I had heard this was a good series, but there had been so much of that going around lately that I was pretty skeptical, but it was on adult swim and I could TIVO it so I started watching, and literally couldn’t stop. This series is amazing, all 51 episodes, starting a little silly much like Trigun did, but becoming so brutal and harsh that you really feel for the characters and they have been through. While the show really has 2 leads, it is the entire ensemble that is so good and brings so much to the series, as well as the story that spans the whole series. This is such a good series, every anime fan should check this show out.

REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS…

This is the story of Edward Elric (Pak Romi) and his younger brother Alphonse Elric (Rie Kugiyama) whose father Honheim (Ebara Masashi) left them when they were young with mother Tirsha (Takamori Yoshino). The boys while young practiced alchemy for years, it was their obsession. When their mother died the boys attempted to use alchemy to bring her back, but they were not successful, or at least not how they expected. Instead Al Lost his body, and Ed using parts of his body, his arm and leg and bonded Al’s spirit to that of a suit of armor, and this is where we start. Ed goes to central leaving his friend and mechanic Winry Rockbell (Toyoguchi Megumi) behind and goes to take the state Alchemy exam to join the army, which he does and becomes the full metal alchemist under the tutelage of Colonel Roy Mustang (Okawa Toru) who has plans to become the Furher.

This is an epic tale where we see Ed and Al travel across the land and find out about the past as they search for the Philosophers stone, a mythical tool that can supposedly change the laws of alchemy which calls for equal exchange, nothing can be gained without something being lost. We find out about the state war with Ishball, where the peaceful Ishaballans were all killed in a genocide we later learn that was in order to create a philosophers stone.

We meet many characters including Scar (Okiayu Ryotaro) who is an Ishballan (who hated alchemy) who has an alchemical arm he was given by his brother which he uses to kill Alchemists and alchemical creatures. And we learn about strange creatures called Homonculus that were born from human’s by alchemists trying to bring back the dead, and who have strange shape shifting abilities and want to become human again, or get revenge on those who made them. And eventually we see the whole story come back to Honheim and the woman who is leading the Homonculus in order to get a new Philisophers stone.

And we see the gate that has everything to do with alchemy, and leads to another world, this world, a world with science and no alchemy, a world where there is an alternate Ed.

This is an amazing anime, and I can’t wait to see the movie, and see the continuation of the story. This is one of the best animes I have seen in a long long time!