@Zazen:
FMA tried and failet to be something that both FLCL and CB were; intelligent anime. But does it poorly, and ends up just another of those clichè animes, with superficial swannabe-intellectual-series.
FMA did nothing that haven`t been done before, everything it did was to sum up the history of shonen in 51 episodes. The lost mother, the stupid metaphores (Lust….), sad flashbacks etc.etc......
So just because you yourself think that it's been done before.
ALL OF WESTERN LITERATURE TODAY IS BASICALLY BASED ON ARCHETYPES SET BY HOMER.
The hero, the villain, and all that. No matter how "Original" something is, there's always a base to it.
If it was because something isn't original, there's no way that I could have enjoyed Rave Master (no offense to you, Zephos, since I know you despise it)
and Guess what, One Piece has sad flash backs, Quite a few "Lost" things, and metaphors too. Many stories do. Cowboy Bebop and FLCL weren't the first stories to do that. They were just noticable because they were what was happening when you were growing up.
And btw; The same ranking I talked about had Azumanga Daioh - of all animes - as number 11. Do you really think that the shitty Azumanga wannabe-funny Daioh deserves to be ranked over One Piece, Lupin3, Neon Genesis, Ruroni Kenshin etc.etc?
IT'S A POLL ON AN INTERNET SITE for God's sake. Do you expect it to represent the public as a whole? Even then so, you don't need to conform to the public's ideals.
But sure, Azumanga Daioh can be number 11.
Your arguements are based merely on your opinion about "GAWD THEESE ANIMES ARE BAD THEY'RE NOT ORIGINAL ANYMOOOREE" merely because you think that everything must be 100% original to be good.