Full Metal Alchemist was part of what I call the New Anime Wave. They made anime really accesible, coming together with Naruto, Bleach, and a few others (note: This is my own term for it, and may differ from what others think). What defined this particular genre and wave for me was the crispness of colours and the animation used. There was an emphasis on funny effects mixed with some good ole-fashioned bloody action. Despite the doom and gloom, the animation at the end of the day is bright and cheerful.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, is the long-awaited answer to the original Full Metal Alchemist anime,. The original FMA (as it is known) boasted a colourful cast of characters, running 51 episodes, beginning Autumn 2003 and ending a year later.

Brotherhood allows readers who’ve never watched the first season of FMA to delve seamlessly into the storyline. If you’ve read the manga before, you’d identify the characters immediately.

First, there’s the villain of the week, the Ice Alchemist, Isaac McDougall, who’s seen drawing transmutation circles around the city and killing indiscriminately. Then it’s the strict-looking Fuhrer King Bradley, the stern-but-round-looking Roy Mustang, then quickly to the main characters of the story, the Elric brothers. The opening song then plays.

The opening song, Again by Yui, may seem like a typical, angst-driven song, but fans would note the connection of the lyrics to the background of the Elric brothers. To say the lyrics are epic would be of interest perhaps only to anime and Japanese music fans- they’re heart-breakingly beautiful and nothing short of epic.

And that’s all I’ll tell you tonight. One, because I am rather sleepy, but two, mainly because I’m going to go loop the opening and ending songs again. FMA may just be the anime I’ll be eager to download week by week, as the story seems fresh again to me, and I enjoy the way Riza is exasperated at Mustang. OTP!

Good night!