Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Our Review

The most complete anime ever made. Two brothers — Edward and Alphonse Elric — break alchemy’s one taboo trying to resurrect their mother; Ed loses an arm and a leg, Al loses his entire body (his soul bound to a suit of armor), and their journey to restore themselves becomes a war against a conspiracy rooted in the founding of their country. The 64-episode adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s complete manga is the genre’s model of discipline: every episode advances the plot, every character pays off, every mystery resolves, and the ending — a genuine ending, earned and complete — is the rare anime finale that satisfies absolutely.

The cast is enormous and fully realized: the State Alchemists (Mustang’s vengeance arc is a parallel masterpiece), the homunculi (each an embodiment of a sin with a human wound behind it), the Xingese prince Ling, the Armstrong family. The Nina Tucker episode is the most famous gut-punch in anime; the Promised Day is untouchable spectacle. Arakawa’s themes — equivalent exchange, the price of ambition, the worth of a human life — are woven into the mechanics of the world rather than preached.

Verdict: Watch it first among all anime. Nothing is certain in this world except Brotherhood’s greatness.