Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the anime adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s manga, has become one of the most popular anime series since its 2009 debut. The manga’s first adaptation, which ran from 2003-2004 simply titled Fullmetal Alchemist, has been displaced in popular culture by Brotherhood. A shame, since FMA ’03 is a strong series in its own right.
A strength the two series share is the music. Michiru Ōshima’s (FMA ’03) and Akira Senju (Brotherhood) scores are both phenomenal, as are the nine total opening themes across both shows.
9 Fullmetal Alchemist Opening 1 – “Melissa”
The first Fullmetal Alchemist opening, playing from episodes 1-13, isn’t bad, but the best is still yet to come. The song is Melissa, sung by band Poruno Gurafiti. It’s not a bad song at all and maintains a nice rhythm that complements the animation’s flow. However, Melissa is easily the least dynamic Fullmetal Alchemist opening.
There are a few too many establishing shots, and the pacing drags. Even the climactic hero shot of Ed and Al unveiling their alchemy is surprisingly sluggish. The best shots are of Scar marching through the desert—the slow pace actually adds to the mood and makes Scar an ominous figure—and of the Homunculi lunging towards the camera, concluding with an extreme close-up of Lust.
8 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Opening 4 – “Period”
Brotherhood‘s fourth opening, Episodes 39-50, is its weakest, but that speaks more to the strength of its competition than faults in the opening itself. The animation is played over the song Period by CHEMISTRY. Opening with an exciting drum beat, a young Ed and Al are pulled apart after drawing a transmutation circle.
The opening shots focus on the Elric brothers, either together or apart, before May, Winry, and then the show’s whole supporting cast appears one by one. From there, the action is off—highlights include the Elrics dodging shadow attacks from Pride, Lan Fan jumping across Envy’s monster form, and Kimblee destroying tank shells launched at Sloth.
7 Fullmetal Alchemist Opening 2 – “Ready Steady Go!”
The second Fullmetal Alchemist opening, set to L’Arc-en-Ciel’s Ready Steady Go, plays in front of Episodes 14 to 25. The song and animation alike are faster-paced than Melissa, while also better elaborating on the character’s personalities. Before the music picks up, the opening begins with a Neon Genesis Evangelion homage (Ed and Al’s bodies floating up and down along the sides of the screen, like Rei and Asuka in The Cruel Angel’s Thesis).
Then, the fun begins. There are many shots of the Elrics running together, emphasizing the faster pacing. Winry sometimes shows up, emphasizing her friendship with the brothers, while Armstrong, Hawkeye, Hughes, and finally Mustang also receive successive hero shots. The shot of the Homunculi is very similar to Melissa’s; Envy and Gluttony lunge at the camera followed by a close-up of Lust, misleadingly painting her as the main villain. The very last bit is a rapid montage alternating close-ups of Ed and Al, played over the concluding drum beat.
6 Fullmetal Alchemist Opening 3 – “Undo”
The third Fullmetal Alchemist opening has the clearest symmetry between the music and the animation. The song in question is Undo by COOL JOKE and plays from Episodes 26-41. The opening begins with a sequence of Ed, Al, and Winry as children all running together during sunset. The rest of the opening cuts between this moment and the Elrics as adults, either in battle or enjoying downtime together.
Undo‘s lyrics tell a tale of someone who wishes they could go back to simpler times—it’s clear that wish is Ed and Al’s. The opening is sure to include shots of characters introduced during this stretch of episodes—Izumi Curtis, her husband Sig, Wrath, Greed, and the escaped Laboratory 5 Chimeras.
5 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Opening 3 – “Golden Time Lover”
The third Brotherhood OP is Golden Time Lover by Sukima Switch, and the sequence plays before Episodes 27-38. By this point, Brotherhood had gone in a completely different, manga-accurate path to the first anime; like Undo, Golden Time Lover has the burden of introducing plenty of new supporting characters. It does so deftly; indeed, the most memorable part of the sequence is the spotlight of the newly-introduced Fort Briggs characters.
One spectacular scene transition stands out; after a shot of Buccaneer and Miles standing side by side, a tank barrel enters the frame from the edge. The camera pans out and swerves, revealing General Olivier Mira Armstrong atop the tank, sword out and commanding it to fire. The editing is a strength of Golden Time Lover; the placements of certain characters’ shots draw contrasts (Kimblee and Scar, Father and Hohenheim, etc.). The opening also begins with Ed lying on his back in a grassy field reaching for the sky, and ends in that same shot, as if the sequence in between had just been a daydream.
4 Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 2 – “Hologram”
Brotherhood‘s second opening sequence plays from Episodes 15-26. It’s also the point on this list where the songs go from merely great to downright excellent, thanks to Nico Touches The Walls’ Hologram. The music itself is so good that it makes the whole sequence worth it. Said sequence is essentially bifurcated. The first half is a line-up after line-up of the major characters—the Elrics, the Xing-native characters, Team Mustang, then (most of) the villains.
Then, just as the music picks up, the action begins. Ed vs Envy and Gluttony, Mustang creating a blast of fire and Lust charging from it, and Ling dueling King Bradley. Even if the sequence jumps around a lot, the individual shots are excellent, especially Ed and Hohenheim facing off at sunset, both bathed in gorgeous red light.
3 Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 – “Again”
Brotherhood definitely had the better introductory opening than FMA ’03. Said opening, played to Again by YUI, ran from Episodes 1-14. Again shifts gears several times, beginning as slow and almost hymn-like before escalating to rap-like rhythm. The animated imagery is striking, from the Elrics standing in front of a heart burst into flames or the shot of Ed losing his limbs/Al losing his body.
It’s also the first sequence to make the Homunculi look scary; Gluttony, Envy, then Lust literally jump out of each other’s skin. The order reflects the hierarchy among them, the crimson coloring foreshadows the Philosopher’s Stone, and their smirks are spine-chillingly sinister. Again‘s sequence of Ed vs Envy and Gluttony is better than Hologram’s, thanks to the more exciting setting of a collapsing bridge and more expressive animation.
2 Fullmetal Alchemist Opening 4 – “Rewrite”
Fullmetal Alchemist‘s fourth and final opening plays from Episodes 42-51 and is accompanied by Rewrite, sung by Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Brotherhood has FMA ’03 beat when it comes to production values, but Rewrite is the best-animated OP in either Fullmetal Alchemist. Never has Ed felt more tactile and three-dimensional than in the opening close-up of him as his hair billows in a sandstorm.
The animation and music are well-matched; the song begins more slower and contemplative, and the opening animation shows forlorn shots of the Elrics, Hohenheim, Mustang, and Winry. After a close-in on the Dante-possessed Lyra, the song and animation shift gears to action. Ed and Al do battle with the Homunculi, intercut with Mustang and Armstrong showing off their alchemic talents together against chimeras.
1 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Opening 5 – “Rain”
As with its predecessor series, Brotherhood saved the best opening for last. Rain by SID plays over Episodes 51-64. It’s a tough contest, but Rain takes the medal for best FMA song. The sequence itself is also easily the most dramatic opening, reflecting the apocalyptic stakes of Brotherhood‘s final arc. After a line-up of the Elrics and all their friends, Ed reaches out for a Winry-shaped Truth but finds himself alone.
What follows are gorgeous red, fiery shots of Ed and the Homunculi, before the scene shifts to a rain-soaked battlefield, depicting everyone from the Ishvalans to the Amestris army. Scar prepares to duel Wrath, the Armstrong siblings brace themselves, but sometime in the future, Ed sleeps blissfully while Winry looks on lovingly. The only flaw of Rain is that the opening moves so fast, it’s hard to truly savor the beauty.
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