4.5 stars. This series is so much fun!! I'm so excited to explore the crazy world of Amestris all over again with Edward and Alphonse, this time in the manga! GIVE ME MORE.

3.5 stars *flips coin to decide whether to round up or down*

Of all the stages of grief, "bargaining" has always struck me as the most interesting and memorable: the appraisal of all we have and don't have, and the hypothetical transactions that we think would make things better. It's an activity whose allure is counterbalanced by its low probability of success. What would the world be like if bargaining actually had some chance of working? That's the world of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Following the death of their mother, the brothers Edward and Alphonse engage in an alchemical ritual that seems guaranteed to bring her back. They fail, but that's not the worst of it; in the process, Edward loses a limb and Alphonse loses his whole body, left as a soul inhabiting a hollow suit of armor. We follow them as they attempt to put their lives and bodies back together, encountering other, dangerous alchemists along the way.

This first volume is very episodic, covering three stories that seem pretty independent of each other. The first story, which I think was the longest of the three, was my favorite. It's about the vulnerability of people who want to retrieve the irretrievable, and it shows what the brothers learned from their own attempts at doing that. The art is cleverly done; sometimes the most effective way to convey a horrible image is to barely show the edge of it and leave the rest up to reader/viewer imagination, and here it's done to great effect.

Though, this volume as a whole isn't super serious. In the preface, Hiromu Arakawa talks about her fondness for B-movies and how she wanted to create a similar effect in this manga, and I think she succeeded at that. There are a lot of hilarious, over-the-top action scenes, and I love when humor comes through in the art style and people suddenly turn into freaked-out stick figures. However, action scenes don't hold my attention for very long, and I ultimately didn't find those parts of the story to be particularly memorable.

Nonetheless, I'm excited to continue with the series and I'm looking forward to seeing some kind of continual story-arc emerge. The story has an interesting magic system, with real power coming at real cost. More importantly, it has a big heart. And Alphonse is adorable. More please!

Not just full metal, but hardcore death Scandinavian black doom overkill

2 brothers, perversion of religion, and a perfectly finetuned magic system, it may be even a bit hard
Characterization is top to show the struggle of the pair regarding good and evil, career or own moral codex, and many other questions this series is dealing with, more or less, under the surface. The combination of the religious steampunk industrial complex, the degeneracy of faith, and the warmongering and greed, and the splendid protagonists make it an exceptional masterpiece.

Military dictatorships are still bad, but cooler with dark fantasy
Especially if the whole necromancing dark magic voodoo stuff is perfectly organized and integrated into a crazy, trigger happy war machine that breeds Saruman's en masse. That´s a great
trope for expanding towards big wars, inner conflicts of one or some protagonists until the escalation to civil war and revolution or just a fantasy version of 1984 or The forever war unfolds.

Background story exposed
To jump into the series, we get a load of background information about the not so loveable protagonist antiheroes, who are another manifestation of the big „What is evil“ question. If it´s useful to survive or get loads of money, booze, and boys/girls/ animal hybrid chimeras, whatever one is into, the general trend or dogma of an era is something just wrong for dirty troublemakers.

I´m quite sure that there are high and dark fantasy equivalents
But because I haven´t read fantasy for years and not that much before that time, I don´t know for sure. But fantasyheads will certainly find similar or maybe even identical concepts, because it´s just so logical to pervert this kind of magic.

Automaily steampunk elements
Early industrialization was already dirty, bloody, and exploitative enough, but good old fantasy steampunk makes it even grittier and more disturbing. Although I subjectively don´t enjoy the steampunk genre so much, because it tends to be closer to fantasy than sci-fi, this visualization of an ending era and interim makes it much funnier and quicker to consume. Especially imagining that beginning mechanical and magical biomedical research will become nanotech and bioengineering in real sci fi is a funny thought experiment.

Bloody philosopher stone chimeras
An even better manifestation of escalating evil magic than the whole dark Hogwarts concept. Tricky not to spoiler, so let´s just say that, instead of searching for wisdom, magicians can try to go the, not stereotypical, self destructive path towards more power. If you excuse me now, I´ll now really have to continue my necromancing lessons because procrastination did already cost me world domination several times. Better like this review or be my slave forever instead of freely resurrecting.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

This was a blast!

OOf ok yeah that was really good
(and super quick lol)

3.75/5

Uno de mis mangas favoritos de todos los tiempos. Simplemente, impecable.

One of my favourite mangas - one of my favourite stories, period - Fullmetal Alchemist nonetheless has fairly humble beginnings: this first volume is a series of quick one-off short stories with a small premise and a quick conclusion, that do very little to so much as hint for the myth arc that is to come. Those little stories, their plots and intigues and fights, aren't anything particularly special yet either: their characters are fairly one-dimensional, the artwork simple and basic, and the humor yet to bloom. Of those I liked the third one the best: Yoki is the sort of a smug snake you just love to see humiliated.

Stick with it, though! It gets better. Much better.

It's been 10 years-ish since I first read it, still one of the best shonen manga ever. It is right up there with the classics such as Naruto, Bleach, Death Note etc.

Join Edward Elric and his brother, Alphonse Elric in the quest of finding the ultimate power of alchemy in a world that is filled with science, magic and automails.



This manga is intelligent and downright riveting, I've read it countless of times and it never fails to entertain and amaze me. It has a solid story line and excellent graphic, the action/fighting sequence is cool and amazing.







The relationship between Ed and Al is sweet and honest, I'm touched by their brotherly love because even though they fight and bicker a lot, they truly care and would do anything for one another. I can't help but root for them from start to finish.



Being orphans from such a young age, they rely on each other for support. It breaks my heart during the flashback scenes with their deceased mother, Trisha Elric and also their mentor, Izumi Curtis who acts as the motherly figure in this manga.



This manga is action-packed, unique, creative and heartfelt, I highly recommend it. Just read this damn manga already!!

3.5
Este tomo no es sino la punta del iceberg. Está compuesto por pequeñas historias para presentarte a los hermanos Elric y su pasado. Sinceramente, no consigue engancharme del todo, pero, como sé que mejora, sigo.

“You need to figure that out on your own [what to believe in] Stand up and walk. Keep going forward. At least you have strong legs to take you there.”

For a long time, I was so convinced that "manga and anime just aren't something for me" and I wouldn't even try them. So, I was properly blown-up when I watch my first anime and actually really liked it. Of course, the most reasonable course of action was to come here and read the manga to see the source-material.

So, yeah, Fullmetal Alchemist is the first manga I've ever read and that was... easier than I expected but still a bit of an adjustment.

The thing is, I've always thought that manga was supposed to be silly and immature and a tad ridiculous - much like comics can be but weirder - and man was I so incredibly wrong about it all. And that was probably the thing that shocked me the most.

To find that instead of my very unfounded and pre-conceived ideas it actually was something with so much heart, so complex and philosophical, creepy and at the same time pretty light-hearted, - or that it can be all of those things - was amazing and made me fall fast and hard for, if nothing else, this particular story.

“In other words, the basics of Alchemy is the ‘Equivalent Exchange!’ That means that to obtain something, something of equal value most be lost.”

It's just that, the fact that Fullmetal Alchemist is so full of heart and emotion and passion and sorrow and determination that pulls at my heart-strings and makes my soul sing at its own tune.

I'm so obsessed.

From the very beginning we can see all of the deep thinking that goes on with the story. And I mean deep, philosophical, existential thoughts that are fascinating and truly make you stop and just consider everything that you knew, or thought you knew, up to that exact moment.

Alchemy is such an interesting concept and the way that Arakawa fleshed it out and constructed it is just stunning. To say that I have to go slowly in order to fully wrap my head around some details is just wonderful. Add to that how cool it all looks and, well, it makes for a very grabbing story.

Religion and science in conflict is not something new, by any stretch of the word, and seeing something so real and influential is the kind of stimulating reading that I love to do. Because it's real enough that I can relate to it but not too much that it would drag me back and clip my wings.

Just like that, Arakawa manages to balance her writing wonderfully. This whole part of the story is so light and breezy and funny but you can still have heavy, deep moments with great comedy sprinkled in there.

“Our mother was so kind, the kindest person in the world…All we wanted was to see our mother’s smile again […] That was the only reason we were studying alchemy, after all.”

A great part of why I love to death this manga is the characters.

Edward is just the BEST. I love his dramatics and how over-the-top he is. He is impulsive and intense but has a heart of gold and his determination is astounding to see. It's impossible, I think, to see him and not react. He has that very specific kind of magnetism that very passionate and driven people often have and it has definitely pull me down and I don't see an escape any time soon.

Al, on the other hand, is his complete opposite; and there is nothing more appropriate than for brothers to be opposites. Not to say that he isn't passionate, he shows it all the time, but he is tamer than Ed. He is a complete sweetheart and too precious for the world, though, and I just want to protect him.

The Elric brother's love for each other is one of the most precious things I have ever seen and one of the strongest driving forces of this whole story. I completely approve.

Even though not much plot-furthering things truly happen in this volume it sets the stakes and the world gracefully and easily for us to explore it more leisurely later on.

Arakawa truly is a genius of writing. Seeing all the details she added to her story is so cool and I was fangirling like crazy all the time.

“You can’t move forward if you keep regretting the past!”

__________________

This was just as fun and clarifying as I expected it to be. I'm so happy.

Honestly, I just love this manga so much it's not even funny anymore. Seeing everything from the beginning is a treat and, well, the source material is always richer in details than adaptations — doesn't matter how good an adaptation is — and I did have some questions in need of answering.

Al and Ed are just too precious.

RTC.
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Oh, hello, is it me here reading my first manga ever? Yes. Yes, it is.

This is certainly a day to commemorate for years to come because I was so sure that manga was not something I was ever gonna be dipping a toe in and yet, here I am. To be fair, I already know I'm gonna love this one so it's not precisely dipping a toe anymore.

I've been obsessing over Fullmetal Alchemist since the beginning of the year when I watched the Brotherhood anime and had been waiting to start the manga until I had finished the show. Which I did a few days ago. And now I need more of it to be able to feed my very unhealthy obsession.

I'm so ready for it. I haven't even started and I'm already a mess over it all. I'm prepared.

Los hermanos Edward y Alphonse Elric viven en un mundo donde la magia y la alquimia existen. Después de la muerte de su madre, juntos tratarán de resucitarla a través de la alquimia. Pero algo sale mal y Edward pierde un brazo y una pierna, y el espíritu de Alphonse acaba relegado en una vieja armadura.

Para poder recuperar sus cuerpos deciden apuntarse al ejército del estado, en la división de alquimistas, para así poder seguir investigando sobre “la piedra filosofal” que puede devolverlos a la normalidad.

Me ha gustado bastante este manga. Edward, "El alquimista de acero", tiene un punto muy graciosillo. Los hermanos se complementan, ya que tienen personalidades muy distintas, Edward es más explosivo y Alphonse es más comedido. Y el manga está entretenido porque que vamos siguiendo a los hermanos Elric en su búsqueda de la piedra filosofal en los diferentes capítulos que componen este primer volumen de la serie, para poder recuperar sus cuerpos y de paso también veremos con que aventuras se topan por el camino.