Fullmetal Alchemist 2003

**Fullmetal Alchemist** is an action, adventure, romance, comedy, romantic comedy, fantasy, drama, tragedy anime

    series directed by Seiji Mizushima, written by Sho Aikawa, musically composed by Michiru Oshima, and produced by Masahiko Minami, Hiro Maruyama, Ryo Oyama, and Studuio Bones.  It originally ran from October 4, 2003 to October 2, 2004 with 51 episodes in the end.  It was the first adaptaiton of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga series, whichi was written by Hiromu Arakawa and published by Enix from 2001 to 2003 and Square Enix from 2003 to 2010.  It originally ran from July 12, 2001 to June 12, 2010 with 27 volumes in total.  After the series ended airing it got a movie, titled the Conqueror of Shambala, which was released in Japan on July 23, 2005.  And finally, on March 29, 2009, an OVA was released called Fullmetal Alchemist:  Premium Collection, which was directed by SEiji Mizushima, musically composed by Michiru Oshima, and produced by Studio Bones.  It lasted for four episodes.

## Plot

The first half of the anime's plot adapts the first seven volumes of the manga, but then the plots severely diverge from each other by the middle of the story, specifically around the time where Roy Mustang's friend Maes Hughes is murdered by the homunculus Envy in disguise.[2] Dante, a former lover of Hohenheim and mentor to the Elric brothers' teacher, is the series' central antagonist. Centuries ago, Hohenheim and Dante perfected methods for making the Philosopher's Stone and achieved immortality by transferring their souls and intellects into other bodies as they age. Hohenheim was eventually overcome with the guilt of sacrificing lives to make the Stone and left Dante. Although Dante can still jump from body to body with the last stone she and Hohenheim created, she is not willing to risk the rebound of creating one herself. She thus uses the homunculi to encourage Edward and Alphonse, along with other equally desperate Alchemists to create another complete Philosopher's Stone for her.[3]

When Scar creates the Philosopher's Stone, at the cost of his life as well as the lives of 7,000 soldiers, he infuses it into Alphonse's metal body, which leads to Alphonse's kidnapping.[4] Edward goes and tries to rescue him, but is killed by Envy. Alphonse uses the Philosopher's Stone to revive his brother but disappears in the process. Dante tries to escape but she is killed when the homunculus Gluttony, whose mind she had earlier destroyed, fails to recognize his master. After being revived, Edward risks his life to bring back his brother and finds himself in a parallel world, while Alphonse recovers his original body. Determined to reunite with Alphonse, Edward becomes involved in rocketry research, intending to use that technology to return to his home world.[5] The story concludes in the film adaptation *Conqueror of Shamballa*, in which Edward's search attracts the attention of the Thule Society, which seeks to enter his homeworld—believing it to be Shamballa—to obtain new weapons to help them in World War II. Dietlinde Eckhart, a member of the Thule Society, enters the other world and tries to destroy Amestris. She is defeated by the Elric brothers, who decide to stay in Germany.

## Anime Movies

1. Fullmetal Alchemist:  The Conqueror of Shambala

## Why It Rocks

1. Breathtaking animation, especially during the fight scenes.
2. Very appealing art style and unique character designs.
3. Good voice acting in both sub and dub.
4. Great, large cast of characters, each one possessing unique personalities.
5. Excellent character development.
6. A very well fleshed out combat system.  Perhaps not as much as your typical shonen battle anime and manga such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and Hunter X Hunter, among others, but Alchemy is still used in a very unique and interesting way.
7. Incredible, action packet, heart-pounding fight scenes.
8. Well written drama.
9. WINRY ROCKBELL!
10. Interesting themes which often touch on the human condition.
11. Nice comedy which has been worked well into the story so it doesn't seem out of place.
12. The homunculi are great villains.
13. Phenomenal soundtrack.
14. The origins of the Homuncuili were more interesting in this series than in Brotherhood.  In Brotherhood they were simply an extention of Father's soul, whereas in this series they were the products of failed human transmutation, which fits better within the themes of Fullmetal Alchemist.

## Bad Qualities

1. The ending is very flawed.  No character has changed from how they were in the beginning. There have been no revelations. Even as the show tries to show that the Elric brothers are coming into their own as they pursue the stone, they're really not, because they keep on making the same mistakes over and over again without… fundamental change in their ideals.
2. Speaking of the ending, it's anime original because the manga wasn't over at the time.
3. The main villain of this show, Dante, is incredibly uninteresting, boring, and shallow.

## Reception

The first *Fullmetal Alchemist* anime premiered in Japan with a 6.82 percent television viewership rating.[10] In 2005, Japanese television network TV Asahi conducted a "Top 100" online web poll and nationwide survey; *Fullmetal Alchemist* placed first in the online poll and twentieth in the survey.[42][43] In 2006, TV Asahi conducted another online poll for the top one hundred anime, and *Fullmetal Alchemist* placed first again.[44]

The first *Fullmetal Alchemist* won in several categories in the American Anime Awards, including "Long Series", "Best Cast", "Best DVD Package Design", "Best Anime Theme Song" ("Rewrite," by Asian Kung-Fu Generation), and "Best Actor" (Vic Mignogna—who played Edward Elric in the English version). It was also nominated in the category of "Best Anime Feature" for *Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa*.[45] The series also won most of the twenty-sixth Annual *Animage* Readers' Polls. The series was the winner in the "Favorite Anime Series", "Favorite Episode" (episode seven), "Favorite Male Character" (Edward Elric), "Favorite Female Character" (Riza Hawkeye), "Favorite Theme Song" ("Melissa", by Porno Graffitti), and "Favorite Voice Actor" (Romi Park—who played Edward in the Japanese version).[46] In the "Tokyo Anime Fair", the series won in the categories "Animation Of The Year" (*Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala*), "Best original story" (Hiromu Arakawa) and "Best music" (Michiru Oshima).[31] In the About.com 2006 American Awards, *Fullmetal Alchemist* won in the categories "Best New Anime Series" and "Best Animation".[47][48]

IGN named the first anime the ninety-fifth-best animated series. They said that although it is mostly upbeat with amazing action scenes, it also touches upon the human condition. They described it as "more than a mere anime" and "a powerful weekly drama".[49] The IGN staff featured it in their "10 Cartoon Adaptations We'd Like to See" feature, with comments focused on the characterization in the series.[50] The character designs have been praised; critics said they are different from each other.[51] Samuel Arbogast of Theanime.org said the flashback sequences were annoying.[52] Lori Lancaster of Mania Entertainment called the plot wonderful, and said it is "[a] bit of a tragic coming of age story mixed in with the Odyssey". She wrote, "There is enough action, drama and comedy mixed in to keep most viewers interested. This is one of those anime series that is likely to become a classic."[51]

The series has also received some negative reviews, with Maria Lin of animefringe.com saying that the show's themes "are held hostage by… excessive sentimentality". She criticized the ending, saying that "no character has changed from how they were in the beginning. There have been no revelations. Even as the show tries to show that the Elric brothers are coming into their own as they pursue the stone, they're really not, because they keep on making the same mistakes over and over again without… fundamental change in their ideals. The adage of the soldier and his acceptance of losing his leg is lost on them."[53]

Reviewers praised the soundtrack of the first anime for its variety of musical styles and artists, and the pleasant but not too distracting background music.[54] DVDvisionjapan said the first opening theme and the first ending theme are the best tracks of the series.