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Since Hajime no Ippo has got me back in the anime mood, I decided to have a more in-depth look at the new FMA series. I started by rewatching episode one, moved onto episode two and I then watched the third episode this morning.

The first episode is still fan service rubbish no matter how I look at it. A throwaway villain, cameo appearances for all the main goodies (which screwed up the the continuity) and the usual FMA in-jokes about each characters quirks. Very poor filler, visuals aside.

The second episode was also something of a failure. The first reason it failed is, in the manga, the brothers past doesn't get revealed in detail until around chapter 23. It seems like the animation team are determined to make changes where possible, even though I thought the idea behind the series was to create a perfect adaptation now that there's more material to work with than when the first series was created. But my main issue was with how rushed the episode was - one second Edward's mother got introduced, the next was a shot of her grave and talk of her dying from a disease. Where as I cared about her death in the first series because time was spent before killing her off, I felt nothing this time around. So, in short, the episode was neither faithful to the order of events in the manga or very good.

The third episode - the episode the series should've opened with - was the most faithful to date. Not that that's saying a lot. The animation team still decided to randomly change certain elements for no reason whatsoever, doing things like making Rose point her gun at Edward and shoot Al and having the priest turn into the hulk for a retarded filler battle. Why couldn't they just be faithful to the sodding manga!?

I really, REALLY don't get the point of this series. I thought it was created in order for there to be a REAL FMA anime, yet it opened with a 100% filler episode and hasn't been very faithful in the other two episodes. It seems they just don't care about what was covered in the first series and are trying to get the early sections out of the way, damaging the story by rushing as they do so.

Right now I'm giving it 7/10. It looks nice, it has the FMA characters and story...but those plus points are the only good so far. Not what I'd hoped for.
 
Bleach Volume 16. Okay I assume these episodes are filler, but I really can't be sure as I think they may actually be trying to take me somewhere.

Shangri-La Eps 1-6. An interesting idea for an anime with the Carbon Markets, with global warming be a big topic still. The characters are all pretty good (the old guys in Akihabara were hilarious), and the story is holding together reasonably well so far. However I can see it all turning into a horrible jumbled mess it they are not careful. If it all ends with everything being put right on the world by the waving of magic swords/daggers I will feel let down.
 
Wow- long time since I updated. Since last time i'm at;

Trigun 17
Dragonball Kai 6
07 Ghost 6
Valkyria Chronicles 6
Bleach 219
FMA Brotherhood 6

Edit: And Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society
 
Fantastic Children 9-10

So far this show has been rather slow moving but manages to keep me interested with its atmosphere, mystery, and strong storytelling. I like how it doesn't spell everything out from the start, instead revealing just enough to enable the viewer to gradually piece together the story.
 
FMA 7
Not as great as the last three episodes because the content wasn't as exciting, plus I'd seen it all before in the first series. It's moving along fast, it's still high quality visually and it goes without saying that I'll continue with it because it's FMA.

Guin Saga 1-3
Despite only just starting its run as an anime, in terms of story this series comes across as really outdated. To be fair, it's not exactly shocking when the story was first released back in 1979.

The story is full of what are now common character types: a hero who can't remember anything (Guin), a mentally strong character (Rinda), a mentally weak and all round pathetic character (Remus) and other characters that I know all too well without seeing Guin Saga. And, to make matters worse, the pacing is rushed at important times (the start) and the series has had a character do illogical things (such as helping the main character twice, for no reason whatsoever, and then dying far too slowly) just to allow the main character to win. The dialogue is also very weak, containing lines spoken by a baddie to children like, "I can't hear you!" in a manner you'd expect a child to react to an insult.

Even the boss battles have failed. Guin killed one 'tough' guard with a tap, after he'd risen from red water without explanation, and he beat the main boss without even trying. Anti-climatic to the extreme.

The music has sucked hard, also. It's all the same uninspiring rubbish over and over. I can't believe it has some of the same music for the opening. The music that played during the death of the illogical plot device (Orro) was poorly placed to the extreme - the best/worst example of the soundtrack of Guin Saga.

I'm just not feeling it, despite my love of fantasty stories. I feel so little involvement that I didn't even think why a prisoner would have 20 knives and a whip in his cell to help him escape. An intense experience it ain't. I'll give it until episode five and then drop it, scoring it 6-7 for being semi-entertaining because I like swords and sorcery RPG-esque crap.
 
Guin Saga: 4-5

Still not great. The heroes get captured, the heroes escape, the heroes fight some baddies, the heroes run. That's been the pattern of the first 6 episodes.

The dialogue has been poor, with lots of Guin Saga terminology used and references to Guin Saga Gods said randomly when the characters speak to each other - "By the tongue of Doal..." is one example.

I'll keep watching it for the time being but I'm not really expecting it to ever rise above being a 7/10 series at best.

Eden: 1-2

A rom-com with a modern setting, mixed with some bizzare and unrealistic spy shenanigans. It looks great, it's fairly entertaining, has some nice touches like Americans having English voice actors and it's impossible to tell what the hell is going on. It's the sort where nothing is clear at the start and (hopefully anyway) everything becomes clear at the end. Not really my cup of tea when I prefer fantasy settings and understanable stories, but whatever.

The female lead has been plain, the male lead has just been plain weird and the relationship has been just about believable up to yet. It hasn't pulled me in on the rom-com front but it hasn't pushed me away either.

I've given it 8/10 so far. It's a borderline 7.5/10, though. I'm not really motivated to watch the rest but, at some point, I'll get around to doing so.
 
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