Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Adult Swim | Release Date: February 14, 2010

9.1	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 86 Ratings

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MahbubAli92Jul 14, 2023

I was excited for FMA:B after hearing it hyped as one of the best shonens around, but in the end found it extremely disappointing:

- The characters are flat and static. The only one who meaningfully changes over time is Scar, and his arc isI was excited for FMA:B after hearing it hyped as one of the best shonens around, but in the end found it extremely disappointing:

- The characters are flat and static. The only one who meaningfully changes over time is Scar, and his arc is frankly generic and dull.

- Each character only has kung fu plus 1 superpower and they make for boring and repetitive fights. The main character's main ability is to make a little knife appear at the end of his arm to punch people with. BO-RING! Hard to overstate how big a failure this is; a shonen lives and dies on its visually creative, complex, and dynamic battles between powerful characters, but I've seen games of rock-paper-scissors with more strategy and variety than FMA:B. Total disaster.

- The characters don't evolve. A good shonen desperately needs the heroes to grow in both character/maturity and strength/skill over time, this is where the emotional payoff and staying power comes from. But here the two leads are scarcely any wiser or more powerful when they fight the last boss than they were at the start of the first episode.

- Way too many redundant flashbacks about everyone's tragic backstories, it kills the story's momentum and focus. Many shonen do this but FMA:B is especially bad.

- Lack of climactic big-ticket fights. Most major confrontations were short and rather dull, with people just fistfighting and using their 1 power in ways we've already seen 20 times before. Totally absent are the tricks and twists and tactical reversals that make the best anime fights so memorable.

- Waaaaay too many characters, and it expects us to care about virtually all them. Utterly kills the pacing.

- Generic villain with a generic "shoot a big beam of light into the sky and acquire THE POWER OF THE GODS" villainous scheme. 3rd rate MCU movies have more interesting villains and that's really saying something.

- Animation was so-so. There wasn't much location variety and they were pretty visually bland. No strong sense of place or escapism

- Music was adequate but forgettable

- Too much gore to be suitable for kids, but too simplistic and generic to be entertaining for adults

On the plus side, Winry was cute and I actually thought the chibi bits were pretty funny. But ultimately it was a bloated slog and my main emotion after finishing was relief at finally crossing it off my list.… Expand