Since the time I first decided to buy into the hype and start watching it, I’ve been a pretty big fan of Fullmetal Alchemist. Some of the fandom is because I’ve always been interested in the concept of alchemy, though the show kind of fantasizes the idea. If you’ve never watched it, it’s basically magic with a loose scientific explanation. Given that physical alchemy is currently viewed as a sort of front for a type of spiritual growth, maybe it’s not too crazy that here it’s portayed as the ability to alter matter by scribbling shapes on a nearby surface.
I’m also really keen on the characters. Yeah, it’s an anime, so they do often fall into the common tropes, but on some counts, they feel very original to me. Mainly the principal characters, Ed and Al. The two are brothers who tried (and failed) to resurrect their mother via alchemy as children. The botched transmutation cost the former and arm and a leg (ha!) and the latter his entire body. The big thing that separates these two from the bulk of anime heroes is that they don’t have a grand cause. They aren’t out to save the world. They aren’t trying to win over the hearts of their romantic interests. They aren’t training to become the world’s greatest pokémon trainers alchemists. Nope, their only goal is to restore their bodies and make up for their mistake. With a twist of guilt as well, as either brother always seems more concerned about getting the other’s body back to normal than his own. Ed especially, as he was the one that led the charge into the realm of tabooed alchemy, which left his brother’s soul tied to a magically animated suit of armor.
The villains are pretty neat too, being false humans (known as homunculi) created by… well, that’s a fairly important plot point, so I won’t spoil it here. But the idea is that they don’t want to rule the world or take revenge on the human race or anything big like that. They are simply soulless creatures living as human husks, and as such their goal (or at least for the ones with the majority of screen time) is a humble one; to find a way to make themselves true humans. While that would rob them of their immortality and totally sweet super-powers (imagine goth X-Men), it would seem that being able to live forever just isn’t good enough for some supernatural beings.
Anyways, more to the point, I’ve been watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which I was informed was different than the original series, but as far as the first ten episodes, it seems like more of an abridged version with slightly better artwork. I’d read that the original run had its own story, different from the manga it was based on, and that Brotherhood was a more precise adaptation. I’ve never read the manga myself, but the main difference I’ve seen so far is that Brotherhood skips a lot of the filler episodes and focuses on the events that further the overall plot. This isn’t to say that I’m disappointed with how the series is so far, I just imagined there’d be some more stuff in there that we haven’t already gone over. Like the first episode. And the new(ish) conclusion to the (first? I forget) Liore incident.
I might have to look a little closer into how it all unfolds before I invest in the rest of the blu-ray sets, but the original run was 50-something episodes long and this one 60(ish?), so maybe it branches off a little farther down the line. Even if it doesn’t it’ll nice to have a crisp, high-def collection of the series.