Day 3 - Fullmetal Alchemist and why it is so great

Recently I have written a short, spoiler-free review of the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. Some days later I stumbled upon a big video review of the series and that inspired me to write about why this particular series works so great and why it appeals to the audience both young and old. This analysis include some minor spoilers.

The story of Fullmetal Alchemist takes place in a fictional country of Amestris in a world where alchemy is a powerful art that can be used to deconstruct and reconstruct materials. However to obtain something, one must sacrifice something of equal value. FMA's world is otherwise rather similar to the real world somewhere around the first half of the 20th Century. The Elric Brothers visit many different towns and meet many different people along the way.

Hey, if I was always mistaken for someone else and called short
all the time I would react like that too.

But what makes Fullmetal Alchemist such a great anime series? One thing is the themes. It gets both funny and serious, often in a single episode, within just a few minutes. For example one returning joke is that Edward is very sensitive to people calling him short, always getting furious and overreacting to it. In fact, most of the characters have their funny traits like this and those things can actually make the characters more likable. However, when the series wants to get serious, it does a great job at portraying moments of sorrow.

Episode 7, The Night of Chimera's Cry is a great example (A scene from the later half of the episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTzcp1YLY8). When the day of Shou Tucker's assestment draws near, he uses his own daughter Nina and her dog Alexander to create a chimera that can understand human words. When the chimera recognizes Edward and calls him "brother" (the brothers' have previously befriended the girl and she used to call them that), Ed realizes what has happened. He later stops the military from taking the Chimera away, as he knows it will be for further research. Later they find out that the chimera was brutally killed, leaving Edward cry in sorrow and helplessness. The episode was strong in many ways, the voice, the dialog and the look of the chimera itself
makes this whole situation heartbreaking.

As a State Alchemist, Edward is often called a dog of the military, however he doesn't really care about the military at all. Another theme in the series is said military. The viewer as well as the characters will often have doubts about their actions. What's right or wrong is often questioned and the civil war of the past is often mentioned and the view on it changes multiple times.
The Equivalent Exchange is often mentioned and it is widely belived to be a rule of the world, that one cannot gain anything without giving something so when you do work hard, you get good things etc. It's a idealistic look at the world, but the main characters will get to see how unfair the world can actually be.

Ed and Al spending an entire day at their mother's grave after the
funeral reminds me of Mother 3.

Last, but definietly not least, is the theme of family. Right from the start you get to see how close the two brothers were to their mother and how her death affects them to the point that they desperatly wanted to bring her bad, even though that would mean commiting the greatest taboo of alchemy. When it fails, Ed, with his remaining strength, binds his brother's soul to a suit of armor. The two brothers themselves are inseparable and trully care about each other. The theme of family relations is a returning theme as well, with many instances of it throughout the series.
The second thing is the characters. There's a lot of them and what's impressive is that basically all of the those who play a bigger role have a lot of personality and unlike many animes, games and movies, they're all three-dimensional and many of them, especially the main characters, go through character development. To make them more likable and fun, they also have something special about their personalities. Edward is the rather reckless type, but also smart and talented, being able to spend tons of hours on research. Alphonse is the calmer one, more thoughful, gentle and often acting more mature despite being the younger brother. Some characters are likeable for their more unusual personalities, such as, Loius Alex Armstrong, who always shows of his strength and muscles, bragging how all his best skills have been passed for generations and despite that is also someone sensitive.

This guy chops wood with his fists and yet gets very emotional at
the story of Elrics. (He is also the only one to make sparkling look cool)

Characters are a really strong point, both the protagonists and the antagonists have their motives and true, most often realistic personalities with enough silliness to ease off the overall serious mood the series can get to sometimes. You'll understand why the brothers want their bodies back. Sure, being bound to suit of armor, which means you'll never age and that you're much stronger may seem cool at first, but then you'll see how painful it must be for Al to not be able to eat or even feel the rain, touch or sunshine.

All this summed up makes the series very memorable. The themes are releatable, the characters really good and likable. The story well written (even though it doesn't follow the anime and that the ending is just well... weird and even kinda stupid in this version). The music is great, the world is nice (I especially love countryside of Rizembool), there's action, there's feelings etc.. These things are the reasons it is my favorite series. It does something not many animes, or most of other media in the genre can accomplish. It makes you laugh, it makes you sad, it makes you think. There's something for everyone to enjoy and even relate to.
But you know what I realized while writing this? You can't really express it through text, it's something you have to see to understand and experience (alternatively read the manga I guess)