If you don’t know me very well then you might be surprised to learn that I’m an avid anime buff.  And with anime gaining popularity in the U.S. (with people who wouldn’t normally watch it) I’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 Must-See Anime Series for those of you looking to pop your anime cherry.  Now while there are alot more (and better) ones out there, I decided to stick with the more popular and completed ones that you can actually buy in this country without having to look that hard.

5. Full Metal Alchemist

 

 

 

What Wikipedia Says:

Edward and Alphonse Elric are brothers living in the village of Resembool in the country of Amestris (??????, Amesutorisu^?). Their father, Hohenheim, left home when Edward and Alphonse were still very young. Years later, their mother, Trisha Elric, dies of a terminal illness. After their mother’s death, Edward becomes determined to bring her back through the use of alchemy, an advanced science in which an object can be reformed into something completely different. They learn of the Human Transmutation, a forbidden art in which one attempts to create a human who had died. However, this attempt failed, ultimately resulting in the loss of Edward’s left leg and Alphonse’s entire body. In a desperate effort to save his brother, Edward sacrifices his right arm to affix his brother’s soul to a suit of armor. After that, Edward’s left leg and right arm are fitted with two sets of automail, a type of advanced prosthetic limb, created for him by his close family friends Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako.

Edward sets out to become a State Alchemist (??????, Kokka Renkinjutsushi^?), which is an alchemist employed by the State Military of Amestris. State Alchemists are identified by their silver pocket watches and the unique titles assigned to them upon becoming a State Alchemist. Becoming a State Alchemist would enable Edward to use the extensive resources available to them to discover a way to restore what he and Alphonse had lost, but it also turns him into a “weapon” of the military, who are famous for destroying almost all Ishval‘s population in a past Civil War. The brothers eventually learn of the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary stone that is said to allow the holder to completely bypass the law of Equivalent Exchange, and set off in search of it as a means to restore their bodies. Along the way they discover that the Philosopher’s Stone requires human lives to create it, and find others who seek it as well, doing almost whatever they can to get their hands on it. They are attacked by the homunculi, a group of human-like creatures that carry pieces of the Philosopher’s Stone inside themselves. They are named after the seven deadly sins and act as primary villains in the series.

A man known simply as “Father” is the creator of all the homunculi and commands them from behind the curtains of the High Command of the country Amestris. He was originally a small ball of shadows inside a round flask with the nickname of “homunculus” created with the blood of Hohenheim. He goads a king into performing Human Transmutation, resulting in the destruction of the country Xerxes. As a gift for helping him, Father made Hohenheim immortal by rebuilding his body with half the souls of the population of Xerxes; he used the other half to create a body for himself in the likeness of Hohenheim. It is suspected that Father plans to use Amestris as a gigantic transmutation circle to create a Philosopher’s Stone, but the homunculus Envy hints that, although close, this is not the whole truth.

 

Why it made the list:

Full Metal Alchemist, hereafter referred to as FMA (cause I’m lazy I just don’t feel like typing that anymore) is what I like to call a full-service anime.  It gives you everything you could want and a little more.  Its emotionally compelling forcing you to love the characters, it has plenty of action and great animation, a fair amount of comedy(you’ll actually laugh), its intellectually stimulating (without making you feel like a dumb ass), dramatically captivating (your jaw will drop more than a few times throughout the series), its character-driven.  The two main characters are brothers seeking redemption for breaking a forbidden rule.  You feel their pain in the beginning and sympathize with what they are trying to do.  Their travels bring them head-to-head with a number of complex topics such as, war, race, greed, and more.  Its a sad story without going overboard and emo.  Its a very surprising story.  They don’t hesitate to kill off a character you love and actually deserves to live.  The bad guys are named after each of the seven deadly sins with abilities to match.  There are enough of twists and turns in this series to keep you on your toes til the last episode.  When you eventually get to the end of the series, you will be pretty pissed with the ending unless you see the FMA movie witch wraps things up quite nicely.

OCBENJI One Line Review:

“Full Metal Alchemist is the Swiss-army knife of anime, it hits every genre out there and a few that aren’t.”