Full Metal Alchemist

Synopsis
Edward Elric and his little brother Alphonse Elric decided to do human transmutation using alchemistry to revive their dead mother. However, things don’t go as planned as they fail what they set out to do only to be affected by the law of equivalent trade, as Edward loses his leg and brother in the process. Desperately, Edward binds his brother’s soul to a suit of armour, losing his arm to do so. From then on, Edward and his brother set out to recover their original bodies back and learn the secrets of the Philosophers stone.

Characters/Development
At first I thought 51 episodes would have been a bit much but the length of it kept your interest in characters and the story for longer. I didn’t find a single episode boring as each one is as good as the last, with different adventures throughout the series developing the story more as it progresses. Characters were overall really good with great designs and their own personalities which are shown throughout, be it hilarious or serious. Some good moments was when Hughes brags about his daughter and when Armstrong brags about his muscles. Each character is developed and not forgotten about, especially those who appear early in the series, with more appearing with a useful role to play out. Even the villians had some good character development, learning more about them and getting used to them a lot more rather than just being people that only have the view to rule the world. Story wise, I found them repeating stuff about the Philosophers Stone with the same information each time got very annoying. I found the anime to flow well but a bit on the slow side, but not on a level that was boring. However, towards the end it started to get more to the point. There are a lot of twists in the plot throughout the whole series, and they are always there. These then also change how you feel towards some of the characters and get you thinking during some sections in the anime. There’s a good mix of comedy, action and emotion in the anime, which all worked well and didn’t go over the top with things.

Animation/Scenery
Animation wise, was very good and it got better as the series progressed. The battles were quite exciting but I did expect something as good as in the opening sequences, but they weren’t bad either and there was sometimes a little too much talking during those times. I felt Alphonse didn’t do too much during the majority of battles which was a shame. The backgrounds were really detailed keeping you immersed with the surroundings were crafted very well, great colour and toning. There were a lot of locations in Full Metal Alchemist adding a lot of variety to the places you see.

Audio/Music
Audio was good quality with a wide selection of sound effects and ambience used throughout the series. Voices for all the characters didn’t sound at all too similar and fit well with their characters. The Opening themes were all good, I loved the first one most as it set the scene far better than the rest. But not to say those were bad as I enjoyed each one. Can’t say much for the endings as I never listened to them, except from the first one, which I enjoyed.

Conclusion
Exciting and funny which was a very good watch that flows well and keeps on track without getting boring at all. Lots of twists and turns that can keep you at the edge of your seat with some great characters and development throughout.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Year: 2003
Studio: Bones / ENIX
Length: 51 Episodes
Genres: Drama/Adventure/Fantasy

News 003: Lack of Updates

Apology
I apologise for the lack of regular updates I promised, however I have recently gotten myself in a very large anime phase and being rather lazy these past weeks. I haven’t felt like playing any custom maps or modafacations for quite a while now, and those that I did are on the waiting list to be reviewed. I have also gotten myself into modelling these past weeks as well and ofcourse playing too much Hostile Intent.

Plans
I do however have plans to tidy this place up. I wish to take down the anime reviews and have a seperate site for those instead as I’d rather keep this one specifically for gaming. That also includes some information on Source-Ports, useful utilities and other gaming tools I find might be worth noting about. I’m also thinking about making a site dedicated to the Duke3D community where they can post their projects at and update their little page similar to Mod Database and Wads in Progress. However I lack the skills to write such a site from scratch, so that idea is out of the door unless someone is willing to help out with it. Regular updates will hopefully come back when I get back into custom content gaming, however I do not know when at this time.

Mapping/Modding Projects
The System Episode is really close to seriously dying as I’ve tried many times to revive it and keep it alive but nothing will cut it for me. The current build is several maps with detailed corridors and small detailed rooms. Some large unfinished areas and there’s a lot of work to do, hardly any gameplay progress at all and the maps are not worth merging together. I’ve been suggested to do this before but it doesn’t work at all in its current state. At the moment, the episode is on the verge of dying unless I think up an inspiring way to revive it.

I’ve also had two other ideas for projects I do feel dedicated to work on. The first being a 32bit mod with as much custom content created by me as possible. This includes textures and models. My second idea is a Half Life 2 project where you play as a Rebel, however this has been done many times and from everything I’ve played, they’re a simple run and shoot task. I wish to do something different, have new voices, animations and a lot of interesting moments. I don’t want the player to stand around with other rebels shooting endless amounts of combine like many of these Rebel vs Combine maps tend to do. I do not know when I’ll start this project but I’ll be writing down my plans and storyline soon so I have something to work from.

Figure 17: Tsubasa & Hikaru

Synopsis
Ten year old Tsubasa Shiina is a very timid and shy girl who recently moved from Tokyo to Hokkaido with her father. She’s very quiet and unsociable so it’s hard making friends at her new school. One night, she witnesses a UFO crash in the forest near her home and goes to the scene. She discovers an unconsious pilot of the crashed shuttle and tries waking him up. Just as she is almost attack by an alien the pilot saves her and fights the monster after transforming with a living metal called Riberus, which is used as a battle armour. Soon after he loses consiousness again, so Tsubasa decides to hide in the shuttle but the alien still manages to get part of itself in and tries to attack her, breaking a nearby Riberus. As she crys for help, the Riberus reacts with her and she transforms into the Figure 17 and defeats the alien threat. As she seperates with the Riberus it instead turns into an identical twin of Tsubasa, with copied memories, and takes the name Hikaru. Much later, Tsubasa is explained everything by the pilot, named D.D about the Magyua and the eggs that scattered all over Hokkaido and he needs Tsubasa and Hikaru to turn into the Figure 17 and help destroy the alien threat until backup arrives from his home planet.

Characters/Development
There are two aspects within the series. The first is where the characters fight off the Magyua threat one by one. Each fight is different from the last as we see the technology and weaponary being improved and new tatics thought up as each of the Magyua is different and stronger than the last in their own ways, which remains interesting throughout. The second is where Tsubasa struggles to become more self confident, especially during the fights with Magyua. There’s also the life of Tsubasa and Hikaru on the farm and during school as they both support each other and play with their friends during free time. There is both happy and sad moments which can bring a tear to your eye as the emotion feels realistic. Both aspects flow very well together as both are developments during the series that I felt were perfect. The relation between Tsubasa and Hikaru developing were very sweet and cute moments as they were there for each other.

Animation/Scenery
At first the anime feels quite old for its time as it does appear slightly dull. The picture is too soft and the colours aren’t very good during the first two or so episodes but eventually it gets a lot better. The picture gets more clearer and sharper. There is also very few repeated scenes throughout the series, but everything else is unique and animated well during the given situation, be it calm or a fight with a Magyua. Other than that the animation remains very good without too many complaints. The main character designs are great but a few of the other characters aren’t anything too special but overall it does have its own style without anything excessively cute either. Characters always wear different clothing, keeping it a little more realistic and develops the personality of characters more by the clothing they wear. There is a wide variety of scenery in Figure 17, but most of them are usually natural areas, but many scenes on the farm,in Tsubasa’s school and even some space scenes and other minor locations. They are beautifully designed with a lot of colour that mixes perfectly, nothing that goes out of place and since there are scenes during different times of the day and year add to the variety.

Audio/Music
Again at first the quality of sound is quite dull but later improves. Voice acting is great, nothing to complain about there. The anime however didn’t seem to have a wide variety of sound effects at first so those are heard quite alot throughout some time. I also noticed very few sounds started late during the animtation but nothing too major. Background music was fantastic for both aspects of the anime, most that can be easily remembered too. Music for the calm moments had both happy and sad moments, some with a reconisable tune being used that I liked the most, the same goes for the music used during the battles that brought tension and excitement to those bits. I found the track used when the Figure 17 fights the Magyua was the best for these situations, but the other ones were still good.

Conclusion
With the two aspects to the anime, it can be both exciting or upsetting. I enjoyed every moment while watching this one, but I enjoyed the relation between Tsubasa and Hikaru grow the most. It is a serious anime with very light comedy, but filled with emotion that felt realistic thanks to the good voice actors and music helping achieve this too. One of the best anime series I’ve watched in a while, everything about it I felt was really fantastic.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Year: 2001
Studio: Genco OLM / TV Tokyo
Length: 13 Episodes / 46 Minutes Per Episode
Genres: Drama / Life / Science Fiction