Anime fans, it is time to rejoice. If you have been wanting to catch up with Fullmetal Alchemist, then Netflix has your back. The streaming site kicked off 2018 the right way by adding both of the franchise’s anime titles to its catalog.
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If you live in the U.S. or Canada, you can enjoy Fullmetal Alchemist so long as you have Internet and a Netflix account. Both Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood were added to the service on January 1. Fans can watch either series with English subtitles and Japanese audio or go all-out with the English dub.
Fans have had years to watch Fullmetal Alchemist, but it has been difficult to stream the original anime. In 2003, Bones released its first adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s story. The run collected a total of 51 episodes before it ended in October 2004, but it did not follow all of Arakawa’s manga. The creator requested the show have an original ending, so Bones split off from the manga’s plot halfway through.
After the first anime ended, Bones got a second go at the story with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The reboot is a 1:1 adaptation of Arakawa’s manga and follows through the entire story without any deviations. The series got its release in April 2009 before it ended in the summer of 2010.
For those unfamiliar with Fullmetal Alchemist, the series was first created by Hiromu Arakawa. 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.
The series ran in Square Enix’s Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine from August 2001 to June 2010. It was collected into 27 volumes, and was localized for an English language release by Viz Media. It has sold 67 million copies worldwide, and was later adapted into two anime series from studio Bones.
Will you be watching Fullmetal Alchemist in 2018? Hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to let me know and talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!
