As of today, the acclaimed story of the Fullmetal Alchemist has ended with its 108^th chapter. The second anime series adapted from the original manga, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, will also conclude later this month. Fans across the globe could not ask for a more wholesome and honest ending, without any loose ends or leaving us gut-wrenchingly hanging for a year until a movie is released to give us half-hearted answers. That aside, I would like to take the opportunity to voice a claim I’ve been stating for the past year - Fullmetal Alchemist is the greatest anime-manga franchise of the 2000s.

It is indeed a bold claim. Firstly, even though I am a huge fanboy of anime and manga, I don’t watch or read everything. I am very selective with what I watch and read and only choose those that are critically acclaimed, garnered cult status, and those that have the ability to suck you into their unstoppable universe. This means that my claim is not only bold but also very presumptuous, but I’m sure some people would agree with me. Secondly, this claim originates not from critical analysis alone, but also how I have been relating to Fullmetal Alchemist from a personal level since the beginning. This is mainly my experience and my connection with the franchise, and it will definitely contain biases. Quick example: I love YuYu Hakusho because it was part of my childhood, anybody else would beg to differ (check out Yoshihiro Togashi’s latest series though, Hunter X Hunter is the real deal).

I know some people might inquire about other series being “the greatest of 2000s” such as One Piece or Naruto. I wouldn’t consider them because One Piece debuted in 1997, and Naruto in 1999. Fullmetal Alchemist started in 2001, which goes to show FMA’s resilience even going up against giants such as One Piece and Naruto. Also, I have a shounen bias. This 9-year franchise spawned a manga series, two distinguished anime series, a feature film and other little things such as making single-claps extremely cool. To place FMA up against Naruto for example; a series with a manga, BARELY two anime series (Shippuden is not different, they just grew up), and an excess of annoying filler arcs that depreciates the franchise’s overall quality. I still love Naruto, but I’m saying maybe we should just read the manga. Just saying.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS TO BOTH THE 2003 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST SERIES AND THE 2009 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD SERIES.

For your sake, I will be limit details regarding Brotherhood and the ending, just in case you want to read on.

To quote James Lipton, “as always, let’s start from the beginning”. I picked up the first FMA series as it was coming to an end. I blazed through all 51 episodes whilst I was in high school, in 3 days, and those were school days. My first impression: Absolute Wonder. In subsequent years I went on to re-watch the series many times because the series finale left me too vulnerable to function. The repetition also acted as a buffer for Conqueror of Shamballa to be available to North America. I ended up watching it illegally, I just couldn’t wait. A few months later, I wrote an essay about the movie in a university film class 6 months before it would be shown in North American theaters. This was borderline obsession, but it was understandable after being deprived of alchemy goodness for over a year.

For the longest time I held the first anime series over the original manga storyline. But looking back, I realized how hypocritical and stubborn that was. Like many others out there, I wholeheartedly believe that anime should be watched in its original Japanese language with English subtitles, or whatever language you are most comfortable reading. Mainly because that is how it was first made, origin had power. No fabrication of voices, tone, and even storyline (Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus were clearly lesbians, the Americans changed it, go figure). The original will always better in my opinion, so why did I hold onto the 2003 series so stubbornly? Firstly, it was awesome in its own right. Secondly, it provided nostalgia. Much the same as why I like YuYu Hakusho till this day. One other thing I should have noticed was that even after re-watching the first anime series and movie repeatedly, I still was left unsatisfied. I wanted more. More undersized blonde kids with a steel prosthetic arm fighting sinful monsters with medieval science-magic fusion techniques. More! Which is why I ventured into reading the original manga, and boy was it divine.

Three years later in early 2009, they announced a new Fullmetal Alchemist series that was adapted from the original manga storyline. Cue explosion in my pants. After the first few episodes of the 2003 series, Arakawa-sensei needed more time to develop her vision for her manga, so BONES Studios went on with a different plot, which turned out great as well. Now that the manga storyline is finished, I can consciously and confidently say that it is definitely stronger, more captivating, and more complete than the first anime series. I had to wait until the end of the manga storyline to fully understand that. I now wait for how it would look like animated. It will be nothing less than epic.

The completeness and undivided structure of the manga storyline was key in edging out the 2003 anime series. Although it was refreshing to see the 2003 series venture into realism by creating our Earth as a parallel universe, and also being alchemy’s source of energy, it was ultimately an explanation that fell short especially when the Shamballa came around. The 2003 series also fell short in the back-stories and character design of the seven homunculi. I never figured out why they named King Bradley “Pride”, and Izumi’s kid “Wrath”. Nothing wrathful about that kid, instead he was more envious of Edward. He should have been called Envy 2.0. Then there was Elric’s mother who was “Sloth”, which made even less sense. A beautiful mother figure that can transform and manipulate water, somehow characterizes the sin of Sloth? This was a major downfall to the first series in my opinion.

Criticism aside I still adore the first series and the entire franchise. The key aspects of the series that really got me hooked was the premise and the philosophy (see what I did there?). The premise of constructing a fantasy, science, action hybrid universe out of an extinct medieval magic, was already pretty interesting in itself. On top of that, Arakawa-sensei stylized her world in dated European, Middle-Eastern, and Asian characteristics to have it feel more historical and acceptable, rather than forcing an old science to be a norm in modern times.

What caught my eye even more, and immediately drew me into the series, was the theory of “Equivalent Exchange”. Arakawa-sensei created an omniscient law that not only the science of alchemy, but also the natural flow of the universe, abided by. The weight of this theory may be lost on some less venturous viewers, but it surely stuck with me. She took “no pain, no gain” to a very profound and philosophical level. At first it may seem like an obvious and logical explanation to life, but it exemplified the entire world of Fullmetal Alchemist. Without it, the series, the franchise, the characters, would have been much less triumphant.

The Elric Brothers had to discover for themselves that Equivalent Exchange was not only restricted to alchemy, but to the world and universe that surrounded them. Such as how we as the audience also learned that not only in the world of the Fullmetal Alchemist, but also in real life, where you cannot gain anything without sacrificing something of equal or greater value…

But once you overcome that sacrifice and make it your own, you will gain an irreplaceable fullmetal heart.

A lesson thoroughly learned.

Thank you Arakawa-sensei, from the bottom my fullmetal heart. We look forward to your next masterpiece!

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes