#im thinking about how fmab had an anime original first episode

[cutesilyo]

my opinion is that if you havent gone through manga -> anime adaptations or anything -> musical adaptations, you arent equipped to deal with pjo books -> pjo series adaptation discussion lol

[tizzymcwizzy]

I may be interested in watching Trigun, but I have doubts cuz I see there's a 1998 anime and a current one so, I should watch both to understand the plot or is it a FMAB situation???

oooooohhhohohooho *rubs my hands together* >:] okay

it is KIND OF a fmab situation but also not and all,, the trigun 98 anime was airing alongside the manga and then ended before the manga finished so it had to improvise a lot about the ending and thusly (from what i know, i have not read the manga yet) ends differently than the original manga and does not explain a lot about the plot and villains,,, i haven't seen the original fma anime yet so i don't know how deep the comparison goes but they seem like they have the same case

and the stampede is, yes, a later rerelease of the story that can only exist since the manga has been finished,, but from my impression !!! it is STARKLY different in some aspects to that of the manga's plotline and pacing, which is a very different case to fmab which is a truer adaptation that follows the original manga's plotline

SO neither of the animes will give you the truest understanding of the manga's story (also there's 2 mangas, trigun and trigun maximum and im not fully aware of the differences between them, again, haven't read them yet) that's why i'd recommend watching both of 98 and stampede!! which is what ive done, if you don't wanna do that then ill give you a rundown of the differences so you can pick which seems more interesting to you

trigun 1998 begins the same way the manga does and does all its reveals and like, early story stuff the same way the manga does (I THINK,, AGAIN, HAVE NOT READ THE MANGA) the tone of the anime also matches the manga, i think, and that may not seem like something that's super important,, but it has a lot of a funny goofy silly moments and mystery !!! that i feel add a LOT to the experience of the story that stampede just doesn't have cause of it's shorter runtime, the characterization of the main cast is i also think way closer to the manga and (in my opinion) way more fun and likable than stampede JDGDHFJ

stampede is very different from the original storyline (again,, i will reiterate,, my impression of it cause idk exactly how different 98 is to the manga but im sure 98 is much more similar than stampede is to the manga) it begins, runs, and the season ends very differently to how 98, and manga, i think, does the story,,, it switches out set pieces, characters, and plotlines,, BUT it really gets into the lore and villains in a much deeper way than what trigun 98 does, it actually explains shit and includes plotlines that the 98 anime just could not include which makes it really intriguing and more dramatic

enough about the plot and more into my personal opinions,,, trigun 98 is super fun and silly and has a lot better of an introduction and characterization of the main cast than stampede does. 98 has a better intro to the story and world than stampede does beCAUSE stampede is only 12 episodes and rushes through a lot of the beginning for the sake of getting to the plot and lore, but stampede has a much stronger ending and a deeper exploration of the main characters and villains than 98 because it actually has the resources from the manga to pull from

that's why i think that if you wanted to watch both you should start with 98 first because it's got a better beginning and set up for the story's main themes and messages than stampede does, but stampede then delves into those themes l messages, and villains! that 98 didn't have a chance to explore to their fullest

this is also why id recommend you read the manga as well cause there's a lot that is still missing from the entire trigun story that neither anime will explain to you (we'll see what stampede season 2 has to offer but that's a ways a way)

WHOO THAT WAS A LONG FUCKING ASK IM SORRY DHDHJFJGG but i hope it gives you some insight on how to approach getting into it!

TLDR: the 98 anime and stampede are both different from the manga in different ways so id recommend you watch both of them, 98 first and then stampede, but also read the manga :)

[maguneedsalife]

im importing my some of my fmab thoughts over from twitter bc i want to be able to find them again in case i decide to write a serious article lmao

spoilers, obviously

Yeah. Like, I feel kinda bad that i slept on fma for so long, but im also glad i got to experience it as an adult

i’ve been thinkin back on all the times i tried to get into fma growing up and i think i can say a few things for certain: 

if i'd stuck with the manga after reading the first 4 volumes in 2006, i don't think i would have appreciated the storytelling

if I'd stuck with brotherhood after watching the first 2 eps in 2009, i don't think i would have appreciated the storytelling, and i definitely wouldn't have liked the wait

i had originally come to fma because it "has hot guys in it" and "is the cool manga my friends are reading" and tbh i think that's why i bounced off it both of the previous times. i wasn't ready or willing to invest in it beyond that.

needless to say im glad that i finally sat down to watch it, and i'm especially thankful to my bf for sitting me down and making me watch it

when people say fma is one of the best animes of all time they're not messing around. fma is legitimately one of the best-crafted stories i've ever seen, and it makes me want to step up my own game.

when we hit like, ep 49, and i was like "wow this show has 64 episodes and we're already at the promised day, that seems soon" expecting the promised day to be addressed in 2 eps max. oh how delightfully wrong i was.

somehow this show managed to balance like, 5 or 6 storylines at the same time without dropping its momentum at any point. it's bananas. i'd never seen an anime do something like that before

and also the fact that it managed to involve like.... all of the major characters who are still alive, in one way or another, and their inclusion makes perfect sense given the scale of the situation

this show did an incredible job giving u a sense of what's at stake and so in the last arc I was just on the edge of my seat. the episodes flew by, each somehow more ridiculous than the last. every time i thought we were done escalating, fma turned it up another logarithmic notch

and like, honestly? it made me FEEL for characters i never expected to. I wanted to cry when king bradley died. I cried about greed. I fucking cried about alphonse elric. it’s amazing that the show managed to make me feel such a deep connection to so much of its cast.

anyway tl;dr hiromu arakawa is a storytelling god, i cant believe it took me this long to get through fma:b, and i am so, so happy to have finished it

[groundramon]

Do you have a list of like top 5 tv shows? (Cartoons and anime included)

!!! Yes I do, actually!

I’ve actually thought about doing a YouTube video about this in the past, and while I do want to do list-like videos (and I already have at least one in mind) in the future, I put off doing this one because it actually…depends greatly on where certain shows I currently like are headed because some currently-airing shows would be on this list if they hit their full potential, but who knows if they’ll hit their full potential. Also I always split anime and cartoons into two categories because I always had a hard time picking otherwise xD But I do have some semblance of a list, and I adore talking about this kind of stuff, sooo:

5. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

This spot is kind of a three-way tie between Voltron, Bojack Horseman, and FMAB, all for extremely different reasons. So consider Voltron and Bojack my honorable mentions. But while I believe Bojack’s best is honestly some of the (if not the) best out there, and if Voltron promises through on what they’ve promised it will easily skyrocket up this list, Bojack’s worst is everything I hate about Hollywood and Voltron just has too many holes at the moment.  FMAB has the best of both worlds because it has great animation like Voltron, doesn’t have any of Bojack’s bad kind of moments, and doesn’t have many holes in it.  (Another honorable mention goes to BNHA, but like Voltron, I just don’t think it has had enough time to develop all the way. Unlike Voltron, it doesn’t really have any holes, but I do have a problem with how strictly it adheres to cheesy super heroes of the past.)

BUT onto FMAB itself. God cmon, its FMAB, do I really need to elaborate why its so great? The characters are compelling, their motivations are powerful and interesting. I could write an essay examining Ed’s character alone, because he has so many interesting motivations and morals that seemingly conflict with his angry disposition, and I don’t even like Ed that much. The story is exciting - there’s basically no filler, and it almost moves too fast at points. I do have problems with the show - as I said, it goes too fast. The only two deaths in the season happen in the first 12-15 episodes of the series, and although I think that’s because the original FMA animated those scenes already, it still fucks with the pacing of this show. Additionally, despite Lust, Gluttony, and Envy all being revealed before, the show introduces a completely new villain - Greed - to introduce the homunculi. And then they kill Lust - the presumed leader of the first three introduced homunculi?? Idk man, the show barrels in a completely different direction way too quickly. But other than that, its a great show. The only reason it isn’t higher is because I’m a biased shit towards other good shows.

4. Teen Titans

Speaking of being a biased shit, idk if it shows or not, but I have a HUGE soft spot for corny kids shows that try to give kids bad laughs and dark/relatable storylines, or rather, have a heart while doing so. Its not so much that I like a balance of comedy and darkness in my shows - although that’s a good thing, I eat pure angst up and I’m all-for pure comedy shows that have the aforementioned heart (ie we bare bears, another good show not on this list) - its just specifically corny pun-ridden teen/tweeny-feeling shows/games that actually have a decent story underneath that get me. (Also my sense of humor aligns much more with shitty teen lingo and puns than modern cartoon humor that’s considered “good”. Like I find Teen Titans 10x funnier than I’ve ever found Steven Universe. I’m a 90s kid at heart even tho I wasn’t alive in the 90s)

But the biggest impact of this show for me was the heart and the plot. The silly moments made me laugh, sometimes iromically and sometimes unironically and sometimes I wasn’t sure how, but it was the story that really gripped me. The first season’s overarching plot for Robin is honestly one of the most compelling things I’ve seen in kids cartoons…period. Its dark, its unique, its a subversion of such a simble and broad trope. Sure it had a nice cheesy ending but Robin actually saves the day through INTELLIGENCE, something he always had. No other Teen Titans ending did that, but I digress.

And god, do not even get me started on Terra’s arc. Just because Robin’s was the most well-structured arc doesn’t mean his was the most emotional. I was fucking distraught after Terra’s season. Those memes weren’t a joke, I legitimately cried right in front of my mom. IT WAS SO OBVIOUS, BUT IN MY BLIND LOVE, I MISSED ALL THE SIGNS… and god, even when she comes back, even when she’s given a happy ending, she manages to make me cry AGAIN. I never, ever thought I could cry over a character like Beast Boy, but she made me do it. I didn’t even cry when Sokka’s girlfriend died, but this really, really got to me. Once for personal attachment, and the second time because…the finale is so good. Literally its Bojack levels of deep, emotional, and realistic, and this was the ending of a fucking kids show. What the fuck. To this day I still get emotional whenever something reminds me of her arc. Which brings me to my next series…

3. Cybersix

Hi so did I mention Cybersix is really good? Because Cybersix is really good.  I’m not even done with it but yeah, I love this show.  It’s got an amazing art style, great animation, an intriguing story…I have a feeling I’m gonna be really disappointed when it ends because I’ll want to know what happens next so badly.  I like the characters, I like the aesthetic, I like the old-timey music that dates this cartoon so wonderfully, I even like the romance between Lucas and Cybersix/Adrian!  How’d you make me do that.  Oh yeah, because it’s not hard to get me to care about a mutually rewarding relationship that’s gradually built up through a friendship, then an aesthetic attraction, then presumably a relationship but idk yet, where both parties care about one another and their boundaries and have gotten along well since the start.  I forgot.  (I could nitpick that Lucas doesnt have the same buildup for the relationship as Cybersix [its complicated, basically he’s friends with Cybersix’s alternate persona Adrian but he’s in a relationship with Cybersix, and he doesnt know theyre the same person] but I’m not gonna.)  It’s just…a good show man.  @ hollywood, reboot THIS you cowards.  Stop rebooting shit nobody wanted a new version of and reboot shows that were ended to quickly.  Actually dont reboot Cybersix because the only animation studios that would be able to do it any justice are Studio Mir and anime studios, and whoever owns the current copyright to Cybersix would probably be okay using flash for it

2. Digimon Adventure (with a honorable mention to Digimon Tamers)

You can rip my love for the entire Digimon franchise from my cold, dead hands.  I’m sincerely surprised any show passed up my love for this show.  If/when the currently airing series in Japan gets brought over here, I’ll watch it, even though Digimon has kind of abandoned what made it so great in the first place.  But hell, even Fusion was enjoyable - the second arc, from what I remember, was pretty dark and interesting (im still mad they got rid of the two best characters tho) - and the only reason I disliked Data Squad so much is because of Marcus (that and it doesnt have anything else that’s absolutely stunning, in fact from a technical standpoint Marcus is the best thing about the show).

But there’s a reason I put Digimon Adventure here and not the entirety of the Digimon franchise.  Digimon Adventure is what started it all.  No Digimon season has as much heart in it as the original.  Sure the animation improves each season, sure Tamers is probably better story-wise on a technical level, but I dont think any season matches the raw charm of the original.  It was so charming, in fact, that what was supposed to be a 13-episode miniseries evolved into a massive franchise that’s still beloved to this day.  Hell, there’s still content being released for the 8 Digidestined of this season!  It’s right alongside Pokemon, Invader Zim, Hey Arnold, and all these other beloved 90s/early 2000s cartoons that are being revived in recent years, and I think that says a lot.

I wasn’t even alive when Digimon Adventure was airing, but I loved the Digimon games I had played so much that I went out of my way to watch it.  And I…loved it.  Sad as it may be, it was the greatest TV show I had seen at the time.  Growing up in the late 2000s watching only Nickelodeon and CN was not a good period to grow up in, and I never saw Avatar as a kid.  By the time the 2010s had rolled around, I had mostly given up on cartoons, and besides, they were all fugly.  I still tried to watch some, but just…the humor didn’t grip me, they seemed dumb, and they weren’t pleasant to look at.  (Okay the main shows I’m vaguing about are Adventure Time and Regular Show, as well as whatever Nickelodeon was doing but I begrudgingly put up with Nickelodeon for the most part because I preferred Nick and I never knew what else to watch)  Then Digimon came around, and hol-y-shit.  The characters were like nothing I had ever seen before, the storylines engaging and interesting.  Sure it was cheesy, but there was 95% less fart jokes than the average cartoon, a good story, and actually relatable characters that actually go through hardships and actually change for the better!

Digimon Adventure has been and always will be proof to me that no matter what you are, no matter what your show is, you can make a good show out of it.  If you get people who care, who can make relatable characters, who can come up with an interesting story, you can make a good show.  Digimon Adventure is basically a big long toy commercial, and yet its better than lots of shows that dont even have merchandise - and its also better than a lot of shows that have merchandise now, but weren’t created to sell toys in the first place.  I just.  Love it a lot.

Also, the reason I specifically chose Digimon Adventure, outside of having a personal attachment to it since it was always my favorite, is because Tamers hecking scared me as a kid and I’ve never gotten over how creepy the last arc is.  Like it’s good, but it still scared me.

Honorable mentions: Bojack Horseman, Voltron: Legendary Defender, We Bare Bears, Gravity Falls (thats a big one, it would definitely be on this list if I had 10 spots, and will gladly take the 6th spot if Voltron doesnt follow through or Bojack goes south), Over the Garden Wall,  the aforementioned Digimon Tamers ,and Infinity Train might be #2 or at least #3 if it wasnt just a single episode l m a o

1. A tie between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra

HI SO YEAH if you didnt expect this then you dont know me //BRICKED

Before I explain both, I want to be very clear that I’m not counting them as a single entity.  No, I just cant pick between them.  They’re two extremely different shows, and I actually agree with people who say ATLA is overall a more-rounded show.  Problem is, I watched both during a period of my life where politics and darkness make an extremely interesting show for me (aka the current period of my life) and thus its a very biased and “nostalgic” pick, just like Digimon Adventure.  Had I watched these shows when they were airing, I dont know if LOK would even be on this list.  Heck Digimon adventure probably wouldnt be on this list since ATLA would’ve held the crown for my favorite show for all those years.

They both have amazing animation and solid writing, but that’s about all they have in common in my eyes - even though they share the same world.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a kids show.  Through and through, its a kids show.  That’s not an insult in the slightest though; no, the fact that they can make something so sophisticated and enjoyable that still clearly appeals to children is really a testament to their skills.  Many kids shows that try to take on heavier/darker stories feel like completely different shows when they try to do that - shows that arent intended for kids.  Voltron and SU are the most notable examples of that, but even LOK has a little bit of that (but in LOK’s case, its the entire show, so I kinda give them a pass lol)  Other shows do it okay (Gravity Falls) but really the only show I’ve ever seen match Avatar’s perfect balance of comedy and seriousness is Bojack, which isn’t a kids show so it has an advantage over Avatar.

Avatar’s world is fanciful and larger than life.  I’m so sad that I watched Avatar and LOK after my fanfiction days; I would’ve loved to spend nights thinking about a potential Avatar story, complete with my own Avatar and original cast.  I could put it before Avatar, after LOK, who knows? but it would’ve been so much fun.  Hell I HAVE thought about Avatar stories, but I obviously dont have much thought up on any of my potential ideas.

The pacing of Avatar is golden.  How a show wish such good pacing got through Nickelodeon, I dont know, but whatever deal allowed Avatar to go on for three seasons and then end was a once-in-a-life-time deal (as evident by what happened to Korra).  Somehow this show came out almost completely perfect, with few or no flaws.

This is the pinnacle of children’s entertainment, in my opinion.  This is proof that there’s no excuse for the garbage that makes up 90% of children’s entertainment.  The standard doesn’t have to be this, since this is the best, but this show is proof that we need to raise the standard.  I wish executives actually gave a shit about quality; if they did, maybe we could get mostly good shows instead of mostly bad shows.

If most shows were half as good as Avatar, the average show would be gorgeously-animated, smartly-written, and really good, even if it had a flaw here and there.  If most shows were half as good as Avatar, Steven Universe would be the average instead of a godsend.

If I someday, somehow make a show that’s 2/3rds as good as Avatar, I’ll officially be a good writer.  I’d love to make tons of shows just as good as Avatar, but hey, I cant get TOO cocky now lol

Now for The Legend of Korra.  Korra has slightly better animation (god i love studio mir) and different but still intriguing worldbuilding.  I know a lot of people found the political bs to be annoying, but I actually found it quite intriguing.  Avatar did a little bit of exploring moral gray areas and playing with politics, but Korra just goes all-out.  I wish the first season’s morality could’ve been a little grayer, but even then, the politics were still interesting.  And god, that one scene in the first season finale, the murder-suicide…that’s still a really powerful scene.  The entire finale would’ve been super powerful were it not for everything resetting by the end of it, but hey, they basically did the same thing in season 3!

Holy shit though, season 3.  An on-screen strangling.  Someone exploding themselves to death.  And then the finale’s fight.  The finale’s fight. The finale of season 3 is one of the most intense things I’ve seen…ever.  The atmosphere in that fight is just…so good - combined with the animation and choreography, its just amazing.  You can almost feel every hit, you actually feel concern for Korra, you’re legitimately concerned for her life.  And you know what?  You should’ve been!  Because she almost dies, and she has to suffer the consequences of that.  The fourth season has a time gap in-between, but even then, she spends episodes trying to fully recover.

In my opinion, the only thing making Korra a kids show is Milo.  I’m certain they put him in there because otherwise, it wouldn’t have been allowed to be called a kids show.  It’s dark, its intelligent, its beautiful, and it’s going to go right over most kid’s heads.  As a kids show it does kind of fail; it just doesn’t really appeal enough to them.  Once you’re old enough to understand, say, Naruto or Dragon Ball you should be okay, but ATLA appeals to all ages while Korra really needs a certain maturity in its audience to be understood and to not scare its audience.

They’re just both. so good

(thanks for the ask!!!)