Hagane no renkinjutsushi

A friend raved about this anime, so I took a cursory scroll through it and found nothing worth noting. It just seemed so homogenized. The art didn't stand out. The characters seemed to be cookie-cutter determined types out to save the world. Even the name "Fullmetal Alchemist" seems completely avoidable with magic being the status quo in much of anime. I borrowed a disc anyways and watched it. I begged for the other discs in advance.

Fullmetal Alchemist has superb flow. 24 is the only thing in recent memory that has a comparable flow and that's only because that show supposedly happens in real time. In FMA, you have multiple reasons to continue each episode but the focus is not lost. It's always centered (unless if very appropriately not centered) on the two Alric Brothers who share perhaps the strongest bond in all of anime. This bond may be broken at any time, mainly because FMA takes place in a very dynamic world. A war may possibly re-surge. Fellow soldiers we meet rise in ranks and there are casualties. But amidst all this is a very pervasive mystery to which no one is safe. We are as blind to this mystery as the brothers and it's unnerving to stop watching, knowing that unseen forces may encounter our heroes at any time. Prepare to marathon. It's a continuous narrative, unlike that Cowboy Bebop crap.

Above all, FMA is a parable. We're told about the principle of equivalent trade, which is yin yang in other words, but we get much more than this taoist tidbit. We learn to deal with death. People do grow old and die. People do die for a reason. People do die for no reason. Some people may call FMA needlessly dark for a children's anime, but rather it's brutally honest. It's likely you will feel real pain. It's unlikely you'll forget the pain. Anyone we meet to whom a great misery befalls is so uniquely focused and blindly determined that the mechanics of his/her devastation become very clear. They seem proverbial, as though the Brothers Grimm were revived to create some of these characters. The series has enough fluff to get us through grim reality, but most of the time, it's really an opportunity to show how much heart many of the characters possess. It may seem odd for an anime centered around some teenage boys to have no sexual connotations whatsoever, but that'd just get in the way of the very strong emotions expressed in this anime. Friendship is the greatest form of love, and the one between the Alric Brothers is perhaps the greatest friendship in all of anime.

Concerning the Technical aspects once more, the animation is great where it counts (where there's action). Being a musician, I find it odd that I don't remember any of the music. It's definitely there and fitting, just not memorable. Doesn't matter. This anime could look and sound like crap and still be worth watching.

Full Metal Alchemist, about 2 loving brothers who get thrown into a world a war and war craft just to receive a certain something, which therefore leads them into a completely different world, and opinion of their objective.

I have been a fan of anime for a while now, ever since I was very small watching Sailor Moon and Pokémon. But ever since then I was blinded from the world of anime and wasn't into it anymore.

Well, until I contacted my long lost ex-girlfriend after about 6 months on MSN, I can seriously say I was hooked, for the first time in my life.

So I downloaded all of the episodes and watched about 10 a day, my eyes couldn't move off the screen as they were fixed on only one thing, the show. Which then later got me into reading the Manga, well only the first 5 since I cannot find the rest.

The story and it's characters go through so much. From Ed and Al longing for the philosopher's stone to revive their dear mother, to despising it on learning how to create it, then to learning on what the Homculus group is really doing to Ed and Al.

I would definitely prefer watching this amazing Anime, then read the manga, believe me, it's worth the time.

This series has one of the most amazing endings I've ever seen...ANYWHERE. Out the half dozen other people I know who've seen the entire series, not one of us was able to even come close to guessing the ending. FMA reminds me a bit of Harry Potter just in that, in both series, you have 1) child prodigies, 2) engrossing character growth and plot development, and 3) a story that individuals of all ages can appreciate and enjoy. One thing I appreciated and enjoyed very much about the series is that it's like one long fable--there's moral after moral after moral. As a side-note, it's one of the only animes that I've seen which spans several years, allowing for a lot more character growth and focus on the players in the story than is typically seen in most animes. Probably the single best anime that I've ever seen, and certainly in my Top 10 favorite stories of all time. Like Harry Potter though, it may at first appear to be a kids' story, but toward the end it's oriented more toward adults. Highly recommended.

I was sick last year (2005 this is '06) for three days straight. So as a result I ended up 'channel surfing' all day and all night. I didn't get ANY sleep.

Eventually I turned the channel onto Adult Swim. Mostly because I had seen the title Full Metal Alchemist and was drawn in. I remembered the myths about alchemy although vaguely mostly from random books I had read.

The episode I ended up watching was the exam episode which should've been the actual beginning to the series but is actually around the third or fourth episode.

And was hooked. I had thought that anime was a useless Japanese art form. Man was I wrong! Intriguing storyline AND amazing animation. This was an aspiring animators dream world.

I ended up spending the rest of the year watching all the episodes on Adult Swim...I'd even wake up in the morning and think Full Metal Alchemist's on tonight! And plan my day accordingly. I also ended up buying the Manga which if you have cash to burn and love the series you should do so.

The story itself is pretty straightforward at first and seems almost like Inu Yasha where there's the same premise behind every episode but that's only for a little while until you know the characters and than it starts adding to the background situations starts to show whats really going on and whats really behind their quest.

The animation in itself just adds to the story with the rich backgrounds and the amazing fights.

Overall this would be a good anime to start with if your looking for one. There's only 51 episodes, a movie -Full Metal Alchemist and the Conqueror of Shamballa- and a couple of games so it won't burn too big of a hole in your pocket.

I might as well just come right out and say it to start with--I have never been a fan of Anime. In general, I watch it if it happens to be on, but more as background noise than for the actual plot content. But this series changed my mind about all that.

The first few episodes I watched were on Adult Swim. I liked the idea of magic being explained in a (somewhat) scientific fashion, so I found recordings of the aired episodes online (with subtitles) with the intention of watching them whenever I was bored.

I say without shame that I, who have not watched more than a half hour of anime in a single sitting, watched all fifty-one episodes in a single sitting. And it had me sitting on the edge of my seat every time. When a few of the episodes were corrupted, I even edited the videos manually with a hex editor to get them to play properly.

I was really turned off to Anime originally because of the way the Japanese animators use frame rates. You only really need one or two frames per second to show movement--and this contrasts with the relatively constant frame rate in American cartoons. It can look rather ugly if you're not used to it. For action scenes, though, they bring out the full 30fps, and the sudden contrast between 2fps, with the character standing there, and 30fps, where the character is executing these stunning martial arts moves, is an incredible sight to see.

But I would like to say that this series is a complete series. The last episode does, in fact, contain the conclusion--no premature terminations here. Most anime contains a "Lead-out" which gives the viewer something to think about. It makes it seem more like the characters are still doing something, still living, even after the series is over. I must say that makes the end of the series even harder to bear, because believe it or not, it's like saying goodbye to a close friend.

This series has definitely had a major impact on me. It is worth the time (or money) to acquire it. I wouldn't recommend watching all fifty-one episodes together like I did. The intrigue of the plot is intended to hit the viewers like a hammer, and it keeps them coming back week after week. If you watch them all together, it begins and ends so quickly you feel like you've been hit by a truck when it finally DOES end.

Full Metal Alchemist is a prime example of excellent story writing. It'll make you laugh and maybe even make a few of you cry, but one thing it won't do is leave you disappointed.