I couldn't help, but interpret opening more deeply than just as a chronology of events present in future manga chapters. I want to share my observations and I apologize for overinterpretating, because I know I will go too far more than once. Lets start. Oh, I would also like to credit Csakuras, because I will using her lyrics and translation for Golden Time Lover. Hope you are not mad for this, Csakuras!

First, we see Ed lying on a grass full of flowers. The lyrics go:

集中できていないな　まだ体が迷っているんだ
I can't concentrate, my body is still hesitating

Obviously, the first thought may be, Ed is full of angst and decide to look at his automail, his disability for a while and recall the past. He is hesistating, because he doesn't know whether the promise he made with Al may be fulfilled. He doesn't care that he is middle in the storm, maybe as he said in episode 5, he thinks that the rain will help him concentrate when opposite is happening.

But. I couldn't help, but think that the storm and the stretched automail hand may have more literall meaning - what if he thinks of suicide? His eyes are on the sky, looking for a lighting to end his mere life, to not suffer anymore, but he is hesistating, because how much he would like to do it, he cannot stop thinking about Al (who told him own opinion about sacrificing oneself)


(I will save a post few times, because my computer may turn off if it heats too much)


Sorry for gramatical errors. D:

This.
One of the main things about Ed and Al's relationship was how Ed would probably kill himself if it meant saving Al, but Al would never approve of that. But I wonder if Ed actually thinks of killing himself because he's so guilty. Then I guess in the OP he gets angry for considering suicide and crushes the flowers.
And at the end of the OP he saves that last flower, maybe to preserve the hope that he can save Al.

Anyways, this OP is a FANGASM. My favorite one, hands down. Not a better song than Again, but I like the pretty pictures in this. I sort of fell in love with it right from the start with Ed in the flowers.
And the whole thing with Greeling in the OP, I hardly even noticed it, I'm guessing with so much pimptastic Kimbley, people will figure it's him that is a homunculus.

Music is better than the second opening but still doesn't seem very good to me.
And the animation and actual depictions are equally dodgy. The Gate hands drawn very differently too. Bizarre.

Sigh, and the original opening was SO good. Layered storyline stuff, meaningful images and a song that's actually good. (even with the curious fighting and nonsensical arm throw at the end!)

I think as far as music goes Again was my favorite. But I really love the animation sequence for all 3 openings. They really get me excited for the episode.

That is why I think they should have waited a week to reveal this new opening because the content of the episode is not exciting at all (and they have a pretty major spoiler in the opening about Ling).

I completely agree on both accounts. Again was definitely my favorite song choice, but all three in regards to animation are good.

The new opening was really the most exciting thing about this episode, and they totally spoiled the next episode with Greeling. You would think that they could have waited until next week.

I especially love that Olivia (is it Olivia or Olivier?) has such an awesome part in this Opening. She's one of my favorite characters and this just makes me even more excited than ever to see her in action and animated! Also..... ISHVAL!!!! So much of it in this opening! I can't wait for that whole arc (even if it's only going to be one episode... ) I'm not such a big Kimblee fan, but for some reason I was happy to see him in the OP.... Weird, huh?

Fell in love with it at first viewing, maybe because I'm completely digging Ed's outfit. The singer's voice comes off a bit nasally, but I love the tune to bits. Also, the animation is amazing. I mean, ignoring the spoilers and the possibly misleading scenes, my heart kind of fluttered when I saw Al fighting off Envy to protect Ed, and the entire Ed trying to reach Al from Envy's mouth. And it was great to see Olivier and the crew, as well as Kimbley.

Only thing I didn't like was Scar's animation. He looked a bit funky.

Still, awesome opening. I think it ranks up there with the first OP for me.

Definitely love all 3 OPs but I think that for me, Golden Time Lover has supplanted Again as my favorite right now.

I love the beats used as well as it's a bit more catchier than Again, but I always found Hologram the catchiest of the 3.

Either way, it's a fantastic OP and can't wait for my copies of the CD single to arrive

ZOMG! Ed floating and Al in the background was awesome! I loved Kimbley's part when he had the stone on his tongue and was swallowed by the souls. Very creepy very evil and the animation was great. Everyone traumatized by Ishbal was also very good. I loved when Roy looked up and glared into the eyes of King Bradley with Hughes next to him. (Seeing Hughes made me realize how much I miss him .) I love the song it's still 2nd place to Again though.

Oh yeah the Briggs gang! *Squee* I love Olivier and Miles they make me feel warm inside. Jk. I do love them though.

This is the best opening! I love it..........after again well done FM team!

For what keyhole let me see, I think they did an awesome work with this 4th op except for 1 thing:
-Lack of Hohenheim's past...
On the good points:
+Ed and Al separated...
+Epic Greedling vs Bradley
+Epic Selim pwning
+Marcoh, Mei and co. beating Envy!!

I guess that's based on the first round in Bradley's house?

Is there really no Hohenheim's past? Did you see the whole OP? If not I guess the parts you didn't see could've contained some of him and Homonculus.

The great song got great visuals, I really like the new opening. The animation fit well with the lyrics, like showing Ed and Al seperated. And there were lots of spoilers for the upcoming episodes just like the previous openings.

Can't wait to see it in better quality.

I've expected a bit different visuals Young Hoho papa, young Hoho papa ;;, but these aren't bad either. We start off with a very dynamic and brief summary of the main plotpoint, then we move to the nicely stylized logo (I only wish it hasn't changed to the casual one). I don't like that running-at-the-each-side-of-the-human-transmutation-circle, but oh well. Some sexy looking Ed afterwards. And then the scene with people appearing in the front of both Elrics, really cool reminder that they've got someone to count on. Really badass looking Pride here. I just wonder why the scene afterwards was drawn as a daylight one, the night aspect was very important one. Kimblee is so awesome to x'plode things in mid-air! Some old Hoho...I've always liked the style Central City was drawn in, especially that Headquarters reflectors. Logo appearing for the third time and that's it.

The whole thing is very nice to watch, but I got a feeling I would get bored easily by the visualisation. They're action-packed, but nothing too special in them.

I absolutely love the new opening! The animation is really really cool, I like the fact that they put in spoilers for upcoming episodes - that's what I love about FMA openings. Greedlin vs. Bradley wasn't bad either and the moment that friends and allies appeared all around Ed and Al was so damn epic. And Pride... he's got devil's eyes! There's just one thing that bothers me - why does Hohenheim almost in every op appear looking in the direction of Central? xD

Well the new opening and ending are nice (especially the Pride stuff) but I wish there was more reference to actual upcoming events. For example Doctor Marcoh, Scar and Chimeras facing Envy instead of Ranfan and Fu...who weren't even there! The Sloth and Kimblee thing is weird too. Some young Hohenheim and Homonculus would've been nice...young Hoho was in the first opening but not this one where he'd actually be relevant!

I realise though that the animators probably have more fun making the ops when they take liberties with characters shown fighting each other so I don't mind too much and both the op and ed are still really good.

The final op and ed should definitely utterly destroy these ones though.

Finally Ranfan is shown owning Envy like she should have been shown doing around episode 19

I unfortunately must disagree with the majority opinion regarding the fourth FMA:B opening. While I thoroughly enjoyed Chemistry's theme Period, I did not care for the majority of the animation. My most significant "complaint" is that I did not find the visuals to match well with the pacing and tone of the music. Further, concerning the video in and of itself, I felt as though the animators inserted several short "scenes" into the introduction that appeared forced, trite, and unimaginative. Although there were several aspects of the video that I did find entertaining, these instances were largely overshadowed by the piece's shortcomings in my eyes. Overall, I would have to rate this opening as my least favorite thus far.

I'd put this OP on par with our last one. It's very lucid/disjointed/almost dreamy to me. I liked the use of color here, and the way they highlighted both Ed and Al equally. True to the manga or not, I liked the action scenes. Wish there was more Ling and young Hoho, though. But I'm a big fan boy on those fronts (obviously).

The new op and ed... I have honestly always expected FMA Brotherhood's OPs to be better, more imaginative, with more depth than normal shonen ops. because FMA is much more than a shonen anime. But although every goes on about how good the new OP is, I have to say it just seemed like a bunch of scenes and stills thrown together, and doesn't even time well with the music! (which i found to be well, forgetful. i forgot the tune like 1 min after i heard it).

So FMA's OP is now down to the par of well, Code Geass. Basically flashing scenes and characters. The only good bit was the fight scene. Urgh. Wish there was another 'again'. The 1st OP still the best, with so much story, good music and animation. T_T

^^Agreed. I do enjoy the song, it was pretty cool, but the animation just... didn't look right. I don't mean to nitpick, but the whole running around the circle looked ridiculous. The part where Ed and Al ran right past each other seemed like something cool and creative, but then they started to fidget around a lot, and that irked at me quite a bit. And the crowd of people, as someone else said was a good touch. And then the fight scenes. I actually enjoyed Pride's Philosopher Stone eruption/emergence (mostly cuz I love that kid), but I didn't understand why they had the fight with Al took place in Genosis with it's rocky, sandy landscape and whatnot (did Al fight Pride in sand-land? I forgot ). Not to mention, in the daylight as someone else said. Maybe cuz it would look like all the fights took place at night (considering all the other action sequences in this OP). It also seemed like they were overdosing on the 3D-CGI-effect type thing, and the wind (but most anime do that..). However, I don't really think the OP when as far down as Code Geass's... I don't think the OP was that flashy...

Nobody attacked the ED yet, so I'll do that. Beginning of the ED was pretty... ED-ish. Y'know, move the scenery around the character type stuff. Then I saw Hawkeye's tattoo and I was like "oh... awesome" and then she moved, or rther, turned into Soldier-Hawkeye, which made me think "...okay." Then a still of Roy which made me wonder why he didn't move... or the raindrops for that matter. Then more stills. Then, a zoom in of Hoho, which I thought was horribly off sync. And then Ed fights Pride... and Pride's shadows are moving pretty slow. And Winry, why was she walking like a limping horse? Sure, they probably wanted to emphasize that she now "Walks with strength and with a purpose", but... like a horse? Rly? It reminded me of when Misa was introduced in Death Note.

So to sum it up, I kinda thought the OP and ED were off in animation. By... like a lot. But I enjoyed the music.

I liked the OP but I admit a big reason for that was seeing Ed & Al suddenly surrounded by more and more allies. It so perfectly symbolizes the series for me. The rest was just sort of fights who cares but that scene made the OP for me.

As for the ED my favorite part was the Riza scene But maybe a bit too many stills. Then again Endings usually are less elaborate than Openings.

Both songs are really nice.

Not to get off topic but to compare this opening to Code Geass is just insulting to the work of the people involved. Code Geass had four openings with about two openings worth of material shared between them. FMA so far has had completely original animation and songs between all of them, so I think it's fair to say that it's already doing better than Code Geass did.

No offense meant, I just wanted to point that out.



Back on topic, I'm noticing a few people complaining about how the opening has scenes in it that don't match the story. I'm confused as to what anime people have been watching, cause in my experience that's pretty much the norm. Prime example that comes to mind is the second Bleach opening, in which almost none of those fights happen. Openings are there to set up the mood and sometimes to give hints as to future plot events, not to just show you what's going to happen.

I also don't remember anyone saying this with Golden Time Lover either which is strange cause that was even worse for this.

Overall the opening isn't perfect (fanboy squeals whenever Pride appears aside) but it's decent enough and still better than anything the first series gave us. I'd still rank it as my favourite so far, mostly for aforemention Pridey goodness, but also because some of the animation in it is pretty damn good in my opinion. The way Ed shifts his body weight at the start (which people REALLY DO), the ballistic scene of Ed smashing at Pride's shadows, the way Kimblee neatly drops between Sloth and the missiles. All gold.

Regarding the song itself, I think the lyrics for both really work, especially the lyrics to Period. Probably the most fitting so far in terms of the story.

someone want to play and spot who's who on that crowd of people that appeared around the elric bros?

I do I do! <3

...but this would be very hard, because (surprisingly) there are a lot of different characters in here.


First, we start off with Mei Chang, Scar, dr Marcoh (I suppose), Pinako and Winry.


Then we have Ranfan, Armstrong and Mustang.


Van Hohenheim, Riza&Black Hayate and Izumi appear.


Den, Jean Havoc Denny Brosh, Heimans Breda and Olivier Armstrong.


Fuu, Maria Ross, Darius (I suppose), Kain Fuery, Vato Falman, Jean Havoc, Heinkel.


Scieszka, Miles and Shig Curtis.

Aand then it goes even too fast to cap. From what I see there is Madame Christmas, Rebecca, Jelso or Zanpano, that shop owner from Lior, Trisha(?), Paninya, Garfield, Gracia and Elysia, Buccaneer, that general working under Olivier, some Briggs soldiers and that's what I can see.

wow kasumistry, you are really good. yeah it does get harder to point out the characters in the last shot.

LOVE the OP and ED.

love the tattoo scene!!! Riza is smokin'.
anybody realised? in the OP, realised that Al's armor hair is so short (because of the incident with Buccaneer.) but at the 'many pepople shows up' scene just before the Reff, Al's armor hair back to be LONG again!!! hahaha


OT:
the claspin hand is definetely Ed and Al.. realise the Lyric mentioning "right hand", and the big hand is a right hand, should be Ed's right hand, and the small one is Al's (because his body became so small)...

With what happened in 104 and the last few chapters, imagine how epic the next opening is going to be when they switch around ep 51-52 snice its slated for 63 episodes.

I've liked all the openings so far

In the English Dub, I noticed that the opening is still in Japanese, but it has been shortened. I like the longer one better.

I'm pissed they cut it short. That's so messed up.
I wanted to see my young hoho/xerxes transmution circle.

I mean seriously.. Why did they cut it?

LOL. The first opening dub isn't just cut short, it's cut short badly. You can easily hear the song skipping between the cut scenes, like a bad AMV. If they weren't ready yet, you would think they keep the full opening for at least the first episode, since it's the American premiere.

They have a time slot to fit. You may remember Rewrite and Undo being cut in season one? They didn't even show a preview this time around. Who knows, maybe next week they will have a full (tv-size) OP~

Nah, never saw the first anime on tv. DVD's and online.

But they need to have it make sense. Bad opening was bad. Decision to cut out all the beginning slower stuff and skip to the "bad A" parts like a 12 year old would make an AMV.
That's what it felt like.

I told myself though, it's the pilot. So lets hope they fix this by next week.
They have to realize everyone's upset about it.

The music video of FMA's "again" is full of action .. it felt like getting energetic whenever ya hear it and it explains the life of the ELric BRothers what I don't like about it is the scene where a young Hohenheim that looks like Ed appeared. it sucks seeing that dumb father of theirs .. *I hate him !

The ending theme's Video is .. very cute ! *both drawing and animation ... :3

*pout*
Well I friggin love him.

That was an amazing 5th OP. I could not ask for a more spoilerific OP. As bad, if not worse than the second OP. Hinting at things like Roy going blind, Wrath vs Scar, and Big Eyeball Father eating God. I can't wait to see it off Keyhole.

ED was full of stills, as I kind of guessed from the pic of Ed the other day being right in the middle of the ED, but the song made an amazing transition.

The opening looked really awesome, yet so sad. ;-; I can't wait to see it in better quality! Was that Winry watching Ed sleep at the end? I couldn't tell because it was fuzzy. xD It was nice to see Trisha in there, as well as Roy and Riza. Not sure about the song yet, not because it didn't sound good, but the sound always lags like hell for me and it sounds like people are talking in slow motion and the women sound like guys. xD

But one thing I dislike about anime in general is the whole, crying and the-tear-dropping-into-water thing. So alas, Winry did it in the opening. xD

I'll probably update with more opinions when I see a better quality version with out lagging. : )

CORRECTIIOOON
OPENING 5 IS THE BEST!!!!! is the best, it's so cool and angsty and beautiful and full of royai and edwin and handsome faces of ed and roy and hinting of the episodes, and.. andd.. OMG IT'S JUST SO COOL THAT I CRIED. IT'S THE BEST OP EVER. EVER. T^T

any links ?????????????????

It just aired in Japan, have patience.

So angsty, but my first thought after watching this one was 'they sure support EdWin here' xP Well I'm waiting for a better quality but it was good one I think. A lot of spoilers, well it's going to end soon we have to face it and they're reminding us about it

I really like this opening. It’s a slow and sad song. It really gives the feeling that FMA is ending.
I like that there were lots of characters shown. We got the see the five sacrifices, crying Winry and Riza, blind Roy, Scar vs. Bradley, Ling in Greed’s full armor. And probably more spoilerish scenes I couldn't see because of the poor quality.

Can’t wait to watch it in better version.

^I can't wait to see it in better quality, plus it's just perfect for the things that are going to happen this point forward.

I have to see it again, especially since I have the suspiscion that there were manga spoilers.

Found a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0peE6Uv3ISA

^Sweet! Thanks Michiyo! It also means I can record the song.

Awesome Michiyo! Thanks

And... upon seeing/hearing the OP, I'm starting to tear up.

^I know what you mean! I did too, especially at the end when Trisha is walking towards Ed and he's smiling at the dream at the end. I love the song now I've heard it properly.

I'm recording the songs because I didn't find them anywhere. They most likely won't be the best quality, but it'd do people for now, right? =o

Rain
Ray Of Light

thanks for the link ^^
I love the new opening, it's awesome and quite sad, I gotta admit

I like the new opening, buut it's still a step down from 4th

I'm not just saying this because of little to no Pride in the opening (Seriously where is he? Is he in amongst those flaming images of which I could pick out maybe Envy, Wrath and Kimblee? And weirdly something that looks like Gluttony? It goes by way too fast) but I suppose he got so much exposure in opening 4 it makes sense to play him down here.

I like how sedated this is compared to theother openings and I like how it focuses more on the cast than it does on the battles ahead.

Also with regards to spoilers... yeah the spoilers are there but I really can't see how anyone would pick up on some of the major ones unless they'dr ead ahead.

Well apart from ONE spoiler which frankly... eh it was obvious anyway.

So yeah Period is still my favourite opening, but this will probably grow on me over time.

The Truth Winry made me lol so hard. So hard. XDD same with the berserk Ed. XD
Poor Al got little forgotten in the OP. Yay for 2 seconds of Al body and some flashes of his armor self. AH! WINRY CRIED! She was supposed to cry from the happiness! Bad Winry, breaking the promise she made with Ed! I loved the Greedling and Bradley vs Scar moment, but the rest... I didn't like it. At all. Whole thing was emo and angsty, Fullmetal isn't like that! :<
As Al fan, Fullmetal Alchemist and it's positive vibe fan and antifan of Ed and Ed/Winry I'm dissapointed. ;f