Fullmetal Alchemist Vol 6 & 7.
December 20th 2007 00:49
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: 2003 Square Enix/2006 VIZ Media, LLC.
Story & Art by: Hiromu Arakawa.
Translation: Akira Watanabe.
English Adaptation: Jake Forbes.
Touch up Art & Lettering: Wayne Truman.
Design: Amy Martin.
Cost: US $9.99/AU $14.95.
This is a manga whose name I have often heard of through various mediums but until recently had never managed to actually come across a copy. It was one day spent browsing in my local library that I came across these two volumes and not having anything else to read decided to give them a go. At the time it was relatively early in the afternoon and I had decided to head to a local watering hole for some refreshing amber fluid and some snacks before moving on to the Catholic Men’s Club where I would later on be running the regular Tuesday night raffle of meat trays and six packs. Once the woman behind the bar poured me my schooner I took it to a fairly quite out of the way spot where I could drink, munch away at some chips and read to my hearts content with minimal fuss. It’s always a pleasure to do this and even more so with a glass of crisp refreshing ale. Time passed and as it did so I became embroiled in the activities of the Fullmetal Alchemist.
Fullmetal Alchemist is set in a world where alchemy actually works and is a viable career for any individual willing to undertake the necessary study and certification to become a state alchemist. Usually such certification is undertaken by the military and often state alchemists are known as the Dogs of the Military, they are required to swear their loyalty to the state, the military and the president; King Bradley. In return for this the state alchemists are given access to knowledge, research staff and facilities that would be beyond the reach of civilian alchemists; and considering the condition this manga’s two protagonists are in having access to such resources is something that they definitely need.
You see Edward (Ed) and Alphonse (Al) Elric are two gifted young brothers with a talent for alchemy, unfortunately they got themselves into a pickle after an alchemical ritual they were performing in their home backfired on them with catastrophic consequences. Ed ended up loosing a leg whilst Al lost his entire body and would have lost his existence if his brother had used another ritual to bind him into a suit of armour. This quick piece of alchemy ended up in Ed loosing one of his arms, the price of the Law of Equivalent Exchange, one of the guiding principals in the practice of Alchemy. So naturally the two brothers are keen on finding a means of restoring their bodies and the military offers them the best chance of doing just that. Unfortunately nothing is quite as it seems within the ranks of the military and there are other darker things afoot, schemes and ages old plans that the Elric brothers seem to have brought into the light through their own efforts in pursuing their agenda.
Every state alchemist knows that there are certain rules and regulations that they should not break these being; do not create humans, do not create gold and swear absolute loyalty to the military. This first rule is the one the Elric brothers broke and resulted in the damage wrought on their bodies, they attempted to bring back their mother to life and it failed horribly leaving a travesty of a living being in the magic circle where they hoped to find their resurrected mother. Yet it seems that these rules are more of an attempt by certain parties keeping the bulk of state alchemists and civilians in line, rather than actually helping maintain any societal structure. As the two brothers find out the first rule has been bent and broken by the military in its own dark alchemical studies undertaken during the recent war with the Ishbalans.
And then there is the mysterious Ouroboros, a group of seven entities each of them named after one of the biblical seven deadly sins; Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Envy and Pride. These seven are all homunculi, artificial beings created by a ritual of alchemy undertaken by an unknown entity. Precisely why these seven were created is unknown, yet they each have unique abilities and are capable of prodigious feats. In volume 7 the Elric brothers come across Greed, though it is revealed in the course of the story that he is not the first homunculus they have come across in the course of their quest, they have encountered both Lust and Envy prior to Greed. And it is because of these encounters that they recognise Greed for what he is when they meet him. Strangely Greed isn’t exactly what you’d expect in an antagonist, certainly he lives up to his name as being a guy who definitely wants it all; fame, fortune, power etc but he is a pragmatic individual. Through his sources he knows that Alphonse is effectively a disembodied soul bound to a suit of armour something that Greed feels is of immense benefit, after all in his eyes Al is effectively immortal and no longer bound by the constraints of a weak fleshy body. Al on the other hand points out that his state of being is not something to be emulated and he has no idea how it occurred, his brother was the one who did the ritual not him. Greed is willing to negotiate, offering to teach the brothers how to create an artificial human in return for learning the secrets of binding a soul; an equivalent exchange.
It’s a negotiation that ends up with a combat between Greed and Ed as well as Greed’s various minions and soldiers under the command of King Bradley and Major Armstrong. The upshot is that there is a lot of carnage; the brothers are separated despite Ed’s efforts to free Al from the clutches of Greed’s minions and all is not peaches and cream amongst the ranks of the Ouroboros as Wrath reveals his hand in a showdown with Greed in the tunnels beneath his former lair. Steampunk is a term that is applicable to describing the kind of genre into which Fullmetal Alchemist falls; certainly it does have a very retro feel as much of the settings and technology that is employed in the story looks to be straight from the nineteen twenties or thirties, pre World War II stuff. Of course the automail that makes up Ed’s missing arm and leg is certainly pure fiction looking nothing like any prosthetics employed in real life and with his alchemy he can create a mean looking blade on his automail arm.
Like any other manga Fullmetal Alchemist is read in the traditional Japanese format, from right to left. At the end of each volume there are usually a few little amusing strips involving various characters from the manga; usually Ed, Al and their friend Winry Rockbell. And it goes without saying that the story being woven amongst its many pages is definitely attention grabbing, when I first started reading it I paid more attention to it than I did to drinking my beer and eating my chips, so gripped was I by the unfolding drama.
Story & Art by: Hiromu Arakawa.
Translation: Akira Watanabe.
English Adaptation: Jake Forbes.
Touch up Art & Lettering: Wayne Truman.
Design: Amy Martin.
Cost: US $9.99/AU $14.95.
This is a manga whose name I have often heard of through various mediums but until recently had never managed to actually come across a copy. It was one day spent browsing in my local library that I came across these two volumes and not having anything else to read decided to give them a go. At the time it was relatively early in the afternoon and I had decided to head to a local watering hole for some refreshing amber fluid and some snacks before moving on to the Catholic Men’s Club where I would later on be running the regular Tuesday night raffle of meat trays and six packs. Once the woman behind the bar poured me my schooner I took it to a fairly quite out of the way spot where I could drink, munch away at some chips and read to my hearts content with minimal fuss. It’s always a pleasure to do this and even more so with a glass of crisp refreshing ale. Time passed and as it did so I became embroiled in the activities of the Fullmetal Alchemist.
Every state alchemist knows that there are certain rules and regulations that they should not break these being; do not create humans, do not create gold and swear absolute loyalty to the military. This first rule is the one the Elric brothers broke and resulted in the damage wrought on their bodies, they attempted to bring back their mother to life and it failed horribly leaving a travesty of a living being in the magic circle where they hoped to find their resurrected mother. Yet it seems that these rules are more of an attempt by certain parties keeping the bulk of state alchemists and civilians in line, rather than actually helping maintain any societal structure. As the two brothers find out the first rule has been bent and broken by the military in its own dark alchemical studies undertaken during the recent war with the Ishbalans.
And then there is the mysterious Ouroboros, a group of seven entities each of them named after one of the biblical seven deadly sins; Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Envy and Pride. These seven are all homunculi, artificial beings created by a ritual of alchemy undertaken by an unknown entity. Precisely why these seven were created is unknown, yet they each have unique abilities and are capable of prodigious feats. In volume 7 the Elric brothers come across Greed, though it is revealed in the course of the story that he is not the first homunculus they have come across in the course of their quest, they have encountered both Lust and Envy prior to Greed. And it is because of these encounters that they recognise Greed for what he is when they meet him. Strangely Greed isn’t exactly what you’d expect in an antagonist, certainly he lives up to his name as being a guy who definitely wants it all; fame, fortune, power etc but he is a pragmatic individual. Through his sources he knows that Alphonse is effectively a disembodied soul bound to a suit of armour something that Greed feels is of immense benefit, after all in his eyes Al is effectively immortal and no longer bound by the constraints of a weak fleshy body. Al on the other hand points out that his state of being is not something to be emulated and he has no idea how it occurred, his brother was the one who did the ritual not him. Greed is willing to negotiate, offering to teach the brothers how to create an artificial human in return for learning the secrets of binding a soul; an equivalent exchange.
It’s a negotiation that ends up with a combat between Greed and Ed as well as Greed’s various minions and soldiers under the command of King Bradley and Major Armstrong. The upshot is that there is a lot of carnage; the brothers are separated despite Ed’s efforts to free Al from the clutches of Greed’s minions and all is not peaches and cream amongst the ranks of the Ouroboros as Wrath reveals his hand in a showdown with Greed in the tunnels beneath his former lair. Steampunk is a term that is applicable to describing the kind of genre into which Fullmetal Alchemist falls; certainly it does have a very retro feel as much of the settings and technology that is employed in the story looks to be straight from the nineteen twenties or thirties, pre World War II stuff. Of course the automail that makes up Ed’s missing arm and leg is certainly pure fiction looking nothing like any prosthetics employed in real life and with his alchemy he can create a mean looking blade on his automail arm.
Like any other manga Fullmetal Alchemist is read in the traditional Japanese format, from right to left. At the end of each volume there are usually a few little amusing strips involving various characters from the manga; usually Ed, Al and their friend Winry Rockbell. And it goes without saying that the story being woven amongst its many pages is definitely attention grabbing, when I first started reading it I paid more attention to it than I did to drinking my beer and eating my chips, so gripped was I by the unfolding drama.
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