Day 9- Your thoughts on the first animeI love it?
Well, okay, that's blindingly obvious, yes. I adore the first anime on a way that I didn't with Brotherhood. Both series have their strengths and weakness and there's definitely a bit of a "this was here FIRST" bias on my part, but. It is by far my favorite. It didn't get drowned in characters (there are a lot of characters in Brotherhood I don't give a fuck about and... I don't feel guilty over it); it had a solid, angsty storyline and it dug deeper into alchemy itself. Near the end of Brotherhood the show really went full-out shounen on us, and while that wasn't bad and I still enjoyed it, there wasn't near the amount of alchemical symbolism in it.
(Granted, there could be and I am overlooking it because it is above the level I study at, but still.*)
I mean, the symbolism in the first FMA series was so thick you could chuck a rock at it. I still turn up bits that are probably coincidence but fit so well - and I do find it QUITE curious that when Ed was pushed through the Gate it deposited him in one of the biggest alchemy revivals in decades, but that's probably just me. Anyway, the writers on the first anime did their homework and worked with a small existing framework to create a very compelling storyline that worked. It didn't go off the rails like some shows (sigh, Kenshin) did. It didn't get choked up in filler while stalling and praying that the manga catches up in time. (BLEACH, I'M LOOKING AT YOU.) It had a first episode to last episode story; and, I think four filler episodes - which still integrated into the main plot. And OF the filler, most of it was omake stories that Arakawa wrote anyway.
At any rate, I adore the first anime. I love Brotherhood but they are both so different and if I was forced to choose only one for all eternity, I'd go with the first anime, hands-down.
* I am still reading that damn book that compares alchemy to quantum string theory and it HURTS ME in my fucking BRAIN.( The Remaining Days ) 
