For those of us who never read the Fullmetal Alchemist manga or followed the first Fullmetal anime, this is going to be one hell of a ride to the finish line.

My daughter started watching the original anime so I looked into it and found out that the show had been revamped to stay completely loyal to the manga, the other adaptation took liberties since it took place and finished long before the manga had ended. I decided to have her stop and we would watch this new revamped version together and while it was all new to me my daughter commented on the fact that the opening few episodes of Brotherhood were very similar, almost identical, to some episodes from the first series. I got curious and started watching the original series and, yup, she was right. Then the revamped series got very dark and I was hooked.

I think one of the greatest attributes of the FMA series is that you have these two brothers who know little about their own father, have lost their mother and in desperation attempted a forbidden magic that both cursed them and set them on course to find all the answers they may ever need to know about themselves. That dynamic of brotherhood, literally, is such a great hook. Two seemingly orphaned children forced to look after one another, one determined to fix a terrible accident, the other innocent but growing constantly in the midst of their epic adventure. That alone is an amazing draw, but I never saw the end chapters of FMAB unfolding in the way that it did.

In collection two of the series it’s like someone took the first half of the show and just jumbled it up. Friends are enemies, enemies are friends, love is on the horizon, and the series baddies have just been given a serious in-depth expansion. All plots along the way have literally come full circle giving you the most fruitful journey through any anime that I can think of at the moment, and the conclusion is simply mind blowing. I mean that, my mind was literally blown.

While some have suggested that this half of FMAB is maybe too dark I have to say yes and no. All of the great humor about the show still exists. Your given quite a bit of back story that reaches from absolute revelatory to the passing glance kind of moment that makes you smile in recognition. As far as the show becoming super dark, yes, all heroes go through the worst of their adventure when it comes close to reaching its end, that’s just a fact in regards to storytelling. There is lots of blood, lots of death, but nothing that should curb your appetite for getting through to the end. It’s so absolutely fantastic that, how could you not want to anyway? This is just a very satisfying series ender that puts everything into perspective and makes you very happy that, while the series has come to an end in regards to this story arc, there is always the film to pick up when your done. Fantastic.