Okay, if you’re an anime fan and haven’t seen Fullmetal Alchemist yet, then shame!  Shame!  If you’re not an anime fan and haven’t seen it, then less shame.  But shame none the less!  Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the greatest manga/anime series to come out in the last decade.  Written and drawn by Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist is a manga series, and two anime series.  I’ll try to give some love to all three in this review.

 

Fullmetal Alchemist follows the story of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric.  Both are highly skilled alchemists, individuals capable of reshaping matter.  After losing their mother at a young age, the two try the forbidden art of Human Transmutation in an attempt to resurrect their mother and in the attempt lose parts of their bodies. Al loses his entire body and Ed loses an arm. In order to save his brother, Ed sacrifices one of his arms to bind Al’s soul to a suit of armor.  The two then set out on a quest to reclaim their bodies through the use of the almost mystical Philosopher’s Stone, a substance capable of amazing transmutations.

The series has numerous, and I mean numerous, other characters and to list them all would take too much time.  The thing is, even the most minor seeming of characters are important and pretty well fleshed out.  There are more secondary characters, but I won’t get into them either.  Essentially, this series has no real wasted characters.  They’re all fantastic

 

Now onto the fact that there are two anime series.  The first was simply called Fullmetal Alchemist and the second is called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.  The two series both follow the manga for the first few volumes and then the first series takes a hard left.  The first series was given an entirely new story with new characters mainly because the manga hadn’t caught up yet.  It’s still highly entertaining and worth looking at.  The second series is a more faithful adaptation, with all the original characters.  And it is glorious.  Both are great in their own right and are worth watching.

The series’ main themes are sacrifice, and the importance of friends and family.  Sacrifice is almost driven down our throats with the Alchemical rule of Equivalent Exchange, in order to gain something something of equal value must be lost.  It’s very prevalent and later deconstructed.  The importance of friends and family is emphasized through the relationship between the two brothers and the friends and allies they make along their quest.  It’s a deeply moving series and makes you look hard at some of the basics of human life.

Overall the series is fantastic and worth looking at.  Any anime fan should have it in their library and anyone looking to get into anime won’t go wrong in checking it out.

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