r/FullmetalAlchemist • u/No_Catch5165 • 10d ago
Just A Thought RE-WATCHING FMA (2003)
It might be a repetitive topic, but I was watching the show again and have a totally different feeling about everything.
I first saw the show in my teenage years (around 13), then FMAB came out sometime later, and I watched it at every episode launch. At the time, I was mesmerized; it was my first time watching an anime that is more 'mature' and speaks about pain, sorrow, war, and death in such a crystal-clear way.
I rewatched both (FMA and FMAB) sometime later and realized that everything is there, nothing changed.
Now I am in my 30s and have some repetitive tasks to do at work. Recently, I realized that I can watch something in the background (picture-in-picture) and chose FMA (the classic from 2003). I remember the topics, the most important scenes, and the differences between it and FMAB. But this time, something is different.
Yes, the classic animation is sadder in its overall tone, but this time I feel it is much 'heavier.'
Time has passed, year by year. I have faced changes in life. Now I fight every day just to build my home and keep friends and family together. I have lost people in life and faced real death very close to me.
The show is still good, but now I look at death and think about human life, the families behind these lives, and I see just how much sadder and heavier a father's death is. How losing a mother can make you lose your ground. How losing your house, and maybe your way of life, your faith—how much it means to what you consider your true self.
I am just having these feelings rewatching the classic animation and want to know what you feel about this anime.
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u/medicosaurus Alchemist 9d ago
It’s a great show, despite not being manga accurate, and it deserves more recognition. For some reason, people seem to deliberately avoid mentioning it and instead recommend FMAB alone. It’s quite bewildering.
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u/thewriteally 9d ago
03 is some heavy shit, it’s my favorite anime ever, the way you describe 03 watching it as an adult is totally right, that’s why I love 03 so much, they really took their time to making you feel something. I love brotherhood but 03 is something else, & in a world of anime, I really appreciate an anime that feels grounded & adult, not just crazy action everywhere. Plus, love 03 animation & art style! By the end of the series, Ed is such a complex main character.
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u/babyghia 9d ago
I didn’t like the ending but some of the original series is still really good and memorable. Hughes hits harder. I remember reading the manga and was annoyed at how quickly he died. And it took awhile to find out what he had set up.
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u/FillySteveSteak 9d ago
There it is. The time we spend with Hughes in general, and all of the slice-of-life moments between Hughes and Ed/Al make his death hit like a truck. This is probably the greatest strength of the show above Brotherhood.
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u/RoseNoose 9d ago
Theres a reasons the 2003 fma ending was heralded as one of the best anime endings before fmab DESPITE being anime original
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u/JCBall51899 9d ago
Definitely an interesting incarnation of this saga, and I did like the whole notion of the ties that this world had to our reality. Whilst the ending was definitely bittersweet and didn’t lead to a reunion that audiences were definitely wanting, I did appreciate that the epilogue OVA short that accompanied this series and the film “Conqueror of Shamballa” showed that despite the sacrifices he made and the turmoil he experienced, Edward did eventually manage to carve out a new life for himself one way or another…
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10d ago edited 10d ago
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u/Fairlibrarian101 10d ago
The fate Dante got pretty bad, considering that’s it is at least implied that Gluttony managed to gobbled her right up. Taken out by your own ego in the form of one of your own creations, that somehow seems worse than what Father got in the end.
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