Fullmetal Alchemist. Congratulations and I really hope you’ve enjoyed yourself thus far. Actually, you must have, otherwise you wouldn’t be continuing on into the 7th volume now would you? For those of you who haven’t started from square one, know that watching them out of order doesn’t work. By now we’re in the thick of things so you’d just be confused and that’s no fun. There are 51 episodes, and with about 4 episodes per volume that brings us to roughly 12 (probably 13) volumes in total. Let’s rock.

Episode 29: This strange boy has no memories, but there is something odd about his arm and leg. He has the same abilities as Ed does when it comes to transmutation, only he can do much more. But what are his origins? Already I don’t like this new military guy, Archer.

Episode 30: Ed and Al are still trying to confirm their suspicious about the boy’s arm and leg. But there’s a little something on the bottom of the boy’s right foot that proves something else (though most of us will probably have already guessed it). There must be something special about him if that many people want to get their hands on him.

Episode 31: Scar is hiding amongst refugees of Ishbal, and might discover something about his arm. But the military has found out about his location, so things might turn complicated. Finally, the truth about the boy is revealed, and like so many other things alchemy-related, it’s not very pretty.

Episode 32: I don’t think I’ve ever seen Al this angry. They must continue on to try and figure out, well I don’t even know. The Ishbal search isn’t going well for the State Alchemists, and something weird is still going on with Lust, Gluttony, Envy, and the others – but they seem to have issues with Greed, even though he’s a Homunculus just like them…maybe it’s because he has his own agenda.

The Details?
Concerning that kid in #29, despite what they found out, sometimes I think Ed needs to chill out just a little and leave things alone in order for them to come to fruition. I like how we got to see a little of what Ed saw when they were trying to bring back their mother, and how he was able to get Al the body of the armor suit. I’d always been curious about that. I don’t really get everyone’s problem though – they are totally incapable when it comes to dealing with Homunculi, they always freeze up and can’t fight or try to kill them because they created them or for some other “human” related reason. Don’t fight him because he’s Izumi’s mistake? Well, she’s obviously not doing anything useful about it. Sorry, but if something is trying to kill me, I don’t care if it’s human or not – I’m going to fight back as much as possible. And in #32 Al pointed out something I’ve been wondering for a while now (or at least he started to I think) – if Homunculi are born through failed human transmutation then what, if anything, came out of their failed attempt? Oooh…

Animation? Despite my early quirks with the style, I’m accustomed to it now. In some ways it’s simple, but it’s still really good. For some reason I tend to forget things, one of which has been the neglect of the State Alchemist uniforms. They’re pretty cool, even if the people in them suck. Considering Ed’s never gotten one, I wonder what he would look like wearing it, but I love him in his black shirt and red jacket all the same. Don’t wanna be a military dog wearing the same coat as everyone else now do we?

Voices – I prefer the English version. I usually end up watching it because I prefer Ed and Al’s VAs over the Japanese ones. All the other characters work out rather well, so sit back and enjoy. As for the Japanese version, even though I’m used to Ed and Al having female VAs, they manage to merge into the characters, and everyone else was fine from the start, so in the end it just depends on what you prefer.

Awww. At episode #26 the opening song changed. Sad. It’s an all right song, but I still don’t like it as much as the last one. The same goes for the ending song. It’s changed to something even slower that feels rather out of place. Never did like it on TV, still don’t like it here. The song itself is okay, it’s just awkward here. The instrumental background music for the show gets 5 stars in itself because it works so nicely.

This series, though it has amusing parts, is serious a lot of the time. There is violence and Ed tends to say “Damn it” more often than everyone else (actually it seems like he’s the only one ever swearing), and a lot of weird stuff going on, but in my opinion (though without kids I’m by no means an expert) most kids will be able to handle it without much of a problem.

Episodes in this Volume:
Episode 29: The Untainted Child
Episode 30: Assault on South Headquarters
Episode 31: Sin
Episode 32: Dante of the Deep Forest

NT

Earlier Volumes:
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 1: The Curse
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 2: Scarred Man of the East
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 3: Equivalent Exchange
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 4: The Fall of Ishbal
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 5: The Cost of Living
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 6: Captured Souls
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 7: Reunion on Yock Island

Future Volumes:
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 9: Pain and Lust
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 10: Journey to Ishbal
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 11: Becoming the Stone
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 12: The Truth Behind Truths
Fullmetal Alchemist - Vol. 13: Brotherhood

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD