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Writer's pictureDamsel

Review: Fullmetal Alchemist series by Hiromu Arakawa


Genre: Manga/Fantasy

Page Count: Over 4000 across 27 volumes

Publication Year: 2001-2010, the 3-in-1's starting coming in 2011

Publisher: VIZ Media

Special Notes: Translated from Japanese by Akira Watanabe and you read it right-to-left. I read the nine 3-in-1 versions.


Summary:

“Hey big bro, now that we failed to resurrect Mom, we should look for a solution to my evaporated body and your lost limbs.”

“What, like an Infinity Stone?”

“Nah, big bro, I’m talking about a Philosopher’s Stone. ‘Cause you know, it’ll be totes easy to get and no one will die this way.”

“You’ve read too much Harry Potter.”

“It’s so cool to read about magic that’s, like, impossible to do outside of tiny paperbacks.”

“Who you calling tiny?!”



Many messy battles, tearful goodbyes, hand clapping, pandas described as cats, and deadly sins later…

This was better than I expected. Who would’ve thought my first manga series created a better everything than some New York Times best-sellers I’ve read.

There were a lot of good characters and, wait for it, women I actually liked. I was shocked.

The worst part was muddling through the endless battle scenes. Sound effects and black lines can only do so much before they just confuse you. And some of the volumes early on weren’t that great.

My favorite section was when Edward went up north. And the saddest death happened in a phone booth.

I’d recommend this to people who want to read their first manga since it seems like a good starting point. Be warned, you do have to read it backwards. The book, that is, not the series.


Check out my first rating here.

And here's my review for the Brotherhood anime.

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