Before I start I would like to make two premises:
- I don't think fmab is a masterpiece, although it's a very good anime, well written overall and I recommend it anyway, unfortunately I didn't find that spark of originality and genius that makes me think “wow, this is a masterpiece!”
- obviously what I’m saying is also be based on my subjective tastes, unfortunately for the most part this anime bored me, maybe because I've been consuming fictional stuff for a lot of time or maybe because I'm a little out of target, there were elements that piqued my interest, but nothing of what I saw really surprised me, I would have certainly appreciated it more if I had seen it a couple of years ago, when I had consumed fewer anime.
Characters:
A huge pro is definitely the fact that there is a woman's pen behind fmab and it shows in a positive way, the female characters are quite good, maybe they aren’t particularly original, but they have a nice personality, their own individuality, they do not depend on any man and are not sexualized. Unfortunately, however, most of the characters did not arouse my interest, the Elric brothers left me indifferent for most of the time, I did not find them interesting or innovative, the same goes for most of the cast, I liked Mustang during the last episodes, I loved Izumi and then there are Greed and Envy, who are the only thing in the whole anime that really captured my attention, they are well-made characters, not banal and have that extra complexity that I look for, their scenes (and the last 10 episodes) are among the few elements that did not bore me and genuinely piqued my interest.
Plot:
there are no plot holes or terrible flaws in the narration, but there are some points where I found fmab slow and for no reason, the narration times needed to be managed differently and comparing myself with some people, including some who loved fmab madly, they itted that they also found problems with the narration times.
The plot is quite linear, nothing crazy and if it wasn't for the slowness I would have found it enjoyable, however the last 10 episodes were much more interesting and enjoyable.
One thing that I didn't like at all is the comedy, placed here and there randomly in an absolutely inefficient way, there are anime and manga in which comedy is used between serious scenes in a way that benefits the narration (like golden kamuy), but fmab doesn't do this well, I found really annoying the comedy moments in which Edward randomly screams because he's annoyed by something.
Speaking of the ending I have to say that I liked it, I would have preferred a more misanthropic and macabre twist, but this is something that depends exclusively on my subjective taste (I have a fairly pessimistic view of humanity), the ending is adequate for the work.
However, I must it that I preferred Edward and Winry as friends, I liked their friendship because it was spontaneous and sincere and in general their relationship did not give me the idea of a romantic couple, but of a solid and healthy friendship between a boy and a girl.
I would add that in my opinion the alchemy aspect should have been explored more, the magic system is really interesting, but all the potential that came from it in my opinion was a little wasted.
Do I think it's a masterpiece? no, but overall it does what it has to, I would define it as average/quite good, I definitely recommend it, but if you have been consuming fictional products and fantasy stories for a lifetime you might find it uninteresting, however I recognize that in the animanga universe it had its importance (but not as much as stuff like evangelion and madoka magica that deconstructed two genres or urusei yatsura that invented a way of doing comedy).
The message it conveys is positive, but I am definitely out of target to be fascinated by it.
I conclude this review by saying that what I saw was not what I expected from something that is described as an undisputed masterpiece, I can’t deny that I was disappointed.
P.S.
One of the things I like most about fmab is the fact that the protagonist has two prostheses, I think it is a well-made representation, especially because it’s shown the maintenance side of the prostheses and what is behind it.
