Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood was one of the first few anime series that I ever watched. I was not disappointed at all as the series lived up to the hype that I heard around the series. From start to beginning there was never a dull-moment.

Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood not to be confused with the manga’s original adaptation of the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist was created to follow more of the original plot line of the manga where or so the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist did not.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was based on the completed original manga Fullmetal Alchemist. It was written by Hiroshi Onogi and directed by Yashuhiro Irie. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood premiered in 2009 and ran until 2010.

Synopsis

 The series revolves around the Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse. Their father Hohenheim was a very gifted alchemist that abandoned his family while the boys were still young, leaving them in their mother’s care. After their father left, they followed his footsteps and picked up alchemy. 

As time passed, their mother succumbed to a lingering illness. In a desperate attempt of bringing their dead mother back to life, the brothers violated alchemy’s gravest taboo, human transmutation. The failed transmutation resulted in Edward losing his left leg and Alphonse nearly dying as his body was obliterated. In a desperate attempt to not lose anybody else, Edward sacrificed his right arm to bring back Alphonse’s soul and affixed it to a nearby suit of metal. Edward was able to obtain “automail”, robotic prostheses through a family friend. 

On the hunt to get their physical bodies back, Edward takes the government’s sanctioned state alchemy exam. He passes and is dubbed the “Fullmetal Alchemist” by the state military once he joins the army. From there, the brothers begin their quest to obtain a Philosopher’s Stone to grant their wish to get their body back. With access to more resources, the Elric brothers travel across the country, along the way they discover new friends, new allies, new enemies, and discover something very sinister about the country.

Review

As it explores the themes of racism, genocide, war, political corruption, PTSD, God complexities, and human morality, the complexity and intriguing plot along with great character development, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood stands out in it’s own genre compared to the other Shonen anime series. It’s simply a masterpiece in my eyes. Overall as you can tell, I loved it.

Down to the characters, down to the plot, every single detail matters and has a reason behind it. Why certain characters act the way they act, even down to the villains, some of them I changed my opinion on after learning their tragic backstories.

I recommend anybody who is just starting out with anime to watch this, it’s fine either in dubbed English or Japanese with English subtitles.