Product Description
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood faithfully recreates the story from the classic manga – see Fullmetal Alchemist the way the creator intended!
Edward and Alphonse Elric s reckless disregard for alchemy s fundamental laws ripped half of Ed s limbs from his body and left Al s soul clinging to a cold suit of armor. To restore what was lost, the brothers scour a war-torn land for the Philosopher s Stone: a fabled relic which grants the ability to perform alchemy in im… More >>
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Part 1
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FAMILY DELIGHTS
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#1 by Wesley Archer on April 30, 2010 - 9:56 pm
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is a more manga faithful retelling of the origianl fullmetal alchemist series. While still good the newer series spends too much time on the over the top japanesy humor and less time on the themes of sacrifice and redemption that made the original series so great. One thing the new series has going for it is that the animation looks better especially on blu-ray. Some characters have been recast most notably Al and it is hard to get used since he sounds even more like a girl this time around. I’ve only seem the first 25 episodes so far and to their credit they get progresively better and darker towards the end but so far it is no where near the level of the original series. Its much more worth your time and money to buy the first season of the original series.
Rating: 4 / 5
#2 by Jamie Johnson on April 30, 2010 - 10:57 pm
Ed and Al are finally back in glorious animation for fans to drool over. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood follows plot of the manga almost completely, whereas the first anime series strays off to a completely different story. Brotherhood starts out with Ed and Al pursuing the notorious “Ice Alchemist” who has a vendetta against the Fuhrer President Bradley. This pops the series off with some interesting fight scenes, but unfortunetly after that the series is somewhat dull. There’s nothing new to people who saw the first series (up until you see Greed and his Chimeras in the Devils Nest)and silly humour seems to be put in places where the tone probably should be a little more serious. You can find the same humour in the comics, but it didnt seem to translate into the anime too well. If you are willing to be patient and endure the anime-ish slapstick, after episode 14 or so the series gets interesting. It introduces A prince from Xing, who just happens to be looking for -you guessed it- a philosophers stone. Things soon take off and fight sequences ensue-
Which is a good thing, because the series was void of any action up to that point, and the soap opera theme starts getting old.
Bottom line is that this series will be sure to please many of the fans of the first series. Those fans who were drawn to the original due to its dark and edgy themes may be dissapointed. If you are new to the world of FMA, then this series may not be the best to start with because it speeds through much of the beggining and could be confusing at times. And so I’ll give it a 3/5.
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by Moiraine on April 30, 2010 - 11:51 pm
Full metal alchemist brotherhood is absolutely phenomenal. The storyline and everything is absolutely gorgeous, and both the english cast and the japanese casts are extremely talented and bring such a life and presence to all the characters. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by E. A Solinas on May 1, 2010 - 2:28 am
For the record, they already made a “Fullmetal Alchemist” anime… but they couldn’t continue it, since it had already strayed from the original manga.
The solution: “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood,” a solid revamp of Hiromu Arakawa’s series about an alternate world in which alchemy is the reigning science. And though the first few episodes of Part 1 are little rocky in their execution (how many times can the “Ed is short” gag be played in ten minutes?), it’s both lighter-hearted and more faithful than its predecessor.
The Elric Brothers are alchemists working for their country’s military, but their real goal is to get back their original bodies. In an attempt at resurrecting their mother, Ed lost an arm and leg (now replaced by automail limbs), and Al ended up as a soul bound into a suit of armor. Now as “dogs of the military,” they find that their jobs are far messier than they expected, and sometimes the consequences of alchemy are too terrible to imagine.
But their search brings them into contact with new problems arising in Central — a group of mysterious people are pulling the strings behind the scenes, causing anti-government riots, cults and horrendous experiments. Additionally, a scarred Ishvalan refugee has been hunting down and killing alchemists. When the brothers go on a visit to their old teacher, things go horribly wrong in Central City — and they end up face to face with foes they could never have imagined.
“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Part 1″ is not quite the same as the previous TV series. Oh, the first round of episodes covers mostly the same ground, but it sticks faithfully to Arakawa’s original manga about 95% of the time, and only adds filler in the first episode.
The first two episodes are rather choppy — one is an extended fight scene with rather repetitive humor, and the other is basically a huge flashback. Fortunately, things improve after that — the main plot settles into a blend of comedy (Armstrong’s bear hugs), blood-spattered fights, and lots of explosive alchemical action mingled with acrobatic fights.
But while there’s loads of humor (Ed’s ranting about being perceived as a “beansprout”), the writers don’t forget that the entire storyline stems from tragedy. There are many touching or tragic moments (including the horrific flashback to the human transmutation attempt), the shocking murder of a likable main character, and terrible acts committed years ago in the Ishvalan war…. by the alchemists.
Ed and Al are likable protagonists — one is a hot-headed short guy, and the other is his quieter, sweeter brother (“After thinking it over for myself, I’ve decided to hog-tie you guys and ask what my secret is”). Both brothers are made even more complex by the fact that they both committed a terrible alchemical crime out of love, and are still haunted by their mistakes and losses. Feisty automail mechanic Winry makes a nice counterpart to the boys, as does their terrifying (and equally tragic) teacher Izumi.
Roy Mustang and the other military officers aren’t quite fleshed out yet, though. There are little flickers of personality beyond “Smart Ambitious Guy” or “Big Enthusiastic Muscleman,” but nothing quite yet. And the villains are similarly shadowy, except for the hilariously villainous Greed.
Lighter and more faithful, “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Part 1″ is a solid adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s manga — just make your way past the first couple episodes, and it’s smooth sailing.
Rating: 4 / 5
#5 by Onix Franceschini on May 1, 2010 - 3:55 am
First, a recap. Six years ago, Fullmetal Alchemist was released in Japan, one year later, in America. I never thought anything of it until I finally caught an episode on Adult Swim. It interested me enough to warrant the purchase of the DVD’s, and let me tell you, I fell in love. The tragic and heart-wrenching tale of two brothers who lost it all in a futile attempt to bring back a loved one from death. It was great anime, and more importantly, a great story, weaved perfectly into a complete package of action, drama, and true emotions. It started off with a bang, and ended… well, it could’ve been better. See: Fullmetal Alchemist The Movie – The Conqueror of Shamballa Fast forward 4 years, and the great people of Japan want to re-release FMA, but instead of the original story of the first series, it follows the manga. In other words, this is the way FMA was intended to be. Now, I do not own this, as it has not come out yet (obviously.) I have, however, watched the Japanese subtitled episodes of Brotherhood (up to episode 54, at the time that I wrote this,) and I do have to say, it tops the first series in every single aspect. The animation is more beautiful and fluid, the story is on a much grander, and epic scale than the first. The characters are more complicated (specially if you watched the first series,) and the action is on par with anime classics like Evangelion and Akira (and yes, I compared this to Evangelion AND Akira.) I will warn, however, that there are spots during this series that are harder to get by than others, in particular, the first 13 episodes, which feel like a recap of the first series. It might even seem like more of the same. Still, after the real changes in the story come, you’ll see that this is a very, very different Fullmetal Alchemist. It’s more adult, and darker, more violent and gut-wrenching, all wrapped up in one series that truly lives up to the word, EPIC. In other words, this series comes highly recommended to fans of anime, of art style cinema, and to fans of a great story. Now, about the Blu-Ray. Just an FYI, this series was aired in Japan in 720p High Definition. The rips I have seen looked outstanding on a HD display via Playstation 3. I can safely assume that Funimation will do a fantastic job on this transfer, a la Evangelion 1.1 You are (Not) Alone. So, to anyone that is curious about FMA:Brotherhood, or fans of the original, get ready to get involved in one of the most amazing anime series of all time.
Rating: 5 / 5