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).

Wishing to restore themselves, the brothers decide to search for the philosopher’s stone, a red stone that can increase an alchemist’s powers by a thousandfold. Knowing this search will require resources they simply don’t have, Edward decides to become a State Alchemist—essentially a member of the military, which he has naught save contempt for. Edward’s unusual talent, the ability to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle (or, more accurately, he uses his body to form the circle), is unheard of and allows him to pass muster and become the youngest State Alchemist ever. All State Alchemists are given a code name/title based on their particular skills, Ed’s habit of transmuting his metal right arm into various forms when needed earns him the title “The FullMetal Alchemist”.

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.

More than anything else it is the two leads, both how they’re voiced and how they’re written, that make things work. Ed and Al are children, and, unlike much of anime, they’re really children rather than essentially adults in a children’s bodies. All that they’ve seen, done, and been through has made them grow up quickly, but they still think and sometimes act like kids. Alphonse, especially, even sounds like a kid rather than sounding like someone trying to sound like a little boy. That childish voice is especially effective, and odd, coming from an animate eight foot tall suit of armor with glowing red eyes. Edward, for all of his skill and brights, still makes childish mistakes. Too often he thinks he has people fooled when he hasn’t, too often he takes people—especially adults—at face value, not realizing there’s much more there than he sees. Al is the heart of the pair, a tender and empathetic young boy who worries a little too much about others and a little too little about himself. Edward is all bluster, usually with more than enough skill to be able to back it up with action. Headstrong and a little too easily pushed into anger, Ed feels responsible for what’s happened to himself and, especially, to his younger brother, and that guilt acts as a motivator that matures him rather quickly. The relationship between the two brothers is touching and well handled. No matter how furious Ed might be, Al can always bring him back to earth with a word. For all of Al’s sensitivity, he doesn’t hesitate to use his physical skills (there are certain advantages to being an animate suit of armor, after all) and his alchemic talents on his brother’s behalf. For his part, Ed would give up his life to protect his brother, and at one point, feeling he has no other choice, he literally tries to do just that.

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 is currently being played on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim at 1AM EDT Tuesdays - Thursday. Both the manga and DVDs are also available through various sources.

Highly recommended.

Myria