Fullmetal Alchemist 2.0 (Brotherhood)

[Destiny_Gundam]

Gran was actually a likable guy in the manga

I'm curious, how can anyone with a face like that be likable? It more or less screams "EVIL BASTARD."

[VR7]

Spoiler

One flashback of the Ishbalan civil war, as told by Riza Hawkeye. (Chapter 60)

After a severe mental breakdown, Alex-Louis Armstrong was deemed unfit for duty and was pulled off the front lines for the remainder of the war. His replacement was Basque Gran.

A group of Ishbalans surrendered to Basque Gran and a Captain Maes Hughes, with the intent to speak with King Bradley directly in a vain attempt to end the war. The two reported this to their superior, a Brigadier General Fessler, who scoffed at them for showing mercy to the enemy. This was how Gran responded.

Hughes wrote it off as a stray bullet, and Gran took command of Fessler's unit.

That was, however, the only notable appearance of Gran, at least from what I recall. There has been no other appearance from him beyond mentions of his death or his role at the 5th Research Laboratory, beyond maybe possible cameos in Arakawa's omake.

[Dark Duel]

That...is awesome.

[Sulendil Zeta]

Just a request of mine: do anyone has information of the ranks of the state alchemists? I know Mustang is Colonel, while Armstrong is Major, but I don't know the others.

[Dark Duel]

IIRC, when Basque was killed off he was a Brigadier General. Beyond that, no idea.

[hellbore]

Just a request of mine: do anyone has information of the ranks of the state alchemists? I know Mustang is Colonel, while Armstrong is Major, but I don't know the others.

Beyond that, all State Alchemists are given rank equivalent to a Major. I don't think any others are shown long enough to actually go into any specific ranks.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Prepare to cry girly tears for ep 10. It's that time already.

[VR7]

A long while back I once made a guess that because the Gundam 00 cast is featured in FMA Brotherhood, Mamoru Miyano (Light Yagami, Setsuna F. Seiei) was going to be the voice of Ling Yao.

What a very lucky guess. Sounds like a sample for a new opening theme, too.

P.S. The guess was a joke, maybe I should've placed a wager on it back then.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Now that Funi.com is back up and running, I caught up with the episodes. I must say, that Hughes's death this time around lacked the same impact it did in the first series. It happened pretty fast, and we didn't get to spend as much time with him. That said, it was still sad to see him go again, especially since I do remember how great of a guy he was the first time around.

I wonder what significance Izumi is going to play this time around, since her child doesn't become Wrath.

And next week Greed and his gang are finally going to show up.

[hellbore]

Now that Funi.com is back up and running, I caught up with the episodes. I must say, that Hughes's death this time around lacked the same impact it did in the first series. It happened pretty fast, and we didn't get to spend as much time with him.

Well Hughes was nothing more than a minor character who's role was expanded in anime #1. The death in the manga and hence, Brotherhood, never struck me as a tragedy, but more of a catalyst for events. Unfortunately, anything thing else would be a spoiler including your other questions (which where rhetorical, yes?).

[VR7]

The episode with Greed already aired, though I don't think it's subbed on Funi.com yet. Yoki also makes his first appearance--he is voiced by Kazuki Yao, the same voice of Yoki from the first anime. The only difference this time is that he will be a recurring character from now on.

Greed is now voiced by Yuuichi Nakamura. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Ayumi Tsunematsu is the voice of Ling Yao's subordinate, or if Toru Furuya sneaks in somewhere.

Spoiler

Izumi has more background story in the later chapters of FMA, but doesn't really play a major role until the current chapters.

[Dark Duel]

Funimation's youtube posting was at Ep8 when last I looked (this morning), so at this point they're 5 eps behind. So no, the ep with Greed(13) isn't up yet.

[Destiny_Gundam]

http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=280

Funi has ep 12 up. Ep 13 should be posted tomorrow or Thursday.

[VR7]

Today's episode has some pretty wacky animation, on par with the quality from the first anime. Then again, it's probably just warmup, because:

Spoiler

Ling Yao next episode.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Oh good, I didn't want to double post.

So yeah, ep 13. Greed is even cooler than I remembered. However, I'm kinda annoyed that his weakness was discovered so easily. In the first series, figuring that out was what allowed Ed to finally beat him. So after learning about it in one fight... Greed isn't as threatening anymore.

[VR7]

The anime has now truly hit the point where it completely deviates from the first anime and follows the manga's storyline. They still skipped some scenes from the manga, though. There are also new opening and ending themes, Hologram by NICO Touches the Walls and Let it Out by Fukuhara Miho.

A commercial that aired some time back during Ep. 13, featuring a sample of Ling Yao and Hologram.

Spoiler

They omitted the miners entirely, though Mei Chan apparently already met them.

For anyone who has read the manga, it is actually pretty funny that they chose Mamoru Miyano for Ling Yao and Yuuichi Nakamura for Greed, it's as if we just can't get enough of Setsuna and Graham yelling at each other.

[YazanGable]

Honestly, I can kind of see why the plot got axed.
It'd be a whole episode set aside for a story that, in the long run
a) Was bordering on filler
and
b) Had already been told once in the first series. This time around, it seems like they're more interested in going past what people already saw the first time around and getting into the new material with as few sidestops as possible.

Honestly, I'm fairly satisfied. They still found a way to work in the information that DID factor into the plot without having to set aside a whole episode for it.

[Destiny_Gundam]

And now I embark into unknown territory. I only have a vauge idea of what to expect in the future.

Pretty good episode. Hearing Miyano is always fun. I thought the fights were cool, but then I was like:

... Wait a minute... Holy crap! Nana Mizuki, in my FMA? Now we're talking!

And Ed finally realises that Al is superior. Awesome.

[VR7]

Fullmetal Alchemist 16 time. Also included are spoilers for Episode 17, which hasn't aired yet. However, anyone who's read the manga thus far already knows what's going to happen.

Spoiler

No, just because the Xing characters showed up doesn't mean they're going to steal the spotlight from now on. They're still supporting characters at most. The manga is called Fullmetal Alchemist for a reason.

Though I'm still waiting on Ling calling someone a distortion.
On that note, the previous chapter made a quip that the manga would from then on be titled Armored Alchemist.

Episode 16 and 17 were actually the same story, it looks like the anime decided to split them into two somewhat separate, somewhat related stories. Originally, Ed did not meet Maria Ross, as she was already convicted of murdering Hughes--rather than Ross letting it slip, Ed and Al learned from a newspaper article of Ross' arrest. The jailbreak scene actually happened right after this, just before Ed and Al went to see Winry and Gracia Hughes.

The story is still mostly identical to the manga content, aside from some very minor and trivial differences. (i.e Winry's apple pie missing? wut)

I actually liked this episode. However, I think they could have told the original story arc as a single story, rather than splitting them up, just to keep the show freshly action packed.

[kayone73]

Finished FMA:B & FMA original recently

I watched the series in reverse order, when the original FMA was out, I tried to watch a few random eps but could never get into the groove of the series and didn't get into it. Also came across as a bit to 'shounen'-y for me.

Then I heard about Brotherhood and the premise of the new story intrigued me. Honestly I was hooked in from the first ep and despite the first 13 eps being a compressed version of the first 25 eps of the original series storyline, I had no trouble following it and liked the brisk, no-BS pace even tho a lot of fans complained it went too fast.

Then the rest of the series I couldn't stop watching and would watch 6-10 eps at a time until the very end. Probably one of my top 10 favorite anime series of all time.

Then for fairness I went back and watched the original series from start to finish and the movie and unfortunately, having been spoiled by Brotherhood, I couldn't enjoy the original animated series at all. And I know perfectly well the writers were in a bind and had to make up the rest of the storyline back in the early 2000s once they ran out of source manga material to work with. It was a decent effort but that story was really weak compared to the finished storyline by Arakawa in the manga, which in my opinion was epic & brilliant.