Whether it's Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) or the manga and second series, FMA sometimes tries to be dramatic... and fails.
2003 series:
- In the first anime, it is dramatic when Scar destroys his own arm to prevent it from being turned into a bomb by Kimblee. It was most impressive when he kept going regardless of the liters of blood pouring from his shoulder. It was badass when he then gave up the other arm to save Al. When he kept going after that, it was getting... a bit Monty Python. When, some minutes later, he got shot multiple times, it seemed that matters had reached a head. When he was wandering around, armless, riddled with bullets, and still talking, only succumbing after a second hail of bullets and a Final Speech, it was on one level genuinely moving and tragic, and on another incredibly funny. Scar then carries Kimblee's body up to a rooftop... using what, his teeth?
- Almost everything Scar's brother does, including grinning maniacally while crying and completely naked. There's also how young Scar gives his lower body an "OHSWEETLORD" look while adult Scar pudically narrates "he lost a part of his body".
- When Greed is dying, he gives a nice death speech with emotional music in the background... and then, all of a sudden, his body spasms wildly like he is having an epileptic fit before setting into a rigid position with his eyes bulging and his mouth agape.
- Archer's return as the freaking Terminator. It's completely out of place even in the Schizo Tech of FMA, and it's made worse because the whole thing brings to mind Damu Rama, the idiot warrior who is turned into an idiot cyborg in Dragon Half. Apparently, Archer's brain is so compact that, even with half his head missing, it wasn't damaged.
- Bald's "Not So Different" Remark speech amounts to "I have a metal arm, you have a metal arm."
- The flashback to Basque Grand killing some Ishbalans, because the Ishbalans are armed only with poles making the whole "send in the state alchemist" part overkill, and because Basque isn't wearing a shirt. Though this probably would be justified as a way of showing that the Amestrian government is corrupt as hell.
- Dietlinde Eckhart's convoluted Motive Rant at the end of Conqueror of Shamballa.
- Edward talking to Hughes about his traumatic experience at Lab 5...with his awful, goofy drawing of Envy in the background.
Brotherhood anime
- During the first Brotherhood intro, there's a short sequence where Ed loses his arm and leg; Al loses his whole body; and Winry loses... her balance. You could maybe chalk that up to Winry's close connection to the Elric brothers allowing her to feel their pain (notice that she essentially gets knocked around in the same way, but without the "losing your limbs/body" part), but yeah...
- It's possible that it's meant to represent the loss of her mother and father, whom she didn't see after they went to the war. Hence, they aren't there when she stumbles in the OP.
- In the first episode, when the Freezing Alchemist realizes what Ed and Al did after seeing that Al's armor is empty, he makes this face that would be normal for the circumstances except that he has no eyebrows. It ends up looking like a variation of the Awesome Face meme.
- Even better, the guy's name was Isaac McDougal. Of all the villain names they could have picked, they picked something that ends up sounding incredibly silly when used in any serious context - nothing ruins the mood better than "We have to stop McDougal!"
- Scar putting down Nina/Alexander in episode 4 should definitely be a tragic, haunting scene...but Scar's monotone voice and sheer lack of emotion on his face when he expresses pity, coupled with his Mouth Flaps, makes the scene look by the numbers.
- In episode 11 of the Brotherhood dub, the narrator casually says "Maes Hughes is dead," at the beginning of the recap. <Spit Take>
- In The Sacred Star of Milos, while confronting the chimera that killed the man who was leading Ed somewhere, Ed says, in a dead serious tone: "Pedro was a good man, and you murdered him. You're gonna pay!"
- When Mustang decodes the message about Selim Bradley being a Homunculus, he doesn't react at all until the very last letter is in place, making one wonder what exactly he thought the whole message was going to be as he got near the end.
- The fifth opening might have worked had it come earlier, but by the time it arrives it's pretty absurd to see a show that's become wall to wall Shocking Moments suddenly get such a soft, gentle, yet tragic theme song.
- The fifth end theme is also gentle and uplifting, which leads to more Mood Whiplash when it cuts in as Ed is being sucked into the portal to Father by the Gold Toothed Doctor. Bonus for Ominous Latin Chanting as Ed yells "You....BASSTAARRD!".
- Envy's Villainous Breakdown right before his death is meant to be a sad moment, but because Envy was in his true form when it happened, his dialogue is spoken with a comically high-pitched voice.
- When Alphonse sacrifices his soul to give Ed his limbs back, Edward screams "Al, you DUMBAAASSSS!" For an anguished Skyward Scream, it wouldn't sound out of place in a sitcom.
Manga only
- The scene in in which Ed digs up the remains of his attempt to transmute his mother back to life was supposed to be one of the most dramatic scenes in the series, but the cartoony look on Ed's face combined with his line ("THIS HAIR IS BLACK!") makes it one of the funniest scenes instead.
- While it's a pretty cool moment when the normally timid Marcoh first fights back against Lust, it's hard not to chuckle a little at his sudden hamminess: "HA HA HA! You don't have a choice! Because I've got you! You're going to die here! (after his spike penetrates Lust's belly) Ha ha ha...you weren't expecting...that.."
- Greed's Big "NO!" was narmy, in part because of its scanlation.
- The friendship speech that Edward gives Envy right before he commits suicide.
- Armstrong's face right after the Big Bad's defeat, where everyone thinks that Al won't make it after the last battle. It kills the drama of the scene.
- The Norwegian translation falls into this by translating all English words, including the names of the homunculi. And… the Norwegian equivalents doesn't sound nearly as threatening. It was cancelled after the 7th volume as probably most interested people would pick up the English volumes online or in import stores for having many out already.
- The especially epic defeat of Pride is made laughable due to the official English manga translation of Pride's line "Don't come inside meeeee!!!" Perhaps the translator did it for fun? The English dub of the scene in Brotherhood used the line "forcing his way inside me" in place of the manga's "invaded me" instead and simply rendered the final line as "Please stoooop!!!"
- Not helped at all by the fact that both Ed and Pride are having an Out-of-Clothes Experience during this scene, nor that Ed's dialogue in the dub isn't much better ("I've caught you! You are mine!" doubly narmy too as it's delivered in a borderline monotone). One can't help but wonder what their voice actors must have been thinking during this whole scene.
