Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric are raised by their mother Trisha Elric in the remote village of Resembool in the country of Amestris. Their father Hohenheim, a noted and very gifted alchemist, abandoned his family while the boys were still young, and while in Trisha's care they began to show an affinity for alchemy and became curious about its secrets. However, when Trisha died of a lingering illness, they were cared for by their best friend Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako. The boys traveled the world to advance their alchemic training under Izumi Curtis. Upon returning home, the two decide to try to bring their mother back to life with alchemy. However, human transmutation is a taboo, as it is impossible to do so properly. In the failed transmutation that results, Al's body is completely obliterated, and Ed loses his left leg. In a last ditch attempt to keep his brother alive, Ed sacrifices his right arm to bring Al's soul back and houses it in a nearby suit of armor. After Edward receives automail prosthetics from Winry and Pinako, the brothers decide to burn their childhood home down (symbolizing their determination and decision of "no turning back") and head to the capital city to become government sanctioned State Alchemists. After passing the exam, Edward is dubbed the "Fullmetal Alchemist" by the State Military, and the brothers begin their quest to regain their full bodies back through the fabled Philosopher's Stone, under the direction of Colonel Roy Mustang. Along the way, they discover a deep government conspiracy to hide the true nature of the Philosopher's Stone that involves the homunculi, the alchemists of the neighboring nation of Xing, the scarred man from the war-torn nation of Ishbal, and their own father's past.

In the 20th volume of the manga, creator Arakawa announced that a second Fullmetal Alchemist was being produced. Bones produced the new series with Yasuhiro Irie as director and Hiroshi Ōnogi as writer.[4][5] The Japanese version of the series is called Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, abbreviated as 鋼の錬金術師FA) to differentiate it from the 2003 series.[4][6] When the manga was reaching its ending, Irie announced the staff was already working in the final episodes on that ending and expressed shock at the series' conclusion.[7]

The series premiered on April 5, 2009, on MBS–TBS's Sunday 5:00 pm JST anime block. Voice actresses Romi Park and Rie Kugimiya reprised their roles as Edward and Alphonse Elric respectively.[8] Unlike the first anime which had an mostly original story, the second anime faithfully follows the story of the manga. In Japan, the second anime has the same title as the first anime and does not feature a subtitle to distinguish that they are both separate series, with the exception on the emphasis of the English title for the second anime.[9]

On March 20, 2009, it was announced that the official English title of the series was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and that it would receive its English-language premiere on Animax Asia, with Japanese audio and English subtitles, at 8:30 p.m. on April 10, 2009.[10] Aniplex started releasing the series on Blu-ray and DVD on August 26, 2009; the first release included two episodes and an OVA.[11] Two more OVAs were included in the fifth and ninth volumes alongside four episodes. Other volumes feature four episodes and no OVAs. Sixteen volumes were released, the last one on November 24, 2010.[12]

On April 3, 2009, Funimation announced it would stream English-subtitled episodes four days after they aired in Japan. Madman Entertainment would also stream it "within days" of the episodes airing in Japan.[13] Funimation suspended the release of new episodes for a few weeks because of an incident in which an episode of One Piece was uploaded before it had aired in Japan.[14] However, the episodes were later made available on the Funimation website and on the official Funimation channel on YouTube.[15] In September 2009, Funimation announced the cast for an English dub of the series, which featured much of the cast for the 2003 series dub reprising their roles.[16] On February 13, 2010, the English dub of the series premiered on Adult Swim and ended on September 25, 2011.[17][18] Funimation began releasing the episodes on Blu-ray and DVD on May 25, 2010; each release contained thirteen episodes.[19][20] Five volumes were released, the last one on August 2, 2011.[21][22] In the United Kingdom, Manga Entertainment released the series in five DVD and Blu-ray volumes during 2010 and 2011,[23][24] and later in a two-part box set.[25] Funimation lost the rights to the series in March 2016.[26][27] In July 2016, it was announced that the series was transferred to Aniplex of America and it would be streamed on Crunchyroll.[28] Netflix released the series on their streaming platform in the United States and Canada on January 1, 2018.[29] Aniplex of America released the series on two Blu-ray Disc box sets on November 20, 2018.[30] In November 2019, Funimation re-licensed the series for its streaming service.[31]

Madman Entertainment distributed the series in Australia.[32][33] Meanwhile, the series debuted in Canada on Super Channel.[34]

The first fourteen episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood received criticism from members of the Anime News Network staff, who said that repeating events from the first anime led to a lack of suspense.[46] Mania Entertainment's Chris Beveridge said that the entertainment in these episodes lay in the differences in the characters' actions from the first series, and original content which focused on the emotional theme of the series.[47] In another review, Beveridge praised the new fight scenes and the extra drama which made these episodes "solid".[48] Chris Zimmerman from Comic Book Bin said the series "turns around and establishes its own identity" because of the inclusion of new characters and revelations not shown in the first series, increasing its depth. He said the animation was superior to that of the first anime; his comments focused on the characters' expressions and the execution of the fight scenes.[49] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Charles Solomon ranked Brotherhood the second-best anime of 2010 on his "Top 10".[50]

Much praise was given to the climactic episodes for the way the action scenes and morals were conveyed; many reviewers found them superior to the conclusion of the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime. Critics found the ending satisfying; Mark Thomas of The Fandom Post called it a "virtually perfect ending to an outstanding series".[51][52]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (anime)

• Official Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood website (in Japanese)
• Official Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood website (in English)
• Official Anime Central Fullmetal Alchemist anime website
• Official Madman Entertainment Fullmetal Alchemist website
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood at Anime News Network's encyclopedia