What's the Best OP? - FMA Mother's (Basement) Day Special

Full Metal Alchemist is one of my all-time favorite shows and I've wanted to cover it on what's in an Opie since I started the series the trouble is it has nine openings between the original show and Brotherhood and almost all of them are excellent if I covered all of them individually I'd be doing episodes for two months straight but I can't just cover one so today both in celebration of my channel's first anniversary and as a birthday present to myself I'm running down all nine in order from worst or least rate to best now this is going to be a long list so let's get rolling 9th place goes to hologram ii brotherhood Opie hologram isn't bad per se at least not compared to your average anime intro but judging by the standards set by every other FMA opening it's pretty lackluster which isn't to say that any given aspect of it is underwhelming the theme a mellow rock jam by nico touches the walls is very catchy there are a lot of evocative and well animated individual shots a bit of solid foreshadowing and some really cool beautiful action beats that sync flawlessly to the music but despite the high production values the whole thing feels kind of inconsistent it can't seem to pick a tone or subject matter and just stick to it for more than five seconds like look at the jump from this melancholic scene with Ed and Al sitting under a tree to mate Chang's introduction where the hell does this even come from it looks decent but it also looks like a shot out of the intro to Ranma the Opie can't even settle on a consistent color palette it jumps from beautiful black and white to blue and green so oversaturated that they're practically neon too dull washed-out graze the bright white daybreak that happens here could be used to bridge into almost any bright color but definitely not a dull pastel pink gradient and there's no way to go from that to blue skies again on top of that they have like four different blues for clear skies at around the same time of day there's zero consistency here the cuts in the first half of this OPR jarring to the point of distraction which is a real shame since outside of Mae's appearance in the title it's basically a minute and 30 seconds of pure sakuga and the montage of fight scenes at the end does a near-perfect job of building hype and syncing to the theme song if this were the opening to say Naruto and it'd be one of the best but for FM a it's not enough in eighth place we have Melissa the first Opie of the original series which isn't much better Melissa seemingly suffers from a lot of the same problems as hologram instead of having an overarching point it's just a series of disconnected shots including two protracted and painfully dull cgi shots that look like crap the production values are way lower so why does it rank above hologram for a few reasons firstly it really nails the character moments each one gives you a strong emotional impression of what these characters are about and in general the opie tries to be inventive in how they're presented Melissa also has some semblance of visual consistency like the same art director handled the whole thing then there's the lighting the original series has some incredibly strong lighting direction in fact I'd say that overall that's the one thing that it still has over Brotherhood aside from handling Joe Tucker better here that lighting is used as a motif connecting all the disparate scenes on a thematic level we start with a shot of Ed's arm grasping desperately for the light of the Sun which I'm pretty sure represents God or the state of godhood each character either faces toward this light or purposely looks away from it in a manner that's fairly telling ed an owl start facing away from it ashamed having performed human transmutation but end up turning toward it as they begin their search for the truth and earnest in the next shot they look at it unflinchingly both the soldiers of a mistress and scar have turned away from it and are striding forward with grim determination perhaps indicative of the sins that they've committed the homunculus come into attack out of pitch darkness when things are at their most dire for the brothers during the fight the light is nowhere to be seen so they end up making their own very appropriate for atheistic heroes so there's some strong symbolism here but the last and most important factor is that we get a pretty sexy cheesecake shot of Winry as she wakes up in the morning and when we cheesecake is unfortunately a little hard to come by in these Sophie's at least if you don't find it hot when women cry like I did in seventh place we have undo the original series third opening undo serves as an interesting counterpoint to hologram outside two short fights the production values are light here there are a lot of totally still shots and even the one that are animated are kind of drab but it's directed coherently and with clear intent which puts it way ahead of the competition undo intentionally contrast three different storylines one of the Elric's enjoying their bright idyllic childhood with Winry one of them engaged in dark bloody battles against chimeras the regular kind and Greene's lackeys and one of them waiting board for a train to pick them up the opie both charts how the Elric's lives have changed and establishes in broad strokes the key components of the show's tone light-hearted comedy gritty violence and some more nostalgia I'm particularly fond of how this Opie uses the pocket watch normally the watch and the message inscribed in it are treated with a lot of weight since it represents the brothers promise to each other and their commitment to the military but here we see Edie casually tossing it around like a toy we also get a good look into what Al is going through the still shots I mentioned before drive home the arduous nosov life where you can never sleep he gets a lot of alone time just sitting there while Edie dozes off and tries his best to keep himself occupied by taking in nature there are two shots that seem pretty out of place here the crowd shots showing the supporting cast on their own I'd like these shots they give a solid impression of who these characters are and how they relate to each other especially Mustangs unit note the photo of Hughes on his desk but with the way the music kicks up still seem like an odd directorial choice I have a hunch that this shot of the ishbalans trekking through the desert was meant to be longer and for whatever reason these character shots were kind of crammed in there late in production the blowing leaves match the tempo of the song much better and the angle of this hill matches very closely with the bench that Ed is sleeping on which would have made for a perfect place to cut still I think this Opie is a lot stronger than the last two overall it's action and animation are miles better than Melissa and its direction is clear and purposeful also I just adore the way that the song ramps up with these disparate characters opening their eyes each shot has a separate context that makes sense on its own but all of these characters open their eyes to something during this core of the series as well so it connects to the story in six place we have golden time lover the third opening of brotherhood golden time lover is the one placement on this list where I feel like my personal biases are going to show the most normally I don't rank these based on song choice at all but Sookie mass which is one of my favorite bands of all time which is enough to push this over undo actually I think undo might be a smidge tighter in terms of its direction but the other thing golden time lover has going for it is slick editing and as an editor myself I can't help being taken by that the transitions in the last third of this OPR seriously impressive jumping from one scene to another before your mind has even registered that something's change parts of the next shot are overlaid on to the current one and frames and camera movement are matched perfectly between cuts to create these gorgeous seamless narrative leaps these transitions almost mask the opie is one flaw lack of a narrative through line the beginning and end connect to each other through this loop of Edie smashing and then not smashing a flower and that flows into a very strong sequence showing how the war in ishbal impacted and in some cases broke the series principal characters Kimberley's mad murder lust contrasts nicely with scars grim determination and we see the weight of the trauma like a literal fire inside Roy Mustang to become clearer and fixham estrus but as slick as the transition between these parts is they don't really connect fanatically and none of it really connects with the soldiers at Fort Briggs lining up and looking cool which while it's one of the most impressive parts of the LP is just kind of shoehorn in there with that said the editing is so tight that the shifts in tone aren't jarring and they fit the song so it doesn't feel as all over the place as hologram and it does at least connect back to Ed and Al struggling against their personal failings and against forces beyond their control the OPL Surrey incorporates elements of past opiez with interesting twists that make them feel darker and more depressing Ed's hand reaching upward now has no Sun to grasp or and where normally he'd be struggling against the door of truth we instead see him being pulled into Envy's gaping mouths this arc of the show marks a low point for the brothers so these twists feel very appropriate fifth place goes to Ready Steady Go the second opening of the original series Larkin Ciel's upbeat rock song is probably the first thing you think of when you think Fullmetal Alchemist at least if you started with the original series it's one hell of a catchy tune and it did a much better job setting the tone for the series than the first Opie focus here is placed on ed and Al's journey and the people they meet along the way and it's presented with a more irreverent overall tone than the show's other Opie's in fact as a sort of fake out it starts with a weirdly somber almost religious shot of the brothers gliding over an image of some sort of ornate flower holder before Ed's goofy smile totally ruins the mood the bulk of the Opie is spent watching the brothers run together through the countryside of am estrus their footsteps matching the relentless beat of the song as a result Ready Steady Go feels a little basic but it's infectious ly fun with a capital F it makes a conscious effort to break every serious moment with a moment of levity when the Elric's are sitting in the library studying alchemy and pondering the implications of their situation there's a funny smash cut to a cute shot of them piled up with Winry on top when we're introduced to the other state alchemists and soldiers we see their fun sides and while the shot of them against the sky is a little too nonsensical I can't help but smile when I see this high-energy animation the Opie ends on a shot of the Elric's feeling a little down in a rainstorm but sure enough Winry comes to brighten their day and offer them shelter and before you know it the sun is shining again with a rainbow referencing the name of the band this is followed by a quick montage of the brothers dealing with adversity and threatening to fall into despair but it returns ultimately to a happy moment I like the hopeful tone of this Opie in contrast with the others there's something to be said for focusing on the positive our fourth place entry period which also happens to be the fourth opening the Brotherhood works even better with a negative slant though the first five seconds of this Opie make for one hell of a hook in flashes we see the Elric brothers draw a transmutation circle in unison creating an immediate connection between them in our mind then just as immediately their actions end up tearing them apart this Opie is one of the best of the bunch when it comes to straight-up telling a story and encapsulating what its particular core is all about namely the Elric brothers being split up and trying desperately to find each other a theme which is conveyed in a lot of different ways despite being apart though we see the two brothers are focused on a common goal of trying to figure out what's going on and save a masterís which is the other big part of this story arc between the two of them literally we find the truth I absolutely adore the shot that caps off this short story the brothers just barely miss each other seemingly ending up in totally different worlds but then one by one their friends grab their attention bringing them back to face each other and then a sea of people spreads out connecting them but those connections don't just stop with their immediate friends the Elric's actions end up spreading out and affecting damn near all of humanity it's a phenomenal cash shot that leaves an impression of a huge expansive world the storytelling kind of stops here but it's replaced with an equally strong sequence of action scenes these do a good job of establishing each character's fighting abilities and generally make them look awesome especially general Armstrong she doesn't even have to do anything to look rad just stand there then at the end I'll tie it all together we see the brothers hands calling back to the start of the opie as they stand in the transmutation circle made to counter father's plan lastly we see the door of truth breaking apart foreshadowing Ed's final sacrifice to save Al and the boys silhouetted together under the dangling pocket watch this LP is full of solid action and visual storytelling but solid is kind of all it is it's really good but nothing about it makes it stand out like the series top three intros for sheer beauty very little beats rain Brotherhood's v o P and my pick for third place from here on out all of the FMA Opie's are unequivocally excellent some of the best ever made though each for very different reasons rain for its part presents us with a torrent of powerful raw emotion underscored with a melancholic rock ballad and overlaid with an oppressive seemingly endless sheet of rain it doesn't just focus on the Elric's and their friends either but instead all of them estrus at once from the citizens and the streets to the refugees from ishbal and Lior in the slums and the forces of the military all trying desperately to fight back against the plan set in motion by father to sacrifice them despite the torrent of rain which should wash it away we see the characters caked in dirt and blood and the city engulfed in flame the only thing this rain seems to be good for is hiding people's tears all in all it's a pretty terrible day for it but the LP does end on a hopeful note the Sun breaks through the clouds Eddie sees his mother reaching down out of the light and then we see ultimately that it's just a bad dream Winry is sitting watching over ed lovingly as he sleeps in a scene from after the end of the series it reassures us that despite the hardships that these characters are about to face everything will turn out ok in the end there are so many shots in this ope that I just love Winry caught in the light of the sunrise is of course beautiful but if we back it up to the beginning there are some even more evocative shots of her in particular we see God having taken on her form at the end of a lineup of EDS allies and there's this heart-wrenching moment where he goes to hug her and finds himself holding nothing and Ed's reaction to that sense chills down my spine every time I watch it he lets out a roar of raw beast she'll rage which distorts the world into this gorgeously rough sketchy art style ed in the 7 homunculus each of whom remember is the raw distillation of one of humanity's emotional vices are shown like shadows cast by a raging fire father as a point of contrast is shown in a very clean polished style giving him an increased air of poise but it's shown to be a front as we transition to his dwarf in the flask form rendered in a blurry violent style inside his eye we see the five sacrifices that he plans on using to reach God then there's a shot with Winry standing on the cliff by her home longing for Ed and Al we can tell that she's missing them because of the ingenious setup for the shot the way that it pans slowly past the tree that we always see them under Clues us in that they're missing before we even see her and these are just the standout shots this whole Opie is stunning but there's even better stuff yet to come speaking of absolutely stunning imagery we have second place rewrite the original series fourth and final Opie and what a strong note to go out on the LP starts impressive enough with an evocative descent into a buried city followed by several shots showing key character subdued contemplative moments but this is all just build up to the Okies real draw a breathtaking fight scene that has no business being on television the last 30 seconds of this OPR presented with the animation quality that honestly puts most anime films to shame with intricately detailed environments gorgeous effects work and smooth remarkably weighty character animation at a full 24 frames per second FM a brotherhood looks pretty good in general but this is maybe the best FMA has ever looked period it doesn't last long but the motion here is so realistic that the only reason I don't think it's rotoscope is that all of this [ __ ] is physically impossible but I'll be damned if I don't believe every second of it from edy and lust dropping 50 feet off a waterfall to Armstrong and Mustang laying waste to a horde of Camaros with fire and giant stone spikes - Raph's crazy stretchy arms holy [ __ ] - those ever look good the fight choreography is really strong - every attack is very distinctive and hits hard it's one hell of a climax that instantly gets you hyped to watch the show and then there's this final shot of edy looking back defiantly at the viewer also animated in stunning detail despite the fact that bones could easily get away with just making it estill it practically challenges you to keep watching I don't want to downplay how strong and evocative some of these shots are Roy Mustang getting drunk and the final tilt up to the Sun now further away than ever are particularly potent but this animation steals the show it's seriously awe-inspiring but when it comes to inspiring aw in the nothing tops again biue the first brotherhood Opie and the winner of this contest by a country mile the Opie starts with some of the most immaculate breathtaking visual storytelling I've ever seen in anything compressing the entire backstory of the franchise from Hoenn Himes perspective into ten perfect seconds and it somehow picks up from there impressing and surprising with each successive shot from the evocative image of a heart erupting into flames that consumed the Elric homestead as the boys look on to the final shot of the blaze literally casting long shadows that belie the influence there destined to have on the world almost every frame of this Opie is dripping with meaning and the moments that are there for the sake of style as opposed to substance are so damn stylish this Opie hits almost every one of my buttons it's got great action strong visual metaphors evocative shot composition in a spectacular song which the characters sing along to and the lyrics that they have Hawkeye and Winry lip-sync to even have particular meaning to them especially and the whole thing follows a near perfect interest curve building up to a crescendo of hype the only thing that this Opie does wrong is presenting the credits themselves they're a little flat and boring and they don't exactly gel with the shot compositions but man holy [ __ ] those shot compositions every one of them is spectacular and the animation is consistently top-tier it only takes a few brief cuts to get inside Al's head and feel his longing to get his body back and the isolation that he feels as a soul bound to Armour and there's a ton of subtle foreshadowing in the opie as well like how we see Hughes and Mustang resolutely watching each other's backs but then as Mustang turns around he's horrified to see the space where Hughes's engulfed in flames if you haven't seen the show you probably just think this is an allusion to Mustang powers but if you know what'll happen it takes on a new chilling meaning but out of all the strong shots the cool inventive character poses and the incredible fight animations one moment in the soapy stands out above the rest and it might not be what you think outside the hour at home we see alchemy lightning tearing away Ed's arm and leg then Al's entire body and then something shakes Winry to her core in these three shots in addition to seeing some phenomenal and horrifying animation we see the emotional stakes that lie at the heart of this story like the hook is that the brothers want to get their bodies back that's easy enough to understand but a huge theme throughout the series is that the brothers actions have implications that reach far beyond them and Winry is the primary indicator of the impact that they're having on the world and here we see that alongside them she's lost something vital but intangible something that she doesn't fully understand and which won't be fully restored to her and the very end of the series this Opie and the show in general does a ton of world and plot building but here in this moment it sets up the emotional through line of the entire story and that's why I think again is the absolute best in a series of absolutely incredible Opie's it's polished presentation impresses man does it ever impress and it's packed to the brim with hidden meaning but beyond that it just fundamentally gets what FMA is about and it does one hell of a job selling that to the viewer but that's my takin while I am the world's premier expert on anime openings I'm sure a lot of you have your own favorite Opie's from the series and your own list and I'd love to see them so feel free to leave a comment telling me thanks for sticking with me through this whole thing I I gotta say it makes for a damn fine birthday present of course if you want to keep giving I won't stop you you can get this video to your friends on social media and then give yourselves the gift that keeps on giving by hitting subscribe and following me on Twitter at G 0 FF 2 although for real if you want to do something nice for me as a birthday / channel anniversary present it would mean a lot to me if you checked out my level design analysis of Psychonauts I know it's not animate but it's one of the best videos I've ever made and I just really like for more people to see it or if you absolutely need more of an anime fix you can head on over to my buddy shaky drummers channel to listen to his awesome drum cover medley of every FM a theme which is what you're hearing in the background right now those of you who are feeling especially generous might want to look at my patreon page where you can support me and help me make even more videos like this the flying folks you're seeing on screen right now tuck that plugs already at a pretty high reward tier to boot and they have my deepest gratitude for that seriously thank you for watching this and if you've been here a while thank you for sticking with me through what's been hands-down the best year of my life having all of you in my life makes me happier than you can possibly imagine here's to another great year this is Jeff thew professional [ __ ] signing out from my mother's basement and reminding you that today you should do something nice for your mother

Channel: Mother's Basement

Views: 1,251,026

Keywords: Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa, Bones, Anime, Analysis, OP, Opening, Theme, Song, Credits, Critque, Undo, Rewrite, Melissa, Ready Steady Go, Again, Golden Time Lover, Rain, Hologram, Period, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherohood, FMA, Brotherhood, Toplist, Film, Theory, Mother's Basement

Id: D1kp4gHpXC8

Length: 21min 45sec (1305 seconds)

Published: Sun May 08 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Nenorock]

Also fun fact, It's Hiromu Arakawa's (original Mangaka for FMA) Birthday today as well

[u/SenatorBanana]

In the first opening here's what Hawkeye and Winry said :

Hawkeye: "yamete yo" which means stop (making that sad face as though you were a victim)

Winry: "Natsukashikunaru" (Nostalgia)

[u/mrsirgrape]

In my personal opinion, Again is one of the most perfect OP's for a show I've ever seen. It sets up Brotherhood in every way including the emotional impact of the series, the comradery of the characters, and the intense action sequences.

Period (OP4) is probably my favorite musically, but Again is the OP I always think about when I think about FMA.

[u/IISuperSlothII]

"One moment in this OP stands out above the rest and it might not be what you think"

I bet it's the shot of the brothers losing their bodys and it also showing the effect it has on Winry.

Yep... I'm on to you Geoff. Great video though, was hoping to see Golden Time Lover higher as it's up with my favourite FMA openings but it got enough praise to keep me happy. Definitely agree with Again being number 1 aswell, such an amazing op.

[u/JohnLivesOn]

Wow, watching someone talk about the OPs of this anime fills my eyes with tears. Can't hide from the feels.

[u/GrandeThiefAutomobil]

I can't help but cry when I see stuff about FMA and FMA:B, this show had too much of an impact on me man

[u/urban287]

For those who are like me and needed to go and watch all or some of the OP after watching this, here you go:

Fullmetal Alchemist:

• OP1 - Melissa

• OP2 - Ready Steady Go

• OP3 - Undo

• OP4 - Rewrite

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood:

• OP1 - Again

• OP2 - Hologram

• OP3 - Golden Time Lover

• OP4 - Period

• OP5 - Rain

[u/[deleted]]

Dang it I just love FMA, and hope that someday something can top it off.

[u/TARDISboy]

Personally, I feel as though the first shot of Again is actually the best shot of all the OPs combined. When I first saw it, knowing nothing about the series, figured it was Ed grown up or something along those lines. Once you're made aware of who that character is (nearly 3/4 of the way into the show!) the very first shot of Brotherhood has an entirely different meaning. Not to mention how important the transmutation circle behind that character is. Sure, Winry's shaking to her core is nice, but it's reasonably obvious in meaning. When you first watch Brotherhood that first shot has no meaning whatsoever, but then evolves into one of the most clever uses of an OP ever imo.

edit: Brotherhood spoilers