Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

While most normies not fully engrossed in the anime space are going to know some staples like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Sailor Moon, or Pokémon, one of the best ones to watch for those hoping to expand their anime filmography is Full Metal Alchemist. Considered one of the best manga series ever written, this steampunk-adjacent dark fantasy series written by Hiromu Arakawa released 108 chapters between the years 2001 and 2010 with Monthly Shōnen Gangan, and quickly sold over 80 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling manga of all time which in turn led to an equally well-received anime in 2003. However, the show acts as its own creation as (upon the author’s request), the ending was entirely different from how the manga was going to conclude (as she hadn’t completed it at the time the show was nearly its final episodes), causing a divide in the fandom who wanted a more faithful adaptation, which is where Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood comes in, a somewhat remake that aired between 2009 and 2010, which many consider superior to the previous anime and (like its literary counterpart) is seen as one of the greatest anime ever released.

In the fictionalized country of Amestris, Alchemy is an actual practice performed by governing offices known as state alchemists, who use their powers to ward off surrounding nations and for the supposed betterment of their people, with one of the only taboo rules being that it can’t be used to revive someone from the dead. This rule is broken by two young brothers named Edward and Alphonse Elric (voiced by Vic Mignogna and Maxey Whitehead) who suddenly lost their mother and tried to use alchemy to bring her back, but in doing so lost a part of themselves in the process (with Ed losing his arm and leg and Al losing his entire body). Having become state alchemists to try and find a way to reverse their fate, Ed and Al (who now has to live in a metal suit of armor), work alongside fellow generals and officers, mainly colonel Roy Mustang (voiced by Travis Willingham) to find a philosopher stone, which can grant the wielder the power necessary to reclaim their bodies, but get more than they bargain for when they come across a group of monsters named after the seven deadly sins known as homunculi, who appear to have plans for Amestris and the two brothers. With new friends to assist them from all across the country and their childhood best friend, Winry (voiced by Caitlin Glass) getting dragged into the chaos as well, Ed and Al will need to prove their worth as alchemist, challenge what they originally believed to be fundamental truths about their world and leader, Fuhrer Bradley (voiced by Ed Baylock) and face off against inhuman beings in order to become fully human themselves once again.

With fantastic characters, a captivating world with fun rules, and an engaging story that paces itself very well, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood proves its merits as one of the best by going for a second round and somehow managing to blow people away once again with its quality, competence, and mastery over familiar anime traps while avoiding most pitfalls. The opening and final stretch of the story aren’t entirely flawless, but the middle is some of the tightest, yet still very entertaining bit of mainstream shonen material you could ask for, and it would be a crime to next take advantage of it.

Being a taboo yet intriguing mythical practice in the real world, alchemy has strangely not been taken advantage of in media as much as you’d expect despite its standings as a cautionary form of magic that takes as much as it gives, and Hiromu Arakawa no doubt saw this potential when she constructed her manga, which captivated so many readers with its fleshed out but not hard to follow worldbuilding surrounding how alchemy is used, the ways it can be exploited, and how such a powerful tool impacts its environment. Even though there’s plenty of opportunity for it to go too far into specifics, the story is fantastically composed from a writing standpoint, being vast enough to expand into new regions, introduce new characters and evolve the plot from small-scale to large, conspiratorial and climatic, but remains grounded and focused through the brother’s personal and straightforward desire to get their bodies back, resulting in a near perfect package. While the opening few episodes are a bit too brisk in pace and don’t lead people in that great (most likely because there was another anime out that already told this story before), the show quickly finds its footing and really becomes something special, with expected but effective twists laced throughout, very endearing characters who regardless of screentime manage to leave an impression, and polished visual and booming music that really brings a presence and personality to this exaggerated yet believable environment.

It’s also nice to see it not fall into the traps of typical shonen anime, being able to avoid a lot of the harmful negative tropes like overly sexualized female characters, harmful stereotypes of different ethnicities and repetitive comedic bits that feel childish and irritating. It manages to not only spin them around in a more efficient and purposeful light, but also hold onto the great traits associated with the genre like intriguing worlds, a nicely balanced tone that can be light-hearted but also messed-up and dramatic, and being able to present all kinds of over-the-top action without removing the plausibility of its world. With clean, tight and well-paced direction from Yasuhiro Irie, and intriguing yet characterful writing from Hiroshi Ōnogi that seems to keep the spirit and trajectory of the original manga, it’s no wonder this series is held in such high esteem and it’s fantastic to see a more concrete and authentic delivery, but it isn’t without some blemishes. Much like the intro, the third act and climax also feels a bit rushed, still concluding satisfactory, but doing so at the sacrifice of some in-depth examination on certain characters and specific plot elements. It’s not enough to tarnish what came before but is a noticeable dent on what was a perfect formula.

One of the best aspects that should be respected is how well Fullmetal Alchemist handles its characters, and this isn’t to say that all of them are 10/10, but with a running time of 64 episodes, the fact that they have such a giant cast and a good majority of them are not only likeable, but still engaging is extremely impressive. Even the greatest shonen series have a few secondary characters that you’re fine with ignoring or take certain directions that can feel a little bland or demeaning (check how quickly most female characters are resorted to sex objects and passive wives), but Fullmetal Alchemist mostly sidesteps these issues and creates a very engaging and memorable cast in design, vocal performance and narrative purpose. The most impressive example of this is with the secondary support, with a lot of other state alchemist not doing a lot in the plot (to the point that it’s hard to even remember their names) yet still being very likeable thanks to what they do and how they’re voiced, which can also be said for the various other soldiers who help the leads on their quest. The more prominent characters can sometimes fall short of their true potential, like a young princess from a neighbouring land named May (voiced by Laura Bailey), a rival prince who’s come to find a way to become immortal named Ling Yao (voiced by Todd Haberkron) and a renegade alchemist killer named Scar (voiced by J. Michael Tatum), but nevertheless are still very gripping characters and are always great to see whenever they show up.

Ed and Al are very simple but effective protagonists for this story, with their humble desires yet extreme determination carrying the plot all the way to the end, Winry sadly falls off by the end of the story (which feels bizarre given how prominent she was earlier on) but is a pretty likeable co-lead against the two brothers, Mustang is stuck deep within the conspiracy side of the plot and moves through it with enough swagger and dedication that he proves to be pretty cool, with his equally as deadly but more grounded support, First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye (voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard) also being pretty cool, the overly flamboyant and muscular Alex Louis Armstrong (voiced by Chris Sabat) and his cutthroat general sister, Olivier Armstrong (voiced by Stephanie Young) are such fun characters who are far more extreme than the rest of the cast and really leave a memorable impression because of it, Fuhrer Bradley is quite a fascinating character and how his story unfolds isn’t hard to predict but does lead to some interesting areas, and all the homunculi are fantastically designed and voiced, with Brittney Karbowski, Wendy Powell, Troy Baker, Chris Cason and Laura Bailey all going great jobs bringing character to these monsters. Sadly, two characters who don’t work as well are ironically some of the most critical characters, that being Ed and Al’s father, Van Hohenheim (voiced by John Swasey) and the show’s main villain, Father (voiced by Kent Williams) who aren’t bad on paper and have a fascinating shared backstory, yet aren’t as intriguing as the story thinks they are, with their extended screentime feeling a little tiring by the end.

Animated with the help of Bones studio, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has a very smooth, tidy look to it that perfectly captures the European Germanic-type architecture very naturally, which in turn provides a unique look that’s quite different from most anime and manga stories. The stoney, rigid, overly structured look of the city makes the environment look refined and ordered, but also authoritarian as well, and when more gets revealed about the government and how they were involved in the massacring of other less-developed countries, this design feels all the more fitting. It also does wonders to contrast with the eventual body horror that’s introduced, with the defined character models, and clean color palette making the grotesque, warped and gooier qualities all the more jarring and off, it was a smart choice to pick them to animate this show. The musical score is also very good, with Akira Senju composing a piece that can be militant, preppy and action-oriented when it needs to, but also mysterious, foreboding and unsettling in the next moments, it’s able to retain all the traits of its series and whenever one of these tracks is used throughout, audiences will enjoy hearing them.

Fullmetal Alchemist doesn’t have the status or mainstream hype of something like My Hero Academia, Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z, but even for people that aren’t huge into anime, most would know that it’s the series that’s credited as one of the best, and given how well Brotherhood handled itself, the people that do eventually get around to watching it are in for a treat. It doesn’t come without a few hiccups like the opening is a bit too quick, the ending rushes through some things (it probably needed a longer epilogue), and it gives major focus to two roles who aren’t deserving of it, but with a likeable cast, very engaging story with fantastic structure and pacing, an intriguing world that doesn’t answer every question but raises enough to feel liveable, and great animation and music that really gives this world and story a personality, it feels like it’s an equivalent exchange to get what we got.