7/01/2011

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 5 (2011) Review

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 5 (2011)
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Ok, so to date the final volume of the Funimation release of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood part 5 has not been yet released, but the entire series finished airing in japan last year, so this is my review of the final chapter of the series.
Ok, I'm one of the rare few folks who started into watching FMA:Brotherhood without having seen the original series at all. To be honest, while I like some shounen series like DBZ, I do find the classic shounen anime cliches and tropes to get a little repetitive and when the original FMA series aired on US TV, I caught a few random eps and it seemed pretty good, but something about the show failed to hook me in. Fast foward to the present and I learned about the new remake series that came out in 2009 and thought 'whats the point?' and was intrigued at the premise that this series follows the manga series faithfully, which was reportedly a much better story than the original anime, which thru no fault of its own, had a very incomplete (barely the first quarter) manga story to work with. They stretched out what they had to work with into half a tv series then completed the rest with their own original storyline that concluded with an ending that runs hot or cold with fans.
Luckily, hearing about FMA:Bro late, the entire series was already aired and fansubbed but since the first 4 volumes were out commercially, I rented all the available discs released by Funimation and finished the rest of the series with what I could find elsewhere. And all I can say is:
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood probably ranks among my top 10 favorite anime series...of all time.
And that is saying something for someone who has been watching anime since the late 80s. Eventually I watched the original series afterwards which I found relatively dissapointing compared to this incredible successor.
Part 5 covers the final 12 eps of this 64 episode series and what can I say about this series.
You're looking at nonstop, exhausting action as the main villain Father, aka the original Homunculus, reveals his grand plan, which far outshadows anything that the frankly lame villain, Dante, from the original series could have ever dreamed up. Basically you have our heroes Ed & Al, allied with all their friends from Amnestris, Xing, even the Ishbalans all banding together to deal with the last of the Homunculi while trying to stop Father from carrying out his plan that threatens the whole world, God, and all of reality itself. All I can say is the finale climax approaches a scope that rivals the end of Evangelion itself and really reveals the genius of manga authors Arakawa's imagination and storytelling skill.
Without giving any spoilers as to how this incredible series ends, I can safely say that by the final episode of this new series, you have a definitive ending with full resolution of all plotlines and characters, unlike the the original series which required another movie to finish of the storyline with somewhat iffy results. You finally see the end of Ed and Alphonse quest the way that should have been written in the first place. This last chapter will evoke every emotion out of the viewers leaving you drained, but ultimately satisfied. Perfect end to a near perfect shounen series that elevates the entire genre and providing a VERY TOUGH act to follow.


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