Fullmetal Alchemist

Alchemists are knowledgeable and naturally talented individuals who can manipulate and modify matter due to their art. Yet despite the wide range of possibilities, alchemy is not as all-powerful as most would believe. Human transmutation is strictly forbidden, and whoever attempts it risks severe consequences. Even so, siblings Edward and Alphonse Elric decide to ignore this great taboo and bring their mother back to life. Unfortunately, not only do they fail in resurrecting her, they also pay an extremely high price for their arrogance: Edward loses his left leg and Alphonse his entire body. Furthermore, Edward also gives up his right arm in order to seal his brother's soul into a suit of armor.

Years later, the young alchemists travel across the country looking for the Philosopher's Stone, in the hopes of recovering their old bodies with its power. However, their quest for the fated stone also leads them to unravel far darker secrets than they could ever imagine.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit
Background

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi won the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shounen demographic in 2004. Hiromu Arakawa also won the 15th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in the New Artist Prize category for the series in 2011. As of 2015, over 64 million copies of the series have been sold worldwide, making it one of Square Enix's most successful publications, according to Nielsen Bookscan. A live-action film is in development by Warner Bros. Japan and is scheduled for release in Winter 2017.

The series was published in English as Fullmetal Alchemist by VIZ Media from May 3, 2005 to December 20, 2011, and in eBook format by Yen Press on April 15, 2014. A 3-in-1 omnibus edition was released by VIZ from June 7, 2011 to November 11, 2014 as well as a complete box set in November 1, 2011 (which included the novel Fullmetal Alchemist: The Ties That Bind). The manga was also published in Italian by Panini Comics under the Planet Manga imprint from July 13, 2006 to September 3, 2011, in Polish by J.P. Fantastica from January 2006 to to April 2012, in Brazilian Portuguese by Jbc from February 2007 to April 2011 and in Spanish by Ivrea Argentina starting December 12, 2016.

Edit

Related Entries

More characters
Characters

Elric, Edward

Main

Elric, Alphonse

Main

Mustang, Roy

Supporting

Hughes, Maes

Supporting

Greed

Supporting

Hawkeye, Riza

Supporting

Yao, Ling

Supporting

Rockbell, Winry

Supporting

Armstrong, Alex Louis

Supporting

Armstrong, Olivier Mira

Supporting

Reviews

Mar 3, 2024

Kazu-chan-san

Recommended

A great tale about revenge, redemption, forgiviness, love and brotherhood.

Story:
Fullmetal Alchemist has the reputation of being indisputably the best animanga work of all time. Revered to by many as "flawless" and "perfect" and after concluding such masterwork I've come to the conclusion that such claims are not lies, they're the undeniable truth. FMA has a great story-line, fantastic art, a great ensemble cast, historical villains and an epic and a masterful and well-done conclusion. Unlike many works before it that tried to show deep themes for the sake of it and expectjng to sell well, it does it to teach us many life-lessons and change ... our worldviews with its eloquent philosphy. It is really great and it is not afraid to show it.

Characters:

Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric and Winry Rockbell make up the main cast and they're nothing short of fantastic. Edward is smart, cool, headstrong, layer'd, deep, funny and one of the best protagonists of all time (#1 Ed; #2 Zack Fair #3 Sousuke Sagara). Alphonse is kjnd, helpful, useful and has a personality. Winry is supportive, cute, likeable and a great female lead to speak of. Roy Mustang is a fierce leader and his partner Riza Hawkeye is no slouch too. There are many memorable supporting characters such as Maes, Trisha, Hoeheim and Alex Luis Armstrong, whom along with his sister, Olivier make a badass team. They all have distinct personalities and meaningfully tragic backstories and gripping devlopments. In short they're all great in their own ways.

The antagonists/villains deserve their own paragraph. Lust is one of the best villainess of all time with her majestic design and seductive personality she always steals every scene she's in. Her companions Envy and Glutyony have solid characterizations. Greed, Wraith, Sloth, Pride and Father all make an fearsome group to be reckoned with. They're not evil for the sake oc being evil like the guys from Laughing Coffin from SAO (for the Evulz as one may say it.). They're evil for a reason and this reason os laid out to you as the chapter progresses. My personal suggestion is to not get attached to them since their fate is sealed and they're fated to perish as this is not a grey morality work. It has good vs. evil disposed clearly. And that's why Hiromi Arakawa is my favorite author/mangaka of all time (save for the prophets who wrote the bible, obviously).

Art:
The artwork is phenomenal. Every drawing has emotion carried over it. The fights are engaging and the romantic scenes are heartwhelming (note: romance is just a subgenre of this manga, don't expect a lot of it). Every cover is a work of art, the character designs are unique and eye-catching. Everyone looks distinct from one another. There's a wide variety of races, colors and ethinicities on this manta and they're represented respectully and in a way that feels organic. Amazing to say the least. I'm glad that Arawaka-sa is such a proeminent name in the anime industry due to her writting and art because she's trully the best.

Enjoyment/Overall:

Despite some blasphemies and anti-Christian messages Fullmetal Alchemist takes the cake as the most well-written manga of all time. Better than the Big Three, Berserk and Shinseiki Evangelion. Everything works organically. The characters are fleshed out. The illustrations are phenomental. In short:
Fullmetal Alchemist is an groud-breaking, life-changing masterpiece.

Open

Gift

Mar 6, 2024

agensi

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

Fullmetal Alchemist is a weird one.

FMA is regarded as one of the best anime/manga and receives constant praise. I truly wonder why. FMA has one of the strongest thematic frameworks ive ever seen however this doesnt really matter because its world and characters dont reflect the same quality.
FMA's structuring is decently weird, it banks everything on its ending but its ending isnt good??? Some work like aot or haikyu dont need their endings to be good. If FMA has a bad ending it rips apart the "quality" and expectation that was set. Im comparing the endings of these other shonen to say that ...

Open

Gift

Feb 2, 2021

foxhunt99

Not Recommended

I bought a box set of Fullmetal Alchemist, after reading so many good reviews about this series. After reading the whole thing within two weeks. I was really disappointed, maybe because I had a high expectation. The story starts very slow, it got a little bit more interesting about half way through. There are a lot of unnecessary side plots. One example is the story related to the library bookworm girl. It took almost one volume, but she never become of any importance or show up in the later volumes. It is just a filler.

I feel the characters especially the villains are really underdeveloped. ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Drawfee recs

by Mosaique011

20 Entries · 2 Restacks

Lovely Academic / Study Heads 📚

by Coffee_Jelly

25 Entries · 37 Restacks

Best-Selling Manga (1-50)

by AveryRhodes2003

50 Entries · 141 Restacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

View All

More news
Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for June

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for June Week 1: June 7 - 13 Anime Releases Bem (BEM: Become Human) Blu-ray Btooom! (incl. Bakusat...read more

Jun 7, 2022 10:13 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (2 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for April

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for April Week 1: April 5 - 11 Anime Releases Grenadier: Hohoemi no Senshi (Grenadier: The Beautif...read more

Apr 4, 2022 6:07 PM by Aiimee | Discuss (4 comments)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 11 Discussion gbanshee - Oct 31, 2012	9 replies	by TheBabyYoda »» May 21, 2:19 AM
Poll: Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 14 Discussion Ston3_FreeN7 - May 28, 2011	9 replies	by wildhood »» Jan 29, 5:00 PM
Poll: Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 2 Discussion suki78787 - Aug 9, 2009	15 replies	by OnigirisBasket »» Jan 2, 11:05 PM
Poll: Fullmetal Alchemist "Another Journey's End" Chapter Discussion animegurlfreak - Sep 23, 2010	44 replies	by NaughtyNoddy »» Nov 26, 2023 5:02 PM
Why does MAL list 116 chapters? Yman1512 - Dec 1, 2021	3 replies	by DigiCat »» Oct 30, 2023 1:14 PM

Fullmetal Alchemist
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Related Entries

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

More featured articles
Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Fullmetal Alchemist Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Related Entries

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More charactersCharacters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

More featured articlesRecent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Fullmetal Alchemist
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

More featured articles
Recent Featured Articles