Full MANGA Alchemists

Send us Fan Mail Count on Hiromu Arakawa in FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST to make all her characters complex. As we see again in chapter 73, even henchmen have depth! This chapter also reminds us how well plotted the story is, as our heroes face a complex situation with a lot of moving parts, and they deal with complications in ways that seem like exactly what needed to happen to move the story forward.

Send us Fan Mail Amid action-packed pages, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 72 gives us several very moving scenes that remind us of one reasons we love this manga, along with the humor, the action, the careful plotting, is that it’s also imbued with so much MEANING. We discuss Winry’s act to break the cycle of hate and Scar’s eye-opening talk with Miles.

Send us Fan Mail What did Kimblee mean about “carving a crest of blood” at Briggs, and how does Kimblee try to get Ed to do it? Hey, is that a Marvel character popping up in Chapter 71 of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST? Maybe not, but we do get to see what happens when two of our roving bands of characters reunite. 

Send us Fan Mail Ed feels the noose tighten as he’s ordered to do horrible things. Winry makes an amazing admission, at least to the reader if not to other characters. And Pride, the “First Homunculus” is finally revealed! Tim and Patrick discuss FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 70!

Send us Fan Mail After Raven undoes a setback to the military’s plans at Briggs in FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 69, Olivier Armstrong does something shocking. Meanwhile, we check in with Mei Chang and Marcoh in the secluded cabin with Scar’s brother’s writings, Mustang gathers information, and Kimblee escorts a visitor to see Ed and Al.

Send us Fan Mail Remember that photo of toddlers Ed and Al with their parents? We’ve seen most of it, but in chapter 68 of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, we finally see ALL of it and learn what’s been hidden about it up till now, as well as getting tantalizing hints about Hoenheim’s true nature and motives. Meanwhile, the tunnel under Briggs turns out to be deadly, and Ed and Al meet Kimblee for the first t...

Send us Fan Mail Many things are revealed in FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 67 about the corrupt military’s plan, and Tim is pleased to find that at least he remembered SOMETHING about this story accurately! Will Major General Armstrong trust Ed and Al? Can Lt. General Raven be conned? Did we get a cameo from another manga series in this chapter? We discuss all this and closely examine the map of Ame...

Send us Fan Mail At the Briggs military base, Ed and Al face a previously unknown homunculus, and face the dilemma of showing they know how to deal with it without revealing their own secrets to Major General Olivier Armstrong . As we discuss FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 66, we have our own guest, fully human and much more welcome than the one who burrowed into Briggs: our most vocal fan on Twitter...

Send us Fan Mail This time we get an inside look at the Briggs base, including a rather cute, headbanded doctor, a soldier with a surprising lineage, and weird sounds coming from the basement, as Tim and Patrick discuss FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 65!

Send us Fan Mail As Kimblee tracks Scar, Ed and Al head for the north and run into a blizzard — and a lot of other problems they didn’t expect! Also, we move a step closer to finding out what’s “strange” about Ishvalan alchemy, in FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 64!

Send us Fan Mail In FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 63, we’ve fully digested the flashback to the Ishvalan war and things are moving forward, as Tim and Patrick dig into Ed and Al ’s search for Mei Chang , Dr. Knox ’s battle with his guilt, Mustang ’s next steps to counteract the rot at the highest levels of the military, and what the homunculi have planned for Dr. Marcoh . 

Send us Fan Mail Chapter 62 of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST brings us back to the present day, as Ed and Al mull over what they’ve learned about the Ishval war. It also reminds us where many of the characters currently are, and the action begins to move toward the next major confrontation. We look at the Elrics’ next step in their search for a way to return their original bodies, and the secret of Mustang’...

Send us Fan Mail The Ishval War volume of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST concludes with chapter 61. What it lacks in comic moments, it makes up for in reveals that cause us to see some characters and story points in new ways. Tim and Patrick explore these developments, and — some comedy at last! — the back matter of volume 15.

Send us Fan Mail The story of the Ishbal (Ishval?) war continues, without a single joke - so we make a few of our own! Still, chapter 60 of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST continues to be a sobering look at a war even more senseless than most - and Hiromu Arakawa has some harsh words for religion in this one, too.

Send us Fan Mail The flashback to the Ishbalan war gets darker in FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 59, as we see what Ed and Al’s military comrades were obliged to do in it, even as they wondered “What is our goal here? Why are we destroying Ishbal?”

Send us Fan Mail What really happened in Ishbal? Ed tells Hawkeye “My ignorance is astounding,” and we feel the same way. Chapter 58 (and the entire 15th volume) of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST fills us in on the messy backdrop of the series. Lots of familiar faces in … uncomfortable situations. Our reaction begins here!

Send us Fan Mail FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST ch 57 leads us (not unusually) to question the translation: Is there a difference between a soldier “deserting” vs. simply disobeying an order? Also, book abuse, Tim dad-jokes it up, and, by the way… Is Winry a surgeon?

Send us Fan Mail Ed and Al again meet President Bradley, and this time they get a better understanding of the situation they’re in. How will they react? We discuss FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 56, including manga character hairstyles, comics that refer to comics, and a character who MIGHT be Envy in disguise.

Send us Fan Mail Lin has willingly accepted the philosopher’s stone which takes over his body as the homunculus Greed! How will Ed and Al react? Will Scar and Mei Chang step out of the shadows? Tim and Patrick discuss Fullmetal Alchemist chapter 55.

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Patrick have egg ALL over their faces this time, after months of holding back a big “spoiler” that ... wasn’t. But hey, Ed and Al thought Hoenheim and Father were the same man, too (except, of course, THEY hadn’t read FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST previously!). While our hosts nurse their failing memories, they also celebrate the halfway point of the series (!) and gasp at the decis...

Send us Fan Mail One homunculus’ origin story is revealed! The marked stones in Gluttony’s belly are explained! Our oddly-matched groups of characters head toward a big meetup! Also, Tim and Patrick think they remember an important reveal in the story… Listen as we discuss Fullmetal Alchemist chapter 53!

Send us Fan Mail As Ed begins to hatch a plan to get himself, Lin, and Envy out of Gluttony’s “stomach”, Scar and Mei Chang follow Al and Gluttony into the catacombs. More revelations will surely follow! Meanwhile, Tim and Patrick find that, like Ed and Lin, they have differing understanding of how Envy works and how all those souls came to make up his body. And Patrick hits on a new slogan for th...

Send us Fan Mail Can Ed and Lin get out of the sea of blood after being "eaten" by Gluttony? Can Mei Chang find Xiao Mei? What is Envy's true form? And... what is up with the pedestrian sound effects in this chapter of the English edition?? It's the reveal-filled 51st chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist!

Send us Fan Mail How will Ed react to the appearance of Envy? How is Mustang’s intelligence-gathering game? Which is the better sound effect, “BZASH” or “SLISH”? The answers to these and more questions as Tim and Patrick discuss FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST chapter 50! Plus: When you know you shouldn’t eat it, but you can’t help yourself… and you’re Gluttony.

Send us Fan Mail As our heroes battle an enraged gluttony, Bradley has another encounter with the mysterious Pride. Along with the action-packed 49th chapter of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, we discuss the volume 12 bonus material, and what that back matter tells us about the difficulties of translating a work that’s still in progress. And, of course, we discuss sound effects!