[Kuro]

The full metal alchemist franchise is based around two brothers, Edward (ed) Elric and Alphonse (al) Elric. The story is based around the use of a technique called alchemy, the main rule of this being “equivalent exchange”, that the user can transform anything into anything else providing the same amount of material remains that the user began with. The plot begins with Ed and Al using human alchemy, at during which Al loses his entire body and Ed loses his left leg. Ed gives up his right arm to attach Al’s soul to a suit of armour. After failing to revive their dead mother, they realise their terrible mistake, and then set out on a journey to regain their original bodies.

Whereas the original anime series separated from the manga about halfway through, this remake follows the manga entirely, therefore this anime is almost an entire new story rather than a remake. For those who have watched the original anime, do not think this gives you an excuse to miss out on brotherhood. The storyline itself is far better than the original anime. The plot of final 13 or so episodes is spectacular, and kept me tense while waiting for the next episode to air. Sunday used to be one of my favourite days of the week while this anime was airing. The twists and turns of the plot will keep you entertained throughout, and learning more about that characters past than was originally told is especially rewarding. As this anime followed the manga, the ending was really rewarding, which was a pleasant surprise as many good series fail at the end due to rushed endings.

As far as the animation goes, the series was aired in HD throughout, and the quality of the animation really shows in this format. Although it’s not groundbreaking, it certainly is a pleasant experience to view. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the soundtrack. Although the openings and endings are good, the songs used within the anime are mediocre at best, and upon listening to the soundtracks after the anime finished there weren’t many songs I recognised. This is simply because too many songs were used. It lacked a recognisable song for battles or emotional moments, as opposed to watching animes such as tengen toppa gurren lagann, where recognisable tracks add emotion to already gripping scenes.

Personally this ended up being one of my favourite animes. Rarely have I been sad to see an anime finish airing as I was with brotherhood. For those who are fans of shounen anime, or even for those who’ve never watched one before and are wondering where to start, I would certainly recommend giving full metal alchemist a try.



quick edit, I decided to include a star rating system in my reviews, and I have to give this one a 5 star review, as it's in my top 5 anime of all time!

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[Zakness]

One of the best anime's I have ever seen but you could have used a better OP song.

[Kuro]

Originally Posted by Zakness

One of the best anime's I have ever seen but you could have used a better OP song.

Yes, but the further opening sequences give spoilers to the series, right? These reviews are supposed to not give away anything about the story, and watching the first op is fine in this sense.

[Koga]

Really good show. Was kind of hard to sit threw the first 13 or so episodes since it was pretty much the same as the original show. I'm sure this killed off a lot of poeple that started watching it and then dropped it. As soon as episode 14 kicked in everything I knew about the show went out the window. Half the characters are new and everything about the show just kept you wanting to watch another episode. It really pulled you in and kept you guessing.

Some of the songs where ok. I had to do karaoke for all of them and it was hard to sit threw sometimes but I really liked the 4th opening which cant be posted since its just one big spoiler.

If you dropped it because of the beginning then you really missed out on a good show and need to pick it back up.

[the space cadet]

On my top 5 list.

*points* "Wait for me!!"

[Teckniec]

Originally Posted by Zakness

One of the best anime's I have ever seen but you could have used a better OP song.

I like this one FMA2 was the shit

[ARTHURIUSS]

The finest epitome of a shounen show done right but might be a tad bit over-rated imo.Great show nonetheless.

[the space cadet]

The only issue I had with Brotherhood is the amount of flashbacks. Too many. Other than that, it's one of the best I've seen.

[fullmetalmax]

just simply epic series and a 100 times better version then the first one

[hagoo]

That would be great if they made a movie as they did for the first one, but then again this series is finished and I don't think there will be a sequel unfortunately.