Day 1- How were you exposed to the phenomenon that is Fullmetal Alchemist?

My first experience with it was from my BFF Jessica.  She liked the first anime series at the time, but I hadn’t started watching it from her.

Day 2- What was the first episode you saw of the series? What were your thoughts then?

I believe I saw the episode where they were splitting from Scar and they were getting ready to cross the desert.  I believe it was Episode 38 “With the River’s Flow”

Day 3- Your favorite character

It’s difficult to choose an absolute favorite. I’d say Roy Mustang is my fave, I like him more in Brotherhood than in the 2003 anime.  He embodies the qualities of a truly loyal friend but has all the faults of a normal human.  I feel like the 2003 had no terrible unredeeming qualities and it’s hard for people to relate to character like that.

I like Edward near the end of Brotherhood.  I like his resolve to not kill people and his bond with all the people close to him.

I also for some reason, really really like the 2003 version of Lust.  I can’t explain it.  It’s ironic for something perfect and long-lasting to want to be something short-lived like a human.

Day 4- Did you read the manga? What did you think?

I’ve never read the manga but I would like to.

Day 5- Who’s scarier? Izumi or Hawkeye? Why?

Izumi.  Hawkeye is scary because of her abilities to shoot people and of course, there’s a little of her dedication to Roy that fuels her scariness.  But Izumi is totally empowered by her love of the people she cares about.  I think that a person fueled by love is scarier than a person fueled by mostly abilities alone.

Day 6- Your favorite Homunculus

2003 - Lust

2009 - Greed and Envy.  I say both of them because their deaths struck a chord inside me.  For me, Envy’s death was truly tragic.  He killed himself because of his inability to become remotely human and I feel that the envious do this alot.  They envy those around them and when they begin to see their imperfections compared to those people, they become depressed.  And Greed because I believe that greed stems from a need to be surrounded by people.  If you want power, you want to control the people around you, if you want money, you want to buy the people around you and if you crave love, then you want the love of people around you.  His death made me the saddest.

Day 7- Did you see Conqueror of Shambala? Your thoughts?

I found the ending of the 2003 anime to be very odd anyways.  Nothing makes less sense that homunculi that want to be human and their world being parallel to ours.  Naturally, I like the series as a whole, and so I like the movie.  But I felt terribly sorry for Winry, she really got the short end of the stick.

Day 8- Your favorite antagonist

Oh, I’m so glad this one got asked.  Father is my favorite antagonist.  But I didn’t decide this until he got forced back inside the gate.  Father is a great foil for the human.  As intellectual beings, we are fueled by our desire for knowledge.  However, we all have limits because of our body (our physical container) which we desire to transcend.  Things like age, disease and mental instabilities (not just diseases of disabilities) all keep us from attaining limitless knowledge.  Father embodies this idea perfectly because of his inability to leave his container, the Gate.

Day 9- Your thoughts on the first anime

The beginning starts out great, I like the flow of episodes, but once you his the last 10 episodes, stuff starts to not make much sense and continuities fell apart a bit.  And no matter how much people try to tell me, the homunculi make no sense whatsoever as to why they are named after the sins.  Seriously.

Day 10- Barry the Chopper: love him or hate him?

I think you have to love him.  As a villain, he provides a much needed dose of comic relief during the intense episodes (in the 2009 anime) leading to Lust’s demise.  In the 2003 anime, he’s still funny.

Day 11- Your favorite fight

The fight between Scar and Wrath in the 2009 anime.  The animation was beautiful and the angles and depth of the scenes were stunning.

Day 12- Your all-time favorite line(s)

“I wanted to know everything about this world!  Without being bound by anything!  Free, in this vast world.” - Homunculus.

“ You have to figure it out. Stand up and walk. Keep moving forward. You’ve got two good legs. So get up and use them. You’re strong enough to make your own path.” - Edward.

I have tons of others though.

Day 13- Would you ever take the risk and do human transmutation?

Nope.  Plain and simple.  As a chemist, we are presented with knowledge to create lots of things.  Just as performing human transmutation is considered a taboo, I believe that creating nuclear weapons or other forms of chemical warfare to be taboo.  I wish that is didn’t happen.  I believe that science should do good, not bad.  This is also why I don’t believe in the illicit drug making chemistry.  It’s not good chemistry.

Day 14- Which artistic style did you prefer? The first anime or the manga/Brotherhood?

I like the line style of the 2003 anime but I love the soft shading and lines and softer colors of Brotherhood.

Day 15- Your favorite animal/chimera character

Nina ;~;
Day 16- Do you have a favorite episode and/or manga chapter? Why?

I have several and they are all the depressing ones.

Day 17- Do you have a favorite ship or crack pairing?

EdRoy….I will go down with this ship for fanfiction’s sake.

Day 18- Your thoughts on Brotherhood

It makes so much more sense!  I love it more than the 2003 anime, but I feel both are worth watching.

Day 19- What is your overall favorite moment in the series?

OMG, idk.  That’s so hard to choose.  But it would be a depressing scene.  

Day 20- Your favorite anime OP/end

Golden Time Lover and Let it Out for 2009

Rewrite and Tobira no Mukou e for 2003

Day 21- Do you think Maes Hughes is an adorable and loving father or just creepy?

How can you think he’s creepy.  He’s the most loving father and husband, and it makes it so much harder when he dies in the anime!

Day 22- Your opinion on the anime: raw or dubbed?

I can stand the 2003 dubbed cause I originally watched it that way.

But I have to watch the 2009 subbed.  I hate Maxey Whitehead’s voice for Al.

Day 23- Do you have a favorite Elric brother? Why or why not?

No.  Ed and Al are very different so it’s hard to compare them and pick a definite favorite.  Al is so kind to everyone and he tries hard to understand everyone’s point of view.  It’s a quality I wish I had.  But Ed has a great amount of dedication and love, which I also envy. 

Day 24- Do you have any opinions of the OST? What are they?

Which one?

I liked for the most part the 2003 OSTs.  I thought they repeated songs too much though and lols at Beethoven’s 5th on the 3rd OST.

As for Brotherhood?  I love all of them.  I can listen to it endlessly all day, but I do enjoy a few songs more than others “Battle Scherzo” and “To Be King” are my personal favorites.  I want to learn to play “The Fullmetal Alchemist” on my violin.

Day 25- Roy Mustang: What do you think?

Depends on which anime.  In the 2003, I like Roy.  He really is a kind dedicated soldier with a promise to see a better country.  His little angsty bout of hanging out in the north during the movie is pathetic though and very uncharacteristic of him.

The Brotherhood version though, is a character to be envied.  He never once stops his goal of being Furher even though he is trying to find Maes’ killer.  He has the faults of a normal human being and so therefore he feels more real to me than his 2003 version.

Day 26- Has the series impacted your life in any way? How?

FMA makes me very philosophical.  It embodies a lot of themes I feel are distant from young people today, especially Americans.  War, human connection, racism.

I think the biggest thing that it changed in me was my ability to realize, I’m insignificant as a whole to the world.  I’m small, but to some people, I may be the world.  And there are people in my life I can’t live without.  Knowing that I have people that love me and care about me fuels me to do what I do.  And even with all the animosity in this world, I still love it and I love the people that make up this world.  It makes me appreciate the events that lead to the formation of this country even though I believe some people try to make us head in the wrong direction.

Day 27- What attracted you to the series overall?

I’m a chemist and I love symbolic literature.  Alchemy is cool.  Symbolism is cool.  Combine the two and that is FMA.
Day 28- You know someone is an FMA fan when…

IDK.  I think if you’re an FMA like me (who doesn’t wear the clothes or carry around fan paraphernalia) you can usually relate events or ideas from FMA to real life situations.  I would love to write a paper about FMA someday.

Day 29- What did you think of the series’ end? 

HATE HATE HATE 2003 ending.  Nuff said.

I love the ending of the 2009 series though.  I feel like Ed giving up his alchemy was one of the most powerful things a person can do.  Giving up knowledge for those you love is astounding and only the greatest, truly selfless people can do that.  I love that he proposed to Winry and they, he and Al, set off to start a principle of giving 11 back.

Day 30- What do you think happens to the characters after the series ended for good?

obviously they live happily ever after. :D