Aw man, FMA is one of the real good ones, I think you’ll like it a lot
My brother just watched it this year and was texting me his thoughts throughout it all, and my coworker at the other desk is doing his first watch. People finding their way to it all the time
The 2003 one is the first and the beginning of it has more character development and look into the intro of it all. But about 2/3 of the way through or so they caught up to the manga and pressed on without source material. So it has its own ending, and you can kinda tell
2009 FMA Brotherhood is the “reboot” which is the same characters and story, only it follows the source material to the end. It’s the “definitive” version of the story, though it kind of expects you to have seen the first one already, as it rushes through the beginning a bit so it can get to the good stuff
I remember watching the old version of Shaman King, I really liked it, and when I found out that it was remade, I was incredibly happy
but unfortunately for some reason I missed the alchemist😅
I would actually recommend Brotherhood first while the characters aren't as fleshed out, the story is so good, but one thing that makes it stand out compared to other shows, or even FMA 2003, is that it's so consistent with its from start to end, with its story, themes and characters. I think that is also one of the reasons why it's one of the most acclaimed shows out there. It was nr 1 one Myanimelist (imdb for anime) until last year before it got dethroned.
Im always torn when recommending this show because while I watched the original first and then BH and it was a great experience at the time I really feel like the emotion and story in BH is so superior that a new person shouldnt waste that amazing first experience on the original.
Always wondered what the difference with Brotherhood was. Figured it was just a different studio doing the same thing. Now I gotta watch Brotherhood to see the official ending. Thanks!
Brotherhood has the official ending in the story. Part 1 (the first 11 episodes or so) feel kinda rushed because it expects that you watched the 2003 one. But Brotherhood is superior to the original I’d say.
2009 is better overall, 2003 has a much stronger start. 2009 expects you to have already seen the original so it rushes the beginning and character development.
My personal recommendation: watch 2003 up until a certain character dies in a telephone booth, then switch to 2009.
Basically every character that was in the anime prior to the Dublith arc is heavily expanded on. The Tuckers and the Hughes families in particular are done significantly better.
It’s not necessary, but if you care enough to get the full FMA experience I’d do it, since all the “additions” in the 2003 anime actually do happen in the manga, 2009 just cut that stuff because it assumes you already saw it in 2003.
181
u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson 11d ago
That’s actually THE STRONG ARM ALCHEMIST, whose technique has been passed down the Armstrong line for GENERATIONS!