Why Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 is Still Important Today

[@RDWheat]

FMA 2003 deserves to be treasured for the OST alone

[@jakubgodyn7413]

Really? Aside from Bratja (which I ADORE), I don't really remember much of 2003 OST. While most of FMAB OST is stocked in my head 24/7

[@bishibibi]

@@jakubgodyn7413I mean how many times have you watched fmab vs fma

[@jakubgodyn7413]

@bishibibi I am a fearly new fan. I saw Brotherhood twice (2nd time I was showing it to my dad) and 2003 series I watched once. My first watch-through of Brotherhood was in May of 2023 and 2003 series in September of 2023

[@haosmagnaingram6992]

@@jakubgodyn7413 sin, wakare no kyouku, beaming sunlight, aishou, way home, vestige, reminiscence, daring fight, instigation, immortality… When I first watched the two brotherhood’s was more immediately recognizable to me, and I probably would have agreed with you, but as I’ve rewatched the two shows over the years more and more, I find 03’s soundtrack definitely sticks with me more and has a certain richness to it that less songs from brotherhood have.

[@lennonbarbosa5192]

I can't get over the fact that they hired an orchestra to play a score ONLY for the Nina's death scene ALONE. They could reuse any other sad music for this but no: they focused on storytelling through music as well.

[@Yodaminnesota]

I genuinely do not believe Nina would be such a widespread meme without FMA03. It felt quite rushed in brotherhood.

[@jakubgodyn7413]

Not really. It was pretty much (aside from one cut I regret) 1:1 like in the manga and it works really well there. I get what they were going for with their version of the story but 2003 made it much more clear how fucked up Tucker is so the shock value isn't there. I like what they did with Tucker later. It was some really creepy stuff but the Nina incident itself was just ok.

[@Vael221]

@@jakubgodyn7413 Honestly if anything the manga has even less Nina than Brotherhood. She really only gets a few panels before being transformed and overall spends more time in frame as a chimera. The early manga has a much more "event of the week" feel to it, I assume due to it being a weekly release early on before being shifted to monthly (or so I've heard, I haven't been able to confirm this myself)

[@jakubgodyn7413]

@Vael221 Sure. It's just one chapter, but Nina stays in the story to the end. As Ed said in the final confirmation with The Truth. He's "just a simple human that couldn't save a little girl"

[@LegnaiaUnderground]

We need more youtubers talking about FMA2003. It's a shame it almost disappeared from the internet.

[@JogVodka]

Whenever i try to recommend anime to people i always say they should watch 03 before Brotherhood. 03 has a nice lowkey feel with a lot of room for the characters to breathe and be allowed to do some interesting characterization. Brotherhood feels way too fast paced for me to appreciate Ed and Al's characters. Watching 03 first means you get to know the brothers more before being hooked to the larger scaling story of Brotherhood

[@LegnaiaUnderground]

I agree.

[@genyakozlov1316]

Outside of the fact 2003 Elric brothers are very different characters from their Manga counterparts, much better characters in my opinion, but most importantly much more flawed and emotionally unstable. Watching 2003 first means deceiving yourself about the main characters of Brotherhood, making the Brotherhood story better by the virtue of characterisation of completely different characters wearing the same faces.

[@christiancurtis5674]

I remember watching the 2003 show religiously. The soundtrack. Is amazing sometimes I go back to listen to It. And if you think about it, the 2003 show became the blueprint for brotherhood, and that's why brotherhood is so beloved. In my opinion 😊

[@alexanderthemagnifcent2573]

I think I’m the only person I know who likes the original anime more. Although this might be because I watch the shows back to back and a burned out during brotherhood.

[@AhmadSammy]

If we knew each other we’d each know 1 person who does 😊

[@haosmagnaingram6992]

There are dozens of us in this club

[@vincentbatten4686]

The 2003 show gets a lot of flack for reasons I don't understand. It goes it's own route near the later part, and I guess that bothers people, but I appreciate that it stands apart from the manga. Brotherhood, I think, rushes through some of the most impactful parts of the manga. I don't really understand why people like it as much as they do. That's just my 10 cents.

[@thecactussword4304]

I've always felt the exact same way. People praise Brotherhood for following the manga 1:1 but I question if they actually read it or understood the greater ideas presented because Brotherhood, I feel, focuses too little on Ishval. Ishval is the crux of the entire story, the commentary presented within the flashback arc is important to the grand message of the narrative. All of this is cut from Brotherhood. It's noteworthy when 2003, despite flying off in such a radically different direction from the original source material, manages to stay truer to the point by focusing on the core issues at play. Prejudice, pride, fear... I don't hate Brotherhood, but I definitely think it could have stood to taken its time like 2003 did. I'm thankful we have such radically different takes of the story, though. It's a lot better than the same story told over and over again.

[@sageof6pandas233]

Brotherhood is too faithful in some bits, they kill the pacing and tone of often very important scene with their haphazard use of music and comedy, and brotherhood rushing the beginning makes no sense, considering almost everyone involved said the creation of 03 had no bearing on the creation of bh, even if it did it would be an unacceptable excuse. BH is worse than 03 IMO, but not because of genre differences, I enjoy BH for what it is, but it does not deserve to be king of anime IMO.

[@user-neonpunk]

Thank you for this video! It's so nice to see someone making a video about the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime in 2024, 20 years later... I can't believe it's been 20 years! I first watched FMA 2003 when I was 13. I've watched it twice since then. And I think I'll want to do it again in the future. I also watched FMA:B a few years ago, which I'll be honest, I didn't like. But I made the decision to watch it to the end as a tribute to the original idea of ​​the manga author. After that, I realized that I loved FMA 2003 even more, and that this is the story, with all its plot lines, that will always remain in my heart, even if one day it is completely forgotten and disappears from the internet (which I hope will never happen). I really love this anime! For me, it is and will always be the best.

[@sageof6pandas233]

I hate how brotherhood fans mistake a difference in quality with a difference in genre and story, fma2003 is NOT brotherhood, it is NOT the manga, it is it's own story of a completely different genre, it has been since the very beginning of the show. Dare I say in the bits both 03 and brotherhood covered, 03 was superior in most regards. not because bh wanted to rush to get to the stuff that hadn't been covered by 03, (thats a terrible excuse to rush a show) to which almost everyone involved said the existence of 03 had no bearing on the creation of brotherhood.

[@sacodepapas488]

I think I am the only person I know that 03 resonated with him more than Brotherhood did. Brotherhood was good, no doubt. But I loved that 03 feels not neatly tied, bittersweet.

[@Honkojack27]

You are not. There’s a lot of character development in 03 that FMAB forgoes believing the audience had seen the 03 anime or read the manga. Hughes death hits no where near as hard in brotherhood it’s a shame.

[@sacodepapas488]

@@Honkojack27 that, and Nina’s transmutation. 03 shows you how smart Edward and how innocent Al are. The moment Edward steps in that scene, he knows something is wrong. But it’s just after seeing the chimera that he confirms the worst.

[@jakubgodyn7413]

@@Honkojack27 2003 was streaming the story (which worked really well in many places) so we got more time with Heues and he was more fleshed out there for sure. But I don't like his death in 2003. They had to change the reason he was killed and that reason was far more stupid so his death and what he discovered felt less important.

[@jakubgodyn7413]

@@Honkojack27 Also, from what I read the way they adapted the first 1/5 of the story wasn't because of 2003 but because they were originally told they would only get 50 episodes and it was later texted to 64

[@apieceofbitsandpieces342]

I absolutely adore the FMA Manga and FMAB, but I won’t deny the importance of the 03 anime. For as much as I have my issues with it (mainly in regards to the latter half of the series), FMA 03 has a lot of strength I can’t help but complement (such as Giving more depth to the Homunculuses like Lust, having a stronger first half imo, and the music being absolutely amazing)

[@youtuber5669]

i like 2003 version the most nothing will change that

[@cdscissor]

2:16 EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE! 1999 actually made it to the end of Greed Island. There were three OVAs that continued the story. Several countries had the pleasure of getting the OVAs aired and dubbed too, but yes the original TV run and English dub coverage does indeed stop mid-Yorknew. HxH 1999 is something I also believe to be still important today, not just for being a classic. But that's a different discussion.

[@dante.markov]

You have a very nice voice, easy listening.

[@LegnaiaUnderground]

Good video, although I noticed a few little inaccuracies (e.g. saying that Roy "sacrifices" Selim is a stretch... Edward in the final episode is not inhabiting his counterpart's body... Eckart is not actually killed by the armors controlled by Al, but shot by "alternate Hughes" on Earth while appearing like a monster due to being covered by the mysterious creatures of the Portal).

[@disappointedidealist1989]

I am so glad I have the DVDs, I still revisit it every few years.

[@crystalkirlia4553]

I appreciate the nearly 2 hour video! Thank you! Now do brotherhood pls 😂

[@matteste]

For me it baffles my mind how Brotherhood fans has somehow managed this kind of gaslighting. I mean, back in the day, it cannot be understated just how important the 03 adaptation was. It was considered an all time classic and a must watch and it served to introduce so many people to proper and mature anime. and the Brotherhood came out and it was like this concerted effort to blackwash 03 like it was some kind of abomination not worth even a second look.

[@sirwolfy9372]

There is the FACT that 03 was made FROM THE START that they wanted to do something diferent. As this being said... Did you notice that: FMA 03 USES SOFT MAGIC SYSTEM AND B USES THE HARD MAGIC SYSTEM?? And this may explain why they took MANY LIBERTIES in the storytelling, very Tolkien if you ask me.

[@haosmagnaingram6992]

03’s magic is softer, but I still wouldn’t exactly call it a soft magic system. It still tends to fall under the category of being a hard magic system (even if it has a few inconsequential errors in following that magic system, it also isn’t like the manga doesn’t also have some things that seem to break away from the rigid rules it has, such as prides shadow based powers for example)

[@MrInuhanyou123]

Uh who actually said it was bad in the first place? Revisionist history there to say people considered it bad

[@ChloeSunfloraVA]

I was seeing the discourse happen in real-time when brotherhood aired in 2009/2010, the real revisionism is people like you telling this lie that the discourse never happened and FMA '03 never got hate.

[@MrInuhanyou123]

@@ChloeSunfloraVA I'm not saying it never got hate when brotherhood came out. I'm talking about when fma 03 was the actual anime that got people talking to begin with. Before the Convo of "manga accurate" started

[@EnviousGreen]

@@MrInuhanyou123 No, this has been a pretty rampant argument in discussions involving both shows for a long time. I think when BH was first airing I saw a lot of '03 fans really trashing on Brotherhood and not wanting to give it a chance, but as time has gone on the culture seems to have flipped with "Brotherhood is better and canon to the manga, therefore you shouldn't watch '03" becoming a more common talking point. By now I've found it's incredibly common to ask someone if they've seen Fullmetal Alchemist and they'll respond with something along the lines of "Yeah, Brotherhood was great! I was told the old anime was bad though so I didn't watch it" I always try to recommend both. They're two completely different adventures with the characters you love. Why not experience them both and see where each journey goes?

[@paulinadelao3259]

Okay I'm only 30 seconds into the video but I gotta say....if you're an OLDtaku at 28 I'm an...ANCIENTaku at 37 ;__;

[@ChloeSunfloraVA]

@paulinadelao3259 I am so sorry, it was not my intention to make others watching this feel the way I did 😭

[@user-neonpunk]

@@ChloeSunfloraVA Another OLDtaku joining you. I'm 29 and turning 30 in December T_T I wonder if this will be a transition to ANCIENTtaku or if I'll still be OLDtaku? xD

[@jonphelps]

I've been wanting to watch it again so bad, but I can only find Brotherhood.

[@Melkac]

Literally no one ever has said FMA2003 is bad.

[@eamonndeane587]

I've encountered quite a few Brotherhood fans who say that the 2003 anime is worthless.

[@Melkac]

@@eamonndeane587 notice how you said worthless and not bad

[@eamonndeane587]

@@Melkac If you had met them, you would have known that they thought it was bad. Most of the nastiest opinions on FMA 2003 come from obsessive Brotherhood fans.

[@haosmagnaingram6992]

Unfortunately I’ve encountered a ton of people that call it trash (usually with no actual argument for why they feel that way)

[@haosmagnaingram6992]

8:24 pretty sure the Sho Aikawa in that interview is the actor Sho Aikawa, not screenwriter Sho (Noboru) Aikawa

[@BardockSkywalker]

Happy Early B-day

[@edwinvasquez2509]

I do agree with you on this point.

[@tioraidh-tux]

brotherhood, to me, is not the best adaptation. 2003 did so much better with the source material, considering what it had at the time. if 2003 would have somehow been able to adapt the FULL manga, it would have been miles ahead of brotherhood. there’s a lot i don’t like about brotherhood in all honesty

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

fma was a great hommage to the root concept of"3x3 Eyes", is my only take.... never read nor saw fma... got a mousepad cuz it reminded me of the Rpg Wild arms

[@inazuma-fulgur]

As bad as the Barry the Chopper storyline may have been, at least there is a story compared to the presence of absence in brotherhood. I mean, there are a ton of things that 03 did better. Apart from the misogynist humor of mustang. But not like brotherhood isn't a bit weird about women either like essentially all anime are sadly So I'll start my list of what I think is better in 03 without giving explanations or justifications: 1) better introscene 2) better human sacrifice 3) more cohesive plot and origin of the homunculi, both hohenheims are reasonable but I'm personally biased towards 03 for how it ties into the ending 4) better more cohesive and thematic ending, father in brotherhood is honestly boring and makes no sense. He's just there for rule of cool, something I also dislike about General Armstrong. 5) better character treatment, none of them are just flat filler if they receive multiple notable instances of screen time. Major Armstrong is a good example, he is awful in brotherhood while he at least has some unique presence and influence in 03 6) better character moments, you really feel how it is an interconnected thing as not everything is controlled by one mastermind source but multiple people attempted the same or similar things with varying results. I'm thinking of greed and his death, I'm thinking of scar and how Al turns into a stone. Genuinely, I don't like Ling or Mei and I think Scar is much worse in brotherhood. He gets his moment against wrath at the end, but overall he falls into the rule of cool area and doesn't contribute much except for action past his introduction killing Nina-Alex 7) better Shou Tucker 8) better criticism of the military sucking. Honest brotherhood just kinda loves the government, and in the end all problems are "solved" by Mustang replacing Bradley as Führer with zero examination of any implications there are Probably could think of more if I wanted to. Mustang killing Envy is a dope scene, if it just wasn't packed into so much fluff, but brotherhood sadly underexplores it imo. Other than that, 03 got nothing on brotherhoods first intro. That stuff is so good Anyways, not having read the manga but having watched both multiple times I will die on this hill: 03 >> brotherhood

[@inazuma-fulgur]

Genuinely, brotherhood is unwatchable without 03 context. I don't understand how people to this day are praising brotherhood and hating 03 without having read the manga or having watched 03. Maybe reading a ton of wiki articles and having watched spoilerfilled youtube videos makes people knowledgeable to not notice about everything that is missing?

[@inazuma-fulgur]

Oh another thing, I genuinely dislike the Ed x Winry thing in brotherhood. It feels forced and more like it's a staple to have a couple within the maincast. And she's the only relevant girl/women their agegroup, but also like the elrics adoptive sister? Yeah? We didn't need this answer at the very least, ambiguity or no focus on romance at all would've been better as it wasn't present during the story. Unless being close to someone is equivalent to Hollywood love, which I don't respect and disagree with. Something that I know is present in 03 and the manga but not brotherhood is actual disability representation, with ed struggling with how the automail is not actually his body and can mismatch. Phantom pain in the manga, ill fitting limbs in 03.

[@inazuma-fulgur]

Everything being solved by the philosophers stone at the end of brotherhood and essentially all loss except hohenheim being reversed sucks. Especially since we didn't get the same intimacy with the sacrificed souls in the stone as we did with those within hohenheim. The stone shouldn't have been used, if brotherhood wanted to keep it's moral principles consistent. They could've just buried the stone or something, instead we get magical healing. Something we couldn't really know if it was possible, as even the stone has some limits. Ed and Al don't get their bodies back in return for the stone either, Ed trades his gate as we all know and that does the trick instead. And Ed never even gets his leg back, because he didn't sacrifice it in exchange for Al. Whyever Als body can be returned at all though, to me it's unclear how the bodies are stored by god. Like if Al can get his body back Ed should've gotten his leg back not his arm. But that's just me

[@AhmadSammy]

The older the anime, the easier it is for me to watch (usually). I can do without comedic silliness injected everywhere even in the most serious scenes, the ridiculous female outfits, and the shallower dialogue in favor of overdone flashiness.

[@JollyJoshums]

If I ever rewatch FMA 03, I always end up stopping after the boys find wrath. For me, the story quality drops off there, for obvious reasons.

[@bluebaron6858]

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