10
Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: Hiromu Arakawa
Volumes: 27 (complete at 108 Chapters)
Publisher: Square Enix Monthly Shonen Gangan [click HERE for box set purchase page]
I remember when I was first organising my list, I was gobsmacked at how little of the stuff I’d class as being in my top 10 was actually in my top 10 at all! I’VE BEEN LIVING A LIE!
I’ll be damned however, if FullMetal Alchemist slips from the top 10 at this point in time… even if it is literally at 10. That being said, I think that getting into the top 31 is extremely difficult to do. There’s loads of series that never made it in here, and it all boils down to just how impactful every series in the list is to me.
I’ve not seen any of Hiromu Arakawa’s other works other than FMA, but I do plan to at some point in the near future… who knows, maybe I’ll end up with a new favourite series of hers. I think it’s fair to say that even to this day, that FullMetal Alchemist is still just as valuable to read through as it was during release, at a time where stories obsessed with reviving or finding a lost loved one were big, Full Metal Alchemist tackles the concepts of grief, war, and equivalent exchange/ the acceptance of consequences in our actions.
Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse are following in their estranged father’s footsteps by learning the basics of alchemy, when one day their mother falls ill and passes away, orphaning them. Confident that the only reason nobody has ever successfully revived a human before using alchemy is solely because the attempts are missing something fundamental, Ed and Al make their own attempt to bring their mother back… only for it to backfire so badly that Ed loses his leg, and his arm soon after when he manages to attach his vanishing brother’s soul to a nearby suit of armour.
Burning the house they lived in down to ensure they have nothing to return to; they go on a journey to get Alphonse his original body back. Rumour has it there’s a philosopher's stone (an item that has enough power to do it), but as they should already know by now, something that good will come at a price.
I personally love that the magic system of alchemy in this story never replaces the more familiar world building elements (There’s no transportation running solely on alchemy for example), and that instead, the magic system is there to offer more efficient solutions with how those familiar objects are used. Radio fallen off the shelf and broken to pieces? Alchemy ensures that as long as the parts are all there you can just magic it back together!
Because the magic system uses what IS as fuel rather than conjuring from nothing, characters who use it have very clear rules to follow, that a lot of the time don’t need any explanation at all, allowing the visual element of the story telling to sing.
Fullmetal alchemist is one of the few long running series that consists of one main plot throughout. We learn very early on what we can expect regarding an end goal, and so the story is allowed to enrich the rest of the journey with its characters and how their history has led them to this point, and how the people they meet will take them to their next developmental destination.
A lot of the cast are those who have suffered or are suffering from direct or indirect grievances, and are now trying to deal with them in a way that they feel is the healthiest way, or in some less than healthy ways, at the very least the most cathartic for them at any given moment. It’s one of the few stories where you can call it dark, while being assured that the bad times are there as a way to see how people handle and recover from them.
For what was near enough a decade, the 00’s feels like it was defined by Fullmetal Alchemist. When it was running between 2001 and 2010, I dare say it was probably the best series I had read up to that point, and it's only really recently that other series have been coming along that I feel have finally started to move it down my list of all time favourites.
