Mhm, can't do anything better now so…
FMA
I'll start by saying that
manga is a term used to describe a specific style of comics developed in Japan. Usually it's used to say some comic is from Japan, but there are many manga inspired comics all over the world.
If you've never seen one, you've definetly seen the style in animated movies (called
anime), TV shows or videogames.
Now I'd like to talk about something with someone from Japan, sadly it's impossible as I don't know anyone (well, there was a certain girl, but I was too young to go that direction).
The whole nation seems to be obsessed with gigantism. You can't find an art in Japan without something oversized. It's somewhere an overgrown lizzard, a skyscraper sized mechs, so huge that should be unwieldable tools and weapons, and just to be sure something is too big, characters usually have bigger eyes than their head should allow.
A tool or a weapon? Both! (Septerra Core RPG)
Anyways, a certain manga appeared in some (for this text) irrelevant Square Enix magazine with the title Fullmetal Alchemist. It was an ongoing comic published in episodes. And it was so damn good the logical thing was to put it on (TV) screen. It usually happens with good manga.
What was good exactly? If you've seen at least a page of it… I'd say there is nothing special in the style.
It was the story that kicked arse.
In a steampunk world lived two kid brothers who's father left home never to be seen again ages ago and mother died. But the world is not about mechanics, constructs and machines only, there is a magic too. An alchemy.
It is used to transmutate (transform) an object into another. No, you can't make something out of thin air, but you can, for example, repair a broken radio just by rearranging atoms in a part that doesn't work!
Those two kids decided to do the one thing alchemy forbids. Human transmutation.
They wanted to bring their mother back to life.
And it went wrong. The thing they've created was not their mother. And the price they've payed was very high. One brother lost a hand and a leg and is now using mechanic limbs, the other brother lost his whole body and only his soul remains glued onto an old armor set.
A rumor is that the mistake can be fixed by using something that can make things out of nowhere. A philosopher's stone. Thus brothers will go on a voyage full of adventures in order to find that miracluous item.
Without spoiling it more and blabbing about what happens next. Manga and anime are not plain horror although there are some horror things to see. The text is hilarious (not in the negative way!), there are philosophical debates everywhere, all protagonists have real character flaws that eventually become very handy under certain circumstances, there is a romance, friendship, respect and betrayal.
A mix of everything. Such stuff usually can't work but somehow they've found a perfect dose in Fullmetal Alchemist. A bit of this, a bit of that and alchemical mixture succeded.
Back to the history.
So manga was awsome, and Square Enix decided to make anime TV series out of it.
In 2003
Fullmetal Alchemist anime series became a global phenomenon, there was no person who'd say "thus sux!":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421357/
What wasn't commonly known was that TV series didn't follow manga after 12th episode. In fact manga was still being made and unfinished, TV audience wanted more, so anime crew made up their vision how the story will unfold with the blessing but not involvement of manga creator. And it turned out to be an awsome piece of work.
Somehow, someone, again in Square Enix, got the idea, hell let's also make a version that follows manga completely, not just the start. What we would call a reboot in videogames, happened with this anime. In 2009, again the audience all over the world, was full of praise for
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1355642/
So what do we have here.
Two anime series that only start with the same premise and that's it. Anime series without godzillas, mechs and oversized weapons. A brain food story and not just the eyecandy! Oh and unlike many other anime series - NO BLOODY FILLER!
This is untrue ofc as the first series is after the start a filler of it's own as it doesn't follow the original script but no matter as a viewer can't get that impression.
Or in other words, we got RPGlike anime that branches into two directions with a completely different ending!
Never before and never after a thing like this happened. And still, both series are so awsome I dare to say it's the best anime ever made. And it's impossible to say if FMA or FMA:B is better.
Please watch them. A suggestion though. Don't watch them one after another. Watch one, then take a break af a few days or weeks, then watch the second one. It doesn't matter which one you'll watch first. Both deserve:
10/10
—-
A few more words. You'll probably want to watch spin-off movies. There are two and both are the result of Square Enix greed to milk more cash. Both are average and not really worth your time.
It doesn't stop there. Square Enix made a few FMA games on consoles, you may check the gameplay on youtube. I was like "WTF, this is not FMA!". Do not buy. Square Enix could make proper FMA games or outsource (to Obsidian) the whole thing. They just don't have guts to do that and I hate them.
If you'll buy series on optical media ment for watching outside of Japan (available on amazon, very expensive, there are cheaper on ebay and etc) you'll be able to choose japanese audio with eng. subtitles or english audio. I've watched with the original audio as usually anime dubs are so rotten you can't understand what's going on unless you revert to original audio with subs. But everyone on internet says that english dub for these series was made perfect so no worries if you can't read.
And the final word. Maybe you've noticed and maybe not that in my sig it's written Toka Koka.
If you want to know what does it stand for, you'll have to watch FMA. Or FMA:B. Better yet, both.