Graphic Novel/Manga:
The manga series 'Fullmetal Alchemist' inspired the immensely popular anime version and subsequent movies. It is set in a sort of parallel world that is somewhat recognizable to our own, but steam-powered and featuring alchemists. These alchemists are scientists in their worlds, but almost appear to be like wizards in their powes. Using the pentagrams and symbols of their craft, they can alter the environment and objects around them- all the while adhering to the laws of equivalent exchange, of course.

The heroes of the book are brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric. Edward has a cybernetic arm and leg, which has given him the infamous title of 'the fullmetal alchemist', and the soul of his younger brother, Alphonse, is encased in a giant suit of armor. Their physical differences are the result of committing the most unforgivable sin of human transmutation: they tried to resurrect their mother from the dead. An equivalent exchange could not be made and so they couldn't bring their mother back, but Al's body and Edward's limbs were sacrificed as a result.

The first volume of the manga series introduced these characters, and follows them on the start of their quest to find the famous philosopher's stone. It's powers, they hope, will help them to restore their original bodies. In the process the meet and help out a town of poverty-stricken miners with a corrupt local government, and thwart a terrorist attack and hostage taking on a train.
I really enjoyed this manga, and intend to read the rest of the series. The artwork is sophisticated and the story engaging and entertaining. Despite some of the darker tones of the manga, it is actually quite humorous. I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions.

Fullmetal Alchemist volume 1 has made it onto YALSA's 'Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2006'. The manga series has been featured on many quick picks/recommended reads/'If you like...' reading lists, which just goes to show its immense popularity and appeal. ( )

Reviewed by
Publishers Weekly May 2005
Library Journal Review Jan 2006

Warrior who lost his leg and brother who lost whole body. Reaching for this topic? Good manga but not sure it fits theme.

There's just no way for me to think of this manga on its own without thinking about the anime for me, so I won't even try. So it's probably worth mentioning what I thought of the anime, especially since it's a rather rare view. I didn't care for it, exactly. But I'm not really sure why. It wasn't for lack of wanting to. It was quite a while ago now, but I can still say it's just the sort of thing I should have liked, and it seemed pretty well done. I do remember a lot of the moral dilemmas felt kind of simplistic and kiddie to me (A man is overtaxing the people on his land. OH NOES! Let us smash him!!!!), the love interest was a bore, and the relationship between the brothers was so simple sweet and innocent and dedicated that while I suppose it could be a nice emotional core, it was an almost entirely tensionless emotional core, and that's a little lame in my book. I think I've liked things that have committed these same crimes, though, so why not this? Whatever it was, almost nothing that was supposed to make me feel conflict or an emotional impact did in the slightest (save some incident I vaguely remember with melding a little girl with..something? But it wasn't even main character related, so it's not like that can bring continuing investment/interest/enjoyment). After a long time assuming/trying to believe that if I watched it long enough to get into the characters I would like it all more, I eventually and regretfully gave up.

So now much later, I tried the manga for a second chance. And...while it's early to judge, I think you can pretty much take all the stuff I said about the anime and apply it here, but also take the quality down a notch as well. Or really, the humor is up and the drama is down a little. In some ways this is good, seeing as how, like I mentioned before, the moral dilemmas seemed silly to me, so being big and sweeping and squeezing all the drama possible out of it would make me roll my eyes. On the other hand, a lot of the humor is just Ed being annoyed at people calling him short. Stuff that's nice for creating a light, fun mood, but not exactly *funny.* So basically, the manga traded something I disliked (the way it was being done) for something I didn't care for. For me, things don't change much, but for other readers I think they'll like it less.

What I'd really hoped for was that this manga version would somehow up the maturity/complexity of the relationships and moral dilemmas somehow so I could actually enjoy them, I guess. But so far this just seems a little sillier, and completely episodic (though I do hear later volumes get better). In the end I guess I'll have to go back to glancing forlornly back at the anime and being jealous of all the people that can enjoy it as I really ought to be able to. Maybe...If I just give it a few more years from now? ^_^;

EDIT: Ok, so it's probably worth mentioning now that I've ONCE AGAIN tried to give this manga a chance, as I was told that the..sort of mental maturity of it (a little way into it it starts dealing with some heavy themes, but it still wasn't really *mature* to me) went up when it parts with the anime storyline around volume 9. So I sped through the first volumes (too fast to feel justified reviewing them) and I'll say... They were actually right. While the Elric brothers' personalities are still a little too simplistic for me to be really intrigued by them, the manga as a whole does get more mature and it worked a lot better for me. The action is great, the plot is interesting, and it juggles A LOT of characters pretty well. Ignoring the first half, it's certainly one of the better shounen manga I've read, probably even one of the better any manga I've read. The difference between between the first half and latter half are probably pretty slight to most (or perhaps just viewed generally as it just getting tighter overall), but it made a lot of difference for me. So...there's light at the end fo the tunnel, depending on how far you want to walk down. ^_^; ( )

This series is one of the most complex and sophisticated around. Fully rounded (and imperfect) characters, moral dilemmas, Big Themes, wit and silliness, intelligence and thought. Also, some stunningly beautiful art. Watch the anime too.