As we've brought you a new anime recommendation every week, the Bam Smack Pow team has already introduced you to the three best-selling and most popular anime and manga series of all time: One Piece, Naruto and Bleach. While today's anime recommendation isn't quite as popular in terms of sheer sales as the Big Three, it's a consensus pick for the best anime series of all time.
Specifically, we're taking a look at Fullmetal Alchemist. As of this writing, the series is currently the number-two ranked series on fan ranking site MyAnimeList, surpassed only by Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. Although Frieren is undeniably an excellent series, to help put these rankings into context, there's at least a bit of recency bias at play here. Frieren is an ongoing series and Fullmetal Alchemist has been completed since 2010. Also worth noting is the fact that Fullmetal Alchemist has about three times as many votes as Frieren.
Regardless of its exact rating on this list, Fullmetal Alchemist will inevitably make appearances on — and often top — lists of the best anime series.
Steampunk Science-Fantasy
The genre of Fullmetal Alchemist is a bit hard to pin down. At the most basic, it's a Fantasy series, but that's selling it short. The series is set in a world roughly corresponding to early 20th-century Europe, so the level of technology is more advanced than the typical Fantasy world. At the same time, the setting has pretty elaborate, involved rules for magic. In fact, the entire plot is basically kicked off by the main characters, the brothers Edward and Alphonse, trying to use alchemy to bring their mother back to life without fulling grasping how alchemy works in their world, as seen in Crunchyroll's summary of the series:
"Disregard for alchemy’s laws ripped half of Ed Elric’s limbs from his body and left Al’s soul clinging to a suit of armor. To restore what was lost, the brothers seek the Philosopher’s Stone. Enemies and allies – the corrupt military, the Homunculi, and foreign alchemists – will alter the Elric’s course, but their purpose will remain unchanged and their bond unbreakable"
Fullmetal Alchemist is a shōnen series, aimed at the same teenager demographic as the Big Three and Dragon Ball. That means there's a very similar level and style of action and humor throughout the series. At the same time, Fullmetal Alchemist features a few infamously and jarringly scary moments, several of which are also intensely tragic. Those moments of emotional intensity are part of the reason Fullmetal Alchemist has gone down with anime fans as one of the best series ever.
The original manga kicked off an entire franchise
Based on the original manga series by Hiromu Arakawa (available in English from Viz Media), Fullmetal Alchemist has been adapted into two anime series: the original Fullmetal Alchemist (2003-2004) and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (2009-2010). The first anime series was produced while the original manga was still running and create original storylines to compensate for running out of material to adapt. Brotherhood was produced after the manga finished its run, allowing it to follow the storyline more closely.
There's also the feature-length anime movie Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, a direct sequel to the first anime series, which sees Edward and Alphonse transported into real-world Germany on the eve of World War II. Brotherhood also got its own tie-in movie, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, which is a standalone story that's only broadly connected to the Brotherhood anime.
Fullmetal Alchemist is one of several anime series that has received a live-action adaptation from Netflix. The Netflix live-action Fullmetal Alchemist was released in 2017, adapts the first four volumes of the manga. A sequel, Fullmetal Alchemist The Final Alchemy was released in 2022.
The streaming situation for the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise is a little complicated, so here's a breakdown:
• Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and the Conqueror of Shamballa movie are streaming on Crunchyroll.
• Brotherhood and the two live-action movies are streaming on Netflix.
• The first Fullmetal Alchemist anime series is not currently available to stream in North America.
• The original anime can be read online via Viz Media's website and app.
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