Before The Spew

There are a lot of shows and movies that I personally get heat for not enjoying. Twilight, Naruto, newer Pixar movies, Seinfeld, any reality shows on MTV... and it's got to the point where people need to just realize... YES, okay I've watched your favorite show/movie and NO... it's really NOT good. And vice versa, I've been on the other side of the argument with things like Fullmetal Alchemist, Avatar, The Village, CSI: Miami, ect. So I decided to keep track of what I've watched and name off the reason why I do or don't enjoy certain shows and movies.

Today we will be discussing...

Fullmetal Alchemist
_Nii-san!

Watching Sailor Moon as a kid really doesn't count as my first anime experience does it? The first anime I was introduced to as an adult was Cowboy Bebop. I thought it was fabulous aside from the ending... which really got me down. The second series I got into was Death Note and trust me we'll talk on that another day. But one series that I kept hearing about was Fullmetal Alchemist. I had no idea what it was but several people were telling me to check it out because of my admiration for stories about brotherhood. I am not sure why but from the title I imagined something along the lines of that movie, Titan A.E. ... Don't ask. I really don't know.

When I finally got around to at least looking into the plot and what not, I saw that huge suit of armor and mistook Alphonse for a robot. And that almost immediately turned me off to the show. Depending on what he sounded like was going to determine whether or not I'd be able to watch it because everything else seemed alright. Well... needless to say, Aaron Dismuke won me over in an instant. And that brings us to the first topic of why I think FMA is quite possibly the best show I've ever seen....

Voice Acting

While there are a lot of people who find Vic Mignognia to be overrated and irritating, I couldn't disagree more. I think he is an absolutely fantastic fella. (Fella?) But really... I think it was episode 8 of the first series that made me LOVE the show for the voice acting. After the incident with Barry the Chopper, and Edward is sitting next to his brother, going on about how terrified he was and how helpless he felt.... I found that monologue so moving and so real. The emotion was there. Vic nailed it and it was just a flawless scene. Many other characters aside from the obvious Alphonse were amazing too. Bottom line was that FMA had an amazing cast.

OST

If you didn't enjoy the soundtrack in Fullmetal Alchemist then you don't know music. Some of the most beautifully orchestrated pieces I've ever heard were perfectly placed in their scenes. For a lot of people, though not everyone I have come to realize, music plays a huge part in any show or movie. It adds to the drama or the happiness of the scene. The Russian song, 'Bratja' was breathtaking to me. Notes alone with the harp and piano was enough to bring me to tears but when that choir of boys sang those lyrics... it was just moving beyond words. No pun intended.

The Brotherhood Dynamic

Do I really have to explain? Edward and Alphonse. Mustang and Hughes. Shit, even some of the girls had that 'brothers in arms' thing going on. Hawkeye's devotion to Mustang is great. <3 I really don't feel like I have to expand much on this. You guys know how I am... so yeah.