Equivalent Exchange! I’ll give half of my life to you and you give half of yours to me!

Let’s start with a little introduction to the story. The initial backstory for both anime are pretty much identical. Our favourite ~~midget~~ (dodge chair being thrown), *Ahem Fullmetal Alchemist known as Edward Elric is on a search for a philosopher stone with his brother Alphonse Elric……yes the taller one lol. You could say these guys were geniuses at Alchemy as they were seen to be performing complex transmutations at a very young age.

At the approximate age of 11 Years old, their mother Trisha Elric died of an incurable disease. And I mean at that age, any kid would try to bring their dead mothers back if they could. Right? Human Transmutation was considered a serious Taboo in the Fullmetal world, but giving no fucks the two decided to go for it. You’re probably wondering where the fuck is their father? Well its a long story………. I’ll get to that later. Let’s just say he left on a quest when these two were young.

Broken down to its basic components, the average adult human body is comprised of the following-

Water (35 L)

Carbon (20 kg)

Ammonia (4 L)

Lime (1.5 kg)

Phosphorous (800 g)

Salt (250 g)

Saltpetre (100g)

Sulfur (80 g)

Fluorine (7.5 g)

Iron (5 g)

Silicon (3 g)

Trace amounts of 15 other elements.

Based on the law of Equivalent Exchange, the boys thought that it would definitely work. Oh, boy were they wrong lol. In the process of trying to resurrect their mother, Edward lost his left leg and Alphonse lost his entire body. This was because the building blocks of the human body were insufficient to bring back a human soul and according to equivalent exchange, they had to pay the price. They succeeded in creating a retarded zombie goo that talked for about 4 seconds before dying. Both Ed and Al got sucked into the Gate of Truth and meet this creepy translucent freak. The knowledge of the world flows through both of them which is why they are able to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle.

SPOILER ALERT- If you don’t want to know the details, skip this paragraph! What they transmuted not their mother but in fact, a male as Edward goes back to dig up the grave. Because they didn’t have a human sacrifice to create the soul, their body parts were taken instead. Van Hohenheim hinted that their mother’s soul was not brought back but instead, the boys created something else. Based on the body parts lost by Edward and Alphonse, it’s possible to conclude that the alchemist lost what they valued most. Edward first lost his left leg most likely due to his resentment and goal of running towards Hohenheim. Later his left arm was sacrificed to fix Alphonse’s soul to the amour as Alchemy was the second most important thing to him. Alphonse lost his whole body most likely because he longed for his mothers’ warmth as seen in the flashbacks. Izumi lost her internal organs (I assume her womb) as that was what she wanted to do most, was to conceive a child. And the reason why Edward is so ~~short……small…..~~ underdeveloped is that his soul is linked to Alphonse’s body that is within the gate and is keeping him alive.

Because the transmutation failed, they had to repent for their sins. But with hope and determination, they set out for the legendary philosopher stone in order to restore their bodies back to normal. The philosopher stone is a legendary crimson stone that allows an alchemist to ignore the laws of equivalent exchange and perform alchemy beyond their capabilities. What the philosopher stone is made of……….. you can find out for yourselves ;P You’re going to be in for one heck of a ride when you find out because man was I blown away lol.

NOW FOR THE DIFFERENCES!!!

As for the storyline, both anime’s are very similar. The 2003 series will from here on be referred as FMA is around 50 episodes long while Brotherhood is around 60 episodes (Such a big jump wtf lol). Both have a sense of comedy, action, mystery and a whole lot of alchemy (science fiction or magic I suppose?).

FMA was made alongside the manga and for some reason, the anime overtook the manga. The directors thought well, let’s just make up some bullshit filler side-story and man are we glad they did because it turned out great lol. FMA has a different ending to brotherhood and the story concludes with a movie FMA: Conqueror of Shamballa. In FMA, (if I remember correctly), Edward gets trapped within our human world Germany as he tried to revive Alphonse and passed through the gate of truth. Alphonse finally gets his body back. YAY! However the two have become separated 😦 The homunculus has Horcruxes which if destroyed, they die lol. Below is the poster for the movie, I’m promoting this shit for free so they should really pay me lol.

Brotherhood followed the manga religious with great additional details. Ultimately they discovered the truth of how philosopher stones were created. They are made from multiple human sacrifices! SPOILERS AGAIN BITCHES AHAHAHAHA! Their goal of retrieving their bodies slowly became a mission of stopping the nationwide transmutation circle. A few more Homunculus were added to the storyline which made shit more interesting. Selim Bradley became Pride, which really knocks your socks off when you find out lol. Brotherhood utilised a new animation style which looks better overall. However, the gag-style differs from FMA and can get a bit irritating when they take shit too far lol. AND yes, they both get their bodies back as well. Long story short, massive fight at the end with father (you’ll find out at episode 20 ish), Edward’s right arm got destroyed. Alphonse being a good little bro sacrificed his soul for Edwards real right arm. Edward wins the battle and then trades his knowledge or “Gate of Truth” in order to revive Alphonse’s soul and body. By doing that, he lost his ability to perform alchemy. FOREVERRRR!!!

Both of the animes were great in their own way. If you were wondering which order to watch them in well…….that’s up to you. If you haven’t read the manga before, watch FMA then Brotherhood. But if you have, then Vice versa. But to be honest it really doesn’t matter lol.