What I mean: In Fullmetal Alchemist, Roy Mustang says “It’s raining” or “It’s a terrible day for rain” at his best friend Maes Hughes’ funeral, held on a day with clear skies. It seems like he says this because he begins to cry after he says it. But when you think about it, Mustang is “useless” when it rains/when he gets wet because he can’t use his flame alchemy. He equates rain to uselessness. So when he says it’s raining at Hughes’ funeral, he means that he feels useless/helpless now that his best friend is dead. The writing in this show has the ability to rip out your heart and stomp on it when you’re least expecting it, then kick you while you’re down. I am NOT okay.
Also, he says this specifically to Riza, who is usually the one protecting him when he can’t use his alchemy in the rain. Roy himself sometimes forgets that rain ruins his alchemy, but Riza remembers and is always prepared for such a situation. Roy, by saying “it’s raining,” specifically to Riza, is conveying that he feels helpless, accepts this, and is asking to be supported. FUCK.
You fucking made it worse. I don’t know how, but you mADE IT WORSE.
Their boobs move. Like…realistically move. As in, the way actual breasts would motion if a woman made that movement without an over the top exaggeration and the camera is framed in a way so that it’s clearly not supposed to be sexual the way most anime would stage it. The scenes in question are meant to be taken seriously so the animators and direction is take things seriously. Either it’s just a character walking down a hall or clapping her hands.
If this were any other action/adventure anime, the camera angle would’ve been something like this for Winry’s introduction:
This is weird, but what I find so sexy about Riza is, well… How she isn’t sexualized. Like, she isn’t a pure sex object in nonstop sexy outfits. She’s a beautiful military woman, and she dresses appropriately for the role. Along with that she’s NEVER used as the ‘sexy distraction’ trope that women often are used for. She has a good role, she’s a fighter, but also has a kind heart for her friends.
That and more are reasons Riza is my favorite female anime character, and FMAB is my favorite anime.
Well said my friend.
I think there was only one instance of jiggle physics and that was with lust but that was when they were trying to make a joke about havoc having a thing for boobs and the joke was more about havoc than lust having big breasts.
“You fell into my booby trap” (proceeds to paralyze Havoc afterwards)
What I also love is that their boobs are in equal proportion to every other body part. Like, yeah, a character might have bigger boobs, but she also had a big waist/hips/legs/etc to go with it, so the largeness doesn’t feel fake. Plus, they never draw attention to the sexual stuff, and the only exception was the joke with Havoc. And it was posed in a way that made it feel like less of a raunchy boob joke and more of a joke on Havoc and how his attraction to boobs is what led him to be deceived, which doesn’t leave female viewers uncomfortable, or feeling like their body is constantly the butt of a joke, like some other animes do
That’s a good point that I didn’t realize. All of characters in the show have equally proportioned bodies.
Ed’s muscles get larger as he gets older but never reaches John Cena level of jacked since he’s still under 6 feet tall. He’s always presented as ripped and not ‘bulky’ like Sig or Alex.
Riza is about the same height as adult Ed, but they have different body styles thus the word for her would be toned. She’s still lean but her muscles and body shape are the same aren’t ‘compact’.
Fmab follows the basic body designs for males and female characters and doesn’t exaggerate a specific feature to the point where it’s comedic. It makes it’s bed, and lies in it.
Every time I see a girl in just about any other action/adventure (shonen) anime I just think:
“is your back okay? You need a doctor? Hey Thomas! Call Lucy a chiropractor!”
or better yet:
“Good Lord! Get this man a sandwich!”
The only real exception to the whole body proportion thing is ALEX LOUIS ARMSTRONG
But his ridiculously bulky muscles are used largely as a comedic element, in which the overly toned nature of his body is commented on as the “freak of nature” kind of idea and definitely not presented as if that’s some kind of expectation for anyone else in the show.
It’s so weird seeing these gifs because when you actually watch the show they do it so gradually that you barely even notice (at least I didn’t) but then you look at these and it’s like, whoaa. Even Winry has a completely different face, it’s not just Ed getting taller and more muscular.
Animation, you’re doing it right.
especially when you consider this happens in what, a year? a year and a half?
This is actually one of the things I love most about FMA. They age so gradually, just like real people. A lot of times in anime and other animation, there’s not really a slow process of growing up; it’s just sort of, “Hey, look, she has curves now, and he’s way taller.”
just moving along like everyone else 