Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood first aired in April 2009, adapting Hiromu Arakawa’s manga from start to finish across 64 episodes. Set in a world where alchemy operates under strict scientific laws, it follows brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric after a catastrophic attempt to bring their mother back from the dead costs Edward an arm and a leg and strips Alphonse of his entire body, binding his soul to a suit of armor. Their search for the Philosopher’s Stone pulls them into a conspiracy that stretches across nations and centuries, touching on war, genocide, political corruption, and what it actually costs to play god.

Community consensus on this series is remarkably consistent. It sits at or near the top of virtually every “best anime” ranking, and the praise has barely wavered in the fifteen-plus years since it ended. People who push back against that status tend to do so on specific points rather than the overall quality. Even the show’s detractors usually acknowledge they’re arguing against something exceptional.

What makes the conversation worth having is that the criticisms are specific and legitimate. This isn’t a show that gets a pass because of nostalgia or because fans refuse to engage with its weaknesses. It earned its reputation, and the places where it stumbles are worth discussing honestly.

The Combat That Drives Fullmetal Alchemist

The alchemy system is the foundation everything else rests on, and it holds up beautifully. Equivalent exchange, the principle that you can’t create something from nothing, gives the entire world a sense of internal logic that most fantasy properties never achieve. Fights feel grounded because the rules are clear. Dramatic moments hit harder because the audience understands what’s possible and what isn’t. Characters can’t just power through problems by wanting it badly enough, and that constraint turns every conflict into something with actual stakes.

World-building extends well beyond the magic system. Amestris feels like a real country with regional cultures, political tensions, and a military hierarchy that drives much of the plot. Neighboring nations like Xing bring different philosophies and practices into the mix, expanding the scope without losing coherence. Arakawa built a setting dense enough to support dozens of storylines without ever feeling overstuffed.

Character work across the ensemble is where Brotherhood separates itself from most action-oriented anime. Edward’s arc from angry teenager to someone capable of understanding sacrifice is compelling on its own, but the show doesn’t lean on him exclusively. Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Scar, Ling Yao, and a dozen others carry their own weight. Female characters in particular stand out for the genre. Hawkeye is a fully realized soldier with her own convictions. Izumi Curtis is one of the most powerful alchemists in the story. Winry Rockbell’s engineering expertise is treated with the same respect as any combat skill. This kind of balanced representation is still uncommon in shounen anime, and Brotherhood handles it without making it feel like a checklist.

Studio Bones delivered animation that holds up remarkably well over fifteen years later. Action sequences are dynamic and inventive, adapting the creative possibilities of alchemy into fights that look and feel distinct from each other. Akira Senju’s orchestral score, recorded with a full philharmonic orchestra, gives the emotional beats a weight that a standard anime soundtrack rarely provides.

Plotting across 64 episodes stays impressively tight. Subplots introduced in early episodes pay off much later. Filler is essentially nonexistent. Every episode moves something forward, and the final stretch brings together threads that have been running since the beginning in ways that feel earned rather than convenient.

Where Fullmetal Alchemist Loses Momentum

Brotherhood’s most consistent weak point is its opening stretch. Roughly the first thirteen episodes rush through material that the 2003 adaptation spent significantly more time developing. Key early storylines feel compressed, character introductions lack breathing room, and some emotional moments don’t land with the force they should because the show hasn’t earned them yet. Viewers coming in without prior knowledge of the story can find the pacing disorienting, and more than a few people have bounced off the series before it finds its rhythm.

Comedy is a persistent sore spot for a vocal portion of the audience. Brotherhood uses chibi-style visual gags and exaggerated reactions that can feel deeply out of place when they interrupt tense or emotionally heavy scenes. Edward’s height sensitivity is a running joke that works the first few times and wears thin well before the show stops using it. The tonal whiplash between a character processing genuine trauma and a cartoonish reaction shot in the same scene is something you either learn to accept or never quite get past.

Even the ending, broadly satisfying as it is, draws criticism for resolving things too neatly. A story that spends dozens of episodes establishing that consequences are inescapable wraps up with most of the cast alive, healthy, and happy. Only one major character death carries through to the finale, and for a narrative built on the idea that everything has a cost, the final tally feels lighter than expected. Some viewers find this deeply satisfying as an earned happy ending. Others see it as the show flinching at its own thesis.

A few of the homunculi villains, while effective as threats, lack the psychological complexity that could have elevated them further. They serve their narrative roles well, but some function more as obstacles than as characters with inner lives worth exploring.

Where It All Comes Together for Fullmetal Alchemist

Brotherhood’s real achievement is structural. Arakawa’s story treats equivalent exchange as more than a magic rule. It’s the thematic backbone of the entire series. Every major character grapples with what they’re willing to give up and whether the trade was worth it. The Elric brothers’ journey isn’t really about finding the Philosopher’s Stone. It’s about learning what can’t be bought, recovered, or transmuted. That idea threads through 64 episodes without ever feeling repetitive, because each character approaches it from a different angle with different stakes.

Should You Watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood?

Ask anime fans what to recommend a newcomer, and this series comes up more often than almost anything else. It works for people who’ve never watched a single episode of anything animated from Japan, and it holds up for people who’ve seen hundreds of series. The combination of accessible storytelling, strong action, emotional depth, and philosophical ambition gives it an unusually wide appeal.

Skip it if anime comedy conventions are a dealbreaker for you. The chibi humor and exaggerated reactions are baked into the show’s DNA, and they never fully go away. If tonal consistency matters more to you than range, Brotherhood will test your patience in ways that matter.

The Verdict on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood earns its place among the best anime ever produced through sheer ambition and follow-through. Sixty-four episodes build a world that feels lived-in, populate it with characters worth caring about, and tell a story that respects both its audience and its own rules. The rocky opening stretch and occasional comedy misfires are real flaws, but they’re small cracks in something enormous and carefully constructed. This is the rare long-running series where the ending lands as hard as the beginning promises it will.