Lydia Hojnacki is a hardcore anime fan, manga lover, gamer, fan fiction writer, and cosplayer. She counts Devil May Cry, Sorcerer Hunters, and High School Girls among her favorite series, and can be found at conventions around New England dressed as Trish (Devil May Cry) and Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd). This is her first contribution to PopCultureShock.

I don’t think I am the top authority on Fullmetal Alchemist, but after watching the anime, reading the manga, and reading the novels, I certainly know a lot about it. To top off my knowledge of FMA, I also know that alchemy actually exists—at least, it did in Medieval times. Now it is a forgotten science.

I learned about FMA in college, when a friend of mine was drawing a character from the series. It wasn’t until I watched the anime, however, that I really got hooked. At first, I was caught up in the epic storyline and rooted for the Elric brothers to succeed in their quest to find the Philosopher’s Stone. The more I watched, however, the more I could relate to the characters, and the more I loved the series. Now I am completely obsessed with the cast.

Not surprisingly, the characters are my three top reasons for loving Fullmetal Alchemist. So, without further ado, here are my favorites.

1. The Elric Brothers
Edward Elric, the main character, is one of my favorites, and he is a big part of why I like FMA. When we first meet him, he is an eleven-year-old preparing to take the state alchemy exam. Over the next fifty-one episodes of the anime, we watch him turn into a teenager, becoming tougher, braver, and more sarcastic as the series progresses. At the same time, however, Ed is also very sensitive about his height, overreacting to short jokes and getting upset when people mistake Alphonse, his younger brother, as the older of the two. (Being short myself, I can relate to Ed’s problem!) Ed also goes ballistic when people assume that Al, who wears a suit of armor, is the “Full Metal Alchemist.” (That title, is in fact, Ed’s.)

Al is an equally important character. Al is calm and level-headed—you might say he is the yin to Ed’s yang. The two brothers have a very close relationship because of a terrible accident. While trying to bring their mother back from the dead using alchemy, Ed nearly killed both of them. To save Alphonse from certain death, Ed bound his brother’s soul to a suit of armor, losing his arm and leg in the process.

2. Roy Mustang
Roy Mustang shows up in Ed and Al’s hometown of Risembool after the catastrophe. Mustang encourages Ed to become a state alchemist so that he and Al can re-claim their bodies using the long-lost Philosopher’s Stone. After Ed passes the test, making him the youngest state alchemist ever, he begins to report to Roy. Roy sends Ed and Al on missions designed to help them find clues as to the whereabouts of the Philosopher’s Stone. Roy also tends to tease Ed about his height. This greatly impacts Ed and Roy’s relationship, due to the fact that height is a very sensitive subject for Ed.

Like Ed, Mustang is very sarcastic, a coping skill he developed after witnessing the Ishbalan Massacre when he was a young soldier. When we first meet Roy, he is a Lieutenant Colonel, but he works his way up to the rank of Brigadier General. (Die-hard fans will note that Roy holds the title “Colonel” throughout most of the series.) He’s also known as the “Flame Alchemist,” but most characters refer to him by military rank. Mustang’s number one goal is to become the Fuehrer, the ultimate military post, so that he doesn’t have to take orders from anyone—a direct response to what he saw happen on the Ishbalan campaign. Mustang is also a shameless flirt (and a little pervy, too). His friends joke that when Roy becomes the Fuehrer, all the female officers will have to wear tiny miniskirts. None of Mustang’s subordinates are really sure if his obsession with women’s uniforms is a joke or if he’s serious since Roy seems bi-polar.

3. The Awesome Female Characters
FMA has some kick-ass female characters as well, the most important of which is First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. She also happens to be my favorite character. She is Colonel Mustang’s right-hand man and bodyguard. Riza is calm and collected, and very handy with a gun. She is strict but very kind. At first, Hawkeye doesn’t have much interaction with the Elric brothers, but she is always very kind to them and she know about their use of forbidden alchemy. Riza very rarely loses her temper, but when does, she’s pegged as crazy, as is suggested by an incident with her dog, Black Hayate. After he peed on the wall, she shot circles around him for not going to the bathroom outside. Now that’s housebreaking!

She has a close friendship and a good working relationship with Roy Mustang. Some fans think she has romantic feelings for Mustang, but those feelings are far more complicated and far less obvious. It appears that her main drive is to follow Mustang to the top. She sometimes makes this clear, but other times tries to hide it. She also has the ability to talk back to Mustang without him snapping at her. She saves his life a lot, usually when he isn’t thinking and does something stupid.

Another character that I really like is Izumi Curtis, who could perhaps be known as the “Beastly Beauty.” She is Ed and Al’s alchemy teacher. She is a very important character, appearing halfway through the series in episode 26. Like Hawkeye, Curtis is a kind woman but a tough cookie. When she finds out that Ed and Al tried to bring back their mother using the forbidden practice of human transmutation, she beats the crap out of them. Then she hugs them. More importantly, she understands why they did it—she herself had attempted the forbidden practice after her child died in childbirth.

Winry Rockbell is another important female character in the series because she provides a link Ed and Al’s past. She is a childhood friend of the Elric brothers. After their mother died, she and her grandmother Pinako looked after them. She is now Ed’s automail mechanic. She designed Ed’s arm and leg for him, and she is always scolding him for not coming in for regular maintenance. Winry loves to take things apart and then put them back together again. Winry can also befriend anyone very quickly (e.g. Hawkeye). Winry is kind of like an honorary sister to Ed and Al.

I love FMA for many reasons. It has an amazing artwork and a cool story. But I love the characters the best; I feel like I know them, that I can relate to them, and that I want to spend time with them.

–Lydia Hojnacki

Adventures in Voice Acting is a DVD composed of five episodes, each covering a specific topic. From there, each episode is then split into even smaller parts dealing with more specific nuts and bolts of voice acting. Unlike many documentaries that are peppered with snippits of interviews, this is made up entirely of interviews–not just one or two, but dozens of interviews with various voice actors, producers, casting directors and more.

Never fear, though, it’s not simply light and fun interviews with voice actors, nor simply suggestions of what to do. No, the voice actors interviewed discuss the process itself, touching upon some of the technical and not-so-technical aspects of the job. Discussion ranges from the experience of being in the booth–having to glance from the script to the screen to the time stamp at the top of the screen, for example, or using green apples to remove ambient mouth noises–to the differences between doing anime dubs and original animation voice tracks. It’s really a fascinating DVD, even if you’re not thinking of trying to get into the business. Hearing actors share their stories of abject rejection, difficult personal lives, familial estrangement, and even what sounded suspiciously like a confession of suicidal thoughts, makes for some interesting viewing material.

The DVD also manages the trick of being discouraging and encouraging at the same time. Through the various tales of rejection and financial hardships it manages to demystify and perhaps even dash the various dreams of voice acting as glamourous and fun. The fact that several of the people had to maintain second jobs for years, in some cases decades, before being able to support themselves seems sure to scare away some who dreams of being a big name anime voice actor. Still, throughout this, the interviewees never quite cease to encourage the viewers to pursue their dreams, maintaining that persistence will pay off eventually. (It might just take ten or twenty years.) It certainly feels like a grounding experience for aspiring future voice actors, that’s for sure.

In addition to the five main episodes there are several bonus features which include vocal exercises and warm up-routines, to deleted scenes that discuss the voice actors’ own history with anime, and a lengthy text section with even more advice, hints and tips from the various people interviewed on the DVD.

If you’re interested in the business or thinking of entering it, this seems like a fantastic DVD to have. Even if you’re just curious as to what goes into making dubs, it’s probably worth a look.

Volume one of Adventures in Voice Acting is available now through the Bang Zoom! Entertainment website.

Synopsis
A shinigami (God of Death) by the name of Ryuk, bored of his humdrum existence, travels to earth, dropping his Death Note for someone to find. Someone does find it, namely a brilliant young boy named Light Yagami. After discovering he can use the Note to kill anyone by writing the time and means of their death in the book, Light sets out on a quest to purify the world of evil.

Not everyone views the random killings of people, criminals or not, as a good thing, and his activities quickly come under the investigation of the world’s greatest detective, a man known only as L. Now the two are engaged in a deadly game of cat and mouse as each attempts to ferret out the other’s identity. The four episodes on disc two cover Light’s attempts to evade detection as L narrows down the list of suspects until only two remain.

Storytelling/Characters
There’s a small group of regular characters that includes Light, L, the detectives in L’s group, and the shinigami Ryuk. Most of the series follows Light and L’s elaborate plots and counterplots, revealing their inner thoughts through lengthy monologues. Some minor characters get a surprisingly large amount of fleshing out as well, including Naomi Misora, a former FBI agent and fiancée to Raye Penber (a member of L’s investigative unit). Naomi especially comes across as an interesting and complex character in her brief time on screen.

But overall, it’s the intellectual dual between L and Light that dominates the story, and missing a single episode could result in you being quite lost and confused.

Animation/Visuals
Death Note is a dark and moody piece, with toned down colors, some simple but appealing character designs, and a visual style that creates an urban atmosphere tinged with the supernatural. The animators do some nifty tricks with the coloring as well, the most notable being the occasional switch over to brighter colors for hair and eyes. This technique is often used as a signal to help set internal monologue apart from the standard dialogue. For example, Light’s usually brown hair turns dark red when he’s contemplating a course of action or otherwise deep in thought planning his next move.

The animation is good enough and I didn’t notice any major problems with it. Then again, this series isn’t exactly a fast-paced action story; most of it consists of talking heads or walking scenes.

Voices/Music
While the English voice acting isn’t a dead match for the Japanese, it’s definitely one of the better dubs. No major complaints here, and highlights for me included Ryuk’s smokers cough laugh being nicely replicated in the English dub and Brad Swaile’s sadistic glee as he spits out Light’s dialogue.

The opening theme is a damn catchy tune that’s been stuck in my head for the last few days and shows no sign of leaving. Thankfully it’s a pretty decent metal-y song that does a good job at setting the tone for the series and even for Light’s ultimate goal. The rest of the music varies, but it always serves to enhance the mood, ranging from slightly odd and creepy to bombastic orchestra pieces that really gets you into… well… into watching Light write in a note book. Who knew that watching someone writing down names could be so gripping or dramatic?

Overall
Death Note is a nice break from the fight-oriented shonen series that currently dominate both the airwaves and the bookshelves. Folks used to dramatic battles that stretch out over episodes will probably be a bit disappointed at first, but given a chance I’d imagine that many will be sucked into the mental cat and mouse games characteristic of the series.

As a responsible anime fan, you should already know about Paprika. In fact, as person calling yourself a fan, you should be familiar with all of Kon’s works. Your standard anime fan at a convention should be able to rattle off Satoshi Kon’s films in order of their personal favorites. Here’s my list:

ERIN’S SATOSHI KON FAVORITES

1. Paprika (2006)
2. Paranoia Agent (2004, TV Series)
3. “Magnetic Rose” (1996, short film from Memories)
4. Millennium Actress (2001)
5. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
6. Perfect Blue (1997)

I encourage readers to leave their list of Satoshi Kon favorites in the comments!

A lot of people will take contention to my high placement of Millennium Actress, but I really liked the film. The scene that took place in the wake of the U.S. air raid brings tears to my eyes in every time I see it. I liked the soundtrack enough that I tracked it down and bought it.

Perfect Blue has a really uncomfortable attempted-rape scene, so I’ve only seen it once. In the pre-2002 days of anime fandom, people would recommend Perfect Blue as an example of “good anime,” failing to mention that it is a very mature psychological thriller. It was an unsettling surprise to watch Perfect Blue uninformed. I can’t imagine watching it more than once.

Memories is good enough to own and “Magnetic Rose” is the strongest of the three short films on the DVD. Tokyo Godfathers is Kon’s most light-hearted work, with a PG-13 rating. I thought Tokyo Godfathers might be good film to watch with my parents around Christmas (it’s Christmas in the movie), but it didn’t hold their attention.

Paranoia Agent aired on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim block. It’s one of my favorite anime series of all time, on a level of quality similar to Ghost in the Shell; Stand Alone Complex. Paranoia Agent is only 13 episodes. I bought a Maromi plushie. The only excuse for not watching Paranoia Agent is one’s age, in which case you should buy it anyway and watch it when you turn 18.

Paprika is similar to Paranoia Agent, but it is a more light-hearted and shorter. Paprika has the well-handled transitions of Millennium Actress, the suspense of Perfect Blue, and the humor of Tokyo Godfathers, all rolled into one solid film. Paprika’s character designs are typical of Kon’s work, and many of his other films get a visual nod.

Paprika takes place in the near future, where dream research scientist have recently developed a device called the DC Mini, which allows psychologist to record the dreams of their patients. Just before the device is made public, the prototype unit is stolen. The scientists on the development team must recover the device before it is used for ill intent.

Protagonist Atsuko Chiba is a stern and straight-laced psychologist by day, but by night she dives into patients’ dreams using the DC Mini as her alter-ego, a red-headed, free-spirited action hero named Paprika. One of Chiba’s patients is Detective Konakawa, who helps investigate the case of the stolen DC Mini. Konakawa is having stress dreams about his unsolved homicide case.

The film opens on one of Konakawa’s dreams, then transitions quickly as his dream changes settings from a circus to a Tarzan movie to a suspense film on a train. Paprila hurdles forwards through a world of dreams and reality, the subconscious, and even a strange internet site, moving smoothly from one setting to the next in unmistakable Kon-like-transitions.

Fans of Genshiken and Akiba-kei will appreciate Tokita Kosaku, one of the scientist characters and the inventor of the DC Mini. Tokita is a severely obese otaku, who, despite being a genius, has the mind of a child. Tokita’s obesity is handled with gentle humor, and for an otaku he is a sympathetic character. Tokita’s assistant, and fellow otaku Himuro is a suspect in the theft. Himuro is obsessed with dolls, and a search of his apartment early in the film reveals a room filled with otaku artifacts.

Although Paprika starts off as a suspense movie and a psychological thriller with sci-fi elements, it is filled with humor and a nostalgic love of cinema. In one scene, Konakawa is dressed as Satoshi Kon himself, and gives a visual example of the “180 degree rule”.

At the center of the film is a bustling parade, filled with dolls, frogs, walking refrigerators, living pay phones, and Buddhist and Christian iconography, all dancing and moving in a cacophonous and superbly-animated march between dreams. The parade is filled with the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life, true to real-life dreams. Kon has mentioned in interviews that the parade is symbolically related to the Shintoist belief in animism—that everything has a spirit including objects like toasters and vending machines.

The only similar scenario I have read in comics is the Sandman book The Doll’s House:

“Rose Walker is a vortex.”

Here is the official Paprika site and trailer. As a responsible anime fan, you need to see this movie.