Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

After a horrific alchemy experiment goes wrong in the Elric household, brothers Edward and Alphonse are left in a catastrophic new reality. Ignoring the alchemical principle banning human transmutation, the boys attempted to bring their recently deceased mother back to life. Instead, they suffered brutal personal loss: Alphonse's body disintegrated while Edward lost a leg and then sacrificed an arm to keep Alphonse's soul in the physical realm by binding it to a hulking suit of armor.

The brothers are rescued by their neighbor Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter Winry. Known as a bio-mechanical engineering prodigy, Winry creates prosthetic limbs for Edward by utilizing "automail," a tough, versatile metal used in robots and combat armor. After years of training, the Elric brothers set off on a quest to restore their bodies by locating the Philosopher's Stone—a powerful gem that allows an alchemist to defy the traditional laws of Equivalent Exchange.

As Edward becomes an infamous alchemist and gains the nickname "Fullmetal," the boys' journey embroils them in a growing conspiracy that threatens the fate of the world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Elric, Edward Main

Park, Romi Japanese

Elric, Alphonse Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Mustang, Roy Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Hughes, Maes Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Greed Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Hawkeye, Riza Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Yao, Ling Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Rockbell, Winry Supporting

Takamoto, Megumi Japanese

Armstrong, Alex Louis Supporting

Utsumi, Kenji Japanese

Armstrong, Olivier Mira Supporting

Soumi, Youko Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Yonai, Noritomo Producer

Kurashige, Nobuyuki Producer

Reviews

Dec 26, 2024

ranpoisthecutest

Recommended

FMA: Brotherhood is a serie that has alchemist powers (they explored to use alchemist and turn something into something else) Our bros Edward and Alphonse Elric wants to turn their dead mother back to life. and they broke the alchemist rules: Edward lost his leg and Alphonse lost his body. Edward sacrificed his arm to bring back his brother’s soul, he tied it into a shield. to get their body’s back they become alchemists and go to journeys to find the philosophers stone.

everything went down here and every single episode of this is a masterpiece for me. there’s only one filler (ep 27). everything ... about this anime is so mf cool. i like this anime. i highly recommend it to everyone! watch and experience this big journey with Elric brothers!!! i give a 10/10!!!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 25, 2024

Veldimburg

Mixed Feelings

It pains me to not be able to only praise Fullmetal Alchemist but it would be foolish to simply say that it is good.
 
As it stands, the best parts are really amazing, while the lowest one are completely boring. Making a mixed tune of boredom and excitement along the trip.
I do admit that being 64 episodes, it is logical that it can't be a blast all along. But the bad parts doesn't simply come from a cool down having their roots deeper into the scenario.
 
The whole letdown actually come from the main cast, there are no hopes for them being a shounen, they had to ... be shounen's characters.
That is where it falls hard, the scenario being actually grand, they just do not follow through. There are no improvements on their parts, whether it is a psychological one or even a power scale one.
They are supposed to be some genius, studying and understanding alchemy, but it isn't meaningfully depicted either.
As such, at each moving scene, at each study/fight scene, it is just void of anything of worth after the first few.
No originality, no new elements. Even though they are supposed to have access to the truth, they are still just as boring and bland as ever.
 
Then does come the alchemy itself.
Don't get it wrong, the not main cast ones do show that it is actually amazing and you can do many things with it.
But we are behind the main ones, making the alchemy just changing shape rather than having an actual chemical works.
There are a whole lot of possibilities in it that are just left laying. Some moments, they do remember how it works to counter an enemy, but they just forget it after that and don't ever try to replicate the enemy skill even while understanding the concept.
It makes essentially all their fights completely boring, and when they come to the same problem that they were facing on at the beginning in the late parts of the story, it is just stupid.
I may add that everyone was amazed that the mc is able to do alchemy without circles, I understand it logically but when you can just pull it off by drawing the circles on your gloves/hands, and almost everyone doing it makes actual attacks rather than simple shapeshift, it does seem completely useless.
 
Now, Fullmetal Alchemist does good things too. Basically many of the secondary casts are way deeper than the main ones and they do not have plot devices on their behalf, making them extremely interesting and exciting when they do move the scene.
Whether it is all the army's high ranking allies, some enemies or even the foreigners, they do pull it off in a godly manner. You'll remember them way more than the main cast and their parts are the best of the whole series.
They do have beliefs, improvements, moving parts. All the stillness that was here doesn't affect them making it a whole new story in itself.
 
I dare say that the beginning of the anime is boring because it is focused on the main cast while after having established some characters, the shift happens making it interesting.
 
The focus of the story cannot be with them unfortunately, making Fullmetal Alchemist a mix of low and high.
I can't wholly praise it when it is such a long watch and just deleting the boring parts would kill a lot of the understanding making it an impossible watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 31, 2024

Quaker020

Not Recommended

Funny

I see why people like this show for it's setting, but I only enjoyed watching FMA:B for about 5% of the time.

- The main characters lack depth, growth and consistency. I feel like most of the main characters are almost entirely the same, from beginning to end. The same motivations, the same actions. There are a few exceptions, but that is nowhere near enough to redeem the rest.
-- Ironically, the side characters are WAY more fun / interesting.

- The plot is predictable from beginning to end, with the exception of some minor plot twists. Moreover, it's quite THIN. In my opinion, it really felt like ... nothing happened for about 40 episodes, leading up to the predictable finale of the show.

- As a result, pacing felt horrible. I found myself sitting through a few dozen episodes, because I knew what was coming and it just kept taking longer and longer.

- The art is sometimes incredible, but almost always boring. Mustang's fire blew my MIND at times, but the endless still frames and unimpressing visuals really tired me.

- Combat feels very weird for power level / plot reasons. The main characters have so much power, yet barely use any of it, often times. (What is the POINT of hand-to-hand combat if you can crush people between brick walls?)

+ The main redeeming part of this anime is the power system. Such cool intricacies, variations, flavors, visuals. And the underlying mechanics are super interesting!

I restarted FMA:B three times after dropping it before. I sat through it because I wanted to know why it's so loved. Sadly, I did not enjoy it and I would definitely not recommend someone watch 64 episodes of it. I found it VERY unrewarding, the whole way through.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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