#fma asks

Envy appreciates.

I, too, have fallen and I can’t get up.

One of my earliest favorite villains.

Oh, hi there!!!

As someone who has been obsessed with FMA for the past year, I can relate! Just receiving this message made me so happy!!!

So, to answer your question: I love both, for different reasons. I think their existence works so well because they both exist.

Not only because sometimes I just need a feel-good conclusion, and other times I need me some pure unadultered angst with the same set of characters, no - though it’s a bit chunk of it. It’s also because, taking FMA03′s ending into consideration, I can feel relief that BH has the Good Ending, so I don’t feel too miserable. And when I think of BH’s ending, I don’t feel too frustrated at the fact that all the horrible things the characters went through aren’t magically resolved at the end, and have instead deep effects on them that last beyond the story’s ending. But ‘03 is very much a story of heartbreak and BH a story of healing, so their respective endings are only natural. Just think about the homunculi and their nature in each show, for example. 03 breaks you at the same time it breaks Ed. BH nourishes your soul as it heals all the characters.

So, in short, I appreciate 03 for the realism and whump factor, and BH for the fuzzy, warm feelings of accomplishment, because all character arcs came full circle in a beautiful way. Both were rollercoasters of different emotions I wouldn’t change for the world, and I love the different approaches to the same characters and premises. Plus, double the story, double the time spent with Ed, double the soundtracks.

That being said, both animes have aspects that, however similar, I prefer in one of the versions to the other. For example, I LOVE 03′s social commentary and the realistic approach at racism/the talk surrounding the topic. BH talks about it through too rosy lenses, in my opinion (there is a lot to be said about this, tbh, but enough has been said already). BH!Hohenheim is a total gem of a character, meanwhile ‘03 feels a bit flat. Lust was way more interesting in 03, while Greed was amazing in BH. 03 Sloth and Wrath were such compelling addition to the story, it was all so heartbreaking. 

I love that Edward cries so much in ‘03, and that BH!Ed doesn’t cry at all except for a few, heartbreaking scenes. I adore how broken Mustang is in ‘03, but BH!Mustang gives off such a different, (even more) multifaceted and softer vibe. I prefer the almost romance-less perspective ‘03 gives.

Okay, so MAYBE I lean more towards ‘03 when it comes to a lot of things but, FMA wouldn’t be the same without Ling, Greedling, Olivier, BH!Wrath, BH!Hohenheim, etc. But it wouldn’t be the same for me if little Wrath didn’t exist, if Ed didn’t die, if the Shamballa movie wasn’t a thing.

It’s all so [clenches heart] AMAZING. Both versions, especially if appreciated together!

And albeit I feel like BH gave breath to explore more characters in a more complete way whereas ‘03 was heavily focused on Ed&Al, I always feel like I need to appreciate ‘03 more because it gets so shunned by everyone, sob. Besides, some scenes just hit different in ‘03, at least for me.

Hi!! oh lots of questions!

2. All time fave?

This actually fluctuates depending on my mood. my absolute top three are Roy, Olivier, and Kimblee. I love all three of them because they’re very complex and fascinating charters who play off of each other in really neat ways.

Roy is actually the character that got me into FMA, my dearest @callibop wanted me to try writing him with her, so learning about him is what got me wanting more He’s very grey, which I find interesting as a protagonist and hero type character. He wants to be a good man, biut he has done, and continues to do fucked up things to get his way. At the core he has good intentions, but he has many layers and its very fun to dig through them.

Its very similar in ways, to Olivier. Olivier is i think one of the most ruthless characters, I mean... she murders like, 3 people on screen and is totally badass. She has no compunctions about doing what must be done, and is definitely hardened steel. Unlike Roy, she’s not really a dreamer, and is more a pragmatist. At the same time she has a lot of layers herself. she’s a very guarded person, so most of what she says has some sort of double meaning, while also being absolutely true in some sense or another. She’s The wall, and the ice queen, but she has a big ol’ heart and it’s Good Shit. She is  a lot of fun to do close readings for. Plus, shes in some ways the sort of person I aspire to be, tough, strong, determined, fair. I’ve been in a major mood with her of late.

Kimblee is kind of the odd one out. He’s an antagonist and he’s a creep, and hoo boy has he done some messed up shit. But he is also very, very interesting in that he’s really only on his side, and some of what he says has merit that even our heroes recognize the validity of. So yes, he’s a mass muderer in essence, but he was doing as ordered... just like Roy, Riza, Hughes and all the others in Ishval. Plus he is a fantastic chaos man and used excellently in narrative. He’s a very fun character to play with as a writer because he’s just... interesting, and can be used in s many different ways.

3. Least favourite Character?

This isnt as in depth lol, because i can’t think of characters from my preferred version that I just don’t like? I mean, maybe Shou Tucker because wow, fuck him. Gluttony and Sloth are boring, but do have some cool fight scenes so. 

I have... issues with Pride. I can’t say i dislike him, because he’s very interesting, and would be fun to look a more deeply, however, he makes my skin crawl and gives me the heebie jeebies so. there’s that, I guess?

19. You wake up in their universe somewhere in Central. What’s the first thing you do?

oh oof this is hard >.> I think it would depend on what i knew at the time, and the circumstances of it? f i knew where I was, and context.... hmm, perhaps I’d simply try to explore the city some. Honestly, walking around new places is something I love to do so as long as I wasn’t tied down or hospitalized or something, I’d love to see the city where my faves do their stuff. I’d definitely try to find a bookstore of some kind, and a fabric store. Maybe I’d try to lurk past Armstrong Manor and see how grand it actually is, hah!

That's what's so amazing about FMA is how complex it is.

The easy answer is, of course he can. Mustang is one of the main protagonists of the series, fans love him fro being a strong, calculating character but also someone who's a big dork who fiercely loves the people under his care. Of course Mustang is a good person, we say.

But when you consider what he did in Ishval, just a scant 6-7 years before the start of the series, how many people he murdered in cold blood, how many homes and lives he destroyed with a snap of his fingers. That's not something you can just erase, and Arakawa, bless, never once asks you to forgive the characters. Hawkeye, Mustang, Hughes and Armstrong are shown to be wonderful, complex people but also people who participated in the deliberate destruction of an entire race of people. Yes, they were "under orders" but that doesn't change the fact that hundreds of thousands of innocents died.

ayyyyyeee yeah there she is! I found her twice actually!

It’s not canon per se, but there is this height chart that shows a lot of the characters’ heights near the end of the series

and from this we can see Winry is about 5’3” and if we compare her and Ed in the end family photo, we can see Ed’s height compared to hers.