Brotherhood

You'll find your way

And may death find you alive

        Take me down the line

                 In Gem City we turn the tide

                          - 'Uma Thurman', Fall Out Boy5

A boy in a hooded red coat walks through a scorching desert.

He takes out his water bottle, only to find it empty. He stands there surrounded by endless dunes. He is utterly alone. 

The boy drops to his knees. He puts his hands together, then spreads them on the sand. The sand glows - and a geyser of water blasts up in front of him.

This scene was the first that brought my attention to Full Metal Alchemist. 

The story of Edward Elric, a boy with touch-based magic and robotic prosthetics, and his brother Alphonse, a disembodied suit of armor, trying to regain the body parts and body they lost struck me as pretty weird at first. But based on its popularity, I eventually gave it a shot - and discovered one of the best anime, and best stories, I have ever seen.

Now, before you roll your eyes and browse elsewhere; there is a point to this. Bear with me.

If you didn't know, 'anime' refers to Japanese animation. It's a genre far different from Western animation, which maintains that cartoons are for kids. Western styles and stories do have more variety. But the content is simplistic. The few exceptions, like The Simpsons, mostly deal in comedy.

Anime has rather less variety. There are only minor variations in art style, and cliches like high school settings and teenagers who save the world crop up time and again.1

But it tells bigger, more interconnected stories. Episodes often resemble chapters in a novel. Comic relief is common, yet so are more mature themes, e.g. existentialism, bigotry and shades of morality. Not to say it's all serious, there are plenty of anime aimed at children too. And that's the point. Japanese studios don't limit themselves to a single age group. They inhabit the entire spectrum. 

I watched a lot of Western cartoons as a kid. And the only one I would still watch today was inspired by anime.2

So, yeah. I'm biased.

Having said that: I understand that anime isn't to everyone's taste. All the series I've enjoyed do have something to be said against them. Bleach is too long. Attack on Titan is too bloody. Sword Art Online is too...romantic? 

What? There are fight scenes too.

Except this one. I really can't think of any major flaw in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Which is not the same anime as Full Metal Alchemist.

Confused?

There is a point! I'm getting to it. But first, a history lesson.

Most popular anime are derived from successful manga (comics), including all of those I just mentioned. A single episode will comprise several issues worth of content. If the manga is still being written at the time, the show will, inevitably, catch up.

And so arises the dilemma currently facing Game of Thrones. The producers could pump the show full of filler for however long it takes the artist to finish the story, potentially alienating their fanbase. Or they could just make up their own.

This happened waaaay back in 2003, when the original anime, Full Metal Alchemist, was created. The manga was nowhere near finished. So the creator gave her3 permission for the show to veer off in its own. Which it did, spinning a smaller, more personal story.

Six years later, in 2009, the manga was nearly finished, and the time was ripe for a more faithful adaptation. This was named Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

As is usual in these cases, there's a debate between fans over which version is better. The first series - which I admit I haven't seen much of - has more character development and backstory. More 'heart'. 

Whereas Brotherhood has a better plot, pacing, animation and absolutely, hands down, a better ending.4

Again: I'm kind of biased. 

I suppose that could just come down to nostalgia. But either way...

Part of it was the way magic is treated. There are arcane symbols and fantastical transformations, to be sure. But alchemy, the power to change something into something else, is a science. It is actually called that. Researchers study it in laboratories. Though miraculous, alchemy is viewed as a natural process, integral to the modern world. Something along the lines of electricity - or perhaps nuclear fusion. 

Then there's the religious subtext. At first glance, FMAB seems rather anti-religion. The main villain is a robed, bearded man aspiring to become a god. His 'children' are named for the seven sins. The hero even calls himself an atheist. 

Yet there is a higher power. And while never stated, it is implied that alchemy, that same phenomenon being treated as a science, is divine. 

Look familiar?

Implications aside, I came to realize that the series' message isn't against religion per se. It's against blindly following any philosophy you haven't thought through yourself. That speaks to me.

Then there's the setting. In contrast to most anime, which are (understandably) set in variations on modern or feudal Japan, the central nation state is based on various European countries over the last few hundred years. Like England during the Industrial Revolution, and Nazi Germany. Thus the powers of alchemy exist alongside cars, trains, firearms, skyscrapers and yes, robotic prosthetics. It's a heady mix that, at the time, was unlike anything else I'd come across.

And it's just a really good story. The drama! The comedy! The action! The twists! The hand that turns into a sword!

Never gets old.

And the reason I've gone on for so long about this series is that it was my primary inspiration for Wraithblade.

Well no, not exactly. My first inspiration came from Pirates of the Caribbean. Remember the cursed pirates who were revealed as skeletons by moonlight? I liked that, but wondered. What if it wasn't all villains and scoundrels who were cursed, but someone good? 

What if it was Elizabeth?

Exactly.

So emerged the character of Istara. A floating, skeletal spectre who, when seen in the spirit world, still looks like the girl she used to be. 

Though you won't see the latter in the free sample. Sorry about that.

Yet the dynamics of her relationship with Aeron owe a lot to Edward and Alphonse. Two characters scarred by the supernatural, one of whom is no longer human. A deeply personal quest turning into something much larger.

And most importantly, their backstory, how Aeron raised her from the dead, came from wondering: what if the brothers' tale had begun just a little differently?

What if they hadn't failed?

You see, the one great taboo of alchemy is working with human souls. As a boy, Edward Elric broke it twice. The second time was to bring back his brother's soul and tie it to that suit of armor. It cost him his arm.

Their original sin, so to speak, which cost Edward his leg and Alphonse his body, was an attempt to tie another soul to a body of their own making. The result was a horrific, zombie-like creature that barely managed a few breaths before dying.

They were trying to bring their mother back to life.

Don't tell me you didn't feel something there. 

To conclude: I loved this series. It's been an inspiration. And isn't that the mark of a great story?

I don't suppose you'd be interested enough to watch it, though.

Although if you are...

But no. I understand. 

That's too serious. Here's a more fun version.

All right, all right. I could go on forever here. Enough.

For now.

1 - There are various subgenres. Naturally, my own preference is shonen - action, powers, primarily for young males. That sort of thing. But you can also find romance, historical, slice-of-life, comedy, all the way up to gay, lesbian and, well, erotic fiction. Yes, really.

2 - It's also funnier than it looks. The sequel series isn't bad either. Really, this deserves a post in itself.

But stay far, far away from the live-action adaptation. Not only is it a horrible movie. Both as a fan and a Eurasian, the blatant racism still pisses me off. The series has an obvious basis in Inuit, Indian, Chinese and Japanese culture. Why the director - an Indian guy, no less - chose to whitewash the cast is beyond me. 

But I digress.  

3 - Yes, a woman. Surprised?

4 - The first series' denouement could best be described as bittersweet and open-ended. Whereas the canon storyline finishes in an escalating, multilayered climax comparable to the ending of Harry Potter. I would not say this lightly.

5 - If you didn't understand the title and/or lyrics, don't feel bad. No one else did either. Apparently it's about wooing a violent woman, like the kinds of characters Uma Thurman plays. I chose it because my first impressions were of a woman; death; obsession; and an empowered protagonist. And the final battle in Brotherhood does take place in a city.

Random Thoughts III

I get busy with other things, and suddenly it's been a month and a half since my last post. *shakes head, ponders the vagaries of life and the unstoppable march of time* 

I guess it's time for some random thoughts.

I know, that was lame. Just roll with it.

Actually, I do have a more focused-ish post in the making. Coming soon. But in the meantime...

I've just finished reading The Barbarian Nurseries, which tackles present-day racism in America. A white, upper-middle-class family is, ahem, facing financial difficulties. They're going broke. The morning after a major argument because of this, both parents escape for the weekend, each assuming the other will look after the children. The two boys are left alone with the Mexican maid. Their parents eventually return home to find all three have vanished.

And so begins a drama that captivates the national media, with allegations of kidnapping and parental negligence thrown around, which for many comes to represent the tension between the wealthy whites and an ever-growing immigrant population.

Now, there isn't as much story going on here as you'd expect - the plot wouldn't take long to summarize. What really drew me in were the characters. Though many aren't significant plotwise, the author makes a point of weaving in complex people from all walks of life. The cynical social worker, less interested in where the boys were taken than in why they were left behind. The young Mexican-American student who's come back from college to find she no longer identifies with her community. The naive deputy who fears the maid's art makes her a psychopath. The Mexican girl who speaks better English than Spanish, yet has grown up as an illegal immigrant.

'...carrying a secret so long you forgot you were carrying it, until someone or something reminded you of its existence and you felt the pressure of the words against your skin, and you realized the words were always there.'

I even found traces of myself, to my amused chagrin. In the family's bookworm son, aged eleven, with the 'verbal and reading skills of an eighteen-year-old, and the socialization of a seven-year-old.'

And in his father, who goes to a sympathetic, attractive female colleague's apartment for the weekend - and then spends it playing video games. Seems like something I would do.

Again, the story of the boys' 'disappearance' is thin in and of itself. But the sheer variety of viewpoints it's filtered through more than makes up for that. The maid's most of all. Not always likeable, but intelligent and critical, she offers an intriguing picture of life as an immigrant in modern-day America.

Now, the next entry is a little morbid...all the more because it's true.

Browsing through magazines in the library, I came across the story of Amy Bishop, a university researcher and Harvard graduate. Six years ago today - damn. I swear that's a coincidence - she shot six colleagues with a 9mm pistol, killing three. She is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

This wasn't her first episode of violence, either. At twenty-one, she accidentally(?) shot and killed her younger brother. She and her husband were questioned over the attempted letter-bombing of a ex-colleague who'd gotten her fired. She once attacked another woman in a restaurant over a booster seat. 

This is a troubled individual.

But what caught my attention here was that this woman had long dreamed of becoming a famous author. Before the shooting, she wrote three unpublished novels with clear autobiographical elements. Her heroines, all scientists, are variously haunted by having killed a young boy; frustrated with their lives and careers; possessed of violent dreams and daydreams; struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide. All fantasize about the deaths of those who've wronged them.

Disturbing, isn't it. You can read the full article here. 

All authors put pieces of themselves into their writing - some more than others. But this was the first time I'd come across anything written by a murderer.

But anyway. Lightening the mood.

I've finally gotten a new smartphone, and its performance has been even better than I expected. The camera, in particular, is quite nice.

Pretty.

But what really surprised me was the calibre of games it could play.

Well, I was.

See, while browsing through the Play Store, I came across this.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is, by now, a thirteen-year-old title. No, it's not canon. But being set thousands of years before the movies, while the Jedi still fought a vast Sith organization as powerful as they were, that really doesn't matter. This is still considered one of the best Star Wars games ever made.  

And there have been a lot of Star Wars games.

It was developed by Bioware, one of the big names in the gaming industry, whose two major franchises, Dragon Age and Mass Effect, fantasy and scifi, continue to achieve commercial success and critical acclaim. I enjoyed both. They really are that good.

Now, as opposed to Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy, which are traditionally linear - think novels in game form - western RPGs offer a great deal of choice. Especially concerning morality. You can usually choose to be good, evil, or something in between. 

For example, in the first Dragon Age game, I was a traitorous elf who approached the gathering darkness with an end-justifies-the-means attitude. (Based on a villain from my first fantasy story.) Whereas in the Mass Effect games, I played a heroic female soldier who built bridges amongst the various alien races. (Yes, I play as women too. Why 
not? Who only reads books where the lead characters are men?) In both cases, wildly different approaches are possible. Depending on your actions, the story plays out in very different ways.

Now apply that framework to a galaxy, far, far away, and you get your very own Star Wars experience, in which you can become either hero or villain, Jedi or Sith, saviour or conquerer, following an epic storyline alongside Wookies, Twi'leks and a murderous, sarcastic version of C-3PO.

Interested yet?

No?

*sigh* Well, back to my original point. Apart from the stellar reviews, the developer's pedigree, and the fact that it's, you know, Star Wars - this is from the generation of games I played in my teens. On a TV. With CDs and everything.

Stock photo. I haven't bought it - yet.

This is nothing new, of course. The video game industry has long been milking the cash cow re-releasing classic games on new platforms wherever profitable possible. 

But still. I couldn't help feeling just a little wonder that the bulky technology of yesteryear can now be carried around in one hand.

And finally - 

I just heard this song a few days ago. It's darker than the band's earlier, more upbeat tracks, and I like it. A lot.

I also like the concept behind the music video. They asked fans what the song and the band's music in general meant to them - and then brought in some of those fans to star alongside them. That's pretty cool. Apparently they're well known for this sort of thing.

I guess there's more than one reason they've become hugely successful. 

Ladies and gentlemen: 5 Seconds of Summer.