Fullmetal Alchemist 

When a failed alchemical ritual leaves brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric with severely damaged bodies, they begin searching for the one thing that can save them; the fabled philosopher's stone.

Stars:

Vic Mignogna, Aaron Dismuke, Romi Pak

Top Rated TV #152 | 3 wins.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Vic Mignogna	...	Edward Elric 51 episodes, 2003-2004
Aaron Dismuke	...	Alphonse Elric 51 episodes, 2003-2004
Romi Pak	...	Edward Elric / ... 51 episodes, 2003-2004
Rie Kugimiya	...	Alphonse Elric / ... 51 episodes, 2003-2004
Maria Tamar	...	Pinako Rockwell 51 episodes, 2003-2004
Travis Willingham	...	Roy Mustang 33 episodes, 2003-2004
Tôru Ohkawa	...	Roy Mustang / ... 33 episodes, 2003-2004
Colleen Clinkenbeard	...	Riza Hawkeye / ... 29 episodes, 2003-2004
Caitlin Glass	...	Winry Rockbell / ... 29 episodes, 2003-2004
Christopher Sabat	...	Alex Louis Armstrong / ... 28 episodes, 2004
Kenji Utsumi	...	Alex Louis Armstrong / ... 28 episodes, 2004
Megumi Toyoguchi	...	Winry Rockbell 28 episodes, 2003-2004
Michiko Neya	...	Riza Hawkeye 25 episodes, 2003-2004
Laura Bailey	...	Lust / ... 24 episodes, 2003-2004
Yûko Satô	...	Lust 24 episodes, 2003-2004
Mike McFarland	...	Jean Havoc / ... 23 episodes, 2003-2004
Ed Blaylock	...	King Bradley / ... 23 episodes, 2003-2004
Yasunori Matsumoto	...	Jean Havoc / ... 22 episodes, 2003-2004
Chris Cason	...	Gluttony / ... 21 episodes, 2003-2004
Yoshino Takamori	...	Sloth / ... 21 episodes, 2003-2004

Storyline

The Elric brothers' mother is dead and their father has long since abandoned them. Deciding to perform a forbidden human transmutation to bring their mother back, they end up losing their bodies. Now Edward must join the military in order to gain certain alchemical privileges, with his one goal being to restore his brother to his original state. But with war on the horizon it's only a matter of time before they are both forced to question their morals and ultimately decide the value of human life.

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Plot Keywords:

military | artificial human | supernatural power | steampunk | genocide | 

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Taglines:

Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth.

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

adult swim Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

6 November 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fullmetal Alchemist

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aniplex, Bones, Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min (51 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In this anime, Hohenheim leaves his family because he's dying and doesn't want his family to witness his death. Oddly enough, in the original manga story, Hohenheim was unable to die and left his family in order to find a way to grow old and die with them.

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Quotes

Edward Elric: Who are you calling so short you want to squish like an ant?
Alphonse Elric: Calm down, he never said anything like that!
Edward Elric: But he was thinking it.

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Crazy Credits

In the dubbed version, Episode 25: "Words of Farewell" has a different ending than the usual song, "Move Across the Door" (Second Ending Theme) by YeLLOW Generation, and ending sequence with no previews, instead, the ending song is a militaristic drum beat and the credits are shown against a black background.

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Connections

Referenced in Hyper Japan 2017 (2017)

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Soundtracks

Tobira no Mukou he
(To the Other Side of the Door)
Second ending theme (episodes #14-25)
Performed by YeLLOW Generation
Music by Kôsuke Morimoto
Lyrics by YeLLOW Generation
Arrangement by Seikô Nagaoka

User Reviews

Trade An Arm For Full Metal Alchemist If You Have To

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.