Saturday Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist

I've decided to do a short series of posts to demonstrate to some friends that not all anime consists of gross tentacle-based perversion. A recent conversation yielded up that image, and it's not the first time I've heard it either. As with everything else in life, there is good and bad in anime. And while what constitutes good anime is of course a question of taste, I can at least show examples of things that I like personally.

No, I'm not a fan of the gross tentacled stuff. I enjoy adventure – especially fantasy, sci-fi, pulp/noir, and combinations thereof. And while I'm certainly no anime expert, I know what I like. So for each of the next several Saturdays, I'm going to put up a very brief blurb of an anime series that I have found worthwhile.

To start things off, this week's choice is one of my all-time top picks:

Fullmetal Alchemist

Creator: based on the manga by Hiromu Arakawa.

Premise: Two young, budding alchemists – in a world where alchemical magic is a scientific reality – engage in a ritual/experiment that goes horribly wrong, with devastating effect. They devote the rest of their lives to rectifying that mistake, encountering danger and adventure all along the way.

Intro:

Other Details: There are actually a couple versions of the series, along with two movies. The intro link above is from the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood series.

Fullmetal Alchemist (series)
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (series)
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa (movie)
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (movie)