[Eminent]

Review and format by Eminent

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

"A lesson without pain is meaningless. That's because no one can gain without sacrificing something.
But by enduring that pain and overcoming it, he shall obtain a powerful, unmatched heart.
A fullmetal heart."

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Notes:

This is my first review in, what seems to have been, a long time. Because of that, I may be a bit rusty ^.^

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Summary:

In this world there exist alchemists, people who study and perform the art of alchemical transmutation—to manipulate objects and transform one object into another. They are bounded by the basic law of alchemy: in order to gain something you have to sacrifice something of the same value.

The main character is the famous alchemist Edward Elric—also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist—who almost lost his little brother, Alphonse, in an alchemical accident. Edward managed to attach his brother's soul to a large suit of armor. While he did manage to save his brother's life, he paid the terrible price of his limbs.

To get back what they've lost, the brothers embark on a journey to find the Philosopher's Stone that is said to amplify the powers of an alchemist enormously.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a re-telling of the story from the manga point of view.

Information:

Episodes: 64
Aired: Apr 6, 2009 to Jul 4, 2010
Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Magic, Shounen, Military
Stream: AnimeFreak • YouTube • CrunchyRoll
Download: Nyaa.eu

OP/ED:

OP/ED
Spoiler (Click to View)





Trailer:





Review:

Plot:

Oh wow. Just starting off this review, I'm getting excited, thinking back on the series I just finished. Of course, I'll try to save these crazy, exciting thoughts for after I finish reviewing the plot and characters.

Well, I can honestly say that the plot was done extremely well in this series. Seemingly every episode there was something new to surprise me, and make me second-guess what would happen next. That kind of thing itself was a huge push to continue watching the series without stopping. The depth of the plot for this show is pretty incredible, and the plot alone makes this series great.

I could go on and on about why the plot was so amazing, but I really don't need to; you probably get the idea already. But, that leaves that question, "Is there anything wrong with the plot?"
-There are a couple small things, but nothing that is a major factor in my overall enjoyment of the show.

• First, motives. I'm mainly talking about for the villain here. The motives for the villain were fairly stereotypical, and nothing new. I would have loved to see the main villain explained more, and given a better reason to do what he is doing. This would have made a better antagonist in general, and would have made the entire series feel better.
  
  


• Second, time. From context clues, I concluded that the series took place roughly during 1918. Now, despite the fact that it took place such a long time ago, there were quite a few instances where technology was apparent beyond their time. If you've read many of my reviews, you'll know that I am a huge stickler on whether the content matches the time that the story is set in. The time screw-up is probably the most notable plot error that I can think of, but it really didn't take away from the story too much.
  

All of that being said, I'm sure there are some things that could be considered plot holes in this series. The plot for this show was extremely deep. When a show takes the plot to this level, it's not uncommon to find errors if you look deep enough.

Characters:

The characters in this series were interesting. The main character appears to be a goof ball a couple of times, however, I can't complain about him. In the original Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed just wasn't a likeable character, for various reasons. I shouldn't say he was unlikeable, but compared to how well he was made in Brotherhood, well, the original can't compare, in my opinion.

Other characters were also very well made. A strong bond was made with characters, regardless of how long they have been apparent for. Because of how strongly the characters could be connected with, many sympathetic tears where shed while I watched this series.

As far as character romance went, I was satisfied. In every series, there is always a yearning for two characters to get together, and I constantly find myself rooting for that relationship to happen. However, I am constantly let down by series who say that romance shouldn't be a part of their show. However, FMA know what the audience wants, and they satisfied that. There wasn't a strong sense of romance through the whole series, that wouldn't fit the genre, but they did slip it in there subtly.

There's more that I could say here, but man, I want to get to the thoughts section.

Thoughts:

Oh god. I loved this show to an unimaginable extent. I'm such a child for loving a shounen so much, but who can blame me. I haven't met anyone yet who has disliked FMA:BH. So, why did I rate this show what I did?

Well, let's start at the beginning. From the very start of the show, I could tell it was of a much higher quality than the original FMA. The animation was better, different scenes were shown, better quality in general, and there was just an aura to it that was completely different from what I had previously experienced. I could tell this series was of a completely different caliber, and I had only started the first episode.

I also really appreciated that very little of the material covered in Brotherhood was the same as the original FMA. I know that you're probably getting tired of my comparison with the original, but this is a necessary point. So many people who watched FMA:BH watched the original. That being the case, the creators knew that if they repeated material, no one would watch it. This was a brilliant observation on their part, and kept me watching through, without being bored (I'm the type of person who can't watch something twice).

The next thing that I really noticed, was the emotion. Particularly in the first 20 episodes, a fantastic job was done on emphasizing the emotion in every situation. There was an unexpected amount of times where I found myself in tears. I really wasn't prepared for how heavy this series was emotionally, especially with the genre in mind. My unexpectedness is possibly what caused my emotional vulnerability, and I have a hunch that the creators anticipated this vulnerability ahead of time, which is why they stuffed so much emotion in the beginning episodes.

All of that being said, it wasn't always dead serious. There were quite a few times when great humor was thrown into the show. However, this is also where the shounen aspect comes out. Although a lot of the humor was great, and brought out the personality of characters better, much of it was something that was definitely aimed at children.

That brings me to my next point. This isn't so much dealing with the show itself, but an observation that I made while looking at MAL. The series is rated R. Now, if you're unfamiliar, "Shounen" literally translates to "few years", and is a masculine word, referring to males, usually of elementary school age. Are you seeing what I'm getting at yet? This series falls under a genre that is aimed at young boys, elementary boys at that, yet it is rated R. To me, that seems like a big contrast. Either they're planning on scarring these children mentally and emotionally, or they're trying to bring adults down to the mentality of a child. Either way, it seems like an odd mixture to me.

On the topic of the rating, profanity and gore aside, the topic itself is very mature. Alchemy. Alchemy is difficult to understand for many people. Sure, it can be seen as a magic that allows a user to manipulate matter, but there is really a lot more to it than that. I really credit the author of FMA, because, factually, Alchemy is extremely similar to how it was portrayed by this series. Of course, this series shows an extreme version of it, where it is powerful enough to be used for combat, but the philosophy behind it comes from someone who has studied Alchemy for a long time in order to create a series that is accurate. All of that being said, Kudos to the author, who probably spent countless hours researching Alchemy for this.

This series also makes Alchemy seem extremely appealing. In fact, it got me interested enough to start researching it more myself. Being what it is, there is a lot of false information regarding this practice, which has been slaughtered by occultists. However, there is still a truth behind Alchemy that you won't find in many other place. This paragraph doesn't have anything to do with feedback on the series, but it does show how a simple show can influence a person's life to the point where they would study something on their own because of it.

With everything above said, there wasn't a second of this show that I didn't wholeheartedly enjoy. This series, on an entertainment level, is worthy of a 10, just as Steins;Gate is (The only other series that I have enjoyed this much, with the exception of, maybe, Clannad:AS). However, from an analytical point of view the rating is slightly less, although still very high.

My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 9.5/10

MAL Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 9.21/10

[Aberrant]

Great review, and quite a high score coming from you, guess I may have to check this one out!

[Hikki]

I've seen some episodes of this on Animax but didn't like it. I think I have to view them again. 🙂

[KinGxKeV]

Nice review. I loved Brotherhood more than the original.
Follows the manga more :D

[Eminent]

Nice review. I loved Brotherhood more than the original.
Follows the manga more :D

I haven't gotten around to reading the manga, but I may have to after how fantastic this was

[KinGxKeV]

I haven't gotten around to reading the manga, but I may have to after how fantastic this was

It will 100% definitely be worth it.

[Nathann22]

I loved Brotherhood!
I own the Fullmetal Alchemest Manga. c:
Great review as usual man.

[ƒigure]

Nice review.
I loved Brotherhood it's probably my favorite anime.
Thinking of reading the manga to but i just have find the time

[Eminent]

I loved Brotherhood!
I own the Fullmetal Alchemest Manga. c:
Great review as usual man.

Thanks ^.^

And you've never told me you owned that :o pics plz