Fullmetal Alchemist

鋼の錬金術師
Hagane no Renkinjutsushi
FMA
HagaRen
Fullmetal Alchemist Gaiden

Manga9.0169645 votes27 volumes · 116 chaptersFinished

ActionAdventureAward WinningDramaFantasyMilitaryShounen

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About this title

Synopsis

Alchemists are knowledgeable and naturally talented individuals who can manipulate and modify matter due to their art. Yet despite the wide range of possibilities, alchemy is not as all-powerful as most would believe. Human transmutation is strictly forbidden, and whoever attempts it risks severe consequences. Even so, siblings Edward and Alphonse Elric decide to ignore this great taboo and bring their mother back to life. Unfortunately, not only do they fail in resurrecting her, they also pay an extremely high price for their arrogance: Edward loses his left leg and Alphonse his entire body. Furthermore, Edward also gives up his right arm in order to seal his brother's soul into a suit of armor. Years later, the young alchemists travel across the country looking for the Philosopher's Stone, in the hopes of recovering their old bodies with its power. However, their quest for the fated stone also leads them to unravel far darker secrets than they could ever imagine. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Publication notes

Fullmetal Alchemist won the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shounen category in 2003, along with Yakitate!! Japan. Hiromu Arakawa also won the 15th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in the New Artist Prize category for the series in 2011. In the same year, the manga won the Seiun Award in the Best Comic category. As of July 2021, over 80 million copies of the series have been sold worldwide. The series was published in English by VIZ Media from May 3, 2005, to December 20, 2011, and digitally by Yen Press on April 15, 2014. A 3-in-1 omnibus edition and complete box set, which included the novel Fullmetal Alchemist: Sorezore no Kizuna, were later released by VIZ Media. The manga was also published in Italian by Panini Comic from July 13, 2006, to September 3, 2011; in Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica from January 2006 to April 2012; in Brazilian Portuguese by Editora JBC in 54 volumes from February 2007 to April 2011; in Argentina by Editorial Ivrea from December 9, 2016, to March 21, 2019; and in Spain by Norma Editorial.

Published

Jul 12, 2001 to Sep 11, 2010

Authors

Arakawa, Hiromu

External links

MyAnimeList page Official Site Wikipedia Wikipedia

MAL rank: #10
Members (MAL): 321,904
Favorites (MAL): 31,402

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Main characters

Edward Elric90775 fan favorites
External profile
Age: 15-16 (series), 18 (movie, end of the series) Birthday: 1899 Birthplace: Resembool, Amestris Family: Alphonse Elric (brother), Trisha Elric (mother, deceased), Van Hohenheim (father) Affiliations: State Military, Winry Rockbell, Pinako Rockbell, Izumi Curtis (teacher), Roy Mustang (Commander) Species: Human Occupation: State Alchemist Abilities: Alchemy, Martial Arts Weapon: Alchemy, Automail arm and leg Edward "Fullmetal Alchemist" Elric is a young alchemical prodigy. He is the youngest State Alchemist ever to be recognized by the Amestris State Military, having received the title at the age of 12. Ed's primary motivation throughout the series is to return his younger brother, Alphonse, to his original body, which was lost in a failed human transmutation. Edward, despite his occasional bouts of immaturity, is a selfless boy who gains a reputation as a "hero of the people" throughout his youth. Notably, he doesn't seem concerned about returning his own arm and leg, instead focusing entirely on Al's suffering. Edward is small for his age, standing at only 149 cm (4'11"), however, his body is that of an experienced martial artist, with noticeable muscles and a wealth of agility. Although he lacks both his right arm and left leg, Ed's ability to fight is not impaired and is in fact improved, as he will often use alchemy to cause his metal arm to partly transform into a blade or shield. His heavy automail limbs are considered by him to be the very best in Amestris. They were made by his childhood friend, Winry Rockbell, and she is constantly working on them. He is able to think quickly, even in desperate situations, though can still be frightened into paralysis. These qualities, combined with his alchemical powers and physical strength, make him a formidable fighter. Born to Trisha Elric and Van Hohenheim of Resembool in the winter of 1899, Edward's first few years were relatively happy; but after the sudden departure of his father during the lad's formative years, Ed was left with his mother and younger brother Alphonse as his only family. The three Elrics lived in peace in the rural village and the boys began displaying a remarkable talent for alchemy at a young age, much to the joyful astonishment of his mother. However, early in the year 1904, Trisha contracted an illness that had been spreading in the area and died, leaving her two sons orphaned. Even while mourning, mired in grief, Edward vowed to his brother that the two of them would find a way to bring their dead mother back to life with the power of alchemy. Edward and Alphonse spent the next few years living on their own in the Elric family home, supported by their close childhood friend Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako, and pursuing the alchemical knowledge necessary for their planned resurrection. Although they had gained a great deal of information and comprehension regarding the extended basics of the craft, before long it became apparent to the young prodigies that there was only so far they could go while being self-taught. In a stroke of good fortune, Resembool was visited by an exceptionally skilled alchemist named Izumi Curtis who, after some persuasion, agreed to take the Elric brothers on as her apprentices provided they pass a preliminary test. After they do, the Elric brothers were subjected to Izumi's intensive alchemy and martial arts training, growing significantly in both mind and body and gaining a great deal of alchemical knowledge before returning to Resembool. Though instructed specifically by Izumi to understand that death is an irreversible part of the flow of the world and that acceptance of such is important to the "One is All, All is One" concept, the boys dove headlong into their plan to resurrect their mother upon their homecoming, having advanced their knowledge while abroad and discovered the basics of a forbidden practice called Human Transmutation. Devising a Human Transmutation Circle, amassing the elemental ingredients for an adult human body and offering their own blood as soul and biological data, the boys secretly initiated the Human Transmutation in their home. Unfortunately, the Human Transmutation resulted in a Rebound. Alphonse and Edward were pulled into The Gate. Encountering the mysterious being called Truth, Edward was stripped of his left leg in exchange for crossing into God's domain and peeking at the Gate's vast wealth of alchemical knowledge. Maimed and bleeding, Edward was returned to the human dimension to find that Alphonse had not yet returned from his disappearance into the Gate, that the mother they had attempted to revive was a grotesque mass of organs only capable of sustaining life for a few moments and that his own sojourn into the Gate had granted him the curious ability to perform transmutations merely by clapping his hands together, without the aid of a Transmutation Circle - in the same style used by Izumi. Desperate to at least have his brother by his side, Edward willfully performed another Human Transmutation to call him back, this time sacrificing his right arm in exchange for Al's soul, which he bound alchemically to an antique suit of armor with a Blood Rune before passing out from severe blood loss. Alphonse carried Ed to the Rockbell house, where a shocked Pinako and Winry performed emergency surgery to save the young boy's life. On the night of the failed transmutation. Lt. Colonel Flame Alchemist Roy Mustang came to the Rockbell's in response to a letter that Edward and Alphonse had sent him in the mail asking about their Father. He was shocked at the fact that the two boys had tried human alchemy and survived, and informed them that they could become state alchemist and maybe one day find a way to return their bodies to the way they were. Desperate to get His younger brother's body back, Edward asked the Rockbells to give him prosthetic limbs called automail. Though they warned him the surgery would be painful, he said the pain was nothing compared to what his brother had given up. He only took a year to adapt to the automail at age 11 when it took most adults three years.
Alphonse Elric15354 fan favorites
External profile
Birthplace: Resembool Date of Birth: 1900 Age: 14-15 (10 at the 2003 end, 13 at movie, 17 at the manga/fmab end) Family: Edward Elric (brother), Trisha Elric (mother, deceased), Van Hohenheim (father) Species: Human Occupation: Alchemist Abilities: Alchemy, Martial Arts, High Intelligence, Highly Resistant Armor Body Weapon: Fists, Alchemy Alphonse Elric is a human child who lost his body during a forbidden alchemical transmutation to bring his deceased mother back to life, and had his soul transmuted into a suit of armor by his brother, Edward Elric. Al's blood seal lies just below the base of the neck at the back of the suit, on the inside. It is drawn with Ed's blood. According to Edward, he needs to be careful whenever he reconstructs Alphonse's body because he must keep the blood seal intact during the transmutation. If the blood seal is removed, Al's soul will be lost. "Kindness in a can." - Edward Elric (Source: Wikipedia)