| Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood | |
 Key visual of the series, featuring brothersEdward (below) andAlphonse Elric (above) | |
| 鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) | |
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Hiromu Arakawa |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Yasuhiro Irie |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Hiroshi Ōnogi |
| Music by | Akira Senju |
| Studio | Bones |
| Licensed by | |
| Original network | JNN (MBS,TBS) |
| English network | |
| Original run | April 5, 2009 – July 4, 2010 |
| Episodes | 64(List of episodes) |
| Original video animation | |
| Directed by | Yasuhiro Irie |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Hiroshi Ōnogi |
| Music by | Akira Senju |
| Studio | Bones |
| Licensed by | |
| Released | August 26, 2009 – August 25, 2010 |
| Runtime | 12–18 minutes |
| Episodes | 4(List of episodes) |
| Anime film | |
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 Anime and manga portal | |
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Japanese:鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST,Hepburn:Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) is a Japaneseanime television series, serving as the second adaptation of theFullmetal Alchemistmanga series byHiromu Arakawa, after the2003 series. Produced byBones, the series was directed byYasuhiro Irie, written byHiroshi Ōnogi and composed byAkira Senju. It was conceived in order to create a faithful adaptation that directly followed the entire storyline of the original manga, as the original series strayed away from it to form its own conclusion after running out of published manga material to adapt.
Production forFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood began in 2008. The series was broadcast for 64 episodes onMBS–TBS from April 2009 to July 2010. It was first licensed in North America byFunimation and was broadcast English-dubbed onAdult Swim from February 2010 to September 2011. In 2016, Funimation lost the rights to the series and it was transferred toAniplex of America.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has received critical acclaim and is widely considered to be one of thegreatest anime series of all time. Reviewers noted and praised its faithfulness to the manga and its introduction of characters and plot details that were not present in the 2003 anime; the climactic episodes were also lauded for both their action scenes and moral messages.
BrothersEdward andAlphonse 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 friendWinry 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, Al's body is completely obliterated, and Ed loses his left leg. In a last attempt to keep his brother alive, Ed sacrifices his right arm to bring Al's soul back and binds it to a nearby suit of armor. After Edward receives automail prosthetics from Winry and Pinako, the brothers burn down their house, 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 fabledPhilosopher's Stone under the direction of ColonelRoy Mustang. Along the way, they discover a deep government conspiracy to hide the true nature of the Philosopher's Stone that involves thehomunculi, the alchemists of the neighboring nation of Xing, thescarred man from the war-torn nation of Ishval, and their own father's past.
In the 20th volume of theFullmetal Alchemistmanga, released in August 2008, series authorHiromu Arakawa announced that a secondanime adaptation was being produced; the previous series,Fullmetal Alchemist, had debuted in 2003 and featured an anime original story direction midway through its run. The Japanese title of the second adaptation isHagane no Renkinjutsushi: Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST; abbreviated as鋼の錬金術師FA), including the English translation as a subtitle to differentiate it from the 2003 series,[13][14][15] while the English release uses the subtitleBrotherhood.
Bones producedBrotherhood withYasuhiro Irie as director,Hiroshi Ōnogi as writer,[13][14] andAkira Senju as composer.[16] Voice actressesRomi Park andRie Kugimiya reprised their roles as Edward and Alphonse Elric, respectively.[17] Unlike the first anime series adaptation, the second anime series faithfully follows the complete story of the manga. Irie faced the difficulties of making the series as appealing as possible. Due to his large popularity within the fanbase, Irie had to properly focus on the character ofRoy Mustang.[18] When the manga was nearing its completion in May 2010, Irie announced that the Bones staff was already working on the final episodes adapting the ending and expressed shock at the series' conclusion.[19]
Brotherhood's music composer isAkira Senju.[20] The first CD soundtrack from this anime was published on October 14, 2009.[20] The second CD soundtrack from the anime was published on March 24, 2010.[21] The third CD soundtrack became available on July 7, 2010.[22]Fullmetal Alchemist Final Best, a compilation of opening and ending songs, was released on July 28, 2010.[23] On June 29, 2011, the original soundtrack ofFullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Nageki no Oka no Seinaru Hoshi), composed byTaro Iwashiro, was released.[24]
The respective opening and ending themes for the first 14 episodes are "Again" byYui and "Uso" (嘘; lit. "Lie") bySid. From episode 15–26, the respective opening and ending themes are "Hologram" byNico Touches the Walls and "Let It Out" byMiho Fukuhara. From episode 27–38, the respective opening and ending themes are "Golden Time Lover" bySukima Switch and "Tsunaida Te" (つないだ手; lit. "Tied Hands") byLil'B. From episode 39–50, the respective opening and ending themes are "Period" byChemistry and "Shunkan Sentimental" (瞬間センチメンタル,Shunkan Senchimentaru; lit. "Sentimental Moment") byScandal. From episodes 51–62, the respective opening and ending themes are "Rain" (レイン,Rein) by Sid and "Ray of Light" byShoko Nakagawa. While episodes 63 and 64 do not use opening themes, they use "Rain" and "Hologram", respectively, for the endings.[25]
In March 2009, it was announced that the official English title of the series wasFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and that it would receive its English-language premiere onAnimax Asia, with Japanese audio and English subtitles, at 8:30 p.m. on April 10, 2009.[26] 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.[27] The series premiered in Japan on April 5, 2009, onMBS–TBS's Sunday 5:00 pmJST anime block.
In May 2009, Funimation suspended the release of new episodes for a few weeks because of an incident in which an episode ofOne Piece was uploaded before it had aired in Japan.[28] However, the episodes were later made available on the Funimation website and on the official Funimation channel on YouTube.[29]
In August 2009, Aniplex started releasing the series onBlu-ray andDVD volumes; the first release included two episodes and an OVA.[30] 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 in November 2010.[31] 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.[32] On February 14, 2010, the English dub of the series premiered onAdult Swim; its run ended on September 25, 2011.[33][34] Funimation began releasing the episodes on Blu-ray and DVD in May 2010; each release contained thirteen episodes.[35][36] Five volumes were released, the last one in August 2011.[37][38] In the United Kingdom,Manga Entertainment released the series in five DVD and Blu-ray volumes during 2010 and 2011,[39][40] and later in a two-part box set.[41]
Funimation lost the rights to the series in March 2016.[42][43] In July 2016, it was announced that the series was transferred toAniplex of America and it would be streamed onCrunchyroll.[44]Netflix released the series on their streaming platform in the United States and Canada in January 2018.[45] Aniplex of America released the series on two Blu-ray Disc box sets in November 2018.[46] In November 2019, Funimation re-licensed the series for its streaming service.[47]Madman Entertainment distributed the series in Australia;[48][49] it was broadcast in Canada onSuper Channel;[50] and in the Philippines onTV5's AniMEGA anime programming block.[51]
Onreview aggregator siteRotten Tomatoes,Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood holds an approval rating of 100% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critic consensus reads: "With impeccable world-building, rollicking action, and emotionally intelligent themes, all the elements come together to make thisFullmetal Alchemist reboot a pristine distillation of theshounen genre."[52] The series is considered to be one of thebest anime of all time.[53][54][55] It was the top-rated anime onMyAnimeList,Anime News Network andIMDb,[56] until being overtaken byFrieren on MyAnimeList and Anime News Network.[57][58]
D. F. Smith, writing forIGN, noted the short time-span between the releases of the 2003 series andBrotherhood, which he deemed peerless among other anime.[59] Smith judged the pace of the first 14 episodes to be quicker than their original-series counterparts, which he interpreted as the series presuming the viewer is already familiar with the characters.[59] Smith also observed that while this approach enables reaching the more "exciting" story elements faster, it does exclude enjoyable moments with supporting characters, such as Winry and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, found in the first anime series adaptation.[59]
The first 14 episodes ofBrotherhood were initially criticized by members of theAnime News Network staff, who said that repeating events from the first anime series led to a lack of suspense.[60] Mania Entertainment's Chris Beveridge said that the entertainment in these episodes lay in the differences in the characters' actions from the first anime series, and original content which focused on the emotional theme of the series.[61] Beveridge praised the new fight scenes and the extra drama, which made these episodes "solid",[62] while Smith found the action scenes unexpectedly "compact".[59]
Megan Gudeman ofCBR called the relationships in the anime "dynamic and memorable".[63] 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 anime series, increasing its depth. He said the animation was superior to that of the first anime series; his comments focused on the characters' expressions and the execution of the fight scenes.[64] Critics found the conclusion satisfying; Mark Thomas ofThe Fandom Post called it a "virtually perfect ending to an outstanding series".[65][66] Writing for theLos Angeles Times, Charles Solomon rankedBrotherhood the second-best anime of 2010 on his "Top 10".[67]
Following the final episode ofBrotherhood, a new film was announced.[68] A teaser trailer began streaming in November 2010 on theFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood official site, confirming that a movie entitledFullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos would open throughout Japan in July 2011. It was directed by Kazuya Murata and scripted by Yūichi Shinpo.[69] The film follows the Elrics' attempts to capture a criminal in another country.[70] Funimation licensed the film and released it in selected theaters in the United States in January 2012, and on DVD and Blu-ray on April 24, 2012.[71][72]
Hulu is streaming the first two episodes of theFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood dark fantasy anime series.
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