A Maria Ross se le culpa de haber cometido el asesinato de Hughes y Roy Mustang, junto con un par de subordinados, están investigando lo que de verdad sucedió ese terrible día. Sin embargo, parece que todo ha sido orquestado por alguien con mayor rango que ellos, así que, de momento, Mustang parece haber ‘ayudado’ a Ross para que escapara, fingiendo su muerte.

A consecuencia de ello, los hermanos Elric y Winry se enteran de la terrible noticia y se cuestionan sobre lo que deben hacer: si confiar o no en la gente del ejército o actuar por su propia cuenta.

De cualquier manera, lo cierto es que no todos están diciendo la verdad y es que por un lado tenemos a King Bradley, un homúnculo con un rango alto y cuya identidad cada día se vuelve más un misterio. Por otro, todos de alguna manera buscan la inmortalidad, y por ende, la piedra filosofal pero, ¿de veras vale la pena el sacrificio de vidas humanas?

Lo cierto es que uno de los principios de la alquimia es el intercambio equivalente así que, ¿qué más tendrán que ofrecer para lograr su cometido? ¿Llegará el momento en que los hermanos Elric regresen sus cuerpos a la forma original?

Este volumen incluye los capítulos 34 – 37.

REVIEWS ANTERIORES:
Volumen 1 | Volumen 2 | Volumen 3 | Volumen 4 | Volumen 5 | Volumen 6 | Volumen 7 | Volumen 8

Mustang da savage

A little slower and more disconnected but still solid. Nice to see emo boy mustang coming out

Placer del sufrimiento;
victoria de la batalla,
vida de la muerte,
eso es lo que la piedra
carmesí otorga.

los hombres la honran con el nombre de "piedra filosofal".

He killed her! He just... killed her...

This was absolutely outstanding. It was fast paces, there were reveals, twist, double games, clever deception.
There was finally some honesty by some characters, which I hoped to see for a long time. And there was some potential dishonesty, but in a good way. Suggesting that the next volume will be even more exciting.

This was pretty much a set-up volume, with little happening in terms of plot advancement. I would've found it more boring if it weren't for the focus on the secondary characters, I'm pleasantly surprised by how every sidekick has a time to shine in this series. Yes, some are more developed than others, some have longer arcs than others, but they all get their time in the spotlight.

For example, I now know every Deadly Sin's quirks (funny how even Sins have quirks here) as well as every single one of the half-dozen military that make up future Führer President Mustang's entourage (it's a certainty that he'll be Führer President, he has to). These two camps have my most favourite sidekicks, including the idiots.

Speaking of idiots, I can't say I like the Idiot Prince yet, but I'm about 1°C less frosty towards his silly butt. Edward also has his own entourage of freaky sidekicks, but they tend to fall off the cart more consistently than the Sinful camp or the Mustang camp. Essentially, consistency is what matters more for me, and the Elric camp are more prone to be in and out than consistent. That doesn't mean I like the Elric camp less, just that they're less dependable plot-wise.

Yes, that's my wordy way of saying I miss Sigizumi. I haven't warmed up to a certain girl for Edward, and my ship was swiftly torpedoed by HMS Arakawa, so the only couple I have to root for and enjoy is Sigizumi. They better return quick and get volumes and volumes of onpage time!

One plot development I'm uncomfortable with is that Mustang killed an innocent and did it in an overkill fashion. I was praying that it was a trick, and Mustang had only faked burning her to ashes in order to facilitate her escape and extract the truth about Hughes from her later without the military hounding her. I'm not sure if that'll be the case, by the looks of it at the end of the volume, but I do hope that incident becomes a heavy weight on Mustang's conscience.

Witnessing your favourites making one colossal mistake like that is about as fun as a terrible day for rain... It hurts.

Damnn Mustang is a beast, he’s so enigmatic I don’t know what to think about him! But I ship him with his assistant

In this volume, the Elric brothers take more of a backseat as we deal with the investigation into Col Hughes’ death. I enjoyed the parts with the brothers, Winry and Hughes’ family. However, the stuff with Chopper and Mustang wasn’t my favorite. I hope the next volume focuses more on the brothers.

En la novena entrega de la serie se centran en investigar la muerte del coronel Hughes (amigo de los Elric). En éste número, hay mucho protagonismo por parte de los militares más que de los hermanos protagonistas; cosa comprensible debido al cáliz que está desarrollando la trama. “66” ( O Barry, de Chopper) destaca sobremanera (no puedo evitar, pese a ser de base un personaje malvado y despiadado, sentir cierta simpatía, quizá debido a su punto de humor negro - absurdo y su dibujo).
Un tomo que va in crescendo, con una fuerte carga emocional y dilema moral, con varios giros argumentales y la continuación de la contienda entre los bandos antagonistas. Otro gran volumen.

This was a rough one. Very emotional, especially towards the end.

Every installment of Fullmetal Alchemist I could claim is a "good" one, and this is no exception. Verily, Volume 9 is (like most other volumes) a "great" one. I particularly love the increasing complexity of the situation as the Elric brothers - and readers! - must untangle information concerning the government, the philosopher's stone, and peoples' loyalties. And every character is memorable, a factor so incredibly important for any well-written work. Thank you, Hiromu Arakawa, for the enticing story thus far, and I assure you Volume 10 will be read within a few hours.