Great Ending to a Phenomenal Series
Alcibiades | Washington, DC | 03/27/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"SOME SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED IN THIS REVIEW
Fullmetal Alchemist is an amazing series, but one of its greatest achievements, in my mind, is that it managed to not only maintain its stellar quality over time, it consistently got better and better until it actually hurt to see the series come to an end. Seeing all of the plot threads that have been building throughout the whole series coming to fruition is a great payoff, sure, but it's made all the better by the fact that nothing feels like a cop-out; there wasn't a single moment where I thought "Oh, these guys were running out of time and so they just threw that up there." No, everything flows to a logical, incredibly satisfying and poignantly melancholy conclusion. It certainly isn't a Hollywood-style happy ending, but that was never what the series was about in the first place. And even more gratifying than the ending was being able to look back on how all of these characters had grown and changed throughout the series: Lust springs to mind first and foremost, having gone from being your stereotypical femme-fatale to a multi-layered, incredibly sympathetic and tragic heroine. And I never, ever thought I'd be able to empathize with a psychopathic monster like Envy, but the final scenes of episode 50 made me come really close to doing so, even as he... well, I won't spoil it for you here.
In short, Fullmetal Alchemist is an incredibly well done, superbly animated and acted show. The Japanese and English voice tracks are both equally impressive (one of the RARE few animes in which this has happened, the only other to my knowledge being Samurai Champloo). And sure, if you're reading this product description you're probably going to buy this anyway and you've seen the series before, but in case you haven't, just know that you're about to see some of the finest episodes of one of the best anime series ever. This world definitely goes out with a bang, and not a whimper."
Must Have!!!
Paul R. Stone | Montegalda, IT | 11/18/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a must have for any Fullmetal fan! The box sets are gorgeous and make any anime collection."
Elric Brothers 2-gether 4-ever
A. Maniaci | MICHIGAN, USA | 10/18/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I purchased the whole series and the movies. The only problem with it is that there weren't more episodes. It is the perfect blend of suspense, fantasy, adventure, drama, love, sacrifice, dedication, suffering, reward, deception, cruelty, compassion, etc...__I was surprised at the depth of this anime. Even grown ups will like this one."