Fullmetal Alchemist remains a masterpiece 16 years later

Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist concluded its official manga serialization on June 11, 2010. Sixteen years on, and after two anime adaptations, numerous light novels, and three live-action films, the dark fantasy still reads as a timeless classic, notable for its breathtaking action and its scathing dissection of capitalism, imperialism, and the pursuit of power at any cost.

Set in a heavily industrialized, steampunk-tinged Amestris, alchemy is practiced as a science and wielded as an instrument of state power. State-sanctioned alchemists are treated as government weapons—the “dogs of the military”—and the story begins when brothers Edward and Alphonse attempt the forbidden human transmutation, invoking the Law of Equivalent Exchange and setting them on a quest to restore their bodies after a devastating failure.

The manga does not shy away from alchemy’s darkest uses.

fullmetal alchemist, hiromu arakawa, edward elric, alphonse elric, amestris, alchemy, human transmutation, equivalent exchange, steampunk, imperialism