Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 1

Overall score:

Edward Alric is a state alchemist, and he and his brother Alphonse travel together doing jobs for the military. But what no one knows is that Ed and Al had once tried to perform forbidden human transmutation; as a result, Ed lost his arm and leg, and Al lost his entire body and had to seal his soul into a suit of armor. Ed only became a state alchemist in order to use the military's vast resources as he and Al search for a way to restore their original bodies.

This first volume is fairly episodic with three different storylines, but it serves to introduce many of the main characters, to show what alchemy is capable of, and to give a picture of the situation for state alchemists like Ed, who are also known as "the dogs of the military."

In the first story, Ed and Al have come to a city where a holy man, Father Cornello, has set himself up as the ruler. He performs "miracles" which seem to be alchemy that don't obey the laws, such as conservation of mass. Ed and Al think that Cornello must have a philosopher's stone, which is the very thing they need to restore their bodies. This story also introduces Lust and Gluttony, two characters who hint at a much larger, overarching plot.

In the second story, Ed and Al are sent out to a failing mining town that suffers from a corrupt official, and in the third story, Ed and Al have to capture train hijackers. These stories are all fun, mixing humor nicely with darker themes. Also, the stories give the reader a sense of bigger things that are going on that Ed and Al have not yet discovered.

The humor, for me, is the best part of this series. Ed is always having fits over being called small (he's very short), and Al is always having to explain that he isn't the Fullmetal Alchemist, even though he's a suit of armor. Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, has a giant ego, which is also lots of fun.

For those of you who have seen the anime, there are not too many differences between it and these earlier stories. However, I prefer the artwork and the translation in the manga. Also, the manga has more humor to lighten the darker elements of the story. The anime's ending is particularly dark, and veers off from the manga storyline (which is what happens when an anime finishes before the manga).

The manga is rated T for Teen for violence and blood as well as some language and female cleavage. It is probably comparable to a PG-13 movie, though I personally find it less offensive because there is no sexual content and the violence is usually less realistic. However, people do die and not in nice ways. Some of the later volumes especially are very disturbing in their violence.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in a good action manga that also has great plot and characters. Sixteen volumes have been published in the United States, but the series is not yet finished in Japan.

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Written by Sigyn on May 12th, 2008