Customer Reviews

Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 2: Scarred Man of the East (Episodes 5-8)

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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Volume 2 of Fullmetal Alchemist takes us back in time to the beginnings of Ed and Alphonse's quest to become State Alchemists. First, they must board a train to meet Roy Mustang, their sponsor for the state test, only to find that terrorists have seized it! If they can live through that, there's an even harder task before them. They must pass the Alchemy Exam to even enter the program and find a way to restore their bodies back to normal. Mustang rooms them with a brillant if somewhat strange alchemist named Shou Tucker, who rumor tells was able to create a talking chimera. He also has a young daughter named Nina. While all this is going on, a serial killer is stalking the streets, killing innocent women at his leisure. His next victim might be someone Ed and Al know!

Volume 2 had moments of darkness and light. Its humor and playfulness, especially with the interaction between Ed, Al, and Nina was very wistful. But there is a tragedy beneath it all, and when you inject terrorists and serial killers into the mix, it's hard to keep a light mood. But that's what life is like. This show is brillant and always keeps a balance of its different facets. Really unique. The animation is first-rate. But the extras are second-rate as usual. Japanese commercials, art galleries, character profiles and openings/closings.

It took me a long time to find my way to Fullmetal Alchemist but eventually, after getting so many recommendations and reading all of the many, many reviews, I decided to take the chance on what I had thought appeared to be a childish series. Now, two volumes in, I have no regrets. FMA has proved to me with these four episodes that it has everything that makes an anime great, including a good story, lovable characters, fluid animation, with an emotional soundtrack backing all of this. This series certainly is shaping up to be everything that the critics say, and I can't wait to hurry on to the next volume in line.

First, however, the review for Fullmetal Alchemist: 2: Scarred Man of the East.

In volume one, the story begins with the Elric Brothers journeying to find the Philosopher's Stone, but soon after it takes a trip into the brother's dark past. This volume continues along in that thread, showing the history of how Edward and Alphonse became associated with the State Alchemists, and of Edward's first missions as a government appointed alchemist. After the explosive start to this series, I remained somewhat skeptical. Good starts for an anime never mean the anime will stay good (Tenjho Tenge and Desert Punk are two examples). But this volume was able to keep up with what the first volume presented. The story was still as dark as it was earlier, and the characters become even more lovable as we see just how strong-willed Edward is, and how kind-hearted the cursed Alphonse is.

To be completely honest, I'm in love with this series. Don't judge a book by its cover, as the cliche goes, and in this case it's definitely true. While not so mature as to scare away children, this series contains just enough maturity within the story to entertain adults. Plus, when it calls for comedy, FMA delivers in loads. I highly recommend this volume and this series to anyone who wants to see a good anime. From what I hear, this series has an amazing ending, but for now let's start with the amazing beginning.

I am not a spring chicken, so I get introduced to anime through my daughter. Some of it is fluffy love stories or improbable characters or situations that appear from nowhere to solve the day. Full Metal is none of these. The characters are believable even when they are a talking metal suit of armor. Ed and Al are young boys. Their mother dies. They desparately want her back. They do something forbidden. They pay. And they learn what the costs are. The world is a confusing place. They navigate, sometimes on their own and sometimes with people who they meet along the way. Not everyone is who they seem at the start. Finally they confront the costs of their and other peoples violations of the rules. Through the story there is humor and growth. The story is told from their point of view. They do not give in to the tragedies that surround them and keep fighting for the truth and for each other. I highly recommend this series for young teens and old fogies (that's me). Much better than most things available for teens these days. I rank this up with Dante and Faust as literature about pacts made by people not understanding the full consequences of their actions fighting to restore the balance of their lives.

This series was one, I had to buy as a DVD Collection one-by-one. Seeing as how I don't have cable (nor any use for it), I was at a friends house who was watching Full Metal Alchemist, in the middle of the series. Without giving it away, let's just say it was a semi battle between Edward and Scar.

The storyline for Full Metal Alchemist is very detailed, and good at not giving away anything big until it actually happens in the story. It's not your typical "Oh I expected that to happen" kind of things, it's more of a "Whoa, that came out of nowhere!" kind of story. Vol.2 Picks up right where Vol. 1 left off. Edward and Al pick up on their trail to find the philosophers stone, which seems more and more difficult to obtain. They encounter old friends and gain new friends, along the way they also lose some friends.

This part of the story-line is more of Edward and Al's test of emotions rather than strength. With that said, it's perfect for the collection of FMA for plot development, but if you're buying it just for action, look the other way. Not too much of that going on with the exception of a few scenes.

Just like the first disc of FMA disc two continues to deliver great anime enetertainment. The plot continues to strengthen and the characters are begining to develop. But there are just a few problems....
Unfortunatelly the first episode on the disc "The Man with the Mechanical Arm" isn't as strong as the others, and while it's not bad it's still not that great but it's still watchable, unlike the last episode on the first disc "A Forgers Love," which I think is one of the series worst episodes. But then we get to the next two episodes contained on the disc, "The Alchemy Exam," and "Night of the Chimera's Cry," which are both really good episodes, just those two episodes alone make this disc worthwhile. Then the last episode on the disc "The Philosipher's Stone," is also a good episode, but not as good as the previous two.
So all in all a good disc, but there is one problem I have with the series that I think hurts it a little. If you noticed in this disc the character Tucker is completely insane, I mean he's a total homicidal maniac who only cares about himself.... then we see Barry the Chopper who's pretty much the same way. Basically what I'm trying to say is at times, in FMA, the villians begin to become a little bit predicatable. I mean, don't get me wrong I don't want to see nice or easygoing villians I just think theres one to many crazy nutjob murderers with crazy meniacle facial expresions in the series, so at times the characters begin to repeat themselves a tad. Lust for example, is absolutely cruel but she's very cool and calm, I just wish there were more villains like her in the series, but all well. Still really awesome series, dont miss it!!!!!!!!!

Like I've stated a few times this series is great, if you like anime and cool stories this is a good series to get. Rather well done and always good prices here on amazon for the series.

With the second DVD release of the animated series, Fullmetal Alchemist, the characters and the story grow and experience tragedy.

As Ed and Al make their way to Central to enter the State Alchemy exam, they encounter extremist groups, a slew of military officials, a struggling alchemist desperately trying to keep his life together (or as they say in alchemy, balanced), and a mysterious man with a large scar across his brow.

It is at this point in the series that one might believe FMA to be nothing more than your average shonen fantasy adventure. But the last two episodes of this disc prove that FMA is anything but that.

The best thing about Fullmetal Alchemist is that it can be lighthearted and funny one minute and woefully tragic and heart-wrenching the next. This is a series where you can't predict what will happen next.

One of my favourite scenes in the series is in episode 8, "The Philosopoher's Stone", in which Ed reveals his fears, weaknesses, and his humility. It is a brilliantly done scene that makes me shed a tear everytime I see it.

Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the best modern anime series to come in a long while. On the surface it may look like your average action-adventure yarn, but in reality, it is nothing short of amazing. The characters, situations, and emotions involved will have you hooked. And it is in Volume 2 that we become to realize how much darker and emotional this show can be...

Volume 2 is just as good as volume 1, but then this series doesn't get any worse (there are the occasional weaker episodes though). This one contains "The Man with the Mechanical Arm" which is a poorly named episode (common to the series as is the commonly poor named dvds) in which Ed and Al take their train trip to Central and of course, chaos ensues. Great episode, and the introduction of Maes Hughes, one of my favorite characters. Then the great episode "The Alchemy Exam" where Ed discovers he can transmutate without a circle. Then there is one of the finest episodes of the series, "Night of the Chimera's Cry," which introduces Scar. And "The Philospher's Stone" (a very poorly named episode, since the title and the content have nothing to do with each other) round it out. IT's a great dvd.

I've burned a hole in my pocket buying these dvd's with episodes I've already seen and if that doesn't explain how good this show is I don't know what will. In these episodes Ed becomes the youngest state alchemist ever and he probably wouldn't be if AL was aloud to compete, besides that they encounter their first case to crack something any preteen kids would love to do and that's find and bring down a psycho who loves knives and to use them on human flesh and if that isn't bad enough they run into an insane alchemist who may be a tad bit too crazy for Ed. There's a lot going on in these starting epiosodes like Ed admitting the fear of being alone and showing some other weaknesses he doesn't want leaking out. I almost can't see this show ending when the time comes because every stitch and detail in this show is perfect from the animation to the storyline. This show is already an anime classic let's hope they do just as well or better on season 2.

I love FullMetal Alchemist, it will keep you glued to till the last episode. FUNImation are releasing great FullMetal Alchemist DVD's. The DVD's have great booklets with information and artwork. This paticular DVD has Episodes 5-8. All are great, Episode 5 is fantastic. In this Volume we also get to know Roy Mustang better and see new characters such as Hughes. Before buying this, you must buy Volume 1 first. I highly recommend FullMetal Alchemist to everyone!