The lighting thing I see but the ending thing I don't see the difs.

Oh, you're right. I didn't notice that it was in the ending before.

I don't quite get the lighting difference. Maybe that's just the raw being with a different brightness? I mean, I've compared the openings done with different groups through the time, and they look different too, usually in quality, but contrast and stuff as well.
Or maybe I'm stupid? xD
It just looks like only the brightness was changed, and that's an odd thing to go about changing the opening just to add.

I figured that the raw just had a different quality as well, but after a bunch of my friends noted how illuminated it looked, I thought I would post it. /:) I'm interested in this city below Central, anyway.

The opening was changed at episode 45 ^_~

They added:
-A rainbow in the shot of when Ed is going down the waterfalls to the underground city ruins
-A follow-the-object camera shot of Ed when he lands at the bottom of the waterfall (If you watch some sports where the cameraman has to predict where something is going, you see them e.g. follow a soccer ball's trajectory and they think its going one way, follow that path but then notice its trajectory has changed and they try and catch up with the ball's new path)
-First part of the chorus in the ruins, the stone head that Al lifts and then throws seems CG'd now (or just the pattern used)
-2nd part of the chorus now has a clouded bg for when Roy and Alex attack

Elements from the OP in the recent episodes:
-Hohenheim standing near the burnt ruins of his home (ep 43)
-Dante's secret hideout place that seems to be some sort of Underground city or something (ep 43-)
-The ruins near the falls where we see Rose taken through with Dante (ep 43 or 44?)
-The statues of people surrounding the Gate, or whatever they might be (ep 45)
-The Underground City-elevator-shot-thing (ep 46)

The ED had the people who died. What's funny ( I have NO idea if anyone posted anything about the 2nd ED) the 2nd ED had bits and pieces of what was to happen from episode 14-25 with those quick shots at the end of the ED. (There was even a shot of Hughes before he died and one of Roy when he was crying at the funeral)

Good observation though o.o

Arakawa watches Star Wars? O.o;

Speaking about the little omake strips, there's one in vol 7 I think and it involves some member from Square Enix coming to congratulate her on her manga's sucess her assisants encourage her to go and she does, turns out it wasn't one member from Enix, but a whole bunch. (The member of Enix calls, and says something and the cow has a masculine-macho-i-am-angry-look) They drink, celebrate, they get drunk and she's smacked in the head by some random person with a big sake bottle. (they leave, and on the floor she writes: 'Minisk~~') She talks with I think the member from Enix and herself mention something about the Nobel Prize. Dunno...hmm.

Like most geniuses, Arakawa is clearly insane.

It's good to know Arakawa doesn't like the anime. She deserves too, it's really butchering some of her characters. I mean, Ed's reaction to Hughes death "Oh! omg! Hughes is dead..? .. Okay! ^^"

And are they going to ignore the fact that (Envy as) Maria Ross killed Hughes? Or does Roy just not care.

This series is really, in Arakawa's words "trying to rap this up." For shame, too.

Gosh, and how Ed gets mad at Winry? That was just not on. The manga did it so much better: Ed being pissed off at himself, Winry bawling her eyes out then grabbing his wrist and making him stay, her beautiful pie made from Gracia's recipe. :(

Heh! Well, I like the anime much better than the manga. In part, I think, because I didn't read the manga first. If I'd fallen in love with the manga I guess I'd be annoyed at every change made for the anime too. But I didn't. I fell in love with the anime. This could of course change after seeing the series finale, but I doubt it. ;)

The lighting difference is interesting.

I'm waiting until the anime is done before I start reading the manga. I know I'll be dissappointed if I started with the latter. It's the same for any series that were based on mangas. They have more elements and go indepth with the important and less important aspects that were left out in the anime... and because it's the original! Fruits Basket and Kare Kano are good examples.

Once the sub comes out, I'll have to check it out.

While it makes me feel bad to know this, I can't help but like the anime better than the manga. I like character development as much as the next person but given how long the anime would be to take the time to develop the characters like the manga amd would take longer to put out (look at the manga, it's going to take a while for it to finish or so I've heard) Also too many animes are just like the manga.. I'd like to see more difference when I read manga nad watch the anime so I can't go "Oh this is going to happen next." So...

I didn't prefer the manga until very recently, actually. I originally loved the anime more because it was similar to the manga, only animated with great voices. This stupid Dante twist coincided with me reading chapters 37 and 38, which kick intense amounts of ass, so.

*dies since she just spoiled something herself*

The city's getting brighter. o_O; And nice captions for Pride, rofl. I hate him too. :|

hmmm....well as obsessed as i got with the anime fma....poor arakawa-sama T_T.;; someone should make a poll to see if peopel liek the anime or manga best D=. i just recently read all of the manga lol...and...i like the character developments and whats happenning more XD;;;;.....i mean...they didnt just stop with hughes and theres more going on....T_T the naime is getting confuisng @_@;;|| tho i love them both T_T; GAH.

Man, I'd never notice that stuff about the opening...O.o

I've always liked the manga better. There's more interaction with certain characters...more Roy/Riza/Havoc/miltary focused stuff in the manga, more chance of pairings, and stuff.
However, the one thing I like in the anime is how the Homonuculus are created (or have a chance at existing) when human transmutation is formed. After all, in the manga...well, you know. Until I see the whole extent of the..."conspiracy" or "behind the scenes force" in the manga and find that it ties everything together more closely than it does now, I'll like this part in the anime more.

I read that in vol.8....the behind the scenes thing. And my reaction was the exact opposite...

For me, it sounded like Arakawa was absolutely overwhelmed that someone's going to make FMA into an anime. And she was like OMGWTFISTHISFORREAL when she knows it's Bones (who has a good reputation in Japan).

And in the FMA perfect guidebook, she was like "[assistant name]-san, move aside! I can't see the TV!" when her assistant was glomping the TV and saying "Sensei.......the children....the children have grown up!"

And when Arakawa was drawing up 34, she was simply mentioning the sheer synchro coincidence that she's drawing Beard!Roy at the same time as Anime!Beard!Roy is shown. (It's ep. 25, by the way)

So. =P

Really? I don't think she necessarily dislikes the anime, but I get a feeling that she's very "..." about how it's been done, and bitter that she didn't have more of a say.

So that's what Arakawa thinks... Ah well. (I think she's just bitter.) I read the manga before I started watching the anime, but I didn't get into it until I got into the anime... *shrug* But I happen to like both, and since they're so different now, it's really no use comparing them to each other. I think the manga has a good story, good characters and character development... and the same goes for the anime, too (though I actually like the character development in the anime better). The Dante twist was a big disappointment, but I got over it, and since it seems the writers know what they're doing, I still trust them to make a great finale for the show.

And I'm actually happy that the anime is not a close adaptation of the manga. If I want the manga, I'll just read the manga; in an anime adaptation I usually want to see some differences, however slight they may be. I mean, just look at the Tenjou Tenge anime - it's basically a word-by-word adaptation of the manga, with pretty colors and animation and voices and music and stuff... and it's boring as hell. (At least it was when I last saw it - I stopped watching it.)

I mean, just look at the Tenjou Tenge anime - it's basically a word-by-word adaptation of the manga, with pretty colors and animation and voices and music and stuff... and it's boring as hell.

Even when you have a very faithful and very good anime adaptation of the manga -- like Fruits Basket -- the problem you run into is: what is the motivation for watching the anime versus reading the manga? If there are no differences, what's the point?

Not to mention that by all accounts, Arakawa is planning to run the FMA manga for YEARS. There is NO WAY a faithful TV adaptation could be made on years' worth of material ... most of which isn't even out yet! Not to mention that the sky-rocketing cost of TV production makes the idea of creating a very long series (like, Inu-yasha long) extremely cost-prohibitive. Most production studios won't touch a long series because the longer a series runs, the more likely it is that the studio will not make its money back. That FMA is so popular and is "in the black" is a minor miracle (though having the support of Square-Enix, BONES, and a solid manga storyline definitely help).

FMA is so popular, though, that I can't help but wonder if there is some reconsideration over whether to end the series or not. Kinda wish they would give us another year of FMA, even if it's unlikely ...

I figure the Dante twist was a last chance to show a redemption in Hohenheim's past acts, and that she was more driven by self less desires than Hohenheim himself.