BS Anime Yawa - Fullmetal Alchemist

BS Anime Yawa (BS Anime Night Talk) is a program that gathers renouned anime staff members and industry commentators to discuss anime of particular historical significance. The 2003 FMA anime series was ground breaking for covering unique material (infanticide, matricide, child abandonment, scientific ethics, just war theory, racism, etc.) in an indepth manner, in a show ultimately aimed at children and for crossing quite a few boundaries for its timeslot. It's also famous for its script and particularly for its quality in derrivation from the original work. Compare to most series that diverge sloppily due to running up to the end of printed canon or whose different material is mostly filler, or regarded as lesser qualiy by the fanbase unanimously. Many find the 2003 anime's differences a distinct improvement over the original material, which is rarer still.

Episodes I've seen of past Anime Yawas have included Macross, the original Gundam series, and Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro. I've heard there's an Evangelion one that I really want to see if anyone drifting by here someday has a copy of it.

Here are some translations of things said during  the Fullmetal Alchemist special, by the head scriptwriter, Aikawa Shou about the script and production choices of the series, along with any commentary by the others I find particularly insightful or interesting.

This is my own translation dump for my convenience with a few of my own thoughts littered in while it's on my personal account. It should be clear what's my aside and what's a translation of others' words.

In other words, it's an info-dump translation post until I decide on a good place to put the information over at ura_hagaren .

( I don't even know who half of these people talking are. You're mostly getting Aikawa's comments as the only importat, actual staff member. )