Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - Review

"In order for something to be obtained, something of equal value must be lost."

Synopsis:

Alchemy is bound by this Law of Equivalent Exchange - something the young brothers Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric only realize after attempting human transmutation: the one forbidden act of alchemy. They pay a terrible price for their transgression - Edward loses his left leg, Alphonse his physical body. It is only by the desperate sacrifice of Edward's right arm that he is able to affix Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor. Devastated and alone, it is the hope that they would both eventually return to their original bodies that gives Edward the inspiration to obtain metal limbs called auto-mail and become a state alchemist, the Full=metal Alchemist.

History:

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is an alternate retelling of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist manga that is closer to the source material than the previous 2003 adaptation, this time covering the entire story.

First anime, Fullmetal Alchemist was made (previous version of FMA: Brotherhood) and got good response but it caught up to the manga and continued it on it's own with the anime creators making it different from the actual manga.This version's ending is an extreme disappointment for major class of audience. 

So a new series which follows and adapts the manga up to the ending has been released.It is named as Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood.

Positives:

The animation in FMA Brotherhood is crisp and very well done (although it does sometimes dip a bit in quality). Compared to the original FMA it's a bit simpler but that's just because the original set a very high standard to follow. The facial emotions of the characters are also perfectly presented. The action scenes are brilliant and VERY well animated, with a variety of alchemy techniques and other talents being displayed nearly every episode. The various battles are consistently exciting to watch, but somehow get even better towards the end of the series.

The voice acting is of an excellent and consistent quality, and I think that pretty much all the characters have voice actors which suit their personalities. The majority of the openings/endings are a pleasure to watch due to fantastic animated sequences and theme songs. The background music which play during the episodes usually fit very well with the situation, although some tracks seem to be overused a little at first. This becomes less of a problem as the series progresses, with plenty of new music being introduced to support the story as it reaches the finale.

Characters:

Characters are the best thing about this series.

Though it explores side characters to great detail the majority of the spotlight is still on the two brothers New characters include a group of people from Xing (a neighbouring country), another person from the Armstrong family, Oliver Armstrong (who I think has become one of the coolest members of the supporting cast), and a new main antagonist. For me, the Xingese characters in particular (Ling Yao and Mei Chang among others) provide a new dimension to the FMA world, by showing us a different culture to the militaristic one we're familiar with. Plus, Winry Rockbell now has a much more active role in the story.

Negatives:

FMA: Brotherhood belongs to those group, where it is hard for us to point out the flaws.

The only drawback in my view is that the backstory of Elric's father and his relation with homunculus (in the jar) linking with the transmutation circles drawn over the country wide and the promised day concepts can be confusing. Little more elaboration would have been better.

Apart from this, everything is Excellent.

Overall:

One of the many good things about this series is that there has been absolutely no filler at all, which prevents the story from losing momentum. All the episodes are concise and every scene is important as part of the huge plot. The dialogue fully explains everything and is straight to the point.

There are moments which leave you smiling, laughing, sad and simply amazed. 

Try this anime, it's absolutely worth a watch for everyone.

Rating:   9 / 10

FullMetal Alchemmist : Brotherhood  has one of the best endings in the all time Anime history.