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You can't transmute a better series, even if you tried.
Pros
a good opening to a good anime
Cons
all the really good mysterious and plot twists don't happen till later.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
a little advice, don't call Ed short.
I got Fullmetal Alchemist vol 1 when wal-mart was giving away a 2 for 1 pack, buy Conquer of Shamballa and you get the first volume of the series. I of course picked it up and now I am reviewing it.
If you haven't watched Fullmetal Alchemist the anime that runs on CN's adult swim then I should tell you what it's about. It takes place in another world around the time of the First World War. But in this other dimension Alchemy not only exists but it as taken over physics as the extreme science of the land. The series follow two young boys Edward (Ed) and Alphonse (Al) who break a major taboo when the try to bring there dead mother back to life using Alchemy. The rule breaking costs Ed an arm and a leg (literally) and Al soul gets bonded with a hollow suit of armor.
Episode 1 those who challenge the sun.
This is the first episode of the series and it starts with the flashback of Ed's and Al's human transmutation gone wrong and then skips us several years into the future where the two are searching for the philosophers stone and fix there mistake. They come to the desert town of Liore who has become pretty prosperous since a prophet called Cornelo moved in. His popularity is immense and he's made a good size cult out of the people of the city. Ed meets a young girl called Rose who believes all of Cornelo teachings will bring back her dead lover and is taken to the temple, when Cornelo finds out about who Ed and Al really are he sends his disciples Crave to shoot them. He shoots Al first and then when he turns to Ed; he then gets a shock when the now headless Al attacks him. Ed tries to explain to her what happen but she runs away, chasing her they bump into Cornelo who happens to have a philosopher stone on his ring. He uses it to sick two Chimera on Ed and Al, there attacks on Ed's arm and leg seem to have no effect. Ed shows why because there automail and then he explains to Rose that Al being without a body and his fake arms are the price they paid for trying to bring back a human. The episode ends with Cornelo mocking them about how foolish they where to try a human transmutation.
My thoughts.
Rather then go into a full explanation in how the two Elric brothers got into the boat they are in we are just given a teaser at the beginning of what happen during there alchemy experiment. This is a good way to start because the main story happens several years in the future, and the series gets back to what happen in an episode or two. The rest of the series is set up, we see the bodiless Al, and we see that Ed can do alchemy without a transmutation circle. We also hear several times about Equivalent Exchange the law that Alchemy works on. On the villains we do see a little bit of Lust who becomes a thorn in the Elrics side but she and Gluttony are more background characters in the first two episodes It's a good first part of a 2 part starter of the series.
Episode 2. Body of the sanctioned.
This one starts where episode 1 left off with Ed and Al demanding the philosopher stone but Cornelo servants show up and Ed thinks it's time to leave and uses Alchemy to create a door that allows them to escape. Cornelo puts a warrant out on there head and there quickly rounded up by the villagers, Al is smashed and Ed is imprisoned. Meanwhile Rose sees that Cornelo is bringing back her dead boy friend but when he sneaks into the room without Cornelo's permission she sees that it a talking Chimera that sounds like him. Cornelo steps in and explains that even with the philosopher stone he would not dream of trying a human transmutation, he then sick's the Chimera on her and leaves the room. She is saved by a remarkably unsmashed Al who is busy hooking up equipment. Meanwhile Cornelo visits Ed and spills the beans about his plans. His plans are to convince people that he is a prophet and build an army of people who are not only loyal to him but aren't afraid of dying for him because they think he can bring them back. He notices Ed slip out of his cuffs to eat his food and then he notices a microphone behind Ed. Ed reveals that Al wasn't smash but it was just a dummy made to look like him and now the whole townsfolk's know of his plans. A fight breaks out and Ed wins when he slices a gun made by Cornelo into pieces with his automail. Ed chases Cornelo outside where a rather large and unruly mob as gather for his head, he tries to prove that he is not a fraud by moving giant statues while taunting Ed without his alchemy watch that Ed can't use Alchemy without a circle. Ed proves him dead wrong by moving the largest statue that is in front of the church and using it to crush all of Cornelo's statue. Cornelo tries to use the philosopher stone to try and get a way but it beaks and destroys Cornelo arm. It was a fake stone and Ed gets frustrated that he did all that work for nothing. Ed and Al leave Liore after telling Rose there whole story, meanwhile Cornelo is yelling at Lust over the fake philosopher stone. Lust tells him he's the pawn in there scheme to lure alchemist seeking the stone, she then feeds him to Gluttony. The final scene we see another father Cornelo step up and win back his followers by performing miracles again and winning back the towns people again.
My thoughts.
The 2nd episode is the last we see of the current storyline developing for a while, the next several are flashbacks to how Ed and Al have gotten to where they are. While the Invy and Gluttony who and what they are won't be revealed in till much later in the series we realize that there evil and they seem to be pulling a lot of the strings.
Episode 3 Mother.
This episode begins with Al looking in a library and finding the alchemy book that got him and his brother into Alchemy to begin with. They recall about there childhood and growing up with there mother and how they scared the next door neighbors little girl Winry performing there first Transmutation. They also recall not remember seeing there dad as he left when they were young, and the time that Winry parents were killed in the war in Ishbal. Then something bad happens there mom is found unconscious and is sick when they come home one day, a few days later she dies. As Ed stares at her tombstone he vows to bring her back. After getting an alchemy teacher (this part of the story is expanded on about the half way point through the series) they master alchemy and try to bring there mother back to life. That is when everything goes wrong, Al disappears in font of Ed and Ed's leg disappears in the process. Since Al does most of the narrating the next thing we see is a hurt Ed missing both an arm and a leg telling him that there experiment went wrong, and Al is now bonded to the suit of armor that was hanging in the corner. He takes him to Winry's house; her Aunt Pinako is a doctor and automail specialist. While they bandage Ed up a Colonel Mustang visits the house and tells him he saw what happen and if the two can do a human transmutation and survive they would make great state alchemist. When Ed recovers he tells Pinako he'll pay for automail limbs so he can join the state. She reluctantly agrees and begins fitting him for automail. After she is done Ed and Al spare to test out there new body and limbs and decide what to do from there. The episode ends with them burning down there house, there can be no going back, what there seeking is another human transmutation and if they fail again there will be nothing left.
My thoughts.
We only got a teaser in episode 1 but they didn't keep us in suspense for to long. We get there origin story, we hear about Winry's parents (this will be an issue between Winry and Mustang in the future), and we finally see how the whole Alchemy fiasco began in the first place. Thus the pre story episodes begin.
A forger's love.
On there way to central to meet Mustang Ed and Al stop in a town where they hear of a great Alchemist called Majhal lives. Trouble is that young girls are mysteriously dying in the town. When they get there attacked by a tomboy named Klaus and her friends and get humiliated, luckily Majhal steps in and saves the. Majhal tells them about there father and the difficulty of human transmutations and how he once tried to use it to get his lover Karin back. He tells him that she was able to grow a rare blue rose but she died in an accident while taking them to sell in the city. Meanwhile an old woman comes to the door and delivers something to Majhal. Later Klaus is dragged by her father and force to apologize to the Elric brothers but she seems stubborn about it. She throws a fit and runs away and Ed and Al chase her down, when she falls off a hill Ed saves her using Alchemy. She tells her the story of how her sister mysteriously wound up dead at the same time the ghost of Karin started to show up and she wants revenge. Ed is skeptical of the story and the next night he and Al visit the commentary looking for evidence only to wind up in a trap that Clause had prepared for Karin. The ghostly Karin shows up and Majhal kills her using fire. Ed gets suspicious about all this and goes poking around Majhals lab and finds puppets looking like the ghostly Karin, he is stopped by the old lady and knocked out by Majhal. It seems that Majhal as been capturing young girls from the village and trying to attach there sprits to his dolls so he can have Karin back, Klaus comes knocking at the door to thank him and gets captured. Al breaks the chains that tie him and Ed up and as they are about to leave the room to look for Klaus Ed notices that Karin as a blue flower in her hair. Ed finds Majhal just in time to stop the transmutation on Klaus and explains that Karin as been alive all along, when the accident happen Karin lost her memory and lived in another village for several years. After she regain her memory she came back to him but he rejected her because she gotten old. Majhal grows furious at the very notion of the old woman being Karin and attacks Ed with a sword, Ed uses the flower and transforms it into a whip, the sword goes flying up into the air and comes back down and lands in Majhals chest. While Karin tries to comfort him he tells her that there is no way she is his Karin. The next day Ed and Al leave and are thank by a now more femininely dressed Klaus.
My thoughts.
This one is pretty much a filler episode and nothing is gained by it, while there is a point in the series where Ed feels quality about killing a monster called Greed and remembers doing in Majhal and wonders if he's a monster do. Other then that there is nothing this episode really adds to the series.
The DVD
The DVD contains both the Dub and sub version of the series, I notice funimation goes for a really direct translation of the sub, and the English VA's are pretty good. We also have Japanese trailers for the episode, character profiles, production art, and textless openings and endings.
Final recommendation.
Well I got it for free so I can't say I wasted my money. But FMA is a great series to get into and if you're looking for a good anime look no further FMA.
If you haven't watched Fullmetal Alchemist the anime that runs on CN's adult swim then I should tell you what it's about. It takes place in another world around the time of the First World War. But in this other dimension Alchemy not only exists but it as taken over physics as the extreme science of the land. The series follow two young boys Edward (Ed) and Alphonse (Al) who break a major taboo when the try to bring there dead mother back to life using Alchemy. The rule breaking costs Ed an arm and a leg (literally) and Al soul gets bonded with a hollow suit of armor.
Episode 1 those who challenge the sun.
This is the first episode of the series and it starts with the flashback of Ed's and Al's human transmutation gone wrong and then skips us several years into the future where the two are searching for the philosophers stone and fix there mistake. They come to the desert town of Liore who has become pretty prosperous since a prophet called Cornelo moved in. His popularity is immense and he's made a good size cult out of the people of the city. Ed meets a young girl called Rose who believes all of Cornelo teachings will bring back her dead lover and is taken to the temple, when Cornelo finds out about who Ed and Al really are he sends his disciples Crave to shoot them. He shoots Al first and then when he turns to Ed; he then gets a shock when the now headless Al attacks him. Ed tries to explain to her what happen but she runs away, chasing her they bump into Cornelo who happens to have a philosopher stone on his ring. He uses it to sick two Chimera on Ed and Al, there attacks on Ed's arm and leg seem to have no effect. Ed shows why because there automail and then he explains to Rose that Al being without a body and his fake arms are the price they paid for trying to bring back a human. The episode ends with Cornelo mocking them about how foolish they where to try a human transmutation.
My thoughts.
Rather then go into a full explanation in how the two Elric brothers got into the boat they are in we are just given a teaser at the beginning of what happen during there alchemy experiment. This is a good way to start because the main story happens several years in the future, and the series gets back to what happen in an episode or two. The rest of the series is set up, we see the bodiless Al, and we see that Ed can do alchemy without a transmutation circle. We also hear several times about Equivalent Exchange the law that Alchemy works on. On the villains we do see a little bit of Lust who becomes a thorn in the Elrics side but she and Gluttony are more background characters in the first two episodes It's a good first part of a 2 part starter of the series.
Episode 2. Body of the sanctioned.
This one starts where episode 1 left off with Ed and Al demanding the philosopher stone but Cornelo servants show up and Ed thinks it's time to leave and uses Alchemy to create a door that allows them to escape. Cornelo puts a warrant out on there head and there quickly rounded up by the villagers, Al is smashed and Ed is imprisoned. Meanwhile Rose sees that Cornelo is bringing back her dead boy friend but when he sneaks into the room without Cornelo's permission she sees that it a talking Chimera that sounds like him. Cornelo steps in and explains that even with the philosopher stone he would not dream of trying a human transmutation, he then sick's the Chimera on her and leaves the room. She is saved by a remarkably unsmashed Al who is busy hooking up equipment. Meanwhile Cornelo visits Ed and spills the beans about his plans. His plans are to convince people that he is a prophet and build an army of people who are not only loyal to him but aren't afraid of dying for him because they think he can bring them back. He notices Ed slip out of his cuffs to eat his food and then he notices a microphone behind Ed. Ed reveals that Al wasn't smash but it was just a dummy made to look like him and now the whole townsfolk's know of his plans. A fight breaks out and Ed wins when he slices a gun made by Cornelo into pieces with his automail. Ed chases Cornelo outside where a rather large and unruly mob as gather for his head, he tries to prove that he is not a fraud by moving giant statues while taunting Ed without his alchemy watch that Ed can't use Alchemy without a circle. Ed proves him dead wrong by moving the largest statue that is in front of the church and using it to crush all of Cornelo's statue. Cornelo tries to use the philosopher stone to try and get a way but it beaks and destroys Cornelo arm. It was a fake stone and Ed gets frustrated that he did all that work for nothing. Ed and Al leave Liore after telling Rose there whole story, meanwhile Cornelo is yelling at Lust over the fake philosopher stone. Lust tells him he's the pawn in there scheme to lure alchemist seeking the stone, she then feeds him to Gluttony. The final scene we see another father Cornelo step up and win back his followers by performing miracles again and winning back the towns people again.
My thoughts.
The 2nd episode is the last we see of the current storyline developing for a while, the next several are flashbacks to how Ed and Al have gotten to where they are. While the Invy and Gluttony who and what they are won't be revealed in till much later in the series we realize that there evil and they seem to be pulling a lot of the strings.
Episode 3 Mother.
This episode begins with Al looking in a library and finding the alchemy book that got him and his brother into Alchemy to begin with. They recall about there childhood and growing up with there mother and how they scared the next door neighbors little girl Winry performing there first Transmutation. They also recall not remember seeing there dad as he left when they were young, and the time that Winry parents were killed in the war in Ishbal. Then something bad happens there mom is found unconscious and is sick when they come home one day, a few days later she dies. As Ed stares at her tombstone he vows to bring her back. After getting an alchemy teacher (this part of the story is expanded on about the half way point through the series) they master alchemy and try to bring there mother back to life. That is when everything goes wrong, Al disappears in font of Ed and Ed's leg disappears in the process. Since Al does most of the narrating the next thing we see is a hurt Ed missing both an arm and a leg telling him that there experiment went wrong, and Al is now bonded to the suit of armor that was hanging in the corner. He takes him to Winry's house; her Aunt Pinako is a doctor and automail specialist. While they bandage Ed up a Colonel Mustang visits the house and tells him he saw what happen and if the two can do a human transmutation and survive they would make great state alchemist. When Ed recovers he tells Pinako he'll pay for automail limbs so he can join the state. She reluctantly agrees and begins fitting him for automail. After she is done Ed and Al spare to test out there new body and limbs and decide what to do from there. The episode ends with them burning down there house, there can be no going back, what there seeking is another human transmutation and if they fail again there will be nothing left.
My thoughts.
We only got a teaser in episode 1 but they didn't keep us in suspense for to long. We get there origin story, we hear about Winry's parents (this will be an issue between Winry and Mustang in the future), and we finally see how the whole Alchemy fiasco began in the first place. Thus the pre story episodes begin.
A forger's love.
On there way to central to meet Mustang Ed and Al stop in a town where they hear of a great Alchemist called Majhal lives. Trouble is that young girls are mysteriously dying in the town. When they get there attacked by a tomboy named Klaus and her friends and get humiliated, luckily Majhal steps in and saves the. Majhal tells them about there father and the difficulty of human transmutations and how he once tried to use it to get his lover Karin back. He tells him that she was able to grow a rare blue rose but she died in an accident while taking them to sell in the city. Meanwhile an old woman comes to the door and delivers something to Majhal. Later Klaus is dragged by her father and force to apologize to the Elric brothers but she seems stubborn about it. She throws a fit and runs away and Ed and Al chase her down, when she falls off a hill Ed saves her using Alchemy. She tells her the story of how her sister mysteriously wound up dead at the same time the ghost of Karin started to show up and she wants revenge. Ed is skeptical of the story and the next night he and Al visit the commentary looking for evidence only to wind up in a trap that Clause had prepared for Karin. The ghostly Karin shows up and Majhal kills her using fire. Ed gets suspicious about all this and goes poking around Majhals lab and finds puppets looking like the ghostly Karin, he is stopped by the old lady and knocked out by Majhal. It seems that Majhal as been capturing young girls from the village and trying to attach there sprits to his dolls so he can have Karin back, Klaus comes knocking at the door to thank him and gets captured. Al breaks the chains that tie him and Ed up and as they are about to leave the room to look for Klaus Ed notices that Karin as a blue flower in her hair. Ed finds Majhal just in time to stop the transmutation on Klaus and explains that Karin as been alive all along, when the accident happen Karin lost her memory and lived in another village for several years. After she regain her memory she came back to him but he rejected her because she gotten old. Majhal grows furious at the very notion of the old woman being Karin and attacks Ed with a sword, Ed uses the flower and transforms it into a whip, the sword goes flying up into the air and comes back down and lands in Majhals chest. While Karin tries to comfort him he tells her that there is no way she is his Karin. The next day Ed and Al leave and are thank by a now more femininely dressed Klaus.
My thoughts.
This one is pretty much a filler episode and nothing is gained by it, while there is a point in the series where Ed feels quality about killing a monster called Greed and remembers doing in Majhal and wonders if he's a monster do. Other then that there is nothing this episode really adds to the series.
The DVD
The DVD contains both the Dub and sub version of the series, I notice funimation goes for a really direct translation of the sub, and the English VA's are pretty good. We also have Japanese trailers for the episode, character profiles, production art, and textless openings and endings.
Final recommendation.
Well I got it for free so I can't say I wasted my money. But FMA is a great series to get into and if you're looking for a good anime look no further FMA.
