Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

[CombatC]

I don't have it just yet, but maybe picking it up is something I could do next weekend.  It does correspond to one of my favorite parts in the anime after all (which just so happens to be coming out on DVD in a couple of days), and I'm very interested to see just how different it is in the manga.

[SilentBark]

Volume 7 is already out?!  *cries*  My stupid Borders is so slow in stocking, I doubt they'll have it in, and we move on Tuesday where the nearest Borders is over two hours away...but at least there is a B&N near where I'll live this summer.  Ah, it's going to be a while before I get vol 7, but I'll call some stores tomorrow and see if I can pick one up to read on the road Tuesday when it's my break from driving.  That'll be nice, but it's wishful thinking for me.

[Maenos]

I picked up volume 7 about half an hour ago.  I won't say much yet, but...well, time to say "goodbye" to the anime similarities ^_^

[CombatC]

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Maenos wrote:
I picked up volume 7 about half an hour ago.  I won't say much yet, but...well, time to say "goodbye" to the anime similarities ^_^

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Yay, it's different!  I'm debating with myself whether or not to wait a couple weeks to pick it up and save it to read on my long, boring road trip home from school.

[IstariErangua]

Gah! So much to do today, I really want to go pick it up and just start reading it, but I have laundry and homework and so much random stuff to do today...I want school to be over so I can stop caring and read manga and watch anime guilt-free. *sigh*

[venus_df]

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IstariErangua wrote:
Gah! So much to do today, I really want to go pick it up and just start reading it, but I have laundry and homework and so much random stuff to do today...I want school to be over so I can stop caring and read manga and watch anime guilt-free. *sigh*

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it'll only take you 20 minutes... *tempts istari*

[IstariErangua]

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venus_df wrote:

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IstariErangua wrote:
Gah! So much to do today, I really want to go pick it up and just start reading it, but I have laundry and homework and so much random stuff to do today...I want school to be over so I can stop caring and read manga and watch anime guilt-free. *sigh*

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it'll only take you 20 minutes... *tempts istari*

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Man, between you, Silent, and Ghost, you guys are all such bad influences on me . If I don't get to get it today I'll definitely pick it up tomorrow, since I'm going to pick up the DVD tomorrow too. Feels like everything is piling up on me at the same time right now, so even if I get both of them no telling how soon I'll get to read/watch them. *sigh*

[CombatC]

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IstariErangua wrote:
Gah! So much to do today, I really want to go pick it up and just start reading it, but I have laundry and homework and so much random stuff to do today...I want school to be over so I can stop caring and read manga and watch anime guilt-free. *sigh*

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I hear that.  I still have a Naruto Vol. 1 graphic novel I got a few weeks ago that I haven't even opened yet.  And I remember when I picked up Vol. 3 of Hellsing at home near the end of winter break, I didn't read it until I was at the airport about to head out of town for spring break.  I'm with you, even if I do pick up FMA Vol. 7, I'm probably not going to read it until I'm done for the year.  Maybe I should just convince my sister to pick it up at home and bring it with her when she comes with my parents to help move me out of here.  She's bought all the FMA manga volumes herself except for #6 so far.

[JediChrys]

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venus_df wrote:

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IstariErangua wrote:
Gah! So much to do today, I really want to go pick it up and just start reading it, but I have laundry and homework and so much random stuff to do today...I want school to be over so I can stop caring and read manga and watch anime guilt-free. *sigh*

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it'll only take you 20 minutes... *tempts istari*

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Hee, you're right...of course, I had already read the first half

[venus_df]

well, it looks like 3 people have read it, so what do you guys think?  maenos is not kidding, this is a real departure from the anime.  or vice versa, whatever.    i'm glad to see how mean greed looks in his true form.  it's even meaner than the anime. 

[Maenos]

heh, well, his true form isn't that different   But I do like it a bit better in the manga (though I think it got a better fight in the anime).  Has that aura around it.

Were you surprised about the part at the end? (being kinda obscure since some still don't have it).

[venus_df]

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Maenos wrote:

heh, well, his true form isn't that different   But I do like it a bit better in the manga (though I think it got a better fight in the anime).  Has that aura around it.

Were you surprised about the part at the end? (being kinda obscure since some still don't have it).

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it would be hard for anyone to beat that fight scene in the anime; i really think the animators topped arakawa herself.  that is the best fight scene i've ever seen in an anime, and one of the best fight scenes i've seen period.  it's matrix-like fluidity never ceases to stun me when i watch it.  it's spellbinding.  too bad it doesn't really show up in the manga (unless it's in the next volume, *shrug*).  but like i said, something about the way greed's true form is drawn in the manga is so menacing.  he looks just a wee bit rounder and softer in the anime. 

as for the ending... in a way, i wasn't surprised, because i was spoiled previously to whom the fuhrer was.  *we have to start talking about it at some point, might as well go ahead and start now.*  but i love seeing the "ultimate eye" roll around and pop out!  so it was still exciting to read.  he has two swords! 

[TangentCube]

five swords.  I wonder if he can move fast enough to use them all at the same time?

and from that vol. 8 preview–interesting.  most interesting.

[Maenos]

Well, it is hard to draw really good fights in manga, so I can forgive Arakawa, heh. 

And the Fuhrer surprised me a little when I first read it.  And he has 6 swords, not 2 (or maybe 5.  He has the two swords in his hands and I see three handles in the sheaths on his back.  There's a fourth sheath, unsure if it's empty).

Also, I think there may be a point sometime soon that the manga's release dates will be stretched out (similar to FB's).  The latest volume out in Japan is 13, and our's is 7.  It's released every 2 months over here and every 4 over there, so we will catch up eventually (though not by mid-next year, by my estimates, so no need to worry for now, heh).

Message Edited by Maenos on 05-02-2006 01:39 PM

[CombatC]

I haven't seen that fight in the manga just yet, but I can say in general, it's significantly harder for me to follow action scenes in manga than it is in anime.  Even if the manga fight was exactly the same, I don't think I'd like it as much as the anime.

[JediChrys]

I was surprised not by who it was, but by the way we were told. Wasn't expecting to see that for a while yet.

And for an action scene being hard to draw, I thought Arakawa did a very good job of portraying how the fight was going. That one shot of Ed against the wall....

And it looks like the Furher has four swords - or at least that's how many scabbards he had strapped to his back in the later scenes. Unless I missed something?

[Maenos]

heh, a lot more action-packed introduction than in the anime.

As for the swords, he had five after all.

[JediChrys]

Thanks - had a feeling I was missing something. Just realized in one of the other shots I was looking at (the one with Loa) you can see three swords in the scabbards, and one in each hand.

May be time to get these old eyes checked after all.

[venus_df]

did i say five swords?  of course, i meant to say two

[CombatC]

Just wanted to announce that I bought and read Vol. 7 today.  Interesting stuff to say the least, although some vague similarities to the anime are still there.

[venus_df]

vewwy intewesting indeed.  one of my favorite scenes from the anime, when izumi busts in on greed's gang, seems to have so many translations; in the US version, when greed asks who she might be, she famously yells, "i'm pssed off!"  but it seems in the japanese version she actually says, "i'm his teacher!"  here in the manga, she says, "i'm a housewife!"  which i found to be the funniest translation of them all.  i loved the chimera thugs calling her a sexy lady too.  that whole scene was just a lot funnier in the manga; almost to the point of slapstick.

it's funny how arakawa seems to juxtapose humor and drama a little more jauntily than mizushima did.  i think that the animators on mizushima's team fused those scenes together more seamlessly.  that's not necessarily an improvement, just a difference i have noticed.  with the manga, one second i'm laughing, the next i'm literally grossed out.  when watching the anime, i felt the transitions more, i felt like i had a second to prepare myself for what was coming.  there's one frame in this volume where ed is slumped against a wall and a long smear of blood can be seen where he slid along that wall; that totally grossed me out. 

[Maenos]

heh, the housewife line is my favorite of the three

And the part I particularly liked was Sig being waylaid by the girls and Izumi's reaction when she returns.  Poor Sig, heh.

[CombatC]

I totally agree with you about the humor.  I think this manga volume has solidified Greed's place as my favorite homunculus in the manga so far, but for some reasons that are completely different from why I liked him in the anime.  It was almost like he and his gang were acting all tough because they're supposed to be the bad guys, but when it came down to it, they never really wanted to hurt anyone at all.  Really, that whole kidnapping struck me as a lot funnier in the manga.  I liked it after Ed burst in and couldn't believe Greed was a homunculus at first, and then in the next panel, Greed says if he can prove it if he wants and Law is standing behind him ready to take his head off again.  Does he do that for everyone who can't believe he's a homunculus?  I can just picture a bunch of kids sitting around and asking him to do it over and over again.

[IstariErangua]

I still haven't finished reading the manga (stupid class!) but I already see the things you're talking about, and I can also see that mental picture. Greed would make the greatest crazy uncle. "Come on, Uncle Greed, just do it one more time. Pleeeeease?"

Greed was always my favorite just because he wasn't willing to play the same game as the others, he thinks for himself and works at achieving his own goals. I dunno how that's gonna play out in the manga yet, but he seems to still have the same attitude about it.

[CombatC]

Hehe, I know I'd probably be asking him to do that again.  That was even cooler than his Ultimate Shield, at least in the anime.  Is it just me, or does that form almost look like a villain out of an American comic book?  It's not too much different from the anime I know, but for some reason, it sort of reminds me of Venom in Spider-Man.