Note:Myria has written a review of one of our favorite shows so there is a post for today after all. This is a really good piece of work with a teriffically compelling story-line and characters who’s only relation to cartoons is that they exist in an animated world rather than a live-action one.
So without further ado…
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.
Alphonse Elric
Imagine a world in which alchemy is real. A world in which alchemy is a science, not magic, and those gifted with the talent, skill, and training can transmute one item into another—fix something or break it, create something new or destroy something utterly. A world in which Equivalent Exchange is the ultimate physical law—to get something one must give up something of equal value. Imagine the world of FullMetal Alchemist.
Edward ‘Ed’ Elric and his younger brother, Alphonse ‘Al’ Elric, are, despite their tender years, two extremely talented students of alchemy. One day they come home and find that their mother has died. In their grief they attempt forbidden alchemy, they try and use their skills to restore their mother to life. It doesn’t work, and it nearly costs them their lives. Al loses his body entirely, it is only through the quick thinking of Ed, who uses an alchemic symbol to tie Al’s soul to an eight foot tall suit of armor, that he survives. For his part Ed loses an arm and a leg, which must be replaced, in an incredibly painful process, with automail (metal limbs that work very similarly to his real ones).
Edward Elric
Placed under the command of Lt. Colonel Roy “The Flame Alchemist” Mustang, Ed, with Al always in tow, travels the countryside on various missions. His habit of being more interested in helping people than following the strict letter of his orders earns him a reputation as ‘the hero of the people’, something Ed revels in more than a little. Along the way Ed and Al learn as much as possible about The Philosopher’s Stone, following a trail of information that eventually leads them back to where they started.
Ed has believed for most of this time that he has been pulling the wool over his bosses’ eyes, he learns different. Mustang has been overtly and covertly supporting Ed all along, he knows of the brothers’ ultimate goal and wishes them to achieve it. It seems that darn near everyone is aware of Ed and Al’s search for The Philosopher’s Stone, darn near everyone believes they are the only ones with a reasonable chance of finding or making one, and darn near everyone, often for very different reasons, wants them to succeed.
Everyone, that is, except for Scar. He just wants FullMetal, and every other State Alchemist, dead.
Years ago there was a small war that came to be known as The Ishbala Uprising. The Ishbalans were a small group of people who worshipped a god they call Ishbala. To the Ishbalans alchemy is a sin, a perversion of God’s world, this inevitably put them on a collision course with the expanding state and its alchemists. The accidental killing of an Ishbalan child by the state military led to an out-of-control Ishbalan uprising, which lead to the State Alchemists being called in. Wishing to end things quickly and brutally, the general in charge ordered Dr. Tim “The Crystal Alchemist” Marcoh to hand over his efforts at creating a Philosopher’s Stone. Marcoh did, reluctantly. His versions weren’t nearly as powerful as the real thing, but they were close, capable of increasing an alchemist’s power by orders of magnitude. Those stones were handed out to the alchemists tasked with stopping the uprising. A few of those given the stones reluctantly did what they saw as their duty, trying to put down the resistance with a minimum of killing. Others clearly enjoyed the increased power the stones give them and reveled in creating a bloodbath. Either way, the Ishbalans lacked any alchemy or any effective defenses against it. In a single night the resistance was slaughtered, what remained of the Ishbalan people were scattered to the four winds.
This incident becomes central to Ed and Al’s quest. Dr. Marcoh never created a true Philosopher’s Stone, but he was close, and they have to track him down. Colonel Mustang was one of those given a stone at the Ishbala Uprising and he bears the shame of what happened. Mustang seeks power, to eventually be in charge of the state so that he can remake it, make sure that nothing like what happened at the Ishbala uprising can ever happened again, and thus atone for what he sees as his sins. Ed and Al’s quest is potentially a big step along the way to those goals.
Scar is an Ishbalan who seeks to avenge his people by ridding the world of all State Alchemists. Scar ‘cheats’, in a way. He uses alchemy up to a point, but since he ‘skips’ the last step (making his alchemy only capable of destruction) he technically avoids violating his own religion—though even he is clearly aware it’s a weak loophole and that the many deaths he’s caused are inescapably a sin. Scar especially wishes to stop Ed and Al’s quest for the stone, but the brothers’ relationship mirrors his own reasons for declaring war on the alchemists and complicates things for him greatly.
Then there’s Führer King Bradley, most often referred to simply as The Führer. In charge of both the state and the military, The Führer is essentially a generally benign dictator. At points he seems to be helping Ed, Al, and Colonel Mustang, at other points putting up barriers, The Führer clearly knows more about what’s going on than most of those involved wish and he clearly has his own, as yet unclear, interest in Ed and Al’s quest.
Lastly there’s the Homunculi. Led by Lust, who appears to be a normal woman, these beings were created by some unknown alchemy by some unknown party and are essentially artificial humans. They each have special powers and abilities, but, because they’re not human, they cannot perform alchemy. They wish to become human and they believe that only the power of the Philosopher’s Stone can grant this wish. Like everyone else involved, they see Ed (whom they refer to as the “FullMetal Pipsqueak") as being the only one who might be able to achieve their goals. Amoral and often violent, the Homunculi will literally stop at nothing to get Edward to the point where he can grant their wish.
FullMetal Alchemist sets out to tell a complicated and involving tale and for the most part it succeeds brilliantly. The characters are real people, the story interesting and well paced—things move along at a pretty good clip, with enough hinted at to let us know there’s more than we see.
Alphonse Elric
The other characters are handled just as well. Colonel Mustang seems like a simple military yes-man at first (and Ed assumes that to be the case for a long time), but turns out to have more layers than an onion. Major Alex Louis “The Strongarm Alchemist” Armstrong, the boys’ sometimes bodyguard, is in some ways as simple as he seems, but doesn’t hesitate to risk his life on their behalf and does everything he can to support them. Scar, a character that easily could have been little more than a moustache twirling bad guy, instead is a complex maze of conflicted motivations, beliefs, and need. Even the deadly sin-named Homunculi, dripping with destructive amorality, are not as simple, nor entirely as malevolent, as they at first seem.
Little is as one might first assume in FullMetal Alchemist, including who the audience is that this show targets. This show is primarily about two children and their quest, but it is most assuredly not a show for children. Full Metal Alchemist does not shy away from what it explores. This is a show that explores much that is good in human nature, but also much that is not. People die here, even major charactors, and some pretty horrible things are done by some people (and some who are not exactly people). Scar’s method of eliminating State Alchemists is nearly as brutal as the genocide of his people was. Neither is reveled in, but neither is shied away from. This is not a show that is really appropriate for children.
Fullmetal Alchemist
Highly recommended.
Myria
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I don’t normally go for anime but you made this sound very interesting. I like good characters and great story.
Happy 4th.
Aarlene - I’m not much of an anime fan myself but this is different. Waaaay different :) Sometimes funny, sometimes grim and always very involving.
That looks really interesting. My husband is more of an anime fan, but I love the story here.
Kathy - Surprised me, I’ll tell you. I was beginning to think anime wasn’t capable of a show that told a good story and had characters one was capable of caring about!
umm, i am anime-challenged (oh, heck, i see a scrooge mcduck cartoon and think ‘how’d they do that?’) but it’s good to know there are some with more than just noise and action- that story ‘reads’ well and sounds interesting- i’ll pass it on to my more cartoon-savvy kids-
a safe and pleasant 4th to both of you there- stay happy-
Barb - LOL! Well, Scrooge McDuck doesn’t so it for me either. I have always had a crush on Bugs Bunny though…
