Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

       Well, as you can see, I have finished another show during mid-terms; and this time, it was one of my favorite anime of all time. Not that I've watched that many I can choose from; I think I've only completed Fruits Basket, Ouran, Digimon (not sure that counts haha), and I'm working my way through Trigun. Oh, and the first series of Fullmetal Alchemist, but I'm mostly blocking that from my memory. No offense to people to loved it, but I really thought it was strange and very non-cohesive after a certain point. So, now to stop rambling and actually talk about this amazing show...

       For those who have never watched/read/heard of Fullmetal Alchemist in any form, it first appeared in the early 2000s as a manga written by Hiromu Arawaka. While it was still being written, it was turned into an anime, which became the well-beloved original Fullmetal Alchemist. Several years later, after the complete manga was written, a second series came out, entitled Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which follows the manga more closely. After watching both, the second one is the version I prefer, which is why I chose to review only that one.

The basic premise of the manga and the show is this: two alchemist brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, attempt to resurrect their mother through human transmutation, and lose an arm and leg, and their body, respectively. They spend the show attempting to get their bodies back to normal. For about the first seven episodes, they are in pursuit of the elusive Philosopher's Stone, a powerful alchemy enhancer which they are sure will aid them in returning their bodies back to normal; but when they learn a shocking secret about the Stone, the brothers are pulled into a terrible conspiracy that extends far beyond anything they ever thought possible. Along the way, they make mistakes and friends, face incredible loss, and come face-to-face with what really matters in this life.

And really, that's all the summary I can give without delving into extremely deep explanations of alchemy and the world of Fullmetal Alchemist and other related subjects. Honestly, I started to do so and got like two paragraphs into an explanation of alchemy before I decided to just tell you to go watch the show for yourself! I think that this is one of those shows that if you try to explain it to somebody who has never seen it, you sound like a maniac. Either that, or you would have to give a forty-minute lecture on alchemy and its inner workings and a bunch of boring stuff, which, actually, isn't boring as you're learning it in the show! It's really amazing how the show gets into the depths of humanity during the 64 episodes. It seriously made me think like almost no other show I've seen. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is basically the opposite of all the mindless garbage that comes on TV nowadays.

And really, I think that one of the most compelling things about the show is its characters. Let me tell you, this show has a ton of characters. You really start out with just Ed and Al, and they definitely keep their status as the main protagonist/ditagonist throughout the series, but little by little they add in more allies, more friends, more enemies, more ambiguous characters, until you have this absolute slew of characters who are all handled with grace and purpose. I read somewhere that a good supporting cast of characters need to feel like the story is their own, and the writers definitely kept this rule in mind. The characters are given enough back story and explanation so that they are totally believable. Also, each one serves a huge purpose. There are really no throw-away characters. They all change and work and grow in the hearts of the readers/watchers. 

I really enjoyed the voice actors for both the sub and the dub. The first time I watched it, I saw the first two series on Netflix in English dub, and then I had to watch the last third in Japanese with English sub on Hulu, which honestly wasn't all that bad. Vic Mignogna does a very enjoyable Edward Elric in the dub, though. He's got the right amount of humor and seriousness to pull it off. And the animation - now, the animation may be my favorite animation in any animated thing ever. Probably only second to OHSHC. It's dark, it's pristine, it's fluid, and the action scenes are absolutely, mind-blowingly (not a word!) amazing. And yet, they aren't afraid to pull this every once in a while:

 So, that ought to wrap things up. The basic summary of this review is that Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is perfect and without flaw as far as shows go. Well, I'm sure it's not perfect, seeing as nothing is perfect... But if there are any flaws, I haven't seen them yet!! Now, there is some questionable content for younger viewers, but it's mostly just blood and destruction, with one small instant of partial nudity, and some incredibly heart-wrenching scenes that will break your heart into a million little pieces. There's some seriously thought-provoking stuff in here, and thought-provoking doesn't exactly means it's safe for sensitive viewers. So, be prepared for some emotional decimation if you choose to step into the world of FMAB. But it is very much worth it for those who can handle it. They took the Brotherhood version off of Netflix, but you can watch the subbed version it with commercials on Hulu for free (http://www.hulu.com/fullmetal-alchemist-brotherhood). Also, for those interested in reading the manga, it can be found in its entirety here: (http://mangafox.me/manga/fullmetal_alchemist/). Enjoy!
 

The brothers who started it all... And Winry, of course :)