Hiromu Arakawa
2010
The history places us in a world with similarities to our own, at first sight. Set in a similar era as the early 1900s, the map of the world is different from ours, but with remarkable similarities, geological, cultural and even semantic.
In this world the action is centred on a country with a circular shape, Amestris, which is located between the countries of Xing, on the other side of the desert, and Drachma in the north, with which it maintains a tense relationship. It is a military state, where the king and maximum governor is also the head of the army.
In this world the sciences have developed differently from our world, some can use the science of alchemy to create anything, in Amestris it is usually for military purposes.
The protagonists of this story are two alchemist brothers, Edward & Alphonse Elric, the first one is a short boy with an arm and a leg of automail, mechanical prosthesis of high quality and precision that are connected to the nerves of the receiver, working with the electrical impulses of the body.
Alphonse is not much better, he has lost his body, his soul inhabits the inside of a hollow armor.
Van Hohenheim, was a powerful alchemist, though distant with his children. They grew up learning alchemy quickly, encouraged by their sweet mother, Trisha. The day came when their mysterious father left home, leaving his wife alone to care for the two children. Everything was going well until one day mom got sick and the brothers found themselves alone and desperate. They decided to commit the taboo in alchemy; human transmutation, bringing someone back from the dead.
And well… In this case it was taboo for a good reason! By conjuring up the alchemical circle, the eye of God is opened and it comes to judge the price of the magical exchange you just called… Whoever passes through the eye portal will absorb a lot of alchemical information, but will pay a heavy price, in this case Edward lost a leg and an arm, Alphonse lost his whole body. His brother managed to bind his soul to the armor to keep him alive.
It’s interesting what they think of alchemy in this series. These powers are manifested through the knowledge and practice of divine knowledge. In fact, it is curious because although the alchemists in this series have great powers, there are other systems, such as the alkhaestry of Xing. Which apparently is older, or was inspired by, but nevertheless takes into account interesting concepts that the first one does not… The understanding of what alchemy represents in this work is interesting. It is a science that understands matter, breaking it down and then reconstructing it. There is an inescapable principle in practicing it
The Law of Equivalent Exchange, one can only create one thing from another of a certain mass.
The corrupt military plot is interesting to follow, I am sure it can make more than one person reflect on what is currently happening in the world with our governments. It is not so different, in my opinion. The characters are all very charismatic, all those who appear, it’s an entertaining series because of that, I’ve laughed quite a lot with the characters. They are alive, for me, in that fantastic world. The animation is pretty good, the fight scenes are spectacular.
I would like to see further developments of this world and its alchemy, the idea of alchemical transmutation circles is very interesting…
