The First Day

Second in the Brotherhood run and the first drawn straight from the manga, this chapter uses a train ride to Reole as a frame for the brothers' origin. It revisits the epidemic that took their mother, the catastrophic transmutation that cost Alphonse his body and Edward a leg, and the desperate act that bound the younger boy's soul to a suit of armor. From there it follows Edward's recruitment into the military and his rise to the title of Fullmetal Alchemist.

As children the brothers reveal a rare gift for alchemy, but their mother soon dies in an outbreak, and rather than wait for their absent father they resolve to bring her back. The forbidden ritual rebounds, pulling Edward before a white void and a being called Truth, forcing vast knowledge into his mind, and taking his leg while Alphonse's entire body is dragged away. Bleeding and alone beside a lifeless failure, Edward sacrifices more of himself to fix his brother's soul to an empty set of armor with a blood rune. Four years earlier in the present frame, Mustang and Hawkeye arrive in Resembool scouting recruits, find the bloodied transmutation circle, and discover the maimed Edward and armor-bound Alphonse. The colonel lays out how the State Alchemist program could give the boys the means to restore themselves, over Pinako's objections, while Riza tells young Winry that the choice belongs to the brothers alone. After a grueling automail operation and rehabilitation Edward compresses into a single year, he learns to transmute without drawing a circle and travels to Central, where a mock strike on Fuhrer Bradley during his exam earns him certification and the name Fullmetal Alchemist. At dawn the train reaches Reole and the hope that the Philosopher's Stone lies within.

The episode weaves together five manga chapters, and its title card sets the brothers' human transmutation circle beside Mustang's flame array. Izumi makes her first appearance here, though only as one of the knowledge-bearing visions in the Gate rather than a named character. It also carries the earliest reference to alkahestry, delivered when Hughes hands Mustang the report on Isaac McDougal, a mention exclusive to the second anime since McDougal appears only in Brotherhood.