Customer Reviews

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fullmetal Alchemist The Complete Second Season is a four-disc set that contains episodes twenty-six through fifty-one of the series. The first disc contains seven episodes, the second disc contains six episodes, the third disc contains six episodes, and the fourth disc contains six episodes, a commentary on episode fifty-one, and the extras. On the discs, you can watch with either English or Japanese audio, and you can choose whether or not to have the English subtitles.

The first extra included on the fourth disc is a thirty-one minute documentary titled, "The Transmutation of a Phenomenon." This documentary includes interviews with some of the actors for the English dub, and they talk about various aspects of the series and their characters.

The next feature is labeled as "Square Enix Commercial." It runs for two minutes, and is an ad for the Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir videogame. The third special feature on the disc is the textless openings and closings. This feature includes two of the openings and two of the closings for the series. Unlike the first box set, you don't get the English subtitles on the openings and closings if you're watching with Japanese audio. The final extra are trailers for Project Blue Earth SOS, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Glass Fleet, Ragnarok, Tsubasa, and Case Closed.

When this DVD set was put together, FUNimation included the booklets from the seven individual discs that were released that included these episodes. The first booklet starts with episode twenty-five, which was released on the first Fullmetal Alchemist box set. Outside of that, everything else lines up. Each booklet contains at least one write-up from someone involved with the series (the first six booklets contain a write-up from one of the Japanese voice actors, while the final booklet contains write-ups from two of the actors from the English dub who also directed the dubbing sessions). There is also character information and images, information from the series, artwork, and episode write-ups. The booklets are very well-done and contain a lot of information.

The quality of the series continues to be very high on this box set. That, along with the quality of the booklets, make this a release worth owning. If you're a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist who wants to own the whole series on DVD, then this box set should be part of your anime collection.

In order to write this review, I watched a copy of this DVD box set that was given to me as a gift by my husband.

"Fullmetal Alchemist" follows the adventures of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, in a parallel world called Amestris, which closely resembles our own. There is one fundamental difference: in Amestris, the science of alchemy has superceded all of our sciences in importance. It's obvious why: alchemy combines all of them. If you understand the composition of matter, you can almost instantly take something--lead, say, or dirt--and create gold or flowers out of it. Matter is matter; matter of any kind can become matter of anything. There is one rule to this science, however: the law of equivalent exchange. To gain, something of equal value must be lost. The one exception to this rule is life: there is no matter of any kind that can be traded for life.

After the sudden death of their mother, Edward and Alphonse ignore this crucial rule, and try to bring her back. The attempt ends in disaster: Alphonse loses his human body, and Edward is maimed. The creature they made is nothing like their mother: it is a monster.

In order to restore Al's body, Edward has no alternative but to find the Philosopher's Stone, the only object on earth that can skirt the rule of equivalent exchange. However, the military is the only organization with real information on the Stone. So, in order to obtains what he needs, Edward must join the military--losing most of his freedom in the process. It's equivalent exchange all over again.

In the second season, the consequences grow more dire, the storylines deeper, more emotional, more moving, and more tragic. Pursued by evil, inhuman creatures known as the Homunculi who are also after the Stone, Edward ends up separated from Alphonse, and the two brothers embark on individual, parallel courses in order to do what they must, courses that could end the life of one or both before their goal is reached--or before they ever see each other again.

"Fullmetal Alchemist" has a brilliant story populated with brilliant characters. Both the plot and the people are among the best I have ever encountered in a fictional work of any kind. I'm not even an anime fan; I stumbled on this because I thought the story sounded cool. It's beyond cool; I don't often use this word, but I will repeat: it is brilliant. I can't recommend it enough.

When you think of Anime, most people will picture poor animation and terrible dubs.

Part two of the Full Metal Alchemist series is just as good as the first with some of the best dubs I've heard in a long, long time. The animation is good and the storyline is touching.
It is a continuation of a tragic storyline of lost innocence, the desire to set things right, and power among other things.

Another thing that needs to be said is that Full Metal Alchemist- this version at least does not follow the story in the manga. Although it does not follow the manga story arch it is able to stand alone, solidly I might add, and present to you the world and the characters in it. It makes you care for them- feel sad or angry or even astonished. You get a distinct feeling that despite the main characters and everyone else the storyline is bigger than them and for that reason, it wins. :)

I strongly recommend this product to any fan of FMA or even people who are interested in a good anime/show- it is well worth the money spent.

OK, so FullMetal Alchemist. Have you heard of it? Well apparently it's this worldwide anime phenomenon that every anime lover has to have in their collection. I guess now's your chance with these season sets that FUNimation released in early 2009. Let's get started.

Packaging - 4/5
The packaging is pretty typical on this box set. It has that "modern" DVD Set feel to it, since it's packed with 4 thin-pack DVD's. The artwork on these DVD's are very nice, and were re-used from the original FUNimation single DVD's. The artwork overlaps to the back of the DVD where the episode list for the particular disc can be read. The artwork on the cover does this as well, but stops at the spine. These DVD's are packed with 7 FUNimation Guidebooks that were also re-used from the original half-season box sets. These guidebooks are chocked full of FullMetal goodness whether it's the blurbs written by the Japanese cast and crew, or character artwork, I can see fan-girls squealing over these. Especially with one more than the other box set.

DVD Audio/Video Quality - 5/5
Since these sets were probably produced mid-2008 the video quality is very nice. It's very clear on my parents' HD TV, even though these discs aren't meant to be in HD. The quality doesn't seem remastered, but then again the series was only made in 2003. The audio for both dubs are very good and I can hear every word they say. The music is clearly there and I do love the score for this anime. Subtitles are also included.

Special Features - 5/5
Now, the other box set I reviewed also had special features, but it was average stuff like trailers, commentaries, textless openings/endings, etc. But this one has more. This time there is only one episode with commentary (Episode 51: Laws and Promises), which is okay, but they added a 30 min. documentary with the original voice actors talking about the show. There are still trailers included as well as a trailer for the second video game. Both box sets, overall have excellent special features that will satisfy an otaku's FMA needs.

Value - 5/5
With a little more than last time, this season set is definitely worth your money no matter how how much money you payed for it. I payed $50, which was a fair price for me. Overall pick this up wherever you can find it if your obsessed with FMA as I am!

Find the first single DVD here:Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 1: The Curse (Episodes 1-4)
Find the first Half-Season Box Set here: Fullmetal Alchemist: Season 1, Part 1 Box Set

After reading the manga series of Fullmetal Alchemist, it was only natural to fall in love with the anime series as well. The Viridian Collection features all 51 episodes with cast commentaries, textless songs, and English as well as original Japanese dubs. On top of that there are music videos of the opening themes too. All these bonus all for under $25 is unbeatable.

Amazon did a great job sending this out the same day I ordered it and got it to be in two days. It was packaged perfectly and safe from damage and elements. Anyone who wants to own this amazing series cannot go wrong, it has the best story of love, hate, charisma, dedication, and perseverance.

i personally haven't read the anime, however i believe the anime to be in top form, despite how i've been told it to not derive entirely from the actual story. it has all the elements of not just a great anime, but a great story in general. i love how everything comes to together, the drama, the action, the character growth, and the cleverelly intertwined jokes placed along the way. i recommend this show to anyone who enjoys great storytelling, whether they be an anime fan or not.

FMA is beast. If you like anime with action and heart I would go with Full Metal Alchemist. I was a hesitant to watch the first couple episodes, because I thought I wouldn't be into it, but I WAS WRONG! I was hooked! FMA has a great story plot, good voice actors, and is a must see for anyones' collection!

Ok, I'll confess, I'm a latecomer to the FMA franchise and actually started off watching Brotherhood first, knowing full well how the two series differed. Still I didn't want to make any judgements about the original anime series without watching it to completion. So after finishing FMA:Brotherhood, I set down and watch the entire original 51 ep TV series and while I can recognize how this was quite a good series when it originally came out in 2003 and there was no complete manga story yet, having watched it now in 2011 with a complete manga storyline, I cannot help but be unimpressed and frankly dissapointed with the conclusion of the original series.

As many know, the first half of the series followed whatever manga storyline was written at the time and they stretched out that material as far as they could go, about 25 eps. By the time they had to produce the final half, they had no manga storyline to base on so credit to the director and writer, they crafted an original storyline taking characters in a far different direction than would be written in the manga. It's easy to tell how this storyline was being made up as it went along because it frankly meandered, was quite directionless at time and stuffed with pointless filler as the screenwriters were trying decide where the story was going. Compared to Brotherhood, there were many gripes I had about the 2nd half of this show:

1. The Philosopher's Stone - unlike Brotherhood where that no longer became the main point of the story as it moved onto something far more important and grand, this was still the central focus and somewhat plot-driving MacGuffin of the original series. Seriously? You couldn't develop the story any further than that? At the end our main villain Dante was still trying to produce a Philosopher's Stone because she couldnt make her own.

2. Dante - Ok, this main villain was frankly quite weak, especially compared to the devious genius of Father from the second series. Her motivations were small in scope and rather pathetic, leading to an even more pathetic end.

3. The Homunculi - the original incarnations had some interesting points to them, including the personal journey of Lust, who was actually much more one dimensional in the new series, but that was probably done because she was such a prominent character in this series. But I found all the original incarnations of Pride, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Greed to be less well written and interesting.

4. Ed & Al - was it my imagination or we're our main heroes far more annoying and immature compared to their characterization in Brotherhood? Ed was about the same but more headstrong and bullheaded in the original series, and Al, my he was incredibly annoying, childish and short sighted. The Brotherhood incarnation of Al had a maturity, quick-thinking and intelligence beyond the years of his 10 year old sounding voice and frankly a very likeable and cool character. The original series Al was simply a child and thought like one.

5. The setting - You really don't see much of this world except of parts of Amnestris and some slivers of Ishbal, but both nations, as well as other nations of Drachma, Xing and the dead kingdom of Xerxes were far more fleshed out in the new series, leading to a much more vivid, rich and detailed, believable world. In the original series, you barely know anything about the history and culture of the nation where this series takes place and frankly by the end of the series, you learn little more about it than when you started.

I could go on but I've made my point pretty clear that Brotherhood really uncovers a lot of the weaknesses of the 2nd half of this original series.

My review is short and to the point!

If you like great animation, characters, art, music, and story, this is the anime for you:) While this second half is non-canon and goes in an entirely different direction than the source work, it still manages to execute an outstanding conclusion to a great series.

awesome series, sooo glad I bought this!!!! I got both box sets and it was well worth what I paid at the time. It had little book inserts for each set and the dvds where great.