Fullmetal Alchemist TV 9/10

I don't know much but I know what I hate...and I don't hate this. This series has very few problems and minus a boring arc in the middle of the series it would get a 10.

Fullmetal Alchemist (or Hagane no Renkinjutsushi in Japanese, which sounds WAY cooler) aired in Japan in 2003-2004 and ran 51 episodes. At the time of this review it's also airing on YTV in the Great White North. There isn't anything wrong with this show on the technical side. The art and backgrounds are bright, colourful, and detailed. The character designs are great and remain consistent throughout the series. The music is top-notch with some really catchy OPs and good EDs if somewhat not to my tastes. The VAs are great as well. Not a problem to be seen.

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return.
To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.
That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange.
In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth."

Edward and Alphonse Elric are two young brothers who live in a world where Alchemists can convert one thing into another with alchemy. They study the alchemy books left by their absent father and when their mother dies they attempt the most taboo of all alchemy techniques, Human Transmutation, to return her to life. Of course, a person is not the sum of the elements of the body and the experiment creates a hideous deformed monster, Edward loses a leg and an arm, and Alphonse is lost into the light of the transmutation circle. When they awaken, Al's body is gone and his soul is bound to a giant suit of armor.

With an Automail arm and leg provided by their childhood friend Winry, the brothers go to the capital so Ed can become a State Alchemist and gain access to the state's resources in an attempt to restore himself and his brother. Their ultimate goal is a Philosopher's Stone, a legendary stone that allows an alchemist to ignore the first Law of Transmutation.

At first, the show is about how Ed joins the military and he and Al are sent on investigative missions where in most cases they learn more and more about the Philosopher's Stone and that there are mysterious forces at work all around them, trying to create a Philosopher's Stone as well. They also meet the Homunculi, named after the 7 deadly sins, they are what are created as the result of failed human transmutation. It turns out that they cannot use alchemy so they are trying to get a human to create a Philosopher's Stone (and I assume use it on them) to make them human.

As the show goes on everyone learns that the influence of the Homunculi reaches to the highest levels of government and that the Philosopher's Stone is only created by sacrificing the lives of thousands. Ed and Al are forced to stop their plans if only to prevent more deaths.

This show has some very interesting examples of alchemy gone wrong. With the power to combine and disassemble things there are some alchemists doing some pretty bad stuff. One that is trying to create chimera's out of people, one who can cause the human body to turn into a bomb, and one who has a grudge against alchemists and makes their heads go BOOM. Of course the Homunculi are the worst of the lot since they are somewhat without souls so the kill thousands without a second thought and are jerks in general.

The show focuses mostly on the relationship between the two brothers when it isn't turning little girls into half-dog chimeras or raping nice village girls. Someone who wrote this story must be a guy with a slightly younger brother because I see a lot of little things in this show that are extremely familiar to me. If you were ever wishing you had a little brother, this show has that relationship pretty much dead on (right little brother?).

This show is funny and tragic, violent and kind. Other than a stretch of 5-7 episodes in the middle about a trip to the island of ZZZZZZZ I really liked this show. For those of you who LOVE the manga, keep in mind that the show apparently differs greatly after a point, so prepare for a somewhat different ending than you've been expecting. I liked the ending though one NEEDS to see the follow-up movie for the REAL ending. Anyways, highly recommended.