FullMetal Alchemist 2003 is a bad adaptation…
…but a darn good Anime taken on its own terms. However, talking about how it’s “better” or “worse” than Brotherhood (y’all know who you are) is pointless when… neither was intended to be like or outdo the other.
Say the Manga is… ingredients for a meal, said meal being Brotherhood or 03.
03 utilizes some plot beats and storylines from the Manga but modifies upon them in order to create set up for the largely original plot that’s of its own making.
It knows what to keep, what to tweak and what to excise from something that will inevitably be different in tone as well as character evolution.
By contrast, Brotherhood intends to be more true to the Manga but not all of it. Various plot beats are retooled like the investigation of Liore are made the second adventure we see of the Elrics.
Some like the Youswell Mine and Yoki are skipped over with a passing mention before later being adapted later in a truncated adaptation.
Some are outright changed such as the Elrics and Winry learning of Hughes dying before Maria Ross’s accusation of such hits the papers. That is, with a later scene of them meeting Grace and Elicia over the matter.
This list goes on…
Though some find they haven’t found their sea legs at first, this adaptation shakes out to be one of the 2010s big gateway Anime titles. Either way, it’s a technically better adaptation of the original Manga by default.
03 didn’t adapt the Manga but with filler ala the Big Three of Shonen Jump. Rather it built a new story around the parts of the Manga it had to work with a went off. Probably one of the few Anime Original Endings that have stood the test of time really.
Now HOW those elements were handled for each version 03 had focused on can make for a good discussion at the very least. But neither version of FMA should be judged by what it isn’t and never was going to be.
It just… makes it hard to humor a comparison when one is clearly preferred over the other. Especially when some mostly amount to petty memes and potshots.
I know this saying is rightfully maligned but for this context? I don’t care who started it, somebody has to end it.














