New FMA!

[shirono]

Anyone else here watching this? There are 3 episodes out so far and I've seen them all.
Basically the whole series is being re-done so that it will follow the story of the manga much more closely (and for some reason I kept trying to type Mango instead of manga....I typed it that way 3 times before I got it right.)

I like the story a lot more. There is a lot more explanation of the plot and the story telling is done in a much more adult fashion. Ed is still Ed though, freaking out over height comments and people thinking Al is him.

The second episode is a bit confusing IMO. Too many flashbacks without any real context, but still it's looking like it will be even better than the original anime. I like the story in the manga more anyway.

 

[Staccato]

Won't see the third episode until Funimation makes it available on their website tomorrow. Boo!

As for the first two episodes, I think the pacing was off. The first episode it didn't bother me as much but the second one really confirmed the problem. Too much, too fast.

Also, they introduced too many of the characters in the first episode. Hughes, Armstrong, Bradley, Mustang, Hawkeye. For someone who watched the first season it was a bit "...okay". For someone who hadn't, I bet it would have been overwhelming.

But I can't fault the animation style (wonderful!) and the prospect of a stricter manga-based adaptation makes me more excited for future episodes than in the first season. I just hope they manage to get the pacing (amongst other things) right once they get all this initial 'stuff' out of the way. Because at the moment, I'm a bit disappointed.

EDIT: Just watched episode 3. Big improvement; hopefully the series continues to get better.