Edward and Alphonse Elric's reckless disregard for alchemy's fundamental laws ripped half of Ed's limbs from his body and left Al's soul clinging to a cold suit of armour. To restore what was lost, the brothers scour a war-torn land for the Philosopher's Stone, a fabled relic which grants the ability to perform alchemy in impossible ways. The Elrics are not alone in their search; the corrupt State Military is eager to harness the artifact's power. So too are the strange Homonculi and their shadowy creator. The Mythical gem lures exotic alchemists from distant kingdoms, scarring some deeply enough to inspire murder. As the Elrics find their course altered by these enemies and allies, their purpose remains unchanged - and their bonds unbreakable.
Anyone who was a fan of the first Fullmetal Alchemist series, or of the manga, has certainly been anticipating the release of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. That's probably a little unfortunate for the series, as that amount of hype is nearly impossible to live up to. Another unfortunate fact is that the first Blu-Ray only contains the first 13 episodes, meaning it doesn't get into any of the new content. This set merely gives us new, prettier animation for something we saw more than half a decade ago.
Even with these things going against it, it's still possible for it to be good in the eyes of Fullmetal fans, such as myself. Which version of Fullmetal you prefer, the manga or the first anime series, will determine whether or not you like this new version of Fullmetal Alchemist. Anyone who prefers the first anime will surely end up disappointed. Brotherhood does away with the more serious tone the first series had and instead drowns the plot in silly cartoonish expressions. Rarely does a scene go by where someone doesn't make a giant goofy face, and this happens even in scenes where you would expect them to take it more seriously. Father Cornello telling Rose to shoot the Fullmetal Alchemist followed by the running joke of people mistaking Al for Ed seems inappropriate. It's supposed to be a dramatic scene, but with things like that happening it's almost impossible to take it seriously.
However, this probably won't bother fans of the manga, as this also happens frequently there. I actually don't mind it in the manga, but it just doesn't translate to the screen very well and is an element of the manga that should have been dropped like it was in the first anime. Brotherhood is meant to be a more faithful adaptation of the manga, so it makes sense that they would leave it in, but I still find it annoying. Brotherhood also has a problem with rushing through and skipping over material. Even though it's toted as a direct adaption it still skips over a few events, such as the Youswell Mine and the train hijacking, both of which actually made it into the first series. Its habit of skipping and rushing will certainly annoy those who were hoping for it to be the direct adaptation it was claimed to be. If you've seen the first Fullmetal Alchemist series then you've seen the parts covered in this set done better, as Brotherhood gets through material in 13 episodes that took the first series almost 30 to get through.
With everything wrong with Brotherhood it can at least be said that it's animated better than the first series... sort of. The animation itself looks very nice and moves fluidly enough for a series like this. But the art style, like a lot of things with this series, is a lot more cartoonish in places. The easiest way to spot this is to compare shots of the Elric's house from the first series with this one. In Brotherhood you can clearly see the more cartoonish art-style, with the slanted eves and misshapen windows. And as I already mentioned giant cartoonish expressions are a frequent sight in this series. Still, it looks beautiful especially on Blu-Ray and is an improvement over the previous series, even if the art style is a little weak.
Funimation reunited most of the dub cast for Brotherhood, with the only noticeable absences being Aaron Dismuke and Dameon Clarke. It's probably a good thing that Aaron was replaced because it would have been torture to hear him try to act while maintaining his pre-puberty voice. Maxey Whitehead does an okay job as Alphonse, but really can't compare to Aaron's performance from the first series. There are times when she sounds too much like a girl, most notably during the flashback scenes when Al wasn't in the armour, but she isn't bad overall. I'm more upset about Dameon Clarke not returning as Scar. Nothing against J. Michael Tatum, but Dameon Clarke did such a fantastic job as Scar that anyone else just doesn't sound right. Even some of the returning actors have made slight alterations to the voices they use in order to match the differences in personality that some characters have between series. It's an okay dub overall, nothing particularly bad, but nothing extraordinary either.
Extras include commentary tracks with the English cast for episodes 1 and 10, textless opening and closing, and trailers. Nothing of any real interest. There was an OVA that came with the first Blu-Ray in Japan but it isn't included in this set, which is unfortunate.
While Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood isn't terrible, it doesn't really offer anything new yet. If you've seen the first series you've seen everything this set has to offer. Unless you absolutely need to have the entire series or haven't seen the first one I can safely say you can skip this set without missing anything worthwhile.
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