Now that anime distributors are streaming episodes of anime shows professionally subbed, fansubbers are becoming less prevalent. Take that, fansubbers! Of course, nothing that's aired in Japan recently has caught my attention enough to warrant me to watch an anime that hasn't been dubbed yet.
Then Funimation had to upload the pilot episode of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
Oh, you knew I had to watch this one!
Okay, first of all, it's not word-for-word like the FMA manga. It is its own continuity. (tvtropes has already predicted it now; manga fans vs old anime fans vs new anime fans. We're screwed now) However, the first episode does hint that Brotherhood will have more in common with Hiromu Arakawa's work than the older anime did.
And something else; holy fuck the animation and artistry. Throughout the episode, I had to keep asking myself, "Is this a tv series!? From Japan!? This looks like a big budget animated movie!" I'm not kidding; FMA Brotherhood is tied with Mushi-Shi for the title of most beautiful animated tv series I've ever seen. You really have to see it for yourself. Words fail to describe what I saw. Okay, I'll try anyways: there were no flaws in the animation, the characters and backgrounds were beautifully colored, the fights were well-choreographed, and . . . and . . . yeah, I'm speechless.
However, now that I've seen FMA in Japanese for the first time, I can confirm what the anime fans who aren't dub haters already know; FMA sounds better in English. The Japanese voices aren't bad, but on the other hand, I prefer the English voices of Edward, Colonel Mustang, Major Armstrong, and Fuhrer Bradley. Still, the audio was loud and clear, and the music was epic. I like the ending credits song, too.
There's only one drawback; the Funimation video takes forever to load. It took my cable connection (which is very fast, mind you) two hours to stream the entire episode. This is DVD quality baby; be prepared.
So, if you've got the connection, and the patience, try it out. Ed and AL are my homeboys, after all.
