(no subject)
Sep. 13th, 2004 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockOn the boars at adultswim.com, there is a thread about FMA and someone brought up Harry Potter in half-hearted comparison. "Kind of sounds like Harry Potter... Philospher's Stone, heh."
These were my thoughts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Harry Potter comparison:
Hah! That actually amuses me. But I have to say, no, not like HP. Not really at all. Most of the characters are adults, for one thing, and even Ed & Al try their best to act like adults and are treated like adults most of the time, and feel more comfortable around adults than other kids (especially Ed), which is not surprising due to their experiences.
Also, the tone and mood of FMA is very different from HP. HP is mostly a friendship and adventure story, mixed with old fashioned mysteries. It's comprised of self-contained books/episodes follows a reliable formula: each book is a school year, in which the characters must solve the mystery, learn cool stuff, and put off the end of the world one more season.
FMA is a quest story. Beyond that, it's a political/war thriller. It's not about the young heroes discovering something about themselves, it's about them recovering something they lost (physically, their bodies; symbolically, their second chance at innocence), and ultimately searching for a reason to exist, a reason for alchemy to exist (since alchemy is their life). Most of the characters in HP are fighting the expectations of themselves, what other people want them to be. The characters of FMA--- from the battle alchemists like Roy & Armstrong to the civilian alchemists like Ed, Al, and Izumi--- are trying to escape or change what they are, what they were, what they know themselves to be.
To put it another way: HP frequently capitalizes on the theme of recognizing the best in oneself, and getting strength from that; FMA capitalizes on recognizing the worst in oneself, and dealing with that in a productive manner.
FMA has considerably more humor in it than HP. Also, hella more sadness than HP.
The wizard comparison kinda amuses me, cause I was thinking about it earlier. At the stage that Edward, Hohenheim, Dante, and Izumi are at, they are a lot like magicians. A magician is, traditionally, kinda like a wizard/sorcerer who uses science and trickery in conjunction with magic, and often makes use of illusion. Edward, Hohenheim, Dante, Izumi... they all do it so effortlessly, like breathing. It's not a science for them anymore as much as it is an art, a talent. It's almost as if performing a botched human transmutation, and [seeing the hell gate and being able to perform a transmutation without a circle] (<<<click for spoilers) elevates one beyond the science of it to such a deep understanding it's more like an art or a talent or an ability. There's a pretty clear skill line between alchemists like those I just listed, and the others like Roy, Armstrong, Lyla, Kimbly, Tucker, etc.
These were my thoughts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Harry Potter comparison:
Hah! That actually amuses me. But I have to say, no, not like HP. Not really at all. Most of the characters are adults, for one thing, and even Ed & Al try their best to act like adults and are treated like adults most of the time, and feel more comfortable around adults than other kids (especially Ed), which is not surprising due to their experiences.
Also, the tone and mood of FMA is very different from HP. HP is mostly a friendship and adventure story, mixed with old fashioned mysteries. It's comprised of self-contained books/episodes follows a reliable formula: each book is a school year, in which the characters must solve the mystery, learn cool stuff, and put off the end of the world one more season.
FMA is a quest story. Beyond that, it's a political/war thriller. It's not about the young heroes discovering something about themselves, it's about them recovering something they lost (physically, their bodies; symbolically, their second chance at innocence), and ultimately searching for a reason to exist, a reason for alchemy to exist (since alchemy is their life). Most of the characters in HP are fighting the expectations of themselves, what other people want them to be. The characters of FMA--- from the battle alchemists like Roy & Armstrong to the civilian alchemists like Ed, Al, and Izumi--- are trying to escape or change what they are, what they were, what they know themselves to be.
To put it another way: HP frequently capitalizes on the theme of recognizing the best in oneself, and getting strength from that; FMA capitalizes on recognizing the worst in oneself, and dealing with that in a productive manner.
FMA has considerably more humor in it than HP. Also, hella more sadness than HP.
The wizard comparison kinda amuses me, cause I was thinking about it earlier. At the stage that Edward, Hohenheim, Dante, and Izumi are at, they are a lot like magicians. A magician is, traditionally, kinda like a wizard/sorcerer who uses science and trickery in conjunction with magic, and often makes use of illusion. Edward, Hohenheim, Dante, Izumi... they all do it so effortlessly, like breathing. It's not a science for them anymore as much as it is an art, a talent. It's almost as if performing a botched human transmutation, and [seeing the hell gate and being able to perform a transmutation without a circle] (<<<click for spoilers) elevates one beyond the science of it to such a deep understanding it's more like an art or a talent or an ability. There's a pretty clear skill line between alchemists like those I just listed, and the others like Roy, Armstrong, Lyla, Kimbly, Tucker, etc.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-09-14 03:50 am (UTC)