Hey yall who wants to know anotherthing I love about FMA.
There are a lot of shonen shows that fall under the category of “protagonist joins some organization, travels around the world on missions, is working toward some general Ultimate Goal™ that falls in and out of focus.” And this format makes writing a lengthy shonen story easier because it allows the main characters to be passivein moving from one arc to another. The characters get senton their missions by third parties, and the author can write as many non-sequitur mission arcs as they want, or until the Jump money runs out.
Naruto gets assigned one ninja mission, then the next, then the next, filler, non-filler, filler, non-filler. Kentaro Monjiro Tanjiro gets assigned new demons to target and kill by the master of the demon slayer organization, one arc ends, a new order comes down, the next arc begins. Deku is literally in school his teachers just tell him what’s next. And sure, sometimes the main characters are the instigators. Sometimes Naruto goes after Sasuke of his own will. Sometimes Deku goes after Sasuke Bakugou of his own will too. But those are the exceptions, rather than the rule.
And again, I get it. It’s strategic to keep a series running indefinitely. You can stitch together as many unrelated arcs as you want. And it’s probably a necessary crutch to have when forced to produce manga at the rate these publications need to.
But then there’s FMA
Which, mind you, set itself up in the exact same manner. Ed joins the Goddamn Alchemist Military. That’s absolutely the FMA universe version of the Ninja Alliance/Pro Heroes/Demon Slayers. All of FMA’s arcs could have been the military telling Ed “this is your new mission go do this” while Ed and All just stumble through 200 chapters, following mission orders, vaguely acting with the ultimate goal of regaining their original bodies.
FMA doesn’t do that. FMA doesn’t take the easy route. Hiromu Arakawa pointed to Ed and said “see this fucking 15 year old gremlin? He’s gonna go instigate everythingthat happens to him, and he’s gonna like it.” The military tried asking Ed a favor onceand Ed hated it so much that instead of following orders he fucked off down a mineshaft.
DOWN A FUCKING MINESHAFT.
Leore? Ed and Al went there on their own. Robbery on the Train? They just happened to be on the same train. Shou Tucker? Mustang introduced them as a favor for Ed handling the train incident (Brotherhood says it repayment for Leore since they cut the Train Robbery, shame). Dublith and Greed? they were there to see Izumi. Central? There to see Hughes, then saw too much, got dragged to Xerxes, stopped by home to do some grave robbing, decided to catch a homunculus for the lulz, got eaten and went to hell, met god, came back. Briggs? They decided alkehestry was their best lead so they followed Mei to Briggs. Leore again, cuz Al wanted to. Resembool, cuz Edward needed to hide after fucking off down a mineshaft. Slums of the Kanama region. Central again. Hell 2.0. God 2.0. Central. God again but the first one. Xing. Resembool.
Every SINGLE place these two chaotic hell-mongers go, every SINGLE mission they take up is a self-motivated, self-imposed, self-actuated logical follow-up to however the previous arc ended, to the point that the lines between the “arcs” begin to blur and transition into a brilliantly woven narrative of cause and effect. Where the instigators are never “mission-assigners said so” and instead are always the characters themselves spinning strategy, forming covert alliances and plans, making use of gathered knowledge to be their own driving force of actions, sieges, subterfuges, and the occasional overthrowing of the government from an Ice Cream Truck.
And I respect that a goddamn hell of a lot, cuz FMA has to go above and beyond in every facet of every single thing it does.
i love how you guys talk shit about cartoon style and animation but what the fuck is with this phineas and ferb obsession, The Ugliest Childrens Show Ever Animated.
Fun fact: In one interview the creators mentioned that one reason everyone’s heads are shaped like really recognizable shapes (Candace is the letter p, Phineas is obviously just a triangle) is so its way easier for younger kids to draw them. Not being able to to draw your favorite characters when you’re little can be really frustrating and kind of put you off drawing all together.
I got to speak with the creators in their studio years ago when P&F was still being created and they said at dinner one night they challenged themselves to design a character with a triangle shaped head. Right there on the paper tablecloth (the kind restaurants provide with crayons for kids to draw on), they drew the very first Phineas, then realized he needed acompanion, and thus with a rectangle, they drew the first Ferb.
Dan & Swampy are incredibly kind men who wanted to create a show that was easy for kids to recognize and participate in, while having fun antics for anyone of all ages.
It’s not even that ugly, it’s got funny shapes sure, but the colors and character designs are bright and fantastically fun, and the show’s writing was completely clever.
I detailed in a long post once how they left most of the dialogue up to the animators: they had a basic outline of how each episode would go, and as the animators would draw it out (they didn’t use puppets folks, they used cintiq tablets and drew everything, I saw it first-hand) and as they were drawing they’d think “what would this character be saying while making this gesture?” and that’s how the dialogue was created. The animators also worked in pairs, so they always had a companion to talk to, work with, and help with dialogue as they went. This is how most of the jokes were created, and as they had multiple animator teams, they were able to keep jokes and dialogue very fresh so the show never stagnated from using only the same couple of writers like most shows do.
For the songs Dan & Swampy themselves would pull a guitar off wall, go into the meeting room and gather anyone around, and just come up with songs on the spot right there. They would sit for a couple of hours messing around gathering input from anyone and everyone. This kept the songs fun and fresh and also kept them from stagnating or becoming boring.
Phineas and Ferb was made in a very rewarding, fun environment. Everyone who worked in the studio seemed very happy, and they loved having visitors and getting to show off and explain every aspect of the show. Everyone was kind and fun and just loved their job. I genuinely can’t accept seeing anyone saying negative things about a show that was intrinsically meant to be gratifying, fun, and wonderful for kids and adults of all ages, and stuck to that mindset throughout its entire creation process.
Edit: I forgot to add one of my favorite parts! The creators knew their animators so well that they could tell who designed which episode! To each person watching, it’s difficult to tell differences in style since it’s meant to all look the same, but the creators looked at some clips in front of us and guessed which animator pair did the clips and then they double-checked it and were correct, pointing out extremely minute details that were recognizable trademarks for each team. Clearly they had a very kind and caring and friendly environment!
okay but let’s talk about how bobby asked eddie “hey can you stay for dinner?” in that voice that was really like please stay for dinner. i don’t trust myself to do what’s best for me right now.
but then eddie had to go, and bobby had to make that choice on his own. and i don’t doubt that eddie’s words were in his head when he decided to pour it down the drain. ultimately, “a few choice words can sometimes be the life raft that gets you home”
that relationship between your effort to help yourself and your ability to accept the help that’s given to you is something i love about 911 and why they’ve done such a great, nuanced, complex portrayal of healing in all its forms. it’s not a one time thing but a series of decisions you make every day. it’s wanting to get better for yourself because that’s the only real, sustainable way. and it’s about leaning on people and accepting the hand they extend out to you.
