Totally unlike anything on the silver screen at the time, amid serious westerns, dramas and crime movies, Star Wars is unabated, unabashed fantasy fun, it beguiles you. You fall in love with the movie and you want to share it with your friends. Only your friends don't give a crap. "Meh" or "I'll check it out someday" - likely never.
You've seen Star Wars but no one else has, your pent up frustation and disappointment wells inside you. It's depressing, no? That something so worthy of attention at the time goes unnoticed and ignored.
Let's imagine it was 1998 and you were the only person who played Ocarina of Time - the game that went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. But no one at the time wanted any part of it. So your friends were playing good and decent games like Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid and Half Life, even Banjoo Kazooie. But they weren't playing a game that was on a whole other level, whose scope and execution still puts many modern games to shame. They weren't playing Ocarina of Time. You reminded your buddies of its existence, you begged, threatened and pleaded with them to try it, but not a single baited hook was taken.
I feel like this, I feel like holding a giant plate of delicious roast beef up to a bunch of dogs noses, only for them to turn away and munch on dried dogfood, instead.
When I wrote, in August 2013 (almost a year and a half ago) about: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: One of the Best TV series I have ever seen,
I said:
"I've seen a lot of movies, watched a lot of tv series, played a ton of amazing games. And across all of that, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood ends up as one of the best experiences I've had, across all media."
Did you think I was kidding? Did you think that this was some niche pursuit, a series "only an anime fan could like?" This is not the case. How many copies of your average blockbuster game sells these days? Would it surprise you to learn that FMA has sold over 64 million copies?
Re-treading old ground, I've already stated that:
"Brotherhood.... once it gets going it's like an unstoppable freight train of awesome that never stops. It builds and builds and builds to an ending so suprising, exciting and enjoyable that I literally forgot to breathe. I had to physically remind myself to intake air during the penultimate episode, was leaning up off my bed. I would equate the series to the epicness of Lost if you ever made it through that series to the end. The only difference with Brotherhood is that it's almost a perfect series. In most tv shows live action or animated there is some redundancy there, some episodes that are average or not worth bothering with, badly written etc. Brotherhood feels like everything is just.... perfect.
It's such a good series that I won't even recomend you rent it. I would say you should buy the whole series on Bluray stat, then sit back and have the ride of your life."
I wasn't kidding then and I'm not kidding now, you need to see this series. But let's be obstinate bastards for a second and don't take my word about it. Let's look at what other people have to say about it. Google search "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Reviews" and you'll get a very interesting statistic: 24'807 people have rated the series on imdb and the average meta score is 4.5 stars out of 5. But delve deeper and read the user reviews and you'll perhaps get a grasp of why this series is so highly regarded.
"Pretty much the best show made in the history of mankind" says one user "If i told myself 10 years ago or so that the best series i would ever see was an Anime i wouldn't have believed it. This series made me laugh out loud, cry and bring up pretty much every part of human emotion possible. The characters and story are pretty much flawless and there is little to none loose ends."
"Of all movies and shows I've seen in my lifetime - if i would have to recommend one single series to someone it would be this one without hesitation. If I had an enemy i hated in real life more than anything - even i wouldn't be so cruel as to deny that person to see this show. I could deny them food instead and it would be merciful. Thats how good this show is."
Another user says "If you are going to watch one anime in the entirety of your life time Choose Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood." An original FMA fan eventually recognised its greatness here: "As the episodes began to fly I realized that it wasn't good, it was great. After finishing the series I knew without a doubt in my mind that what I had witnessed was my favorite anime of all time""
Another user says "This is absolutely one of the greats. It has profound characters, an awesome and unpredictable story and has some of the best anime scenes I ever saw."
This isn't even a question of people who watch anime and people who don't. This series is good enough for any mainstream TV watcher from the likes of The Walking Dead to Game of Thrones will enjoy, indeed a user review said "I'm not a fan of anime and manga but Hiromu Arakawa's work is one of several which have to be seen. An amazing story, and a must-see."
So do yourself a favour, as this only benefits you, not me - get your head out of your backside and pick up this series for Christmas, it's that good and will likely stack up well against any AAA game you pick up too. I'll leave you with more user review quotes:
"No complaints, seriously. FANTASTIC."
"Probably the greatest animated entertainment ever made"
"If you only ever watch one anime make it this one. If you watch anime anyway and haven't seen FMAB, do so. It would be a complete waste of your life if you were hit by a meteorite before you saw it. Do yourself a favour, buy this. It's not a lot of money for the epic adventure you are about to experience. It may well be the best money you ever spent."
"FMA: Brotherhood is a great, massive series that is thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end"
"When I first saw Brotherhood, I was kind of an anime hater for nonsensical reasons, mainly stemming from longstanding shame over an unhealthy obsession with Yu-Gi-Oh as a kid. Hey I was a Freshman, I was stupid like that. I give this example because I want to explain just what this show did. This show is simply a must see for any anime fan, and I would recommend them for just about anyone who isn't an anime fan too. I don't know how many times I've watched this show through, but it deserved every single rewatch. It is a cavalcade of heartwarming, tearjerking, and awesome wrapped up in an intelligent plot with probably the single most endearing cast I've ever seen. Watch it, you won't be disappointed."
"To put it simply, this anime is nearly perfect."
"I haven't seen a better series of anything ever i don't think"
"If you want to be amazed, addicted, emotionally lifted, press the start button on this show."
"A near Perfect Show and my favourite of them all. I don't watch many anime. But This has gotten me into anime, and none have beaten it. a ten out of ten."
"Masterpiece - When you watch 1 or 2 episode then you won,t resist to watch all the series not even a single episode in this series is boring. If you say it is the best show ever than you would not be wrong. This show is the masterpiece 10 out of 10"
"Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is an absolute must watch for anyone, it has brilliant story, characters, animation"
"One of the masterpieces among TV series - I would rate this TV series as easily one of the best ever made."
"I have to say, as a beginner entering Anime world is pretty daunting task.The huge collection of Anime's in internet makes one wonder, where do I begin? As I Google'd some 15 anime websites claiming they have the best must watch list, every one of them evenhandedly had Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood ranked the 1st or 2nd in their respective must watch list. The series is either ranked 1st or 2nd,rarely 3rd."
"The only word to describe this anime is stupendous."
"Words can not fathom how incredible this anime is."
Same here. Can't. Stop. Watching.
There are 64 episodes at aproximately 25 minutes each, plus several bonus OVAs.You can watch all of them for free here: http://www.funimation.com/shows/fullmetal-alchemist-brotherhood/videos/episodes
Me too.
Aside from watching Gotham, The Walking Dead, Agents of Shield and movies every week.
This show, minus credits and intro is only 20 minutes long per episode, less than half the length of your average tv show these days. So it's like watching 31 episodes of a longer series like Gotham for instance. You can watch 3 episodes in one hour - that goes for anime in general.
The OVAs, original video animations for those who don't know the terminology are side stories, each pretty short, 15 mins or so and there are only 3 of them I think and they're almost completely un-essential.
I still have to watch Star Wars Clone Wars first. So yeah I wont be getting to this in a long while if ever. You also didnt explain what it is, you said it is amazing but what is it. Action? Sci-fi (clearly I guess),. Funny? Drama? What is it like?
Er... as someone whose watched the Clone Wars I would hold off on that as there are 6 seasons and it'll take you ages to get through. Then there's Star Wars Rebels which is on its first season after that too.
FMA Brotherhood is a faster easier watch by far. It's a near perfect blend of action/drama/comedy set in an alternative sort of 1900 western european world where alchemy uses science to achieve effects one would consider magic. It has a deep backstory, infinitely lovable characters and a complete, no strings-left-untied ending. Check the trailers I linked, this essentially is how you feel watching it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOm_PAI2goo don't worry there's an awesome English dub.
Yeah but FMA doesn't have the most anticipated movie ever coming out with some ties to the cartoon. So Star Wars comes first, cause it is Star Wars.
Isn't FMA a video game?
They had some video game adaptions made by Square-Enix.