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Full metal alchemist - alchemy


Embrisk

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Id call it a hard magic system.  It's very scientific in it's use and application, and by and large it's limited to known physical and chemical processes.  They just get to do them with magic circles instead of complicated tools.  The Law of Equivalent Exchange holds true for the most part (with a high value on Life as an exchange option), and the Taboo's are limits that become major plot points.  All in all there's relatively little hand-waving in it, by and large you understand the limits of it's capabilities to be pretty close to those of natural science.  If Harry Potter is the example of the middle of the spectrum, Id put FMA on the Hard-Magic side of that.

4 minutes ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

It's science. 


Minus the Second Law of Thermodynamics, at the very least.

Edited by Quantus
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On 3/1/2019 at 9:55 AM, Quantus said:

Id call it a hard magic system.  It's very scientific in it's use and application, and by and large it's limited to known physical and chemical processes.  They just get to do them with magic circles instead of complicated tools.  The Law of Equivalent Exchange holds true for the most part (with a high value on Life as an exchange option), and the Taboo's are limits that become major plot points.  All in all there's relatively little hand-waving in it, by and large you understand the limits of it's capabilities to be pretty close to those of natural science.  If Harry Potter is the example of the middle of the spectrum, Id put FMA on the Hard-Magic side of that.


Minus the Second Law of Thermodynamics, at the very least.

Is it though inconsistent with the 2nd law of thermodynamics?  It's been a while since I watched it and I'm not sure if the rules in the first anime were 100% consistent with the rules in Brotherhood/manga (equivalent exchange yes, but other later stuff is unclear to me) but I'm pretty sure there was energy coming in from somewhere that would allow them to remain more or less consistent with the 2nd law.  agree with the rest though.

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13 hours ago, Dunkum said:

Is it though inconsistent with the 2nd law of thermodynamics?  It's been a while since I watched it and I'm not sure if the rules in the first anime were 100% consistent with the rules in Brotherhood/manga (equivalent exchange yes, but other later stuff is unclear to me) but I'm pretty sure there was energy coming in from somewhere that would allow them to remain more or less consistent with the 2nd law.  agree with the rest though.

Yeah, nothing implying that there is no increase in universal entropy in either anime. 

1) In the first, inferior anime the energy comes from WW1 death and sadness seeping over from our dimension (yeah, pretty dumb in the way edgy angst is) 

2) In Brotherhood, the energy that powers western alchemy (that Ed and Al predominantly used) comes from tectonic shifting of the plates. The Eastern alchemy is powered by chi following from the top of the mountains to the valleys and some such mystical jargon. 

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22 hours ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

Yeah, nothing implying that there is no increase in universal entropy in either anime. 

1) In the first, inferior anime the energy comes from WW1 death and sadness seeping over from our dimension (yeah, pretty dumb in the way edgy angst is) 

2) In Brotherhood, the energy that powers western alchemy (that Ed and Al predominantly used) comes from tectonic shifting of the plates. The Eastern alchemy is powered by chi following from the top of the mountains to the valleys and some such mystical jargon. 

Precisely.  For the bulk of the magic's narrative use, the system only visibly conserves Mass but not Energy, and you get a decrease in Entropy in the system for free with most uses.  In the first anime they explained it away in the last episode as each person being connected to a parallel dimension doppelganger that was drawing nebulous life/spirit/emotion energy from a WWI era.  The second eventually revealed that it was Techtonic "Earth" energy for the Western countries, and Ley Lines for the East, but by then they were also breaking down an awful lot of the established limitations in favor of the red stones that were cashing in Deaths for Power.

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