Customer Reviews

Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 5: The Cost of Living (Episodes 17-20)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The latest installment of one of the best anime series in the past couple of years advances through its compelling story. The action is about to reach a fever pitch, and revelations will be discovered.
In Vol. 5, Ed and Alphonse Elric pay a visit to their old hometown for repairs after their first battle with Scar. The aptly named Major Armstrong, appointed to watch over the brothers, accompanies them home. After a rather unemotional reunion with their childhood friend Winry and her grandma and a visit to their mother's grave, the Elrics get put back together again and head for Central to seek more information about creating a genuine Philosopher's Stone. What they discover there may change their course of action and their whole motivation for creating it. Meanwhile, as Scar resumes his search for the Elrics, he encounters the Homunculi Lust and Gluttony and barely escapes with his life. The military is also looking for Scar to bring him to justice for the murders he's committed.
During their detective work, Ed and Al come across a pair of assassins who seemingly have close ties to the brothers, and make a few new discoveries about themselves as they engage in fierce battle.

Confused yet? Well, if you're here, I certainly hope you are at least familiar with the story leading up to this volume. "Fullmetal Alchemist" is well into its second season with this chapter (Episodes 17-20), and it is moving along at such an intriguing pace that I find myself marking Vol. 6's release date on my calendar. This is one anime series that pulls no punches emotionally, and reaches its audience by one shocking plot device and/or twist after another. The series, set in an unrevealed time period but teeming with technology and magic (in this case, two great tastes that go great together), does a wonderful job of grabbing hold of the viewer and keeping them locked in to every detail, character, and story element. As the series progresses, you'll actually identify with Edward and Alphonse and their terrible plight. You'll watch them grow and mature, and even feel for them as they come closer and get further away from the goal of their quest with each episode. The entire supporting cast is chock full of memorable characters as well, especially the other State Alchemists (my personal fave being Alex Luis Armstrong at the moment). At certain times, mostly during the beginning of the series, slapstick elements and humor even inject themselves beautifully into the mix. At this point in the series, though, the story's taken a very serious turn, although every once in a while a poke at Ed's height (which happens at least once an episode) or Alchemist Hughes showing off pictures of his infant daughter breaks up the somberness.
Talk about a series that's got it all together. Whether you're a fan of sci-fi or fantasy anime (or both), or you just want to watch a deep, intriguing story with incredible and memorable characters, this is the one. The dubbing, usually one of the most critiqued elements in anime, is absolutely excellent: Al's and Ed's English voices, especially, capture their every emotion with expert precision. I can't imagine the difficulty in voice-acting a 10-year-old boy without a body whose soul is trapped in a case of armor, but darn it, it's nailed here. Top it all off with a rawking opening theme from J-pop legends L'arc-en-Ciel ("Ready, Steady, Go"), and you've got a winner for the ages. The only minor aggravation I found with this volume, though, was in the way the DVD is set up: FUNimation forces you to watch a 2 ½ minute preview of the latest volume of (the albeit slick-looking) "Samurai 7" and a small blurb for another series before the menu even comes up. (I've seen this on other discs before; don't know if this is a flaw, but if every copy's like that, it should be an extra on the disc rather than shoved down our collective throats at the beginning.) Do not miss this series; if you haven't seen it up to now, back up and look for Vol. 1 this instant! You won't regret it.

The previous volume of FMA left the Elric brothers in a less-than-hearty state, and had them journeying home to get some much needed rest and relaxations, as well as a replacement for Ed's destroyed auto-mail arm. This volume picks up with the boys' arrival in the tiny village they once called home. Accompanied by Armstrong, the brutishly gentle alchemist, the boys explore what they left behind. Later, with the repairs completed, the brothers continue their search for the work of Dr. Marcoh at Central's library. Only what they find isn't what they had hoped for, and Ed becomes more determined to seek out the Philosopher's Stone, leading him to what appears to be a prison where only the most dangerous criminals are. Once here, the brother's Elric face off against creatures very familiar, at least in concept, to Ed and Al.

Fullmetal Alchemist only continues to deepen, adding a few conflicts to the characters that make them more and more lovable, especially Alphonse, who faces a sad realization in this volume. Scar also has a few moments on this volume. But the greatest surprise in this volume is Armstrong. He had a small role in the previous volume, but he really becomes something special in this volume as Ed and Al's protector while in their vulnerable state.

I'm now completely sure that FMA ranks high up there as one of anime's greats, standing easily beside classics like Akira, Cowboy Bebop, and Neon Genesis Evangelion, all anime I hold in high regard. If you're reading this you've probably already found some interest in FMA, so I probably don't have to recommend this. But still, I have to, as FMA is quickly becoming something close to legendary in the anime world.

After a long but not intentional absence and some life-threatening adventures the Elric brothers along with the impressively strong but impressively vain Major Armstrong arrive back in the village of their birth. Their purpose for Ed to repair the arm that was crushed by Scar and for Al's armor to be reformed. They have to hurry because the answer to the secret of the Philosopher's Stone is finally within their reach as the two brothers secure Dr. Marcoh's notes about its formulation. But the question is whether the two boys are prepared to find out the cost of making it. And somewhere out there are Lust and Gluttony who seem to be manipulating the situation for their own ends, even if it means crossing the murderous Scar!

What's new about this show? It is simply excellent. It's nice to see them coming to terms with their past and we have a bit more sympathy for Scar now that we know a bit more about his past. The villains are deftly drawn and mysterious without being annoyingly obscure. The quest for the Elrics to claim redemption continues on its always interesting path, which you can already sense will not result in all of their hopes being fulfilled.

Wow, the more I see of this series, the more I love it. There have been many good parts before in the series, but these four episodes are where things really start picking up. You learn dark secrets and Ed and Al's loyalty to each other is tested. This DVD really allows the series to shine. I warn you though, the last episode on the DVD ends in a huge cliffhanger, leaving you howling for the next one!

Fma is a really good series, and it stats to get even better around this point. But before I get to this particular DVD I would like to grade every FMA episode out yet.( If you have seen the review for Inu Yasha vol.35 where all the eps. up to 155 are graded, this is the same system as that one, seeing as Im the person who wrote that particular review)

A+-Cream of the crop, A-A--Excellent, B+-Very Good, B-B--Good, C+-C--Barely Decent, D+-D--Bad, F-Awful

EP 1:(B+) EP 2:(B+) EP 3:(A+) EP 4:(F) EP 5:(B) EP 6:(A) EP 7:(A+) EP 8:(B+) EP 9:(C-) EP 10(C) EP 11(B-) EP 12:(C+) EP 13:(A) EP 14:(B-) EP 15:(A+) EP 16:(C-) EP 17:(B) EP 18:(B+) EP 19:(B+) EP 20:(A) EP 21:(A-) EP 22:(A+) EP 23:(B) EP 24:(D) EP 25:(A+) EP 26:(C+) THATS IT FOR SEASON 1 AND THATS ALL IVE SEEN SO FAR, HALF DOWN HALF TO GO.

Comments: Well, thats it for season 1, and it was, for the most part, a good run. As you can see I did fail one ep., ep.4 "A forgers Love" I really did hate that episode, it was really lame and predictable, but that happens sometimes. As for my favorite Im kind of torn between "Created Human" and "Words of Farewell," they were both great episodes, but I guess in the long run I really liked "Created Human" better. It was an excellent ep. I have to say that one of the few things about the season that bothered me was he inconsistensy of good eps. There will sometimes be two really awesome ones but then following it would come a really mediocre one, that was one of my problems. Now on to this disc....

Ep 17: "House of the waiting family,": Yea, I liked this Ep., it wasn't great but it was still pretty good. It had nice art and animation, but for the most part it was fairly uneventfull.

Grade:B

Ep 18: "Marcoh's notes,": This was a good Ep. it was mostly comedy until the end where we are given a suprise revelation on how to create the philosiphers stone. That's what actually made the ep.

Grade:B+

Ep 19: "The Truth behind Truths,": This was a really good ep. It gave alot of important info. regarding laboratory five and it's connection to the philosiphers stone.

Grade:B+

Ep 20: "Soul of the guardian,": THis was an excellent episode, great fight scenes. The animation was good also. Best one on the disc.

Grade:A

Overall this was a great disc, I highly recommend it to FMA fans.

The show surpassed my expections upon viewing. It is more interesting, at least to me, than most anime. Great, intricate story line.

just start from the begining on the series and you'll be adicted. the story just gets better as you go.

This i just one part of the amzing fullmetal alchemist story its a must have if you love the show

Hi there. My kids love these! A couple of months will go by, and my almost 17 year old son will say, "Hey, Mom, time to order the next Full Metal Alchemist."
-A happy customer

In this volume ed and al head back to where they grew up and Ed has to get his arm once again fixed by winry.After he does ed and al decide to spar against eachother than armstrong decides to spar with them and they dont want that. Armstrong is with them because SCAR the so called serial killer wants to kill Ed and not so much al.
When Ed and Al are heading back to central to go to the library to read about Dr. marcos notes, the library is burnt and was destroyed the night before. What happened was SCAR whent into the library and found two of the homunculi who are not human at all,one lust and one gluttony.They fight lust drops a candle and the place burns and they fighting when the place crumbles.\
Al and ed find a girl who has a photographic memory and she gives them the version she wrote and ed and al find the ingrediant to make the stone it,ittttttt is live human beings in mass numbers.
They sneak at night and go to lab 5 the abanndoned lab where ed thinks the stone was being mad they go and get a surpise,Al gets a much bigger surprise than ed but not as hard.<.>--------0