The Weekly Stuff #439 – The FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode(s) Part 1: The 2003 Anime

This week’s show starts off with the baffling news about the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery shelving a completed Batgirl film for a tax write-down, and then continues into the first big topic from our new anime podcast, Japanimation Station, where we’re diving into the world of Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, starting today with the 2003 anime that partially adapted the then-young manga before branching off into an increasingly divergent anime-original story. While it was a huge and acclaimed hit, in Japan and abroad, at the time of release, the show has a more controversial reputation now, years after Arakawa’s manga was completed and faithfully re-adapted as Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Sean and Jonathan are coming at the 2003 series from wildly different directions – Jonathan a lifelong fan who started with this anime as a kid, and Sean only recently having read the manga without ever seeing either anime – so our perspectives inherently diverge. But if there’s one thing we clearly agree on, it’s that this is a fascinating show very much worth talking about. Whether one loves it or hates it, it’s clearly more than an outdated curio, and we think you, like us, will come away from this conversation with a greater appreciation for all versions of Fullmetal Alchemist. Time Chart: Intro & News: 0:00:00 – 0:24:34 Fullmetal Alchemist: 0:24:34 – 3:41:16Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!  Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman