Fullmetal Alchemist OG vs. Brotherhood: A Comparative Liveblog

On Beginnings (OG 01 vs. BH 01)

Normally, I'll be comparing OG episodes to the Brotherhood episodes that cover the same material. But to start off, I think I'd like to compare the very first episodes of each, and discuss how they function as introductions to their respective series.

Fullmetal Alchemist

OG's first episode begins where the manga begins: in medias res, with the Elric brothers in Liore pursuing rumors of the Philosopher's Stone.

This is a very slow, introspective episode; the action of the Liore storyline does not kick off until the next episode. Much of the episode is spent on exposition, primarily on alchemy. The characters take pains to explain the magic system's mechanics and limitations, and we also get a look into what the exceptions made possible by the Philosopher's Stone look like. As a first episode, this tells us: this is a fantasy series where the magic system is very rigorous and follows consistent rules, and exploring those rules will be an important part of the story.

We also learn a lot about our main characters, yet many of the details are still played close to the vest. One is only a suit of armor, and the other has prosthetic limbs. We can draw a clear connection to the opening flashback, but the details are still unclear. What, exactly, happened to them? Why, exactly, did they do this? What does it mean that human transmutation does this to people -- again, tying into the mechanics of the 'verse. As a first episode, this tells us: we've tantalized you with a mystery, keep watching to learn the answer.

This episode also lays out its cards in terms of theme. Much of the episode is just spent on philosophy. Ed gives his views on religion and humanity, and Rose pushes back. Ed dismisses Rose's faith, but Rose points out that he clearly doesn't know all the answers if his science can't resurrect the dead either. In the background, Cornello is manipulating everyone. This is a story about lies and truth, reality and ideals, faith and science. What is the answer? Keep watching, and maybe you'll find out!

This is what hooked me. It effectively advertises what the story is going to be about, and those are things that interest me. It gives a lot of interesting exposition without feeling forced, and gives us just enough hints towards the characters and mysteries to keep me engaged. I want to know where this is going.

FMA: Brotherhood

Brotherhood opted to do something completely different for its first episode: an original story about Isaac McDougal, a rogue State Alchemist.

This is definitely an episode that assumes you are already familiar with Fullmetal Alchemist. It's even more in-medias-res than OG's first episode: This episode throws a ton of characters, philosophies, and conflicts at us that we have no rightful context for at this point in the story. The opening scene isn't even about the main characters. We have no context for who Mustang or Isaac are or why it's significant that they're here and fighting each other. It's not entirely clear whether Isaac is right or not or what he's talking about -- the exposition side of things gets a little cramped in this action-packed episode. Kimblee gets a cameo, but he isn't going to be relevant to the story until much later. The ending seems to make it clear that Bradley is evil, but it's not clear what we're supposed to do with this information. It's all very interesting if you're already in the know, but it's a lot to take in for a new viewer.

I also have to ask why Mustang is even fighting this guy when they have the same goal. Is Mustang fighting him to maintain appearances, or due to a genuine moral disagreement? Is it not tragic that he has to make this decision? In doing so, in quelling revolution so he can keep waiting for his perfect moment, has he not become the very thing he hates? Or would giving into the anger and breaking ranks entirely just make him as mad as Isaac? What happens when the internal reformist meets the revolutionary? These are incredibly important questions that deserve time and attention, and ones that would add great depth and meaning to Mustang's character and the narrative.

What do we actually get? "Ha ha, Mustang is grouchy because he got soaked! It's funny!"

But none of that is what the episode is really about. What the episode is really about is cool fight scenes.

The Elric brothers are introduced fighting, and fighting by showing off how they can nosell the bad guy's attacks because they're so awesome. Pretty much the entire cast of alchemists run into Isaac at some point so we can see high-powered alchemist battles featuring cool moves. It's capped off with SUPER ALCHEMY that SUMMONS A GLACIER that's going to DESTROY THE PALACE! HIGH STAKES!!!

As a first episode, this tells us: the rules of the characters, and the setting, aren't what's going to be important here.

We're no longer introduced to alchemy as a tool that fits into society, but as a cool powerset. And that, right there, is one of my big issues with Brotherhood: it's not actually interested in making alchemy balanced and fitting it into the rest of the world. It's just interested in using it for flashy magic battles.

I mean, "equivalent exchange" is bunk from the moment we see alchemy in action. Okay, so alchemy doesn't violate conservation of matter (though we'll have to assume Central is just loaded with aqueducts and it was a very humid day for Isaac's performances to obey that). But where is Isaac getting all the energy to freeze and boil huge amounts of water, a substance with notoriously high specific heat? Where is he getting the energy to make a giant moving glacier that regenerates itself when shelled by cannon fire? The original anime made addressing that question its central thesis. Brotherhood tells us shut up can't we just enjoy how cool it looks?

The powers aren't even very consistent. The first soldier Isaac freezes, he just needs to touch his arm and the whole body freezes immediately. When Isaac touches Ed's arm, Ed is perfectly fine except it... rips his coat? How? I thought we were supposed to assume Isaac can only affect things he can directly touch... except in plenty of scenes he's bursting water pipes from afar. Oops! So why does he need to use his own blood to make a stupidly fragile and inefficient weapon when he should be able to just freeze Ed from a distance? Why does the palace only start freezing when the glacier touches it, why couldn't he have just frozen the place to begin with? Why does his blood spear dissolve when he dies, but the city-freezing alchemy is still going and needs to be disrupted by destroying the sigils? What exactly are his limitations here?

As later episodes are going to show, we aren't supposed to be asking these questions. Brotherhood isn't interested in answering them. It likes alchemy for the power, not the limitations.

Now, in and of itself, there's nothing wrong with that. There are plenty of shows based around high power fight scenes, and that's a perfectly valid genre. Giant Death Glacier is cool. But FMA keeps insisting that alchemy is not magic, that it does have rules and restrictions, equivalent exchange equivalent exchange equivalent exchange. And that's why I write this down as a blunder. Brotherhood knows what it wants to be, but doesn't seem able to admit to it. It's false advertising.

Still, this isn't objectively bad as a first episode, given the intended target audience and purpose. If you want to watch your favorite characters being cool and getting into high action magic battles, this definitely delivers, and it's pretty representative of what the rest of the series is going to look like. But you do have to look at a guy pushing a giant regenerating glacier around a city while shouting "equivalent exchange!" and not lose your suspension of disbelief, and that's not what I want out of stories. I like the idea of magic that really does function like a science, with limitations, checks, and balances, and I like stories that seriously grapple with those implications. Brotherhood's first episode does not do this, and it's pretty honest about the fact that the rest of the series won't either.