Prologue:
Edward and Alphonse Elric’s reckless disregard for alchemy’s fundamental laws ripped half of Ed’s limbs from his body and left Al’s soul clinging to a cold suit of armor. To restore what was lost, the brothers scour a war-torn land for the Philosopher’s Stone, a fabled relic that grants the ability to perform alchemy in impossible ways.
The Elrics are not alone in their search; the corrupt State Military is also eager to harness the artifact’s power. So too are the strange Homunculi and their shadowy creator. The mythical gem lures exotic alchemists from distant kingdoms, scarring some deeply enough to inspire murder. As the Elrics find their course altered to inspire murder. As the Elrics find their course altered by these enemies and allies, their purpose remains unchanged – and their bond is unbreakable.
Plot:
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood begins where we see Roy Mustang guarding an uncanny door. From there we get to see the two alchemist brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, both of who have suffered from the consequence they committed by performing ‘an unforgivable sin’, and with their skills and knowledge about alchemy, they are working in the military as state alchemists.
Later on, in the show where we meet many characters, some of them who help the Elric brothers along their way and some who are running after their lives.
Review:
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is set in a country named Amestris, a country that exists in Pre-World War II Europe. In the show, alchemy is basically a part of science, the one which combines Chemistry and Biology. It has a dialogue in the show that will stick in your mind – “to obtain, something of equal value must be lost”. Though the show does not completely rely on science but also depends on the aspects of ‘faith’. The show also has characters based on the seven deadly sins mentioned in the bible, i.e, ‘Lust’, ‘Gluttony’, ‘Greed’, ‘Sloth’, ‘Wrath’, ‘Envy’ and ‘Pride’.
After the events of ‘the unforgivable sin’, Edward loses his right arm whereas Alphonse loses his entire body. Alphonse’s soul was saved and trapped in the armor by his brother. The two boys are set on to retrieve their bodies back, and through their talents of alchemy, they also help and work for the military of Normadic. On their journey, they meet many people some of the them are alchemist as well but are harming people for their own purposes. Some of them have been through a horrible events and are trying to get justice because the distress was caused by the military itself.
In the beginning of the events, they find a Preist Cornell who has a Philosopher’s Stone, an alchemy stone that does not need anything in return to perform alchemy. As Philosopher’s Stone can restore Ed and Al’s body, the two brothers are reluctant to use it. Later in the show, they meet many Homunculus, who are artificially created humans with enhanced abilities who seek to fulfill their leader’s goal of creating a Philosopher’s Stone. Each of the homunculi has a Philosopher’s Stone somewhere in his or her body which fuels their regenerative ability, and were created at the same time as their respective Philosopher’s Stone.
Later in the show they meet ‘The Father’ who has removed the seven deadly sins from himself and is using them to gain power in the world. The two brother along with Roy Mustang, Armstrong siblings, Izumi and Sig Curtis and a few more good personnels in the military are set to defeat and kill the Homuncullis and other dangerous elements.
5 things I liked about the show-
Undoubtedly Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the best Animes series I have ever watched in my life till now. Before Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, I watched the original anime of it, Fullmetal Alchemist, I get that the manga was not completed when that show was made but I prefer Brotherhood over it as Brotherhood has better ending, whereas in FMA we see Edward was moved to an alternative timeline in order to save his brother at last, but in Brotherhood we see Edward sacrificing in alchemy skills in order to bring back his brother to life and in his original form. Here are my pics about what I liked about the show-
- The storyline is absolutely fantastic. Before watching the show, I did know about alchemy roughly but I never imagined alchemy could be used as a baseline in a show in such a way that it would be used in for fighting.
- The characters and their development is done precisely by the makers. Even if a characters appears for a short time, it will make a place in your heart (and obviously I am not talking about a negative character).
- The art and animation done by the developers of the show was visually appealing and beautiful. Whenever a fight sequence takes place, we are in for watching some immense hard work done by animators. The aspect of animation related to alchemy or even animation anywhere else in the show will never disappoint the viewers. Every episode of the show is fun to watch and always excites the viewer to keep on wanting more of it.
- The background music used in the entire show will narrate the intensity of a scene itself. If it is a serious scene, a comedic scene or a fight, the music depecits some part of the story to the viewers itself.
- Considering the entire series, I don’t think there will be any series to compete with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood any time soon. I have watched a few anime series till now, but nothing comes close to enjoyment I had watching FMAB.
5 things I disliked about the show-
Although the show is one of its kind but there are a few flaws that do pop up while watching the show. It is not related to the overall animation but it consist of the show as one. Here are my picks for the things I disliked about the show-
- The Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood does not give us a direct introduction to the past of the Elric brothers but instead it starts from somewhere in the middle whereas, in the original Fullmetal Alchemist, we get a better storyline introduction to the Elric brothers and the sins they have committed in the past.
- Although there are many brilliant characters in the show, the one that stands out of all of them is Roy Mustang. I wish they could have given us an origin story of Mustang or even a different series where they could have showed us the excellence of the talents and skills Roy Mustang has. He is an unordinary kind of alchemist in the entire show who wears a glove of transmutation circle and just snaps his fingers to perform alchemy.
- As more and more Homuncullis are introduced to us in the show, we realise that the Homuncullis had a better story arcs compared to every other protagonist in the show. We get to see the motive and backstory of every Homunculli much more than any other good character.
- After one point the show clings on to the death of Nina, a little girl who is made a Homunculli by her father who is mixed with a dog. Elric brothers tends to never move on from her death and keep on bringing Nina’s death after anything that goes wrong for them or in their world.
- Although in the original series we see Edward got shifted to a different timeline in order to bring back his brother in his original form, but in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, we see Edward loses his alchemy skills completely. Although I felt the ending of FMAB was better, but I still feel it as a bit bizarre as someone who is the master of alchemy just suddenly loses all his skills instantly.