[LunarMoon]

Originally Posted by wisteria233

American series do those kind of things for shock value as well.

Name a depressing ending in an American movie made for shock value, and I can name 15 happy endings, many of which were created by butchering book endings.

See, you yourself were implying was that only series that are dark are good, and you yourself were calling FMA:B and the manga childish yourself, for not being as dark as the 2003 adaptation. You were the one calling FMA:B childish and judging its merits based off of that, which people other members on this forums pointed out made you seem child yourself. So don't even try to get on your high horse now, its already too late.

I was? When? I can't imagine myself calling Brotherhood "childish", because I don't see being "childish" as a negative quality to a series. Hence why I mentioned how "childish" Alice in Wonderland is, before stating how much I enjoyed reading it. I couldn't care less about whether something's childish or not as long as it makes me think.

Actually I would call the 2003 series lolgrimdark as much of its dark components ultimately didn't have a purpose for being there, and was just there to get a response. But storyline wise it doesn't make any sense, and comes across as juvenile.

Again, I couldn't care less whether it's "juvenile" or not. And I'm still wondering why you do. Seriously, why do you care? Full Metal Alchemist is a shonen so of course it's going to be somewhat "juvenile", but that still doesn't stop it from having, what I regard as, a more nuanced set of themes than Brotherhood.

The thing about Lust's character in the 2003 version is that she was meaningless (much like Rose and many other female characters in that story), none of that character development they gave her meant anything overall, quite like much of the series. Actually there are a lot unfortunate implication in the 2003 adaptation both about women (ironic since the original series the adaptation was based on was written and drawn by a woman) and about race in general.

Are you seriously going to make the argument that Full Metal Alchemist is racist? That's quite a charge. What's your evidence that this series is Mein Kampf Light?

Also the things you just mentioned in FMA:B started before episode 40, Also kirakim is right about "trusting others" being a theme of Brotherhood and the manga, as Ed wouldn't have been able to been able to make it that far, it he didn't trust in others. Though the show never told us this, it showed us this through the actions of the characters and the fact that, it was the trust that they had for one another that ultimately made the coup d'etat successful.

It's a theme, yes, but it isn't the main theme and it isn't a particular original one either. Kino's Journey and FMA 2003 may have the same theme of an "imperfect yet beautiful world", but I see that theme far less than that of trusting people and confiding in your friends.

Not series has to have dark elements to be considered good. In fact a series that has dark elements just to have them is not a good series at all.

I've mentioned this already. I've also mentioned that FMA 2003 isn't simply good because it has dark themes, and even went through the process of bringing up examples of poor dark fiction. As for the series being childish? Again, I couldn't care less. You're talking to a guy who reads super hero comics.

Spoiler for off topic:

Also Grave of Fireflies was not about survivor's guilt, considering that the little girl doesn't die until the end of the movie. And the brother admits to forgetting about her. Survivor's guilt happens when someone cannot move on with their life, the older brother moved on with his. Therefore survivor's guilt was never a theme.

The brother admitted to forgetting about her? I don't even see how that's possible. Grave of the Fireflies is based on an autobiographical novel, and the author obviously remembered enough about his sister to bother writing about her, more than twenty years after her death.

But again it seems like to you in order for a series to be considered "mature" and good it must have dark elements in it, and I've really gotta say that makes you seem juvenile.

Again, I don't care. I do not care about whether a series I watch is perceived as juvenile, and I do not care about whether I myself am perceived as juvenile. Hence, why I posted the C.S. Lewis quote and asked why you seem to care so much.