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 impossible ways.

The Elrics are not alone in their search; the corrupt State Military is eager to harness the artifact s power. So too are the strange Homunculi and their shadowy creator. The mythical Stone lures exotic alchemists from distant kingdoms, scarring some deeply enough to inspire murder. As the Elrics find their course altered by these enemies and allies, their purpose remains unchanged and their bond unbreakable.

Stills from Dragon Ball GT: Season Two (Click for larger image)

Amazon.com
As the television adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa's manga Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) remains one of the best and best-loved series of the last decade, it's surprising Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is not a continuation of the characters' adventures, but a remake. Young Alphonse and Edward Elric delved into forbidden knowledge when they tried to use alchemy to bring their mother back from the dead. They paid a terrible price under the principle of "equivalent exchange". Al was reduced to a disembodied soul bonded to a suit of armor; Ed lost an arm and a leg but has been fitted with the mechanical prostheses that earn him the title "Fullmetal". The brothers wander through a world that resembles late-19th-century Europe, seeking the legendary Philosopher's Stone, which they believe can restore their bodies. Although the series has been expanded to 63 episodes from the original 51, many of the subplots have been trimmed or eliminated to keep the focus on the Elric brothers. Their encounters with Cornello, the corrupt priest in Liore, and the murderous guardians of the sinister Fifth Laboratory are noticeably shorter. Yasuhiro Irie's direction is less dynamic than Seiji Mizushima's, but he has the advantage of stronger scripts that pack a lot of emotional punch. He balances that intensity with broader slapstick, using the simple, cartoony versions of the characters Arakawa draws in comic sequences. Almost the entire vocal cast reprise their roles, including Vic Mignogna as raspy-voiced, hot-tempered Edward. But Aaron Dismuke was cast as Al when he was only 11 and had to rush to complete the original series before his voice changed. His replacement, Maxey Whitehead, sounds too feminine for a 14-year-old boy. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood will delight both fans of the original and new viewers with no knowledge of the Elrics' previous incarnation. (Rated TV PG: violence, grotesque imagery, tobacco and alcohol use) --Charles Solomon

(1. Fullmetal Alchemist, 2. The First Day, 3. City of Heresy, 4. An Alchemist's Anguish, 5. Rain of Sorrows, 6. Road of Hope, 7. Hidden Truth, 8. The Fifth Laboratory, 9. Created Feelings, 10. Separate Destinations, 11. Miracle in Rush Valley, 12. One Is All, All Is One, 13. Beasts of Dublith)

Date: 08/30/2010
Summary: Beautiful Series
Rating: 5
I want to preface this review by saying I have never watched the original Fullmetal Alchemist series or read the Manga. I'd hear good things, saw the Blu-Ray on a gold box deal, and bought it on a whim. That was a great decision.

First thing you'll notice when you pop in the blu-ray is that this show is GORGEOUS. I haven't owned any other anime on blu-ray yet, but the animation and the transfer look as good or better than any American animated films you can get on Blu-Ray. Animated films that aren't produced by Pixar anyway.

I'm fairly new to Anime, but I've jumped in head-first. I've watched the full runs of Bleach (ongoing), Soul Eater, Darker than Black and several others. This show belongs with the best of them. The story is compelling, the characters are fleshed-out and interesting (for the most part), and the animation is stellar. For an Anime fan this is must-see, but even if you've never watched an Anime this is just great television.

A few minor complaints: The show can be a bit melodramatic. The motivation of the brothers' and their past is upsetting and the emotions are earned and genuine. Following the first few episodes though the music starts hitting you a bit heavy, and the characters start giving many long tearful speeches about their feelings and what it all means. It's far from subtle. It's a small complaint early on, but as the show progresses it starts to take over a bit more. Still, it definitely earns the 5-star rating.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys things that are good.

Date: 08/26/2010
Summary: Great Show!
Rating: 5
I bought this from amazon's "Today's Deals" for an amazing price, and was very satisfied with my purchase. You get the first 13 episodes of the series distributed across 2 blu-ray discs. Picture quality is great, and it sounded great on my speakers. There was very clearly room on the 2nd disc for more episodes but I guess they chose not to fully fill the disc ... The box also came with 4 postcards. I found them useless, but fans of the series might like them. For the price I got this for (slightly under $20 with tax and shipping) I thought it was a good deal and well worth my money.

The series itself is great. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the second Fullmetal anime. The first vaguely followed the manga before departing into its own storyline, this is much more faithful (I should add that I've never read the manga, however I have seen the first anime). I found this anime to be a lot tighter plot-wise than the original Fullmetal anime, with all loose ends tied up by the end of the series. The production values of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are great - good animation, good music, good voice acting (at least on the Japanese side, I didn't listen to the English soundtrack).

I should mention that you can watch this series for free, legally, on either funimation's website or on hulu. However the video and sound quality is noticeably worse and there are commercials. I ended up watching the first 13 episodes on this blu-ray and then finishing up the series on [...] because I didn't want to wait for the rest of the blu-rays to come out.

If you are a fan of the original anime, or looking for a new anime to watch, I highly recommend this blu-ray.

Date: 08/25/2010
Summary: Great remake!
Rating: 5
This is a fantastic remake of the first Fullmetal Alchemist. It's even better than the first one, which I loved. I would definitely recommend buying this if you liked the first one. It's more detailed and closer to the manga than the original as well.

Date: 08/13/2010
Summary: I liked the original better...
Rating: 3
The fans have wished, and so BONES Studio has given us a manga accurate FMA Show in the form of FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. With a little help from FUNimation's part we now have the fist 13 episodes on DVD and Blu-Ray. I myself have the DVD version of the set and am quite pleased with the presentation of it. In both versions of the set you'll get 4 Collectible Postcards that may or may not have been in the Japanese release. Enough with the packaging, I want to talk about Brotherhood itself.

After watching the 13 episodes on this set and two more online, I like the series so far. The first 13 episodes feel a bit rushed, but I have to say episodes 14 & 15 aren't half bad. Now's the time that I'll go over the pros and cons of FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Pros:

*The animation is outstanding and is really crisp and clear. Some character designs look different, but I assure you, it's the good different.
*The anime is much more dark than the previous one, making it more teen-adult friendly, even though the previous one wasn't really kid friendly to begin with.

Now for the cons

Cons:

*The music score has been changed, and I liked the old one better.
*Since some VA's left FUNimation, characters have been re-casted leaving some mediocre performances behind.
*Since the colors have been darkened Edward's Jacket color as well as Scar's look dull and awkward.

So that's it! Whichever one you like better is entirely up to you. Even so, if you are an FMA fan you cat go wrong with this release. Part 2 coming soon!!!!

Date: 08/12/2010
Summary: Mixed Feelings For This New Release
Rating: 4
I had already gotten the earlier Full Metal Alchemist series a few years back when I started to hear about them remaking the series to follow the manga better, and after getting the first boxed set all I can say is "Eh". The series is a nice new direction a little from the characters we got use to with the previous FMA but like on reviewer has said a lot of the characters that were released later with that series were released a lot earlier and somewhat faster and chaotically in this version Like Greed, Scar, and a few others as well as some deaths for certain characters as well. While it's great to hear all the original Japanese voice cast back and doing their character roles I was sad to see that two of the English Dubbed cast were not reprising their roles Alphonse and Scar the most notable and while the new voices were good you do miss hearing the previous dubbed character voices for those two. The episodes seem to over pace the earlier series to a little bit not so much that you get lost but does seem that when you watch episode twelve on this series it feels like it should be episode thirty with the previous version series. The animation is good and the soundtrack is great and fits the series nicely especially the concerto music in some scenes and dramatic situations, the extras are pretty much what you expect from most box sets the usual trailers and intro/ending songs and that's pretty much it. So is the series worth adding to the anime library at home?, if you're a big fan of the FMA universe or like action-filled animes I say yes but if you've already got the earlier series set than you might have to realize that this newer version of the series will be different from what we've already seen and might seem a little annoying if you've already put in your heart how the series characters should act....