Fullmetal Alchemist (Franchise)

Written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa, the series ran in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan and was gathered into twenty-seven collected volumes. Its world borrows the flavor of Europe's Industrial Revolution and treats alchemy as one of the most advanced sciences around. At its center are two alchemist brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who hunt a Philosopher's Stone to mend their bodies after a botched attempt to revive their mother. Adaptations into anime, live action, novels, and games followed, all animated for screen by studio Bones.

The saga is set in Amestris, an Edwardian-flavored nation where alchemy ranks among the leading sciences and its state-employed practitioners hold military rank. Every transmutation obeys the Law of Equivalent Exchange, demanding something of equal worth in return, and the single forbidden act is the transmutation of a human being. Breaking that taboo drags the offender before Truth and through the Gate, costing a piece of their body. The one loophole is the Philosopher's Stone, a red crystal born of human lives that also spawns the Homunculi, artificial beings named for the seven deadly sins.

Edward and Alphonse grow up in rural Resembool with their mother Trisha after their father Van Hohenheim departs. When illness takes Trisha, the boys attempt to revive her through human transmutation, and the backlash claims Edward's leg and Alphonse's entire body; Edward gives an arm to anchor his brother's soul inside a suit of armor. Recruited by Roy Mustang, Edward becomes the Fullmetal Alchemist, and the pair pursue the Philosopher's Stone to reclaim their bodies while a killer named Scar stalks state alchemists.

Their search uncovers the stone's monstrous recipe and a plot reaching the top of the government, where President King Bradley proves to be the Homunculus Wrath and a being called Father schemes to consume the whole country and rise to godhood. Alliances shift among Homunculi, soldiers, and foreign princes as the Elrics learn Hohenheim is himself a living stone. On the Promised Day the heroes battle Father's forces, foil the nationwide transmutation, and wear his stone down. Alphonse trades his soul to restore Edward's arm, Edward surrenders alchemy itself to bring his brother's body back, and the reunited pair eventually set out to see the world.

The manga moved roughly sixty-four million copies around the globe, and the first English volume topped graphic-novel sales in 2005. Studio Bones adapted it twice: a fifty-one episode run in 2003 that veered into its own ending at Arakawa's request, and the sixty-four episode Brotherhood in 2009 that tracked the manga far more closely. Each series earned its own feature film, Conqueror of Shamballa and The Sacred Star of Milos, alongside OVAs, light novels, drama CDs, video games, and a broad line of merchandise.

Critics generally praised the work, noting that early, more formulaic chapters give way to steadily richer storytelling and consistently distinct character designs. Twin TV Asahi web polls once crowned the anime the most popular in Japan, and the 2007 American Anime Awards handed it five wins from six nominations, including honors for its cast, its theme song, and Vic Mignogna as Edward's English voice. The property sits among Square Enix's flagship titles beside Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, with reviewers highlighting its themes of family, war, and the cost of ambition.