Full Metal Alchemist 27

[Zeus]

Their run of ridiculously awesome eps came to a screeching halt in #27 when they decided, for no good reason whatsoever, to do a recap episode that's very thinly veiled as a "get to know Hohenheim a little better" ep (there was about 3 minutes of non-recap stuff). Not sure why they did this but I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt that it's just a blip and all of their animators got swine flu at the same time or something. They get one mulligan after 26 eps of awesomeness.

This guy sums up my feelings pretty good

http://hanners-anime.blogspot.com/2009/ ... de_13.html

[Eric]

Err, do you not watch anime often or something? Wait scratch that you don't. ;p It's very common for an anime to do this in the middle of their runs and give a recap episode. Episodes in the 11-13 range, 25-27, 38-40 are prime for "recap" episodes, and yes they count towards the episode total. Keep in mind for the Japanese audiences this is like half a year into the series, people might have forgotten important plot points and so we get this, not everyone has the entire series ready to watch on their harddrives.

[Zeus]

Hey, I've been watching this one week to week right from the beginning and never gone back to re-watch an ep. I'm in the same boat they are.

Regular occurrence? I don't recall any of the other animes I"ve watched do it this early. I don't watch a ton of anime but I watch enough that if it's a regular thing, I would have seen it by now. By this time, Naruto and Bleach were into their huge arcs (Chuunin Exam and Soul Society, respectively) and I don't recall any recaps in them.

[Shrinweck]

It's anime convention to have a recap episode. I'm sure at some point both Naruto and Bleach have had at least one because of their high episode count. Actually - who needs recap episodes when you have "Previously on..." things before each episode. I've heard Bleach has had one that was literally five minutes. These shows aren't terribly hard to follow, either. People are more in danger of missing an episode or five in a row then not getting something. FMA has a much more complicated plot.

Even the best anime tends to have at least one, with few exceptions. Wolf's Rain is probably the most guilty of this. First of all it took them FOREVER to release the later episodes and then there were 4-6 episodes of recap. In a goddamned row. For a one season show.

Honestly at this point I feel like letting those artists, writers, and other staff having some time off isn't too big of a deal. And if they did three minutes of new material and animation then that's better than what most series do.

I have noticed recently that this hasn't been an issue with newer anime series.

[Flip]

Ive seen it a lot in the anime i have watched, too.

.02

[Zeus]

It happens and I've seen it in Bleach and Naruto, but not that early (after just half a season) and not an entire ep. They're usually a couple of minutes in the beginning and that's it. Hell, Naruto was doing that before every ep during the Chuunin exam. But an entire show? Not that I remember.

Like I said, I'm giving them a mulligan on this one. As long as next week's ep keeps up the insane pace, I won't care.

[Shrinweck]

Oh. 26 episodes is considered a full anime season.

[Zeus]

Oh. 26 episodes is considered a full anime season.

Yeah, that's right. I was thinking year=season but forgot it don't work that way

[Shrinweck]

Yeah it's even more difficult to remember when they aren't taking a break between seasons.