Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime)

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Anime television series
title Fullmetal alchemist
Original title 鋼 の 錬 金 術 師
transcription Hagane no Renkinjutsushi
Hagaren logo.gif
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
Year (s) 2003-2004
Studio Bones
length 25 minutes
Episodes 51
genre Drama , adventure , comedy , shons
Director Seiji Mizushima
idea Hiromu Arakawa
music Michiru Ōshima
First broadcast October 4, 2003 - October 2, 2004 on MBS , TBS
German-language
first broadcast		 August 3, 2009 - July 10, 2010 on Animax
synchronization

The anime - television series Full Metal Alchemist ( Jap. 鋼の錬金術師 , Hagane no Renkinjutsushi , Alchamist the steel ') is the adaptation of the manganese series Full Metal Alchamist the mangakas Hiromu Arakawa . It can be assigned to the Shōnen genre.

The plot of the series corresponds only roughly to that of the manga, many elements have been changed and a different ending produced. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood , a remake of the manga that was broadcast in 2009 and 2010, is much more based on the original.

action

The brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric live with their mother in the village of Resembool in the east of the country of Amestris. Her father Van Hohenheim left her when they were both very young, as he went to war as a state alchemist against the rebellious Ishbarians. During their childhood, the brothers learned the basics of alchemy from their father's books. When they were nine and ten years old, their mother died of an illness and soon afterwards they started an apprenticeship with the alchemist Izumi Curtis. After returning to Resembool a year later, they try to bring their mother back to life using alchemy, although it is forbidden. The transmutation gets out of hand and Edward loses his left leg and Alphonse his whole body. To save him, Edward gives his right arm to tie his brother's soul to armor. Edward receives automails, mechanical prostheses that replace his limbs, from his neighbors, Pinako Rockbell and their granddaughter Winry. He is visited by Colonel Roy Mustang, who is interested in him because of his alchemical skills. After his recovery, the Elric brothers set out to become state alchemists.

When they arrive in Central City, they are apprenticed to the alchemist Shou Tucker, who achieved his rank by creating a speaking chimera . The brothers live with him, his daughter Nina and their dog Alexander. But when Shou is supposed to create a talking chimera again, he transmutes his daughter and Alexander, just as he transmuted his wife for his first chimera, as it comes out later. Edward discovers this secret and eventually Tucker is arrested. The escaped chimera is killed by a mysterious Ishbarian who wears a cross-shaped scar on his forehead. This is called Scar and has already killed several state alchemists. Soon after, Edward attains the rank of state alchemist and is placed under Colonel Mustang, Alphonse does not take the exam so that the fact that he is only an armor of a soul remains hidden. They soon learn of the Philosopher's Stone , which is supposed to enable transmutation without the restrictions of equivalent exchange . As they hope that he will give them the opportunity to regain their old bodies, the brothers travel across the country, performing tasks for the military, but also earning a good reputation among the population. They are secretly followed by the homunculi , the results of failed human transmutations who need the stone themselves and want to bring it into possession for their master.

Eventually they both learn that an imperfect version of the Philosopher's Stone was used in the Ishbar War. This trail leads them into an abandoned military research laboratory, in which, however, they surprisingly encounter resistance. Secret experiments with convicts were carried out there, with ensouled armor and chimeras being created. After Edward and Alphonse were able to defeat them, the Homunculi Envy, Lust and Gluttony bring Alphonse into their power and want to force Edward to sacrifice people for the transmutation of a philosopher's stone. Shou Tucker, who is now a chimera himself, is also there. Military intervention can prevent transmutation after combat. Soon after, Alphonse began to question whether he was ever human. But these can be dispelled by Edward and Winry. At the same time, Scar travels through the country with the remaining Ishbarians, who live in tents and makeshift dwellings and have to flee from the military again and again.

The Elric brothers are tracked down by their master Izumi, she has heard the stories that surround them and wants to see what they do. She is angry at first that Edward has become a state alchemist, who she despises, and about the mistakes her students have made. But eventually the two learn that Izumi also tried a human transmutation to reanimate their stillborn baby. In the process, she lost parts of her internal organs. Back on the island where the brothers used to train, they meet a boy who appears to be wearing the limbs Edward lost. Izumi picks up the boy, although Edward is suspicious. Soon after, Alphonse is kidnapped by chimeras who have broken out of the research laboratory and are now led by Homunculus Greed. He wants to achieve immortality and has the ability to cover his body with skin as hard as a diamond. Edward intervenes with Izumi and the military and finally kills Greed in battle, Alphonse can be freed and the chimeras flee, also with the help of Alphonses, who takes pity on them. The brothers also learn that the homunculi become weaker when they approach remnants of the body of the person they were supposed to be created to be. The boy they found on the island flees as Homunculus Wrath with the other Homunculi.

Finally Alphonse and Edward get to the east, to Reole, where a new uprising threatens. The military wants to take action against this and the Elric brothers learn that the field marshal and his secretary are the homunculi Pride and Sloth, where Sloth was created when the brothers wanted to transmute their mother. The homunculi want to create a new philosopher's stone in Reole from the people who die there and the people who died in Ishbar, whose souls are stored in Scar. But the stone is created by a trick Scars in Alphonse. Soon afterwards, Edward and Alphonse flee as they are now being pursued by the military. After Colonel Mustang and his subordinates have freed themselves from a trap arranged by the military leadership, they look for the Elric brothers. You can find this in Resembool, where Edward meets his father Van Hohenheim and speaks to him for the first time in a long time. Eventually they return to Central City, where Edward and Alphonse find their way into an underground city that once fell victim to the creation of the first Philosopher's Stone. With this, Dante and Hohenheim made it possible for themselves to live for centuries, but their bodies are falling apart more and more. Now Dante wants to extend her life with the new philosopher's stone. For this purpose she also uses the homunculi, to which she promises that they can become people with the stone. During the fight, Edward, like his father before, is sent to the other side of the gate of alchemy. There he is in London in 1916 during a zeppelin attack. When he dies there, he returns to his world. In the further course of the fight he is killed by Envy, Alphonse resuscitates him with the Philosopher's Stone, but also loses his body in the process. Thereupon Edward, who now has all his limbs back, brings Alphonse back to life, but has to stay on the other side of the gate, on the ground, and loses a leg and an arm again. Alphonse got his body back at the age of ten, but lost all memories of the time since her mother was transmutated.

During the struggle of the Elric brothers against the Homunculi, Colonel Mustang carried out a successful coup against the Field Marshal General, after which power was returned to Parliament.

production

Based on the manga, an anime series with 51 episodes was produced by Bones . From episode 30 onwards, the plot deviates more and more from the original version of the manga, as the plot of the manga was still ongoing at this point. So the anime has an alternative ending. Some of the episodes contain stories that do not appear in the original and were intended as filler episodes for the television series. One of the changes in the first episodes is that the childhood experiences of the Elric brothers are told even earlier than in the manga. The drama is initially built up with a few new side stories and battles between alchemists, but the Homunculi and Scar, as important antagonists, appear later than clearly in the original. Photos from the Second World War were used for war scenes , some rooms were animated with computers and the characters were later placed in them.

The theme of the equivalent exchange was emphasized in the series by Alphonse speaking the words at the beginning of the opening credits in his human voice, not his armor-distorted voice in episodes 3 to 42, except in episode 37:

“You can't win anything if you're not ready to make sacrifices.
If you want to get something new, you have to give something of equal value.
This is the alchemical principle of the equivalent exchange.
At that time, my brother and I thought this was one of the pillars of the world. "

Directed by Seiji Mizushima . The character design was created by Yoshiyuki Itō and the artistic direction was taken over by Kazuyuki Hashimoto.

publication

The series was shown from October 4, 2003 to October 2, 2004 on Japanese television by MBS-TBS and later repeated by Animax. It ran on US television since November 2004. On July 23, 2005, the animated film Fullmetal Alchemist - The Movie: The Conqueror of Shamballa , which concludes the plot of the television series, hit cinemas.

The series was published in full by Panini Video on twelve DVDs in Germany . In addition, since March 2011 the episodes have been published in German synchronization on the video platform MyVideo .

A second series entitled Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Fullmetal Alchemist ran on Japanese television in 2009 and 2010 and was marketed internationally as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood . In contrast to the first film adaptation, its plot sticks closely to the original and also comes to the same end. In June 2011, the film Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Milos no Seinaru Hoshi ( 鋼 の 錬 金 術 師嘆 き の 丘（ミ ロ ス）の 聖 な る 星 , Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Mirosu no Seinaru Hoshi ) in Japanese cinemas.

synchronization

role Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) German speaker
Edward Elric Romi Park David Turba
Alphonse Elric Rie Kugimiya Vanya Gerick
Roy Mustang Tōru Ōkawa David Nathan
Winry Rockbell Megumi Toyoguchi Marie Bierstedt
Riza Hawkeye Michiko Neya Gabriele Wienand
Maes Hughes Keiji Fujiwara Simon Roden
Scar Ryotaro Okiayu Stephan Schleberger
Lust Yūko Satō Ilya Welter
Gluttony Yasuhiro Takato Renier Baaken
Envy Mayumi Yamaguchi Julien Haggége
Field Marshal King Bradley Hidekatsu Shibata Erich Rauker
Greed Junichi Suwabe Gregor Höppner
Wrath Nana Mizuki Hannes Maurer

music

The following leaderboards were produced for the series :

No opening credits are played at the beginning of the first episode. The movie begins with the song Link by L'Arc ~ en ~ Ciel .

The credits used for the television series were:

The final title of the seventh episode has been adapted to the plot of the episode. No credits are shown in the 25th episode, the 51st episode ends with a monologue by Alphonse. At the end of the film, Lost Heaven is played by L'Arc ~ en ~ Ciel .

The arrangement of the music was incumbent on Michiru Oshima , the opening and closing titles were all produced by Aniplex . The background title Bratja as well as the other songs were played by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.

The scenes of the bombing of London in episode 49 and 50 were accompanied by a piece called Unmei , known in Europe as the first movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony . In the 51st episode, Frédéric Chopin's Etude in E major op.10 no.3 is played.

OVAs

After the series, several original video animations were released on March 29, 2006 in Japan on the DVD Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Premium Collection . This consists of four independent short stories: Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Enkai-hen ( 鋼 の 錬 金 術 師 宴会 篇 ) is based on the script of Seiji Mizushima and Chihito Akahori as artistic director; Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Kodomo-hen ( 鋼 の 錬 金 術 師 子 供 篇 ) is three minutes long and Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Shichidai Homunculus vs. Kokka Renkinjutsushi Gundan ( 鋼 の 錬 金 術 師 七大 ホ ム ン ク ル ス VS 国家 錬 金 術 師 軍 団 ) is 11 minutes long. All have been translated into Chinese and English.

The OVA Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Kodomo-hen shows the descendants of the main characters in 2005, including Edwards, who go to him to bring him a present on his 100th birthday.

Further publications and offshoots

In 2005 the film Fullmetal Alchemist - The Film: The Conqueror of Shamballa was released , which follows the end of the anime. The anime series' background music was released several times. The original soundtrack has been published in three parts since 2004, and in 2004 a so-called Best CD was released together with a DVD with the opening and closing credits without any text. In 2005 the music for the film Conqueror Of Shamballa was released on CD, and almost six months later a so-called Best Compilation CD was released again.

In addition, various songs were released that were sung by the voice actors (in their roles). This was sung by Romi Paku (Edward Elric), Tōru Ōkawa (Roy Mustang), Rie Kugimiya (Alphonse Elric), Megumi Toyoguchi (Winry Rockbell), Keiji Fujiwara (Maes Hughes). Titles have also been published that were sung together by multiple speakers.

As an offshoot of the television series, an action role-playing game was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in December 2003 . The plot of the game developed and published by Square Enix is set between episodes 9 and 10 of the series. Studio Bones produced a total of 30 minutes of additional video sequences that build on the plot of the episodes broadcast up to that point. In the fight that dominates the game, the player Edward Elric leads against various opponents. His brother helps him with a particularly large number of opponents or blocks strong attacks.

In July 2004, Square Enix also released an art book on the anime series, which includes illustrations and sketches from production.

reception

In Japan

In addition, the TV series won the 2004 TV Feature Award of the event Animation Kobe . In 2005 and 2006, Fullmetal Alchemist was ranked first in a poll of TV Asahi's most popular series among television viewers. Asian Kung-Fu Generation's intro rewrite won the award for best music at the first American Anime Awards on February 24, 2007.

International

In an article on anime on American television, the New York Times counts Fullmetal Alchemist among the series that can compete with real-life films at prime time. For the time and the broadcaster of the broadcast, the series is a hit. The anime has a poignant plot and is drawn in a comic style between Tintin and Prince Eisenherz .

According to the Anime News Network , the Anime Fullmetal Alchemist features a complex story and enigmatic characters that are gradually explained as the story progresses. In addition, the plot offers many surprising twists. The character design, which makes the characters unmistakable, is also praised. The background music as well as opening and closing credits should also be of the best quality.

In Germany

The German magazine AnimaniA praises the “ cinematic impressive” implementation by director Seiji Mizushima and emphasizes the above-average high level of animation. In particular, the effects in scenes with the application of alchemy were successful. The character design, which is kept close to the original, is detailed and offers a wide range of emotions even with Alphonse in armor. The background music gives the scenes additional drama and the opening and closing titles of current Japanese bands also went well with the series. The German dubbed version is also praised by the AnimaniA, the characters are cast appropriately and the dialogues are not " involuntarily funny" when explaining the alchemy . The technical implementation of the German publication is also convincing in terms of image and sound quality. The manga scene recognizes “ all the ingredients for a great audience success” in the series . It was possible to “ evoke a whole calaidoscope of emotions” in the audience . Hilarity and comedy stand alongside painful truths, melancholy retrospectives, fast-paced action, political conflicts and mysterious puzzles. The characters are carefully developed and multi-faceted, but the world in which they act could have had “ slightly more contours” : Much is only hinted at or the viewer has to guess. The changes to the story of the template were made carefully and had adapted the dramatization sensibly to the anime medium. The character design, which is already very good in the original, has hardly been changed for the benefit of the series, but overall the adaptation appears brighter than the original. With the backgrounds, " whose strong colors and clear contours contribute to the more optimistic charisma" , the series can score as well as with successful computer effects in fights.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Band of Brothers. In: Animania 03/2007, p. 8 ff.
  2. ↑ a b Fullmetal Alchmemist: Brotherhood - Fraternally divided fate . In: Animania 08-09 / 2009, p. 48.
  3. ↑ a b c Full Metal Alchemist . In: Mangaszene No. 19, p. 10 ff.
  4. ↑ a b Review at animenewsnetwork.com
  5. ↑ Fullmetal Alchemist in the German dubbing index
  6. ↑ Full metal fantasy . In: Animania 01–02 / 2004, p. 54.
  7. ↑ TV Animation Fullmetal Alchemist Art Book . In: Animania 01–02 / 2005, p. 64 f.
  8. ↑ Animenewsnetwork on the survey by TV Asahi 2005 , 2006
  9. ^ New York Times article Just Watch Out for the Fox Demon in the Ninja's Body about anime in the USA
  10. ↑ Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 7 . In: Animania 10/2007, p. 31.
  11. ↑ Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 12 . In: Animania 01–02 / 2008, p. 25.

Web links

Commons : Fullmetal Alchemist  - collection of images, videos and audio files