In an alchemical ritual gone wrong, Edward Elric lost his arm and his leg, and his brother Alphonse became nothing but a soul in a suit of armour. Equipped with mechanical “auto-mail” limbs, Edward becomes a state alchemist, seeking the one thing that can restore his and his brother’s bodies… the legendary Philosopher’s Stone.
In the midst of a heated battle, Ed and Prince Lin of Xing are swallowed whole by the homunculus Gluttony. Will they survive the depths of Gluttony’s gullet like Jonah in the whale, or has Al lost his brother for good? And the political power structure of the military may be irreparably shattered when Colonel Mustang confronts Fuhrer President King Bradley with his horrifying suspicion that Bradley is a homunculus!
Volume 13 pitches us straight into an all out battle between Edward, Alphonse and Prince Lin, against Envy and Gluttony. However, things are cut short when Gluttony accidentally eats Ed, Lin and Envy, sending them straight through the portal door that lurks in his stomach. This leaves the three of them to either battle it out in the pitch black nightmare they now find themselves in, or team up and try to find a way out of this impossible situation. As for Alphonse, he is now lost without Ed and has no choice other than to persuade Gluttony to take them to the Homunculi father figure in the hopes of learning more.
And in case you think the side story of Colonel Mustang’s quest to learn the truth about the military has stalled, think again as some horrifying secrets get revealed – and he and his squad get placed in rather immediate danger.
Hiromu Arakawa continues her enjoyable mixture of action, political intrigue, drama, humour and fantasy, setting up an enjoyable volume that ends up answering a lot more mysteries than creating new ones. There are some big reveals here and if you have been following up to this point, you’re certainly going to enjoy them. As per usual the tale is dark, but nicely balanced with some comedic moments and timing arising from her varied casts’ interactions.
As for her art, she continues with the fairly simple lined characters and minimal backgrounds, but she does this to great affect and although the final outcome is sometimes a little too cartoony to carry perhaps the more sinister tone of the writing, it does look good and her clean lines make for an easy follow as you work your way through the book. Overall this is a good looking book with some fantastic action sequences and some well portrayed comedic moments.
In summary, Fullmetal Alchemist continues with the great work laid out in the previous volumes and is strong enough to pull new readers back to the series if they’ve just hopped on for the first time at this point.
Well worth the effort of picking up then, even if you have already seen the anime adaptation, which if you weren’t aware, doesn’t actually mirror the manga at all!
Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist