This is a review of the entire series.

Fullmetal Alchemist takes place in the fictional country of Amestris which is heavily based on the Industrial Revolution. Amestris is a unitary state under the rule of a parliamentary republic, run by state alchemists that serve the king utilizing the mystifying arts of alchemy. Alchemy is the power to alter the physical world utilizing its natural elements, performing magic and miracles in the form of science. Alchemy follows the law of equivalent exchange, you must sacrifice something that is of equal value to what you create. You must sacrifice a life to create a life, you must extinguish one flame to ignite another, you have to sacrifice one home to build another, etc...

After being abandoned by their father as children and subjected to watching their mother die, Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse once attempted to utilize the power of alchemy to bring their mother back from the grave, ignoring the dangers of creating a life by offering something of equal value. Edward loses an arm and a leg while Alphonse loses his entire body; his soul placed in a hollow suit of armor that can't feel the touch of others. As neither of them sacrificed their lives in their entirety, the exchange failed and the boys created an abomination in place of their dead mother.

After burning their own home down and dealing with the abomination they created, Edward and his brother enlist themselves in the military to atone for their sins and learn more about the many secrets of alchemy; potentially learning how to recover their original bodies in the process. While serving in the military, the brothers begin to realize how the wonders of alchemy can be abused for nefarious purposes. Immortal life can be gained by sacrificing hundreds of innocents souls, wars can be staged and foreign nations can be annihilated under false charges, human experimentation aided by alchemy can lead to unnatural mutations, the world of alchemy is more dark and dangerous than either of them could've bargained for.

Fullmetal Alchemist grew on me the longer I read it. When I first started reading, it seemed like it was going to be generic shounen material, but it gets deeper and darker the further it goes on. The way it handles political and religious corruption, the dangers of advanced states abusing their technology and resources at the expense of foreign nations caught in the turmoil, and the sad futility of revenge are all very well done.

The characters all bear the weight of what alchemy is capable of. Edward and Alphonse carry the burden of abusing alchemy for selfish purposes. Their master Izumi loses her womb after attempting to resurrect her dead child. Scar takes many lives after his entire country is desecrated and gets trapped in a pointless cycle of revenge. Roy and Riza endure the regret of committing brutal war crimes for the sake of protecting their own nation. Alchemy creates and destroys in equal measure and no one is free from the consequences of tipping the balance.

The fight scenes are flashy and exciting without being too over-the-top because of the dangerous limitations that alchemy involves. The law of equivalent exchange keeps the power scaling in check and adds plenty of tension to the action. The female characters are especially well done, all of them are strong and unique in their own way. The lead heroine Winry being a skilled mechanic, Riza being an honorable warrior of the military, Olivier Armstrong as cold and vicious as the snowy fortress she guards, and that's just a few of them.

The villains are an interesting parody of the seven deadly sins. Each of them represent the darkness and regrets of each of the main characters and they can only be conquered by coming to terms with their own flaws and sins. The characters having to overcome their personal demons to take on the greater demons trying to overthrow the world from the shadows made the struggles of every single person in the story feel personal. Every character, no matter how minor had their moments to shine. Everyone had a vital role to play and the camaraderie between friend and foe alike never felt cheesy of forced.

Unlike most shounen series I've read, the final arc was my favorite. A lot of long-running shounen series have a habit of being dragged out, losing touch with what made them great or breaking their own rules in messy, plot-hole-filled final arcs that leave a lot to be desired. Fullmetal Alchemist has no lose ends, all characters have complete arcs where they learn and grow from their dark pasts, the romance and comedy are handled well without relying on cheap fanservice, the action scenes are great but they don't overshadow the plot and the final chapters tie everything together beautifully. It's not my favorite manga by any means as I usually tend to favor seinen, but it's definitely one of the greatest stories to ever come out of the shounen demographic in my opinion. The ending is a tearjerker but it left me in good spirits.

***

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4,5⭐

Qué hermoso y para nada esperado plot twist!!! Amé además, me redimió a un personaje que me gusta mucho.

El final, esa charla con los ishvalis fue MUUUUY sacada de la galera, no me gustó.

This volume brings so many side characters to the front of this series. I love so much when you care about side characters as much as main ones and this does it so damn well.

The villains are perfect too. Especially Envy. I'm intrigued by him but I also fucking loathe him.

Bring on Ed and Honeheim in the next volume.

Yessssss amazing. Figured everything with Lt Ross (since I doubt Roy would have just killed her; although it doesn't seem like it, he does think ahead) but I liked that interlude with the Ishvarans in the ruins. Poor Winry's parents. Excited for the next one...gotta see how Ed and his father deal with everything.

En el décimo tomo las cosas se caldean de lo lindo. El núcleo poderoso de los soldados alquimistas se enfrenta a una temible y terrible incursión en el centro de investigaciones III. Alphose (sin su hermano mayor) decidirá marchar junto al idealista coronel Mustang y Cia (aliados con “66”, que les será de vital ayuda..especialmente a Alphose) para descubrir más sobre la muertes de Hughe y la piedra Filosofal.
Aquí se libra una batalla tremenda , con una muerte importantísima y se da el principio de la revelación del topo en la base militar. A la par, Edward viaja a las tierras del este ,para lo que el cree, la investigación del origen sagrado de la Alquimia..encontrando una grata sorpresa y un nuevo giro en su ruta vital en la consecución personal de los hermanos Elric.
Volumen muy emocionante, con garra y chispa. Deja ganas de más.

COMENTARIO ADICIONAL CON SPOILERS: Ojalá que la autora haya valorado lo suficiente el aporte sustancial del personaje de “66” (que le da una aire fresco...gracioso y más acción) a la trama y vuelva a aparecer. Espero que se haya sacado de la manga un Deus ex machina como con la Alférez Ross (vaale, aunque no sea bien, bien igual), y salga ése Barry tan colgado pero gracioso al mismo tiempo, xd...también me gustaba el personaje de Creed y duró un volumen...y daba para mucho más

The action picks up exactly where last book left off & rides the crazy for half the volume. Col. Mustang gets all the pages he deserves to showcase the badassery

Feel extremely terrible for the poor editor (or maybe translator?) that wrote Kingdom of Xerxes (aka the ruins in desert) as "Cselkcess" Just looking at that mess of letters makes one feel their eyeballs sprain. Yeah, foreign words in kana sometimes get ridiculous tryin to figure out... but come on! That's a whole new level right there

Idk why but I laughed hard with this volume!
Loooooved seeing more of the Mustang Gang and I adored bits of dialogue that didn’t make the cut for the show. 5 stars.

Great entry!! Found out so much, and I liked it personally really enjoyed this one!

the suspense is killing me

Full Metal Alchemist is a fantastic series. It’s hugely popular and for good reason. The story is complex and fast-paced, and the characters are compelling and distinctive. There aren’t a lot of manga that are as ambitious as Full Metal Alchemist or as expertly told. This is part of the major appeal of the series.
At the start of the story, we are introduced to Ed and Alphonse Elric who are brothers as well as alchemists. After an alchemy-related accident, Ed lost his arm and his leg, while Alphonse lost his body entirely and now his soul lives in a suit of armor. The story centers around the story of these two brothers as they try to find a way to restore their bodies.
The story gets more complex as new characters are introduced and with them, there are new plot lines. Don’t be worried if you feel like the plot is drifting because even the most seemingly insignificant plot point is tied back to the major story arc. There is a lot of buildup and mystery as well. The big reveals from one volume to the next never feel out of place and are always exciting.
I really enjoyed the characters, specifically Ed and Al. It was great reading a story about family and more specifically brother. That’s not a story I think I see told very often. Ed is a bit full of himself, but I find him funny a lot of the time and while he talks a big game, he often has the skills to back it up. So I appreciate that at least. Al is like Ed’s conscience. He’s most noticeably kind and calm. He’s also very logical and likes thinking things through, unlike his brother who can sometimes act too quickly.
I really enjoyed reading this series and I think it deserves all the credit it gets. If you have waited this long and still haven’t read it, what are you waiting for? It’s time.

A lot of action in this one! The violence was a little gory, but it kind of felt necessary in order to prove just how hard it is to take down these bad guys.
I was so happy that Lieutenant Ross ended up being alive! Colonel Mustang just went up a notch on my list. (I don’t actually have a list, but if I did, he’d be one spot higher than he was in the last volume.

Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 10 continues where the previous tankōbon left off and contains the next four chapters (38–41) of the on-going manga series.

Barry the Chopper starts chasing his original body after Lust, triggering a battle consisting of Alphonse Elric, Barry, Lin Yao, his bodyguard Lan Fan and Roy Mustang's crew against the three homunculi.

During the battle, Lust critically wounds Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc paralyzing him below the waist. Mustang successfully kills Lust by repeatedly setting her on fire until her Philosopher's Stone is depleted. Lin and Lan Fan manage to hold off Envy and Gluttony, but they later leave under the order of the hidden homunculus, Pride.

Meanwhile, Edward Elric is taken by Major Alex Louis Armstrong to the ruins of Xerxes to find Maria Ross alive with Mustang's crew, having faked her death with Barry's and Lin's help. As Maria escapes to Xing with help from Fu, another of Lin's subordinates, Edward meets a group of Ishbalans, who tell him the story of the death of Winry's parents, who were killed by Scar in the previous war.

This tankōbon is written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It continues and concludes the battle between the homunculi with Lust being killed and the battle soon after retreated. It also reveals that Maria Ross, framed of killing Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, faked her death and Edward Elric is told the horrifying story of how the parents of Winry Rockbell by Scar, the Alchemist Killer.

All in all, Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 10 is a wonderful continuation to a series that seems really intriguing and I can't wait to read more.