Fullmetal Alchemist

[deviadah]

Since this is a forum about alchemy it would be bad form to neglect ALL ASPECTS of alchemy, even its influence into pop-culture (perhaps this is something that General Discussions can adress)!

As I am no expert on FMA I will let another member give a brief intro to this series (which I have lifted from another topic):

Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) is an animated series from Japan. The story takes place in an alternate timeline, where talismanic magic has become more widely researched than science. The "Alchemy" in the series implies something of a focused exchange, and the primary rule is that something cannot be given withou something being given up. The protagonists of the series, a pair of brothers with an absentee Alchemist father, are faced with the death of their mother, and attempt to resurrect her using Alchemy. One brother loses his arm and leg in the disastrous experiment, and the other becomes a disembodied soul, which inhabits a hulking suit of armor. The two decide to throw in with government registration, and learn of numerous forms of political intrigue, in their quest to find the Philosopher's Stone, to both possibly restore their mother, but primarily to return the younger brother to a living body.

Some very, very few episodes end up being silly, to diffuse the tension, but the series presents many interesting concepts such as the validity of existence, the morality of unequivocably seeking knowledge, and numerous others. It even has a very large section of the story that touches on persecuted people, both in the series' timeline and in Nazi Germany. It has a clean, colorful aesthetic reminiscent of early 20th century Europe, and the characters are vibrant, multifaceted figures.

Official Website

[BeautifulEvil]

I LOVE FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!!

YESSS!!!

The movie was good too (Conquerer of Shamballa)..

[vanitty]

i love Full Metal Alchemist!

[Barandos the Red]

Wooo! Me too! I've seen all 52 (or was it 51) episodes and the movie, and I loved it! In fact, I think it was the first anime that I've watched the whole series of, and it was also coincidentally the first time I ever heard the term alchemy Roy Mustang is my favourite character, probably second to Maes Hughes

[Gunderic Mollusk]

I must confess, my favorites are Shou Tucker and Alex Armstrong. I'm rather fond of the Homunculi as villains, as well.

[BeautifulEvil]

I must confess, my favorites are Shou Tucker and Alex Armstrong. I'm rather fond of the Homunculi as villains, as well.

Tucker was an interesting character, very tragic indeed. I really enjoyed Lust - she was very pretty!

[Gunderic Mollusk]

Even more on beauty was how she and the other homunculi had these deep wounds that in fact were instrumental in their creation. I'd write more on that, but I'm not much in the mood to be a spoiler, in case some of our intrepid forum members would choose to view this for themselves!

[taceyoto]

I agree, the show is brilliant. As a matter of fact, I liked the homonculi, brought about against thier will and wishing to be real. I loved them!

[deviadah]

[BeautifulEvil]

I was thinking about this earlier whilst drifting off into the realm of sleep.

I REALLY disagree with the way Ed and Al explained the "One is All, All is One" adage in episode 28. They try to explain such a thing through normal logic and such, but I believe this adage can only be explained properly through occult means.

[taceyoto]

As far as this topic goes, check this out:

In the Anime and Manga Rozen Maiden a historical figure maid dolls with life so they can battle to become Alice (The Perfect Girl) and SPOILER ALERT!!!




The Doll Maker was Comte St. Germain

[nemrog]

It would be interesting if talismanic magic could be used to do alchemy. I must confess I tried some of the stuff in FMA in a more realistic fashion (using elemental sigils and runes, infuesed w/ said elements.), the results were actually amusing (if not as kick ass as the anime). The one I made was able to make my assistant faster (to the point he actually blinked for 1 second), and was able to harness the power of electricity to a good amount. The only problem was that he was energetically drained after one hour of working w/ it.

Does anyone else have any experiences w/ this, and were can I find good talismans to make for this?

[BeautifulEvil]

nemrog, I've never tried any of it myself, but I have no doubt that you can obtain results from a blending of alchemy and talismanic magic. After all, that's what chaos magickians have been raving about for years!

Nothing is real, everything is concrete, your imagination and willpower is the only limiting factor.

Of course, I really don't have much experience with it myself, but theory says it should work no matter what.

[Arcanium]

What I find most interesting about FMA is how it appears to be a filtered alchemy. By this I mean the creator took some real alchemical thought and filtered it through a modern materialistic view. Like the example of "One is all, and all is one" by BeautifulEvil. At the same time there are few alchemical truths in it. For instance how the explain transmutation by breaking something down and changing it's elements to get something different. It sounds a lot like making the Prima Materia to me. Honestly its been so long since I've seen the show that I can't put together good comparison between the two. Still I might look into it more, it could interesting finding all then similarities and differences between the two.

[BeautifulEvil]

Honestly, I thought it was an interesting anime, and it also had a decent message. There is hardly any real alchemical knowledge in it that hasn't been tampered with or diluted. The description of the Stone is interesting, but there's still more to it than meets the eye. However, for those of you who enjoy anime, and hasn't seen this one yet, then please do take a peek at it! It's decent and good fun.

[Jepetto]

Ive never seen FMA, though it does sound interesting. Still, when one considers that this is a television show, the primary focus is entertainment. Its a great bonus if it helps introduce ideas and concepts to people. We have to set aside the desire for total accuracy, as I would guess the show would lose much of its appeal if it were to give the time needed to explain these ideas and also present them visually. This is a trade off with not just this show, but almost all books or ideas which are developed for the screen.

[deviadah]

I mainly like the music!

[Jepetto]

That was a pleasant surprise. Not what I was expecting to hear for the soundtrack.

[Amor Platonicus]

I loved the anime, it was what got me interested in alchemy in the first place. And it's definitely one of my favorite anime.
It's very deep, I like that about it.
But after reading the manga, I thought it was a lot better than the anime. Things seem to make much more sense in the manga and the plot falls into place much better than in the anime. It seemed somewhat rushed towards the end of the anime.
Though I've noticed that people very rarely talk about the manga, discussions of Fullmetal Alchemist are usually about the anime.
It would be a shame to see the anime and miss out on the manga, in my opinion.

[JamesBryan]

I have seen all of it, it scratches the basic alchemy things. I think the only TRUE and ABSOLUTE thing in that movie is, The Laws of Equivalent Exchange. That is the base block for all science I think.

[deviadah]

It seemed somewhat rushed towards the end of the anime.

This is a common feature of anime, especially if it is dealing with a lot of episodes. It costs a lot to produce each episode, so there are cuts that needs to be made here and there. A manga is much cheaper to produce!

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