okay, I admit that when this is on I'm usually surfing and have not given it my full attention (as it appears due) and at some point I'm going to have to take some time to find it online and imerse myself in it BUT, I still want to ask a Baba-esque question here.... Is this the absolute best all around Anime series ever? I know that Cowboy Beebop is highly regarded, and Ghost in the Shell got good notices, but in terms of actually telling a story, one that has emotional weight to it, while still being able to entertain a wide range of age groups, thins one seems head and shoulders about the usual fair. Naruto, for instance. Not a BAD show, has a few little life lessons but like it's predecessors, it revolves around the fight more than anything else. FMA, in my opinion, is so much better than Naruto it's almost an embarassment to me to name the latter in the same post. Am I alone on this?
I dunno. Outside of Cowboy Bebop and the guilty pleasure of Gundam Wing, I've never been able to really enjoy any anime.
I recommend you watch it. FMA has a good story with great characters. (and it can be bloody at times) Dont let the fact it's anime turn you off. Naruto, on the other hand is over rated.
I don't really like anime in general, but my brother in law laid the whole FMA series on me, and I rather like it.
The talking animal episode turned me off... Felt a bit uncomfortable when i watched that, thought it was a bit heavy...
FMA is my favorite series as well. It's everything awesome about fiction. I followed Bleach and Naruto for a while. Awful terrible horrid filler episodes have destroyed Bleach and mind numbingly slow pacing has hurt Naruto for me latly.
FMA is probably the best source for a d20 one day, and I believe there's quite a few groups racing for the goal on that one.
I think FLCL is better than FMA... And Bleach is pretty sweet too. FMA is pretty good but I wouldn't rate it as #1 for me. Reminds me a lot of DBZ in the way that they will draw out some events into 3-4 episodes that should really just take one (although bleach does this too...). My fave ever is still FLCL... just totally awesome.
Full Metal is certainly good anime. I think Ghost in the Shell, last Exile, maybe even Ergo Proxy top it for depth of idea.
In certain terms- yes. As far as its class it is quite probably the best anime series ever- IMO it ranks very high among the series I have seen and it has emotional depth that a lot of anime try really hard to achieve, yet cannot. I cried several times througout the series and the depth of each character far outweighs that of characters in other series. Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell are actually both great anime, though Cowboy Bebop never really gets into much depth emotionally except for very late in the series and I will admit to squirting a couple tears near the end. IMO Naruto is terrible- it has DBZ syndrome, basically for every 3 episodes only one thing gets done and it can be painstakingly minor. Nope, I agree, Naruto is shameful comparatively.
Bleach may be pretty sweet, but if you would look at your statement below and replace FMA with Bleach you will know exactly why I don't like it. I disagree completely- the pacing in FMA was perfect, my only problem when I watched it was that I was buying the discs as they came out and had to wait on several ocassions for the next one. No conflict ever took more than 3 episodes to wrap up, except the main plot which obviously takes place througout the series. FOOLY COOLY! ^_^ I love that show, was one of my first Anime, but I realized quickly how little actual depth there is. It was also disheartening when I listened to the commentary to find out that there was no set story from day one of production, the pretty much played by ear and came out with what you see which to me take a big bite out of the emotion in the series knowing it can be distilled to whimsy. In fact if you ever grabbed the manga, its only two books and really, really different from the show (which can be said of all Manga/Anime).
Never seen Last Exile, but I am in love with Ergo Proxy. I have up to the fifth disc and I can't wait to see the climax.
Another really good series, that is a bit older, to consider is Trigun. Cool futuristic western about a guy named Vash the Stampede.
Well, I guess I should phrase that differently... major stuff seems to be totally ignored for long periods of time. The small side stories get resolved quickly... but often they are uninteresting to me. The show is good but a lot of the content is just... not that interesting. It does open and close a lot of side tales but that doesn't mean it has a good pace or is a good show... look at that abomination that is Inuyasha... Seems like they often have a whole mini-story per episode. And Inuyasha sucks. Also I wasn't a fan of Trigun at all. I don't care that FLCL wasn't planned out. In fact, I think that is why it was so unexpected and interesting. I remember really dying to find out what was going to happen on the next show. I can't say that about any anime that I've watched ever. I mean, I have been interested enough to tune in again, but I never had the same feeling of "oh shit I can't miss FLCL tonight". Oh, and another show which is awesome, though probably not traditionally Anime, is Shin Chan. Whoever translated/rewrote the dialogue for english did an amazing job.
