Does this ties up and ends the series or is it just some kind of spinoff?
I felt very dissapointed with the series ending and I just want a decent "everybody's happy" ending. Is this what I'm looking for?

Ehhh ... probably not. It's not exactly a "happily ever after" ending, but at least Ed and Al are finally reunited.

it may not end happy but a felling i have says that it is not the end

see that could be the biggest deciving thing ever!
the 'its not over' feeling althought sadly it is

more or less, the brothers are together, Al's in his body, gates are closed (more or less) all 7 sins have been erased and returned, quite a few closures are done, so that's that i guess ^^

Yeah, I think it's over. I'm not too thrilled about it, but I can't imagine how or why they would draw it out after this. There's just not much else to cover unless they want to focus on getting Ed and Al back again, but that would just feel like beating a dead horse. And a subsequent movie about Ed and Al in the alternate world wouldn't be terribly exciting.. not to mention, at some point they'd have to rename it from Fullmetal Alchemist since I don't think Ed can be considered an alchemist any longer. :P

No, the movie is not a spin-off.
I guess I can say it ties up the main story (Ed and Al) and concludes the series, though there are some loose ends left.
The ending may or may not be your idea of "everybody's happy" ending, but it concludes with Ed and Al being together again.

OT: Did the board go down again last night??
I was just about to post this late last night, then I could not access the board for the rest of the night.
(Or was it my net provider's problem???)

Its not a spin-off. A spin-off would be more like a series just about the Tringham brothers.

Its a direct sequel to the series. And it does tie everything up, regardless of what the dissenters say.

Ok, maybe not a loose end, but for my peace of mind, I'd love to see a clip, maybe in DVD extra, of Ed and Al actually destroying the circle in Germany.
That will really close the gate to the story (pun intended.)

yo so ... its really the end? no... they cant... like cant weask them to continue it or sumthing... the ending really is disappointing i want to cry! areu sure they might not jus start again?? ... nuratos like already at 150...sumthing... cant they do the same?

No. Naruto's a huge on-going and ultra serialized story. That's not how they do FMA.

And Naruto has a ton of filler episodes and episodes with horrible animation. Every episode of FMA has great animation of fantastic quality.

I like Naruto as much as the next guy, but I thank God FMA is not like Naruto.

The best stories KNOW when to end. Fullmetal Alchemist is one of those stories.

but it was soo good :'(!!!!!!!!!!!!! sigh i have to find a new show then... any suggestions?

I have no problem with the series ending, I just wish it was a happier one...

Watch Wolf's Rain, Evangelion, or Cowboy Bebop some time and you'd see that FMA's ending IS a happy one.

Cowboy Bebop's ending was emo. There was nothing happy about it, but hey, it was to be expected. Sucidial maniac.

Anyway:

Everyone dies Hideki Anno style... with Air playing in the background.


Okay, no, not really... but it's an ending that pisses off a lot of fans but then again satisfies some fans and yet does its job for the anime because for some reason (knowing the direction the anime was going into) it was expected (For the elric brothers that is).

Plain and simple, this is the way the story should've ended. Its in tone with the entirety of the series. Giving it a happily ever after type ending itself would be anticlimactic. Because that's just NOT what life is like. There are good times and bad times, and you have to take everything that goes with it. FMA is a very slice of life story in that sense.

I don't think that the anime could have ended any other way. From the way that the series was heading, the choices were narrowing down to either killing off one of the brothers (which would have made the entire series a worthless venture) or this. Clearly they couldn't have been stuck back in the other side of the gate together, because that would have degraded the series..so they are stuck in Munich. Anime is kinda like oprea...happy endings are few and far between....fma is a rarity in that even though the end may not have been what you really wanted, the two of them did manage to accomplish what they originally set out to do, and even though they left behind everything that they knew, they have each other. I know that it sounds sappy when you write about it like this, but the bond between the brothers is the soul of the series, so to speak...I was quite content with the movie

I think that Ed and Al were reunited at all makes it a happy and satisfying ending in any sense.

But there's also that impending tone of Hitler, the Holocaust, and WWII. Events being set into motion that can't stopped. But you are right, its all about the strength of Ed and Al's bond. After everything that's happened, I believe their brotherly bond can survive through anything they go up against. Its like that's their test.

Ummm...you really arn't suggesting "Fullmetal Physicist", are you? Hahahaha! Yeah, I know there is that impending doom of Hitler and WWII and all that, but...umm....if they start fighting the Nazis and such, the series is going to take a total 180 and become like an animated Indiana Jones. Well, Indiana Jones with transmutation circles....

The series is over so that's not going to happen .

My sentiments exactly

ORLY

HAHAHAHAHA! That's brilliant but...it's a shame ther's no room for Al in the poster..guess I just have to wait for the sequel...lol :lol:

I really think they should do a small 30 mins episode with setting between Episode 51 and the movie. Something explaining the background of the Movie's villian, and Wrath becoming good, Gluttony big thingy...all that. one small episode could make the whole series a whole better. Plus 52 episodes is more nice round number.

^ well not the series, cause the series are excellent, The movie would be a lot better with that background.

Come to think of it, I wonder why they didn't make the episode 52, and ended the series at the episode 51, besides letting the movie concludes the series.
Any theory, or insider information, anyone??

I would like to know... well, kinda, ep 51 lead straight into the movie... so an ep 52 would probably be like the ' HEY SO DIS IZ WUT HAPIND INBETWIN '.

Okay, The ending of the movie IS sad, but I really do like how everything turned out. They brothers may be stuck in our world but at least they finally found eachother. But the only t hing that made me dissapointed was HOW the ending was played out. The final climatic battle was during the final 15 minutes (yes I counted 3rd time around) And trust me I'm not all for watching 2 hours of endless battles, that would be boring BUT I would have liked to see the brothers together and fighting (with Mustang, Hawkeye, Armstrong, etc) at least for an extra 10 min! Just an extra 10 min! And I just wish I saw more with the ending, just ad an extra minute to show Mustang and the rest of the soldiers at Central City or something show very very briefly what else the brothers will do with the pending war and all, just something....(anything!) The very end of the movie just left me dry, I felt that I was lacking. My friend used this metaphor for the movie once which I will use:
"It's like this: I LOVE pepperoni pizza. FMA is like the pepperoni pizza. But the movie is like getting a plain cheese pizza with perhaps half of a pepperoni. I mean, it's STILL a pizza, but you're lacking so much!"

I thought the number of episodes was odd, too. Isn't it conventional to have multiples of 26? Maybe they decided to go a different direction with the storyline suddenly and it wrapped up too fast. The ending did seem a little thrown together. I'm probably not giving BONES due credit here, but I can kind of picture a producer or somebody going "Hey, this is what we want to do with the movie, now make the ending of the series fit." And I was hearing that there were going to be 52 episodes up until about two weeks before the last one aired.

I like the pizza metaphor. It's pretty apt. The movie had some aspects that were disappointing, but it's still my favorite series. If it were a pizza, I'd eat it and like it even if it were covered in brussel sprouts.

LOL. "Oh, but how about episode 52?" "Oh, ummm, screw it!!" XD

I like the pizza metaphor, too. And, I eat leftover cold pizza for breakfast.

it wasnt sad, sad is when the hero/heroine and his/her allies and friends go homocidal (sp) and start killing themselves and everyone else.
Ed and Al were reunited, Al got his body back. It isnt sad.

the ending was acceptable (cuz ya know I hate happy endings so it's an Ed/Win ending I will hate it probably)

<s>but yea they needed MORE roiai.</s>

the movie was okay

but it is still nothing compared to manga. xD

The movie IS your 52nd episode.

There was also a recap OVA released before hand with new narration.

I suppose "a good series knows when to retreat". Inuyasha is an example. I used to enjoy it, but it just got stupid, repetitive and ridiculous. So what's worse, a series that some fans think got cut before its time, or a series that some fans think is overlong? If FMA was able to whip out exciting plots and actually move forward, unlike Inuyasha, would that STILL be too much of a good thing?
No matter what happens, not everyone will be pleased. So I think, if we're going to be upsetting half the viewers, we might as well get some more FMA out of the deal.
But that's just my own personal opinion. Realistically, if this is the end, it's the end. The anime did all it needed to do. The parrot is no more. It's OVER. Still, a few more episodes would NOT have hurt. It's a pretty dense series, with a lot over a short period of time, but two or three more episodes of fluff wouldn't've qualified it for a Inuyasha-esque series.

So, from what I heard of the ending, I personally don't like it. It might be childish, but I hate change. I would like a bit of a "we're back home" feeling. I have mixed feelings towards the whole WWII thing. I guess I have to see the movie.

Hey hey!!! Dead parrot jokes!!! It ceases to exist (lol). Anyway, I have to agree..the longer they draw it out, the more pointless it would become, and then we would have another Inuyasha on our hands...and who really wants that?? Personally, I think that they could have drawn out ep51 a teensie bit more though (just to make it flow a bit better)....it seemed awftly choppy. But I guess if they were going to make the movie, there was no need to elaborate any more than was necessary. As I said previously (at least, I think it was in this forum), the show's prime focus was on Ed and Al and the bond between them. The plot never wavered from that, and even the movie (though some people may not like it--I kinda do) kept that in mind, so yes..the movie does a fine job at tying up the series. And for those of us who still want more...hey, there's always the manga

I was going to bring up the manga, but the manga and anime are different. The manga will provide no anime closure--they're different.

true...it won't...but at least it will give FMA junkies like me a well-needed fix

I was extremely dissapointed both with the series ending and the movie ending.

Watch any episode through 48 or so and then watch one after that. It doesn't even feel like the same series. I didn't like the WWII setting, and I just plain hate endings where you feel like you just got punched in the gut.

THIS JUST IN!!
From an interview with the director of the FMA series, Seiji Mizushima (Also did Shaman King), said that there is a slight POSSIBILITY that there would be another FMA movie. But the director also mentioned that his work for releasing theater movie for FMA is finished.

If there were to be another movie it would most likely be based on the manga. After Conqueror of Shambala the anime doesn't have much of a story left to tell.

Watanabe-sama says stuff like that about Cowboy Bebop from time to time, but its still not going to happen. And it shouldn't.

Molecular Alchemist, Ed and Al did it make it home. Their home is with each other. Everyone wanted them to be reunited and that's how it ended. That's the perfect end to Fullmetal Alchemist.

Mabye a story from the novels?? I'd like to see that happen!

^^ I'll go see it!!
(Ok, as long as the movie quality is good. But, say, if it would be like Inuyasha movie 1, I woud rather not to see it. Even I draw the line somewhere.. )

I like that the Fullmetal Alchemist movie actually meant something to the main story, unlike the movies for Inuyasha, Naruto, and DBZ.

Director Seiji Mizushima said that he won't make anymore theater movies, so I think an OVA or something like that would come up. MABYE...

I really don't see what else you could do with the story. It really wouldn't be Fullmetal Alchemist anymore.

i'm shocked...i read every movie summary before i watched the movie (yea, i spoil myself...i see the ending and the beginning...the middle is my surpise )

and you know what?

I LOVE THE ENDING!!!!

okay, so it wasn't the happy romance i was hoping for but it was everything it should've been...okay, so i'm more of a roy fan than an ed fan and the lack of royai pissed me off...but come on...the series was about ED AND AL...not the other characters...and we did get one moment of ed/win...throughout the series, there were LOADS of hints that they liked each other, but just never told...he blushed when she hugged him and she knew exactly how much he'd grow....what other evidence do you need that their love is solid? and that's enough for me...

ed and all are together...that's the main point...i just loved the look in their faces when they finally reunited with each other ^^...that's pure brotherly love...and they'll survive WWII as long as they've got each other...

[spoiler]
i'm just a bit concerned about noah...her being a gypsy and all...what if ed and all are involved in the holocaust trying to save her? i smell fanfic fodder ^^

plus, i'm kinda surprised alphonse hedrich didn't die of tuberculosis first....ooh...what if he infected ed? more fanfic fodder! LoL[/spoiler]

besides, its over...it was a good series, but its over....who remembers digimon and pokemon? who got tired of the same plots over and over again? thank god fma isn't doing that....

besides...there's always the manga...

and don't forget the fanfics ! when misty left pokemon, there were still ash/misty fans everywhere...just coz ed and winry aren't gonna see each other again (like ash and misty) doesn't mean you still can't support their ship....

LOL!! @kokoro_shadow_angel - I love your enthusiasm!!

And, welcome to our forum!!

@kokoro_shadow_angel - LOL!!
You sounded just like me when I finished the movie!
Not to mention you talk about things that I talked about when I put up my review...

Last year, I heard of this rumor from my friend that they are drawing a sequel to the movie... It's just a rumor, don't believe me. I'm not sure myself either.

No, the director himself of the movie already stated that there won't be any sequels to the movie. They are making an OVA coming out in March that has 3 shorts, 2 comic ones and a third one that has not been revealed yet. Some people are hoping that the 3rd one is either an extended "ending" for the movie, or a revised ending or something but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Personally I feel the OVA is more like BONES trying to milk the FMA-cash-cow some more, which I also assume is what the movie was for too.