Saturday, 20 June 2009

• Which cartoon have you always wanted to be a part of?

  No questions asked, I would LOVE to be in Fullmetal Alchemist, written and drawn by the manga-ka Hiromu Arakawa.

  The anime Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkanujtsushi or "Hagaren" in the original Japanese) is an anime about two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric. Living in Amestris, a country where alchemy is real and science is a farce, the boys learn the science and art of alchemy at a young age to bring a smile to their mother's face. However, unbeknownst to the children, their mother has been wasting away for some time. Returning from their friend Winry's house, the two find their mother collapsed on the floor. Within weeks, Trisha Elric is dead. The two take it upon themselves to bring their dead mother back. However, there are two problems with this that Ed and Al have overlooked: firstly, bringing back the dead is forbidden by the militaristic government, and secondly, no one has successfully completed human transmutation- everyone who has attempted has died. Being children, they disregard these facts. This is only the start of their troubles.

  Though not killed in the attempt to bring back their mother- most alchemists try this feat solo, fearing anyone else would turn them in to the military- the boys pay a heavy price. Edward loses his left leg up to the knee to The Gate, a mysterious force that brutally enforces the law of Equivalent Exchange (nothing can be gained without first giving something of equal value in return), and Alphonse loses his entire body. Thinking unnaturally quickly for an 11-year-old missing his leg and his little brother, Edward performs yet another transmutation, affixing his brother's soul to a nearby suit of antique armor previously owned by their father with a 'blood seal,' a transmutation circle inscribed in blood. Saving the life of his brother has cost him his right arm; not nearly as high a toll as that taken to revive the dead, but damaging nonetheless. Frightened and confused, the newly-revived Alphonse carries his brother to Winry's, where their friend's grandmother affixes automail limbs, mechanical prosthetics, where Edward's lost arm and leg used to be. On top of the heavy price they paid, the being they created was not even human. All that is seen of the creature is a skeleton wrapped in pulsating muscles surrounded by a pool of blood; one might call it an 'inside-out cadaver.' Seeing as their transmutation was illegal, they tell no one what happened except for Winry and her grandmother. However, one other person witnessed the unmistakable purple-hued crackling light that accompanies human transmutation: Lieutenant Roy Mustang, a military officer patrolling the area. Interested in the boys' prodigal abilities, he agrees to not turn them in- on the condition that Edward consider being a "dog of the military," officially known as a State Alchemist.

  Determined to return their bodies to normal, the boys set out to find the mythical Philosopher's Stone, an elixer that bypasses the law of equivalent exchange and multiplies an alchemist's power by a hundredfold. Edward joins the military dictatorship of a government to gain access to the vast knowledge of the military libraries. Though he wants to follow his brother's path, Alphonse is forced to abandon the test to become a State Alchemist once he is informed that a physical examination is required. Seeing as an empty suit of armor would arouse questions the boys cannot answer for fear of having to abandon their quest, he willingly does so, so as not to bring harm to his elder brother. Edward, given the title of "Fullmetal Alchemist" in reference to his metal limbs (this becomes somewhat of a running joke in the series- Al is often attributed his brother's title because of his armor), is placed under the command of Mustang, now elevated to Lieutenant Colonel, and Alphonse follows his brother on the few missions he gets. Edward shortly quits the military, for reasons of his own. Mere hours later, he rejoins, on the terms that Mustang will share any leads he gets on the Stone with the brothers.

  The boys encounter multiple enemies, but the main recurring "bad guys" are the homunculi, superhuman beings previously unknown to the government. The secrets of how they gain their abilities (each has a specific ability; shapeshifting, an impenetrable shield, unbreakable weapons created from fingernails, the ability to turn one's body into a weapon, etc) remain unknown until the last few episodes of the series. (Not telling for fear of spoilers.) It seems the homunculi are after the Stone as well, although one of them seems to take delight in simply tormenting Edward for no end but entertainment. However, it seems the homunculi themselves are weary of searching for the Philosopher's Stone; instead, they try to force Edward and Alphonse to create it. The boys refuse, both for the obvious reason that the homunculi are evil, and the ingredient to create a true Philosopher's Stone (there are imitations called Red Stones that have limited powers and 'life span', disintegrating after a few years) is so horrifying the two cannot even comprehend it.

  The details of the end shall remain secret, for there are major spoilers.

   

  
     

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