Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

After a horrific alchemy experiment goes wrong in the Elric household, brothers Edward and Alphonse are left in a catastrophic new reality. Ignoring the alchemical principle banning human transmutation, the boys attempted to bring their recently deceased mother back to life. Instead, they suffered brutal personal loss: Alphonse's body disintegrated while Edward lost a leg and then sacrificed an arm to keep Alphonse's soul in the physical realm by binding it to a hulking suit of armor.

The brothers are rescued by their neighbor Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter Winry. Known as a bio-mechanical engineering prodigy, Winry creates prosthetic limbs for Edward by utilizing "automail," a tough, versatile metal used in robots and combat armor. After years of training, the Elric brothers set off on a quest to restore their bodies by locating the Philosopher's Stone—a powerful gem that allows an alchemist to defy the traditional laws of Equivalent Exchange.

As Edward becomes an infamous alchemist and gains the nickname "Fullmetal," the boys' journey embroils them in a growing conspiracy that threatens the fate of the world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Elric, Edward Main

Park, Romi Japanese

Elric, Alphonse Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Mustang, Roy Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Hughes, Maes Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Greed Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Hawkeye, Riza Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Yao, Ling Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Rockbell, Winry Supporting

Takamoto, Megumi Japanese

Armstrong, Alex Louis Supporting

Utsumi, Kenji Japanese

Armstrong, Olivier Mira Supporting

Soumi, Youko Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Yonai, Noritomo Producer

Kurashige, Nobuyuki Producer

Reviews

Dec 30, 2024

ToonishSight

Recommended

I genuinely feel so at peace with the fact that I've finished it. It was incredible from start to end and I just had the best time watching it. I've been stuck on it for the past year, but I've gone along and done it. The story writing is its best quality as well as the animation and world building. No wonder this was number one for the longest time. Totally gonna read the manga one day and relive it. It felt like you were part of the journey and it was all so emotional and excellent. 10\10, I adore this series so much and ... am sad to end it, but happy to end it as well.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by ToonishSight (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jan 23, 2025

RoqLobster

Mixed Feelings

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is considered by many to be one of if not the best anime ever made. With its great animation, stirring music, and unique story there is reason for this. However after watching the show I felt like I could never feel the story. I never truly felt for any of the characters or their story arcs. When a character died I never felt any sense of loss. The reason for this in my eyes was length.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is not a very long show in context. Only around 21 hours to watch which is nothing compared to behemoths like One Piece or ... Naruto. However with Naruto for example the scale is relatively small. Sure their are aliens and giant foxes but in the end those things don't matter. It's really just a container for fights. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood however packs in even more scale and story in a much shorter run time and makes it the central focus of the show. At parts this scale showed, for example: a character has an internal dialogue which reveals them to be evil and then is never brought up again or when a central villain is killed and the characters go on with little fan fare.

While Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is by no means a be a bad show, I consider it above average, it simply did not meet my tastes. It felt bloated, and needed to either have a much longer or shorter runtime. If you like shows that are exposition heavy slow burn with dozens of characters you will probably enjoy this show. However if you like tighter more concise shows I would recommend skipping over this one or watch it on 2x speed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by RoqLobster (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jan 3, 2025

RemanTheArchean

Not Recommended

Funny

It's kind of shocking to me how *this* is considered one of the best animes ever made. I wouldn't describe it as terrible, as it's reasonably well executed for what it is. The problem is that it's just so basic: a simplistic hero's journey with unambiguously evil villains and a fairly juvenile atmosphere throughout, despite the show usually taking itself very seriously. The writers were apparently scared of showing too much death in quick succession too frequently, so the heroes almost always refuse to kill the bad guys, and they neutralize henchmen by bonking them on the head and knocking them unconscious like it's a ... Saturday morning cartoon. There's nothing wrong with liking this type of stuff. I'll watch family films occasionally and enjoy myself. But I wouldn't call them, or this, transcendent in any way.

The show tries for comedy quite frequently, but the jokes rarely landed for me. Perhaps that's due to it having very few arrows in its quiver in this regard. It usually just involves characters overreacting in some goofy way. There's the "mistaking alphonse for the FMA" gag, the "Ed getting embarrassed about Winry" gag, the random shirtless scenes with Armstrong, and, of course, the many, *many* times that characters call Ed short. I don't think I've ever heard another series use the term "pipsqueak" as often as this one does.

The action scenes were also pretty lackluster. There's multiple layers to this. First, there's the show's inherent reluctance to show death, with characters getting stabbed with what should be grave wounds but end up just being moderately injured, or even shrugging it off entirely. Second, there's the classic anime mystery genre problem of characters simply manifesting new powers that resolve the situation whenever they're in danger, which rapidly conditions me to expect this kind of resolution whenever the good guys are in trouble. Third, the villains never seemed particularly committed to thwarting Ed and friends. They attack piecemeal and with little sustained intensity. I had thought this would be due to a later reveal that the bad guys had been purposely letting Ed disrupt their schemes, that it was "all part of the plan" especially given the scenes where Father is implied to be watching over everything, but this wasn't the case. Instead, it's revealed early on that Ed is needed as a "sacrifice" which effectively means he's immune from any major harm since the bad guys can't kill him, they can only harass his friends as an indirect punishment.

The mysteries and lore of the show were probably the best aspects, but that's a low bar to clear. Most of the twists could be predicted far ahead of time, and there were none that really shocked me.

Ed and Al are nowhere near as annoying as many other anime protagonists... but they're not particularly interesting either. They have fairly standard personalities and don't grow much over the course of the series.

The highest praise I can give Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is that it was decent enough to pass the time. If you're looking for something inoffensive then this show is fine I suppose. But there are so many other better alternatives out there.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by RemanTheArchean (13)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Worth a rewatch

by Znhamo

12 Entries · 2 Restacks

INFJ Anime

by keyboardroll

48 Entries · 21 Restacks

Battle Shounen - Animes (1)

by UekiZatch

50 Entries · 30 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for November

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for November Week 1: November 6 - 12 Anime Releases Black Clover Part 2 Blu-ray & DVD Combo Galaxy Angel Z...read more

Nov 5, 2018 2:27 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (7 comments)

Interview: Live-Action 'Fullmetal Alchemist' at Anime Expo 2017

In May 2016, Warner Bros. Pictures Japan announced a live-action film based on the hit shounen battle manga series Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa. The film o...read more

Feb 19, 2018 6:59 PM by arsonal | Discuss (9 comments)

	Poll: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Ahenshihael - Jun 21, 2009	178 replies	by OGabrels »» Feb 23, 5:05 PM
	Poll: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Ahenshihael - Apr 26, 2009	458 replies	by cjsoldan »» Feb 22, 10:18 PM
	Poll: Homunculi's Sin tsubagakure - Jan 17	14 replies	by GRG3 »» Feb 22, 3:14 AM
	Poll: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Ahenshihael - Aug 9, 2009	366 replies	by lucasvcapuli »» Feb 19, 4:58 PM
	Poll: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episode 61 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) lafuria_sux - Jun 13, 2010	256 replies	by Scout0070 »» Feb 17, 2:17 PM

Black, White, and Gray: What Makes an Antihero Work

Antiheroes are often some of the most beloved and most talked about characters in their stories. The appeal of these characters can be high and their character brilliant, but what actually makes an antihero work?

by MAL_Articles

58,369 views

Spoiler

Can an OP Character Be a Good Main Character?

OP characters are a common trope in anime, if not a loved one. An often repeated criticism of leads, particularly in shounen titles, is that they were too powerful. Distinguishing between the pros and cons of OP heroes is important to be able to understand if an OP lead can be a great character.

by MAL_Articles

64,269 views