The Music of Fullmetal Alchemist: Two Approaches to Scoring a Classic

0:00 [Music] foreign [Music] Alchemist is about as universally beloved a franchise as I've ever seen in any medium the manga has remained consistently in the top 10 on Mao on both of its animated adaptations have held the number one spot with its second adaptation holding the coveted position for an unprecedented length of time spanning a decade what about this fantasy adventure story sets it apart from the hundreds of fantasy anime and manga that proceeded and followed it while the answer to that question depends largely on both the person's individual experience and what version they consumed the fact is Full Metal Alchemist stays with you it

0:47 lingers its masterful characters worlds story and themes embed themselves within your mind in such a way that makes each person's experience deeply personal and emotional and what better conduit is there to enhance emphasize and instill emotion within an audience than music whether it be the original animated adaptation of FMA from 2003 or its re-adapted sibling 2009's Brotherhood one thing is for certain these shows have some of the most beautifully realized most emotionally resonant and most exquisitely written music ever put to animation that's right I'm not here to play partisan with FMA adaptations except for this one I love both of these shows and especially their music far too dearly to Discount either adaptation rather what

1:34 I'm far more interested in is how Oshima mitsuru and senju Akira's scores for these adaptations differ throughout the story something that's imperative to understanding and appreciating both the original Fullmetal Alchemist which I'll call 2003 for short and full moon Alchemist Brotherhood is that while their stories initially follow the same trajectory they end up in vastly different places by the end and while there's been plenty of arguing over the years about which adaptation is inherently better I believe there's far more Merit in experiencing them both rather than choosing a favorite and casting the other away both have obvious surface level similarities as they stem from the same material but by the end offer wholly unique answers to the inciting questions of the series and they have similar but

2:20 also very different musical needs that's what I'm excited to explore 2003's very first scene opens with a whiplash of Hope and Dread a Unison horn solely immediately invites us into the music of the World As We pan across Ed and Al preparing their transmutation circle let's go for it oshima's score bursts to life with swirling Harps and full String orchestra underscoring Edward's enthusiastic grin as their Alchemy fills the screen with a Golden Glow [Music] foreign but as a more wisened ed begins to narrate about the dangers of alchemy we

3:06 realize this is a memory one the brothers will never forget to create something of equal value must be lost the score shifts sharply to a frantic ostinato in the strings on a dissonant minor second accented with minor thirds the once triumphant horns now snap sneeringly as the alchemic reaction turns an ominous shade of violet Ed's narration finishes as the full Orchestra in rhythmic Unison reaches a climax on a huge octatonic cluster cord under Ed's screams [Music] returning to the aftermath the string section enters one by one iterating in dissonant chromatic Harmony on the same Fugal melodic idea until they unite in

3:51 an eerie planing tremolo as Ed realizes the horror of what lies before him is that you [Applause] [Music] screen Fades to black as Ed screams over the orchestra and solemnly Resolute octaves a tubular Bell Tolls a menacing reminder of the finality of death this is one of the most hauntingly compelling opening scenes in anime history and that credit goes mainly to arakawa hiromu whose original manga opened with a similarly chilling first page but what makes animation so appealing in adaptation is the power it can add to

4:36 originally static images through motion sound and of course score three of oshima's cues were used in just this opening scene and we'll hear these cues again throughout the show but the opening cue the way home proves to be one of the show's most significant not only does it introduce us to Fullmetal Alchemist but also to its romantically inspired score though not that kind of romantic this kind of romantic but we'll get back to that later Ed you know better than to scribble on the floor dribbling Brotherhood introduces this material in a much different manner after the Standalone Side Story of brotherhood's first episode which only shows a glimpse of their past and a flashback the audience is met with an episode fully delving into the brother's history

5:22 without the cold open brotherhood takes an approach that gradually leads us into the same pivotal moment but given the context of their mother Trish's death and what the brothers are attempting with their Alchemy the scene takes on a whole new light we as an audience can already sense something horrible is about to happen water 35 liters carbon 20 kilograms senju's approach is in turn also much different as the elrics prepare their transmutation circle we hear nothing but the sound of Ed reading chemical ingredients a coldness envelops the scene as the active orchestral score until this point is Stripped Away to silence something doesn't feel right as the

6:11 alchemical reaction once again ominously changes color we're met with the uneasy sound of an alto flute soon accompanied by a string quartet playing Jagged cluster chords a far cry from oshima's massive orchestral writing the sense of dread oozes from this cue but it's reserved in its instrumentation and writing not showing its full hand just yet the scene takes a turn as Ed arrives at the gate significantly introducing this monolith of fma's story long before 2003 does [Music] all the while senju's score remains restrained to small instrumentation a celestein heart chamber strings and piano

7:03 [Music] as Ed is thrust back into the aftermath of the transmutation send you finally unleashes the power of the full Orchestra [Music] accompanying a haunting choral Melody it's lilting waltz-like Rhythm and descending chromatic progression evokes an air of Gothic fantasy dark dramatic and lamenting this fateful moment will haunt the boy's lives through the remainder of the story interestingly send you titles this track main theme the Full Metal Alchemist implying that directed to write a main theme for the show this is broadly how he encapsulated the story of FMA musically

7:49 I find this an intriguing contrast to oshima's approach as none of her cues are titled so matter-of-factly leaving the show's main theme up for interpretation this could similarly be a result of different direction given to the composers [Music] Oshima is stated in an interview that director mizushima seiji envisioned a score inspired by Western classical music as early as their first meeting she then recalls sound director Mima masafumi providing her music they had been using as inspiration as well as direction to create musical themes presumably for things like setting

8:35 character emotion and story beats boy would I love to have that list of tracks he provided her but one thing is pretty clear they were likely Romantic Era pieces and probably ones oshimo was intimately familiar with already as a composer it's common practice for directors to provide composers with material that matches the tone of their project to evoke a similar style or mood but it's more common these days for that material to be from other TV or film scores hence the temp music dilemma that is often discussed it's much less common however to provide well-established peace of classical music and this shows an intention Beyond simply eliciting the same feeling as the music it invokes the real world historical power of the music as well to contrast senju says in an interview that his intention in scoring

9:21 Brotherhood was much different I carefully read the original work and created music that flowed through the story from scratch I think that music is responsible for expression that cannot be put into words I have tried to give the work a sound that will not get old no matter how many years pass with a spirit both Universal and Timeless so unlike oshima's work on 2003 send you score for Brotherhood was created to uniquely encapsulate the world of Fullmetal Alchemist and create a Timeless fantasy score unburdened by historical comparison this discrepancy isn't just a simple difference in compositional preference but one that highlights a fundamental Divergence in directorial approach between 2003 and Brotherhood one that helps these adaptations stand on their own and coexist as Titans of the medium I'm impressed even adults scream in this

10:11 part of the operation this paints nothing compared to what he's given up though there's not a track named main theme in 2003 to pick a single track that encapsulates the raw power of fma's story isn't difficult testing the limits of Ed's new Limbs and Al's steel body the brother Spar and find a shared resolve to one day restore their fractured bodies to their original state Oshima weaves effortlessly through four different modes conveying a seamless mix of the brother's conflicting emotions the harp opens with an arpeggiated ostinato and D natural minor cycling from the minor 1 to the flat 7 to Flat 6 and back up this pensive sequence is broken by the entrance of the violin solo which immediately leads to a much more wistful G major chord the major

10:59 four altering the mode to D Dorian in the following section the harmony transitions to f lydian a much brighter mode evoking the childish naivety of the elrics before their attempt at human transmutation Oshima mixes modes effectively by emphasizing the major two chord characteristic of lydian while also using the major IV chord present in F major notice this shift between B natural and B-flat the final phrase of this section features a rising Harmony from F major to G major to a major strongly implying a modulation back to the starting key of D Minor since a major is the V chord in D

11:47 [Music] but Oshima isn't done toying with our emotions just yet instead the harmony sweeps our expectations aside crescendoing to a B-flat major chord and cadencing strongly in F major with a four to five to one progression there's something so beautifully triumphant about this Rising progression in such an innocent melancholic piece it feels like the elrics fighting against the despair that lives within them that out of their heartbreak they've found strength the piece finally lands back in D Minor ending with the same harp ostinato as the boys leave their burning home behind to start their Journey so we burned down the family home and all

12:33 the familiar things inside because some memories aren't meant to leave traces oshima's style here is reminiscent of orchestral settings of English folk songs like those of Von Williams thus bringing to mind images of the rural English Countryside a close comparison to the Sheep farming town of Eden Al's youth foreign but since this is a song I'd be remiss not to discuss the lyrics as well which are particularly not English this theme has multiple names across the soundtracks but the vocal version is prominently called bratya Russian for brothers

13:22 [Music] as such the song is sung entirely in the Russian language which is a distinctly bold choice for a Japanese television show and one that achieves multiple effects for one this immediately evokes a sense of place that this story and these characters and that risen bull could exist in a Countryside in the real world it also gives a sense of history as it feels like this could be the folk music tradition of a mastrous and through this historical lens it exhibits a sense of nostalgia for a time since past both for the world and for the elrics who've put their past behind them the lyrics themselves affirm these feelings through the words of Eden Al foreign [Music]

14:08 [Applause] [Music] it's rare that a track written for an anime works so strongly at an emotional narrative and meta textual level as bratya and that's part of the reason it's remained so enduringly popular through the two decades since the original adaptation began foreign with such a landmark track associated with fma's story senju had an interesting task composing for Brotherhood to reference oshima's work

14:54 or not send you came to this decision on his own terms stating in an interview I didn't listen to any of the previous Works to avoid having any sort of preconceived notions nor did I end up really referencing them in my music ultimately this was an entirely appropriate decision for his creative output and for the adaptations at large to conflate 2003 in Brotherhood as adaptations through music would be a detriment to both works and the considerably different tones they achieve instead senju creates his own sound world for Ed and Al's past in resin bull during brotherhood's depiction of the same sparring scene Trisha's lullaby plays [Music] somberly orchestrated for Strings and

15:40 Choir This queue is far more reminiscent of a Requiem Mass than a folk song A mournful melody in the choir sequences above the string orchestras richly satisfying chord progression and F minor as he did in the main theme Sanju showcases a strong penchant for the functional Harmony of the Baroque Era even utilizing the cycle of fifths [Music] Christmas foreign ing progressions of the era by way of composers like Handel and Bach

16:33 [Music] it's certainly interesting that oshiman send you separately came to the conclusion to score Ed and Al's past in risen Bull with the human voice and goes to show how powerfully the voice can convey emotion at a deeply personal level however Trisha's lullaby is distinctly not in Russian but in Latin Trisha herself here sings to her children [Music] foreign

17:23 use of Latin also communicates a different tone being one of the great Classical Languages of Western history Latin carries a weight of ancient reverence a few languages do its heavy use in religion science and Academia is also notable given the setting in the amestrian culture of well-researched atheist scientists but perhaps most importantly Latin is a dead language one that no longer evokes a sense of place in the modern world like Russian does so send you's usage of Latin throughout his score feels like a distinct tonal choice that makes Brotherhood stand apart as an Epic Fantasy there is one other interesting connection to oshima's risen bull though the theme from Trisha's lullaby first appears earlier in the same episode as Ed begins to reminisce about his upbringings Le steel stone

18:10 that destroyed the city of Xerxes in one night the grand Elixir sealed Away by the Eastern Sage this time the lullaby is performed by a much different Ensemble made up of balalaikas an instrument most commonly used in Russian Folk music how odd that Russian musical tradition is the common ground between these composers depictions of the Austrian Countryside it's not all sheep and Haystacks in the world of FMA though far from the peaceful Countryside where the elrics grew up since the heart of a mastros's military might Central Command populated by government-controlled state Alchemists and soldiers Central is vitally important to the elric's journey in joining the military serves as a necessary evil for Ed as he seeks to gain knowledge about the Philosopher's Stone in 2003 the elric's introduction to

18:57 Colonel Mustang is underscored with the Q a mistress [Music] oshima's musical interpretation of the military is one that's brutal and ominous with rigid snares and Jagged low brass stabs a bleak Melody played in unison throughout the strings and horns sits agitatedly Atop The ostinato [Music] interestingly this theme is directly related to The First theme we heard in the show

19:44 foreign but with much darker Harmony and orchestration [Music] this doomed musical depiction of the military has strong ties to the music of Shostakovich who famously criticized the militaristic centralized government of the Soviet Union through violent symphonic Works depicting its brutality foreign [Music]

20:30 the totalitarian amestrian governments outwardly appalling actions during the ishval and War of extermination as well as its wide-scale internal corruption oshima's decision to emulate shostakovich's act though this is the main track that depicts the military it's worth noting that Oshima incorporates militaristic elements into other tracks as well making use of snare ostinati horn calls and trumpet Melodies throughout to Encompass a broader range of emotion for The Lovable military characters senju's approach similarly incorporates militaristic elements but not nearly as harshly in the very first scene of brotherhood's first episode Mustang the fuhrer and Ed and L are introduced with

21:16 a much more optimistic cue featuring pastoral brass and martial percussion he also has a penchant for accenting acts of heroism throughout the story with these elements such as the energetic brass fanfares and Mustang's riveting battle against lust foreign looks like I can get you on your knees after all [Music] in the final Arc of the show the track a mistress military March is introduced and it's a straight up propagandist anthem for the amestrian military the Glorious irony of this track is that it's only used when Mustangs forces are mounting a coup against the amastrian government so it's almost like a big musical middle finger to the main

22:02 antagonists of the show not to mention it's used during this Unforgettable Gem of a scene respectable muscles [Music] of the military characters in Fullmetal Alchemist one stands out as particularly memorable both for his charismatic Carefree attitude and steadfast love of his wife and child better being vital I don't like him tying up the lines so how am I gonna handle it if she has the baby tomorrow I mean emotionally Hughes becomes something of a father figure to the elrics once they reach Central inviting them to dinner with his family and looking out for them as they Traverse the intricacies of Central

22:47 Command this state's future is in their hands and as adults it's our job to enable them when you have kids you'll understand it's no wonder then that his sudden death at the hands of Envy has such an impact on the story 2003 spends significantly more time developing Hughes as a character within the first 25 episodes of the show he's shown as a cunning investigator in the scar case a caring father and husband and a deeply loyal friend to Mustang he's even shown checking in on Mustang after he attempted suicide from his guilt over the war in ishval the men's bond is far from just trusting compatriots they clearly both genuinely care for each other after Hughes calls Mustang in an effort to dissuade him from getting involved in the laboratory five investigation Mustang immediately catches a train back to Central sensing

23:32 something is wrong his instincts are unfortunately correct as the homunculi have planned for his assassination hesitating to kill Envy who's taken the form of his wife Hughes is shot by the homunculus but instead of showing the aftermath oshima's score picks up as a flashback Fades into view I'm going to become the fuhrer maze I'll Transform how this whole country runs it's the only way I can justify taking my next breath to do that you're going to need someone who understands you and the system and support you from the inside only when panning past tombstones does the gravity of what's happened begin to Dawn the string orchestra plays descending lines passing through each section and sustaining until arriving dramatically at a giant E sus4 chord

24:19 that doesn't resolve [Music] a funeral March begins as the bases and cellos oscillate between a minor and D Minor with a grim a pedal the violins and violas carry the melody stepping solemnly upward and downward as Mustang and Hughes family Overlook his grave why are they burying daddy Alicia begins asking why her father is being buried as the harmony reaches a heartbreaking flat six the melody harmonized in sixths and joined by a stately horn call reaching the ending the orchestra lands on a

25:04 final a sus2 chord again left unresolved as Alicia cries out for her father wake up foreign never fail to tear up at this scene every single time I watch it it's pacing and shot composition is perfectly sequenced for maximum emotional impact the endlessly lovable Armstrong softly sobbing is truly heart-rending oshima's Secret in this queue named parting absolutely lies in her use of unresolved harmonies the lack of a firm resolution in minor makes this track all the more devastating a life cuts short like Hughes leaving behind his family friends and comrades has no resolution either just a feeling of desolation

25:49 we Alchemists are such hopeless predictable things [Music] why didn't he tell me lieutenant [Music] Brotherhood more than doubles the pacing of the plot within its first 10 episodes leaving little time to develop Hues in the same manner as 2003 because of this the early episodes carry a more brisk tone that alters the impact of Hugh's death as such send you approaches this moment accordingly Brotherhood shows Hughes far more definitively dying in the phone booth after Envy shoots him leaving his death a foregone conclusion before showing the

26:36 funeral scene this reduces the shock of the moment and leads send you to a more subtle cue [Music] also a funeral March Requiem for the Brigadier General features a soft Alto flute solo over subdued descending string accompaniment foreign y features many suspensions but always resolves them in some way functionally ascending chromatically the harmony painfully reaches upward resolving from major to minor in a sequence until it

27:22 begins to fall back down once more [Music] foreign Hawkeye walks up to console Mustang as he utters his famous it's a terrible day for rain the harmony reaches a Resolute

28:07 4-3 suspension firmly resolving in C Minor [Music] foreign the contrast between Oshima and senju's cues here illustrates the difference in tone between these adaptations while oshima's demonstrates a sense of pure grief with its unresolved harmonies senjus represents a sense of closure with its firm resolutions following Hugh's funeral and Brotherhood Mustang and Hawkeye set out to investigate his murder almost immediately spurred to action by the death of a friend in this way it makes sense narratively not to dwell too much on the grief of the moment though it may not elicit as strong of an emotional response as its counterpart senju's music plays perfectly into the moment with a subtle

28:53 stately farewell to Hughes [Music] it's after this point in the story that the adaptations begin to experience a significant Divergence and plot and as you can probably tell by the runtime of this video I'll be continuing this analysis in my next video which will cover the homunculi the main villains the Philosopher's Stone and the dramatically different endings of 2003 and Brotherhood so I hope you enjoyed this delve into the early stages of both shows and look forward to the next one as always I'll be rolling around in the comments and responding to as many as I can so be sure to let me know what your favorite musical moments are in FMA also like And subscribe to see when I drop the next one FMA has been one of the most influential works on my life and I've relished the opportunity to finally dive into the music of its

29:40 adaptations anyway happy Fullmetal Alchemist today everyone peace [Music]