It brings joy in sorrow, victory in battle, light to darkness, life to the dead. That is the power of the blood-red jewel which men honor with the name "The Philosopher's Stone."

I loved the ‘situation’ that played out between Envy and Mustang. It was so interesting! Also the way it showed how strong the trust is between Mustang and Hawkeye! There were two parts where the cleverness of the characters also really comes into play. The first bit of cleverness is where Hawkeye passes on a message to Mustang in a code that is particularly ingenious. I was totally willing to go for it because it was obvious the two have been working together for a long time and it is possible they worked out something in advance. The other bit of cleverness comes when the child princess May Chang makes some intuitive leaps about Scar's brother's notes that I almost thought was a bit unbelievable. Then again she is royalty, is obviously very clever and mature for her age to have traveled to another country alone across a desert, and also seems to be able to match wits with Alphonse and you know the Elric brothers are too clever for their own good already.After burning their own home down and dealing with the abomination they created, Edward and his brother enlist themselves in the military to atone for their sins and learn more about the many secrets of alchemy; potentially learning how to recover their original bodies in the process. While serving in the military, the brothers begin to realize how the wonders of alchemy can be abused for nefarious purposes. Immortal life can be gained by sacrificing hundreds of innocents souls, wars can be staged and foreign nations can be annihilated under false charges, human experimentation aided by alchemy can lead to unnatural mutations, the world of alchemy is more dark and dangerous than either of them could've bargained for. Fullmetal Alchemist takes place in the fictional country of Amestris which is heavily based on the Industrial Revolution. Amestris is a unitary state under the rule of a parliamentary republic, run by state alchemists that serve the king utilizing the mystifying arts of alchemy. Alchemy is the power to alter the physical world utilizing its natural elements, performing magic and miracles in the form of science. Alchemy follows the law of equivalent exchange, you must sacrifice something that is of equal value to what you create. You must sacrifice a life to create a life, you must extinguish one flame to ignite another, you have to sacrifice one home to build another, etc...

A pair of brothers who were so desperate to feel their mother's warmth again that they dared do the unthinkable. One of them lost a leg to stand on and all but lost his only remaining family. The other was deprived of ever feeling the warmth of human contract.The theme of the circle of life and death throughout the books was wonderful. Loved the fun artwork and humor in "Extras". Series Info/Source: This is the 8th volume in the Fullmetal Alchemist 3-in-1 series and covers the original volumes 22 to 24. I bought this. Unlike most shounen series I've read, the final arc was my favorite. A lot of long-running shounen series have a habit of being dragged out, losing touch with what made them great or breaking their own rules in messy, plot-hole-filled final arcs that leave a lot to be desired. Fullmetal Alchemist has no lose ends, all characters have complete arcs where they learn and grow from their dark pasts, the romance and comedy are handled well without relying on cheap fanservice, the action scenes are great but they don't overshadow the plot and the final chapters tie everything together beautifully. It's not my favorite manga by any means as I usually tend to favor seinen, but it's definitely one of the greatest stories to ever come out of the shounen demographic in my opinion. The ending is a tearjerker but it left me in good spirits. Writing/Drawing Style (5/5): This series continues to be beautifully drawn with amazing detail and easy to follow frames. Everything is also well written and easy to read as well as very funny and humorous at times.

The characters all bear the weight of what alchemy is capable of. Edward and Alphonse carry the burden of abusing alchemy for selfish purposes. Their master Izumi loses her womb after attempting to resurrect her dead child. Scar takes many lives after his entire country is desecrated and gets trapped in a pointless cycle of revenge. Roy and Riza endure the regret of committing brutal war crimes for the sake of protecting their own nation. Alchemy creates and destroys in equal measure and no one is free from the consequences of tipping the balance. It's impressive the art style of Hiromu Arakawa. She can balance very well the comical and dramatic moments of the narrative and blend them very well, they never seem to clash at all. The characters are fantastic, very well rounded and developed even the ones that don't get a lot of screen time. Its also nice to see the main themes of loss, grief, hope and humanity being developed as the narrative evolves. Because that is what all the great stories have in common, the ability to answer what it means to be human. Some of the scenes fell like they play out much better in the anime, but that might just be because I'd seen the anime and watched through the original and BrotherHood first before deciding to collect the manga. Some scenes just have that stronger potency when voiced and animated from my perspective. It's really fun to connect parts of an episode with the panels of the manga, though; the manga's basically the storyboard for the show, and when you're intimate with both, it's nice to make the connections with what's the same or different and sometimes can be absolutely /gleeful/ to see how well the tone transferred and stayed generally consistent between both mediums. La structure narrative, bien que le fond et bien des scènes soient stricto-sensu les mêmes, est un poil différente. We are getting so close to the conclusion: things are getting intense, lives are a stake, there are fights going on left and right and it’s soooo awesome!After years of people telling me that FMA is their favorite anime/manga series of all time, I finally understand that sentiment on a spiritual level.