing scenes (that are just poor slapstick humor and should not be taken too seriously), they actually share a lot of really sweet moments. Ed praising Winry for how amazing she did as a midwife (and always remembering to mention how amazing his mechanic is), Winry being inspired by Ed’s determination when she saw what’s inside Ed’s clock, Ed stopping Winry from shooting Scar because “her hands are meant to heal” (just fuck. me. up), the hand holding and comforting each other when they find out about Hughes, “I’ll make you cry tears of joy”, Ed sneakily holding Winry after she helped Scar in Briggs, which is something that assdsdg I can’t deal with because ughhh that boy so rarely shows physical affection and I’m just a freaking sucker for that kind of stuff, Ed thinking about Winry when he almost died, Winry thinking about Ed when she almost died, THE FREAKING LAST SCENE WHICH WAS SO AWKWARD AND SO ADORABLE AND SO THEM AND AHHH I AM SOO GLAD IT HAPPENED (tho I still would have liked to see a kiss but who cares THESE TWO ARE CANONICALLY MARRIED AND WITH AT LEAST TWO KIDS BUT MOST LIKELY MORE BC duh that’s even what Arakawa herself has said!!! Hnnnnghh I love them ;_____; Oh and I forgot to mention that Winry literally helped Ed to walk again, building Ed automail when she was only 11 and helping him also in other ways and asafdsg (Also how would I not find Ed blushing fiercely (and occasionally reciting the periodic table) when someone hints that something is going on between these two or when something remotely intimate happens between them adorable?? Also the scene in which Winry gets mad at Al because he doesn’t understand Ed’s feelings somehow hits me hard because it’s such a ‘supportive girlfriend’ thing to do from her!!) Really who even cares about my other ships after that unnecessarily long rant?? I also like Roy/ai and Al/mei but really I’m not like most of the people in this fandom who seem to think that the first mentioned of those two is the best thing ever. They are sweet, but I think the fandom’s opinion of them has put me off a bit, and I see them as that couple who will never /really/ be a couple anyway, because of the unfortunate circumstances. Al/mei is cute, but we see quite little of them to make me feel super strongly about them. I suppose for example Maes and Gracia and Ling and Lan Fan and Trisha and Hohenheim are good ships as well but I’m not quite on the “I’m gonna read fics about them” level with them yet.

Character I find most attractive: 

ehhhhhhhh. Older Ed. Yes. That is not a question tbh (the other side of me wants to mention older Winry here as well :P)

Character I would marry:

oh I /would/ marry Ed if he was real and of my age (and not married to Winry lmao). Not gonna lie. (honestly tho Al would probably be a nicer husband but with Ed it would never be boring)

Character I would be best friends with: 

my answers are starting to sound kinda boring, but Winry is definitely friend material. She goes through so much but still is so supportive of others and does not want to sit around when she could be doing something to help. Plsss people appreciate her more. (Sheska would be a cool friend as well, I can relate to her wanting to read so much)

A random thought: 

getting to see people’s opinions on fma and its characters has made me a bit shocked. I can’t believe some characters and ships (even canon ones) are seen so negatively while some others, that I would /not/ expect people to see positively, are surprisingly popular. This fandom makes me want to not be in it, I can’t lie about that. But to compensate a bit, I have to mention that I have also met a few super amazing people who have been so nice to me and who do amazing art and write amazing fics (INABD is the best thing ever) and ahhh I am /so/ glad I know about those things and those people. So at the end of the day, I guess the positives still win the negatives. An unpopular opinion:

I’d say it’s pretty unpopular to ship edwin more than roy/ai. So that’s one. I also don’t think Winry is annoying. That’s another one. Hmm this post is already so long that maybe I will not go more in-depth with this answer.

My canon OTP: 

EDWIN. I probably don’t have to say more than I already said Non-canon OTP: 

hmmmm... Roy/ai? I mean they are sorta canon but also not, if canon means being married and stuff.

Most bad*** character: name one character in fma who isn’t badass? Like Ed is the first to come to my mind but really there are so many other badass characters in it that it would be wrong to mention just one. OK let me say Izumi because that woman /kicks ass/ and she even survived Briggs alone which is not something many people would be able to do. So Izumi.

Pairing I am not a fan of: Ro**d. Ew. Why fandom why. I will never understand this. Even if you do age Ed up (and if you don’t, it’s pedo/philia), I see many problems there and yeah I’m not even gonna go there. If someone wants an in-detail analysis on that, ask :P (they say you shouldn’t bash other people’s ships but I don’t feel the need to accept pedo/ships. That’s all.)

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): 

Of course manga/brohood is not perfect but I don’t really feel badly about any of the characters. Maybe I would have like to see more of emotional Ed in this version as well (as I know 03 digs more to the emotional side) but other than that I don’t really feel any character was ‘screwed up’ in the way that is meant in this question. Favourite friendship: 

Ed and Al are the most important relationship in fma so it would be wrong to not mention it. They are precious. But like, Roy and Maes?? And the sibling like relationship of Winry and Elicia? And Parental!Riza and Ed. And many others!

[shanastoryteller]

Hello! I love your writing! Even the fics in fandoms or about pairings that I'm not usually into! It just makes me want to go and write and try to reach your standard :) I was wondering, would you ever do maybe an FMA/HP crossover ? Or FMA/YOI crossover ?? Or a crossover in general? They're pretty hard to do I think. But you'd ace it, because I'm sure if you did, it would be the best darn crossover and I'd love you

thank you that’s so sweet to say!!!!

okay so here’s the thing: i don’t LOVE crossovers usually, it takes a certain something to get me invested, and i one hundred percent don’t have a full fic in me. but –

edward elric, the cleverest wizard of his age. edward elric, who is just as extraordinary in this as he is everything else. he’s a hufflepuff, of course he is, you’d think he’d be a ravenclaw except literally the only thing more important to him than knowledge is loyalty and fairness  and what’s right. so.

he’s quiet and even surrounded by people he seems alone and there’s more than one slytherin vying for his attention, desperate to claim some of that shining talent for their own. but he rebukes them all, has no patience for stupidity or being used or political games. he’s the son of a muggle and a long absent wizard, and his brother – his brother is a squib.

edward hates hogwarts, hates the time he’s forced to spend away from his family. he has a single friend, winry, a fast talking ravenclaw, and she’s the only one who can pull genuine smiles from him.

his house doesn’t dislike him, but they know he likes to be left alone and they respect that. he gets them more points with perfect spells and perfect essays than any other student, so they like him and he’s never mean or rude, just quiet, so they all have a general sense of goodwill towards him but aren’t really friends. except alex armstrong who bursts into tears whenever he seems him, because armstrong is the hufflepuff quidditch captain and ed refuses to be the team’s seeker, or anything at all, even though anyone who’s seen him on a broom knows he’s just as capable and talented at it as anything else.

and lets talk about ed’s talent. ed who midway through first year got bored and started doing spells wordlessly. then wandlessly. who spends every waking moment in the library studying who the hell knows what because it’s certainly not classwork. he does all his spells without a wand or word now, no one has seen him even touch a wand since his second year. and it’s fear and awe that mark him too, because even dumbledore keeps track of his wand, uses it if he doesn’t have to, but ed doesn’t bother. he got straight Os in all his owls and he never pays attention in class but can answer any question or perform any spell asked of him so it’s not like the teachers can do anything with that.

then there’s slytherin seventh year roy okay, and his merry band of people – slytherin maes, gryffindor riza, gryffindor havoc, falman and fuery in raveclaw, breda in hufflepuff. and he’s fascinated by ed, they all are, who wouldn’t be? roy’s the quidditch captain for the slytherin team and hast to listen to armstrong cry at least once a week about ed’s wasted potential.

then the triwizard tournament happens. whole schools are submitted, and the best is chosen from each. everyone expects it to be roy – handsome, popular, powerful, with a special studies in fire spells.

roy knows better. he doesn’t say anything but he’s not surprised at all when edward elric’s name pops out of the goblet. the hufflepuffs are going crazy, and roy makes sure to cheer just as loudly with them.

the other two champions are rose, a quiet girl with a friendly smile, and ling, a not-quiet boy who already spends all his free time attempting to irritate ed into being friends with him, and this isn’t going to help at all.

so the first task happens. the dragons. ling uses a freezing spell to slow the beast down and gets a broken arm and a gash down his side for his trouble, but gets the egg. rose conjured a flock of birds to distract it and went for an egg, but the dragon used a puff of fire to kill the birds and burn half of rose’s body in a singe breath. but she gets the egg.

then it’s ed’s turn. he stands there, staring. does nothing. he takes a step forward. waits. takes another. waits. takes another, and the dragon rears up against him, so he takes a step back. she quiets back down, and he waits, and takes another step forward. that’s what he does. for hours. people have literally fallen asleep in their seats by the time ed has worked his way to the dragon’s nest, being watched carefully but not attacked, being trusted, and picks up the golden egg. the dragon’s nostrils flare and ed holds it up for her inspection, and she realize it’s not her egg at all, and settles back down, and ed backs up and away.

and that’s how ed gets the dragon egg with not a single bit of a magic and without a scratch on him.

roy wonders why ed is even bothering to compete, because he doesn’t seem that invested in it. the other champions are seen studying and practicing, are found with their professors colluding and working. ed continues on as if nothing has happened.

then the second task takes place. ed shows up late but he shows up furious, and roy wonders who it was that they took, because he can see winry sitting anxiously in the stands below him. ed reaches into his sleeve and takes out his wand and roy goes rigid in his seat and maes lets out a curse besides him. ed hasn’t used his wand in four years, hasn’t needed to, and if he’s using it now –

he says a spell they can’t hear and makes large encompassing swish – and then the entire great lake is lifted into the air.

the lakebed is dry and edward suspends the massive ball of water and merpeople and giant squid likes it’s nothing, is holding aloft something bigger than the hogwarts castle, and ed uses his other hand to point and direct, is doing two spells simultaneously, and roy didn’t even know that was possible. a hole opens up in the lake and a mer-person drops out, screaming. then another. then another. the screams are so high and so awful that roy is certain he’s going to have nightmares about it.

“give him back,” he says, voice clear and rippling with banked fury. “give him back”

and a merperson swims to the edge, holding out a sleeping boy that looks remarkable like edward. ed lets the lake drop back to earth with a thunderous wave that soaks the judges. the boy comes gasping awake, still suspended in the air, and ed levitates him gently to the ground. the other champions are still in the lake.  the boy clings to ed, wet and shivering, and ed presses a kiss to his forehead and glares at the judges table. they give him a perfect score, shaken by what they’d seen as much as the students, and they march away.

later, roy and company worm their way into a conversation in the library, where ed sits with his brother going through a book in a language roy doesn’t recognize. “so,” he says awkwardly, now with two sets of scarily intelligent eyes fastened on him, “that was an impressive spell.”

ed snorts and rolls his eyes. “spells,” he scoffs, “great big waste of time if you ask me. wave a stick and say some words and you too can do the same damn spell as thousands before you. pathetic.”

“oh,” maes says, taken aback and wide eyed, “that’s uh,” he looks to alphonse, grimaces, and goes, “okay.”

“he’s not saying that because I’m a squib,” al says, “he’s just a nerd who like things that can be quantified and explained. magic isn’t really his thing.”

roy stares. the most powerful wizard he’s ever seen, and magic isn’t his thing.

“fuck flamel,” he snarls, “if he didn’t insist i get my newts before taking me on as an apprentice – he didn’t make you wait to begin learning!”

“but i cant do magic,” al says reasonably, “besides, i’m learning from his daughter now. we’ll learn from him together when you graduate.”

ed wrinkles his nose, “better hogwarts than izumi. i guess.”

“nicholas flamel?” falman breaks in, “you want to learn alchemy?”

“we want to master alchemy,” ed corrects, “the basics are easy enough, but flamel made a philospher’s stone. do you have any idea the level of mastery that takes?”

“we don’t really want to live forever,” al frowns, “but it is the ultimate test. we won’t rest until we make one.”

they all stare. “alphonse,” havoc says hesitantly, “are you – can you –“

he blinks, “of course. i may not be able to do it without circles like brother and flamel, but i’m not inept. that’s why i’m learning from izumi – she’s a squib and has to use circles too.”

“circles,” maes repeats, completely lost, “what?”

al sighs and takes out a piece of chalk, “like this,” and sketches out an array on the table. he grabs a notebook and puts it in the center, and with a crackle of energy its transformed into a bouquet of live flowers.

“nice trick of pulling water from the air,” ed says.

they’re all flabbergasted. “transfiguration?” maes asks.

“yeah sure,” ed rolls his eyes, “the same way cutting out a snowflake from a piece of paper is like origami.”

they keep staring. ed stares back. it’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

ed doesn’t win the tournament because he lets ling win for reason he refuses to explain, will only say that it was more important to him.

roy pesters and irritates ed until he agrees to teach him alchemy, and even grudgingly says roy has a knack for it. so he sets it up that when al and ed are studying with flamel roy is studying with his daughter, and he goes to ed and al whenever he gets confused because they’re at least less scary than izumi.

ed and al create the philosopher’s stone, and promptly destroy it. roy becomes a master of fire alchemy. they all live happily ever after.