Funimation Acquires Streaming License for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Black Butler

In the war of streaming services, anime has become a major factor for a lot of viewers wondering where to put their hard earned dollars when it comes to subscriptions. Funimation is firing off another salvo in their battle with the announcement that the Fullmetal Alchemist anime franchise, with both the original series and the later anime of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, will now be available on their streaming service, along with the series Black Butler. Both anime have devoted fanbases so this will definitely act as a feather in the cap for Funimation’s streaming service.

Funimation shared the news of the arrival of these two popular anime franchises, with the adventures of the Elric Brothers and Ceil with his butler, Sebastian, adding their power to the ever expanding list of series that already populate the streaming service:

The two series however will not be exclusive to Funimation, with the seasons of each anime available on other streaming services such as Netflix and Crunchyroll, to name a few.

Will you be watching these two series on Funimation’s channel? Which is your favorite between the two popular franchises? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, Black Butler, and Alchemists!

Fullmetal Alchemist was originally created by Hiromu Arakawa for Square Enix’s Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine in 2001. The story follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who learn alchemy in order to bring back their deceased mother. After a terrible miscalculation, however, the two brothers pay a terrible price with Alphonse even losing his body and linking his soul to a suit of armor. As the two boys search for an alchemy that will restore their bodies to their original forms, they join the military and deal with a whole host of new political, ethical, and moral issues.

Bones’ first attempt at adapting the series into an anime successfully ran for 51 episodes in 2003, but was marred by fans for its pacing issues and deviations from the original source. Bones later produced a more faithful adaptation in 2009 with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and the series was much better received than its predecessor.

If you are not familiar with Black Butler, the gothic series has been a fan-favorite for years now. The supernatural series debuted back in 2006, and Black Butler recently had a new feature film released over in Japan. You can read up on the show’s synopsis below:

“Ceil Phantomhive was born into a life of luxury, only to have his parents murdered before his eyes. Wrought with grief, he summoned a devilish servant, Sebastian, to help him track down – and suitably punish – the fiends who made him an orphan.”