Full Metal Alchemist

Publisher
Geneon/MVM
Director
Seiji Mizushima
Production
BONES, Dentsu, MBS
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
52 episodes
Year
2003

Full Metal Alchemist Volume 7: Reunion On Yock Island

By otaku_kei
1st Jun 06

Edward and Alphonse Elric can be seen as classic Greek tragedy protagonists. Their desire to bring back their mother and their own hubris to think that they were powerful enough to do so led the two boys down a self-destructive path. This path meant not only their childhood dreams being crushed, as well as extensive damage to their own bodies. Al finds his soul locked within a hulking suit of armour, and Ed had to sacrifice both an arm and a leg to save his brother's soul from disappearing into the void that took his body. This tragic mistake has dominated their young lives, and set them on a path to try and rectify this horrible crime against alchemic principles. To that end they have joined the State Alchemist branch of the military in their quest to secure the philosopher's Stone. But a lot of time, and pain has passed since they signed up for the Dogs of The State, and the Elric's are starting to make some hard decisions about their own future...

The previous volume saw this show draw a curtain on the first main story arc of the show. The urgent need for the Elric's to get their hands on the Philosopher's Stone has been abandoned, along with the animosity felt towards the alchemist killer Scar. The brothers have seen too much, and found out all the sordid little details that drove Scar to be the murderer and as such can no longer blame him so completely for his crimes. Through this conflict the boys have also started to reassess their relationship with the State Alchemists. This allows the show to now move forward with the plot. The boys are not so naive any more, and there are a lot of unanswered questions about the established order as well. The Humonculi are also coming more to the fore in these past few volumes, and we will have to see how that leads events for this show.

This volume takes those next steps down the path of the plot. On a personal level the Elric's end up having to revisit their past so that they can reconnect again with what path they need to put themselves on. But by and large the biggest event on this disc is the shocking loss of one of my personal favourite characters. This death in connection with the dark secrets that seem to cloud the State Alchemists throws up yet more questions as to what the Elric's will be willing to sacrifice on their own quest to regain their bodies. The plot development really does work fantastically well in this show as the characters growth has been well reflected by the plot path. Everyone so far has had their own path to follow, and there seem to be a lot of hidden agendas going on, but still each of the characters has been changed by what they have experienced so far.

Full Metal Alchemist continues to enthrall and entertain the audience. Everybody that I know is watching this show seems to await the next volume with a level of anticipation rarely seen. The quality of FMA could very well be the reason as this show continues to deliver the best in exciting action and character stories in a show that looks and sounds fantastic. As long as this show continues to provide that high level of entertainment I can see no reason that Full Metal Alchemist will not go from strength to strength over the rest of the series. This continues to be one of the premier series on release in the UK.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English Language 5.1; Japanese Language 2.0; English Language Subtitles; Textless Opening & Closing; Art Galleries

Release information: COMING SOON - 19th June 2006

Notes: MVM prove once again the quality that goes into each of their titles. It is a shame that with longer running series such as FMA the extras get quite sparse over the course of the series as can be seen by the lack of any substantial extras to compliment the 4 episodes on this latest volume.

-- otaku_kei 1st Jun 06

Full Metal Alchemist Images