After rewatching the anime series which deviated from the original manga, it made me remember, compare, and feel the depth of the story once again. The adaptation took on another direction on Dante's arc, where all of the plot was then set to anchor on the beginning of all: Dante's quest for the Philosopher's Stone to reclaim her 'immortality' once again, after the disappearance of Hohenheim.


Dante's arc, which is the divergence from the original manga wasn't anything inferior at all. It gave the profundity and intrigue of the same manga, the clashes of logic and morals, and the disturbance and confusion it exudes into the viewer's point of view.

The anime wasn't actually as unsettling as the philosophical outlooks of Death Note, Code Geass and Kuroshitsuji, but what made Full Metal Alchemist equally as dark was the taboo that the brothers has committed, which marked the beginning of their story.

In their determination to revive their dead mother, they performed human transmutation; but they failed at the expense of Alphonse's body and Edward's left foot. Sin upon sin, in desperation to bring Al back, he transfigured Al's soul into a suit of armor and at the exchange for his right hand.

In committing the taboo, their bodies were the payment for their own sins, and for that failed transmutation, the brothers have pledged to regain their bodies back, what they have lost, and given up as the equivalent exchange; by gaining the thing that ignores the fundamental law of all: the Philosopher's Stone.

As the plot reaches to its unnerving climax, the anime presents a break in the foundation of what the brother's quest was all about. The fact the the Philosopher's stone was made of human lives, the conspiracy of their own military government, and the existence of the Homunculus: the artificial human beings without a soul, beings that were given birth from failed human transmutations. The homunculus were also in pursuit of the Philosopher's stone who had been toying with human rationality under their hands to create the stone for themselves.

What striked me most was the role of Lust, a homunculus. Without a soul, she yearned to understand who she really was, and what were the memories she had, memories that were created even before she was transmuted, memories owned by the real person who had died and whom she was transmuted for: Scar's older brother's lover.

The homunculus were under the hands of Dante, and they were promised to become human when they obtain the Philosopher's Stone. And Lust was a homunculus who had the greatest desire to become one, even betraying her own comrades and to side with Edward at her own desperation.

Homunculus are products of a failed human transmutation, and they were the marks of the alchemist's sins. Sloth, the homunculus who was born because of Edward and Al's attempt to revive their mother was one of them. The brothers took the responsibility to atone for their sins, and killed her.

It then occured to me, it wasn't the Homunculus' fault that they were born without souls. They only wanted to be humans, and I asked myself, why can't they live with humans? Basically, I could not blame the brother's resolutions to kill them because they were the villains. They tried to manipulate humanity to create the forbidden stone, and schemed to kill thousands of lives to create the it.

Their goal made them deserving to die, or so the story goes. It was just too sad that they weren't given a chance to live.

Close to the anime's end, it made me ask: "What was all this for?" The young brothers became adults at an early age, experienced many burdens that they have to carry for the rest of their lives, they had to sacrifice the child within them to chase on their one goal, to bring their bodies back. But everything was just futile.

Edward has abandoned this dream. I could even remember Roy Mustang say, "Dreams that come true are not real dreams." Because when they do, then they are not dreams anymore. Also, Edward has made the conviction, that there are some things more important than bringing their bodies back nor of revenge.


The anime ends with the sense of yearning. Al, who became the Philosopher's stone had sacrificed himself to transmute his brother back from death. He was Killed by Envy, their Homunculus born from the transmutation of Honeheim and Dante's dead son - their half-brother. And when Edward was alive once again, his hands and legs no longer automail, and knowing that his brother disappeared; he too performed transmutation to bring his brother back too. Knowing that the Law of Equivalent Trade wasn't real, all these vain were all there is after another vain.

So, the brothers get separated. Edward was at the other side of the 'Gate' where there is no alchemy, just machines. And Alphonse was back in his own body, without memories of what had transpired after that dreadful day they tried to transmute their mother back to life. And so, they both reach for the unreachable sky, and on a quest for them to meet again.

All for one, One for all. Everything in the world just revolves in cycles. Or so the story says... Apparently, the First Season hasn't really ended. I only realized that it is also possible for the Second Season to continue to where the first had left off. But even if I desired to know if the two brothers could meet again, I have to give up on that yearning and accept that it'll be just a dream.


Because Season 2 is a remake of the anime and the faithful adaptation of the manga. And my anticipation is equally as high for this Season as well.