Recommendations: Fullmetal Alchemist (Part 2)
(Note: This is Part 2 of a very long post, because Blogger was being weird about it when it failed to load.)
The law of Equivalent Exchange is this: In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed.
The type of alchemical reaction, called a transmutation, an alchemist desires is determined by what kind of transmutation circle, sometimes called an array, that they draw. I won't even try to explain that, but I found a good guide to drawing them here:
How to draw a transmutation circle
That's the magic system in a nutshell. Oh, actually, there's kind of another rule. It's not a fundamental rule like the other two, but bad things will happen if you try to do it: Do not perform any transmutation involving human souls. Why?
"Since the alchemical forces being manipulated are not human in origin, but of the world as a whole, the consequences for attempting to bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange in transmutation are not merely failure and cessation. When too much is attempted out of too little, what occurs is called a Rebound, in which the alchemical forces that are thrown out of balance on either side of the equation fluctuate wildly of their own accord in order to stabilize themselves - taking or giving more than was intended in often unpredictable and catastrophic ways such as accidental mutation, serious injury, or death... just as the Law of Equivalent Exchange applies to the transmutation of non-living matter, devastating rebounds can occur in Human Transmutation because human lives and souls are priceless according to the flow of the world."
I love that last line. I love it so much that I will type that again, in fancy italics this time. Human lives and souls are priceless according to the flow of the world. Which means if you try to mess with them... you're dead.
Alright, now on to the plot!
Edward and Alphonse Elric are brothers (Ed the elder of the two) who grow up in the sleepy sheep village of Resembool, in the east part of the country of Amestris, with their mother and fath- actually, not their father. Their father Van Hohenheim, a talented alchemist, left when they were very young, so their mother raises them on their own. They take a look at their father's alchemical textbooks that he left behind in his study and try to do a little alchemy. My guess is that they were bored. They succeed (a little bit), and it makes their mother happy. They like making their mother happy, so they keep studying.
Years later, disease strikes the village, and their mother dies, overwhelmed with being sick while trying to take care of her two young sons alone. The boys, aged approximately 9 and 10 at the time (Ed is the elder brother, by the way), then think this:
Now, guess what happens?
The transmutation fails, as it is Human Transmutation. Ed loses his left leg, and his brother loses his entire body. Ed sacrifices his right arm to bind his brother's soul into a suit of armor.
They are, respectively, 11 and 10 at the time.
They then embark on a quest to get their bodies back. Ed gets metal prosthetics, called automail, to replace his missing limbs, and rehabilitates in record time- only a year. He becomes the youngest ever State Alchemist at 12 years old, in order to access high-level alchemical texts and funding for his research. State Alchemists need a whole nother blog post to explain them and their history, but suffice it to say for now that they're a part of the state military, no one really likes them, and the program was created in recent years for a specific reason. Oh, and as a State Alchemist, you get a sort of "nickname," usually describing your specialty, or some attribute you have. For example, there's the Strongarm Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong; the Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang; and the Red Lotus Alchemist, Solf J. Kimblee (we all hate Kimblee, by the way. He's the worst). Due to his metal arm and leg, Ed becomes the Fullmetal Alchemist (although some say that he should've been named the Punching Alchemist, or the Catch These Hands Alchemist, because he punches a truly remarkable amount of things and people. Another suggestion is the Partially-Metal Alchemist, because people keep confusing him with Alphonse, much to his irritation).
The law of Equivalent Exchange is this: In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed.
The type of alchemical reaction, called a transmutation, an alchemist desires is determined by what kind of transmutation circle, sometimes called an array, that they draw. I won't even try to explain that, but I found a good guide to drawing them here:
How to draw a transmutation circle
That's the magic system in a nutshell. Oh, actually, there's kind of another rule. It's not a fundamental rule like the other two, but bad things will happen if you try to do it: Do not perform any transmutation involving human souls. Why?
"Since the alchemical forces being manipulated are not human in origin, but of the world as a whole, the consequences for attempting to bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange in transmutation are not merely failure and cessation. When too much is attempted out of too little, what occurs is called a Rebound, in which the alchemical forces that are thrown out of balance on either side of the equation fluctuate wildly of their own accord in order to stabilize themselves - taking or giving more than was intended in often unpredictable and catastrophic ways such as accidental mutation, serious injury, or death... just as the Law of Equivalent Exchange applies to the transmutation of non-living matter, devastating rebounds can occur in Human Transmutation because human lives and souls are priceless according to the flow of the world."
I love that last line. I love it so much that I will type that again, in fancy italics this time. Human lives and souls are priceless according to the flow of the world. Which means if you try to mess with them... you're dead.
Alright, now on to the plot!
Edward and Alphonse Elric are brothers (Ed the elder of the two) who grow up in the sleepy sheep village of Resembool, in the east part of the country of Amestris, with their mother and fath- actually, not their father. Their father Van Hohenheim, a talented alchemist, left when they were very young, so their mother raises them on their own. They take a look at their father's alchemical textbooks that he left behind in his study and try to do a little alchemy. My guess is that they were bored. They succeed (a little bit), and it makes their mother happy. They like making their mother happy, so they keep studying.
Years later, disease strikes the village, and their mother dies, overwhelmed with being sick while trying to take care of her two young sons alone. The boys, aged approximately 9 and 10 at the time (Ed is the elder brother, by the way), then think this:
 |
| Someone actually made a full parody song of this idea |
The transmutation fails, as it is Human Transmutation. Ed loses his left leg, and his brother loses his entire body. Ed sacrifices his right arm to bind his brother's soul into a suit of armor.
They are, respectively, 11 and 10 at the time.
They then embark on a quest to get their bodies back. Ed gets metal prosthetics, called automail, to replace his missing limbs, and rehabilitates in record time- only a year. He becomes the youngest ever State Alchemist at 12 years old, in order to access high-level alchemical texts and funding for his research. State Alchemists need a whole nother blog post to explain them and their history, but suffice it to say for now that they're a part of the state military, no one really likes them, and the program was created in recent years for a specific reason. Oh, and as a State Alchemist, you get a sort of "nickname," usually describing your specialty, or some attribute you have. For example, there's the Strongarm Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong; the Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang; and the Red Lotus Alchemist, Solf J. Kimblee (we all hate Kimblee, by the way. He's the worst). Due to his metal arm and leg, Ed becomes the Fullmetal Alchemist (although some say that he should've been named the Punching Alchemist, or the Catch These Hands Alchemist, because he punches a truly remarkable amount of things and people. Another suggestion is the Partially-Metal Alchemist, because people keep confusing him with Alphonse, much to his irritation).
Along this journey, the brothers meet lots of different people, get beat u- I mean encounter many different situations, and stick their noses wher- I mean discover the dark secret of their country's past, and the perhaps even darker plan for its future. And it's all heartbreaking, and hilarious.
Fullmetal Alchemist is probably my favorite story ever, and that is saying a lot, considering the huge amount of stories I've read or otherwise consumed over the years. This introduction is definitely not perfect, but it's the best I can do, at least for now. It may be too short, or too long, or too confusing, or... I don't even know. But if this introduction still piqued your interest, I recommend this to you. Both the animes are on Netflix. I suggest you watch the reboot, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, first, because the original one got ahead of the manga, so it isn't as faithful to the books, and apparently it's also generally more weird (I haven't watched it yet, so this is my friends' opinion). But if the books are at your local library, then I also suggest you read those even before Brotherhood, because Brotherhood starts with a slightly confusing pilot episode. The author is Hiromu Arakawa.
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