cassandraooc:

toastyhat:

bootybruja:

toastyhat:

toastyhat:

neither fma anime will ever quite live up to the manga

like, dgmw, I’m not saying they’re BAD, but reading the manga is this whole other experience with hiromu arakawa’s art and storytelling and PAGE COMPOSITION CHOPS
*apples and oranges in some ways buT STILL

The manga abuses action lines way too much to ever be better than Brotherhood. I love Arakawa, her inking, shadows, and character designs are to die for but she does not know how to frame an action scene, and that’s like half of FMA. Like, look at this, this is at the climax of the series and we don’t even get a background. Each adaptation has its strengths, but I still think Brotherhood is the best.

to be honest I’d disagree with that, but then again I think we have different opinions on what makes a good action scene, b/c dynamic art + readibility + backgrounds when needed is good enough for me.  so, to each their own.

Honestly, backgrounds and settings are a huge cultural difference between American (and many western) and Japanese comics.

American comics in general place a lot more emphasis on action, as well as place. Much more often about visualizing scenes, and you tend to see more full backgrounds, more full scenes. Strong sense of place is important.

Manga, in general, has more of an emphasis on character and emotions. Detailed establishing shots are common but usually followed by simplified backgrounds as necessary. Many more close up faces, and usually much more exaggerated emotional reactions are common. (Part of the reason to have the stylized faces with large expressive eyes in general, and the facial lines you do see tend to emphasize emotion. Whereas, again, in the average American style comics, realism is the emphasis)

(These are, again, obviously generalizations, but I think it holds true.)

They are different art forms with different goals, and that try to evoke different things. The lack of background is because its not what’s important to the story, and not what we’re supposed to be focusing on in the page. We’re supposed to be focusing on the people and what they’re feeling.

FMA in general is a story that lives on the emotions and characters. That’s what makes it what it is, in my opinion.