Fullmetal Alchemist (Volume One)

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Fullmetal Alchemist (Volume One)
Hiromu Arakawa
2002

The Summary
Edward and Alphonse Elric haven't exactly had an easy life.  Orphaned at a young age and irreparably damaged during their childhood attempt to bring their beloved mother back to life, the Elric brothers have fought tooth and nail for their survival.

Now, entering adulthood, the brothers have become seasoned alchemists and warriors in their pursuit of the Philospher's Stone - a strange, magical creation that can grant their every desire.  Together, they will stop at nothing to find the Stone and restore their original bodies.  But are they really willing to uncover the truth?

The Good
The plot of this story is incredibly intricate and compelling.  Hiromu Arakawa's novel is fascinatingly complex and enjoyable to read, and her illustrations are excellent.  Fullmetal Alchemist is a well-written and well-drawn piece of fiction that is not only lovely to look at but entertaining to read.

Her characters are also great to encounter.  Sometimes daring, sometimes silly, and sometimes morbidly serious, the characters of Arakawa's work are fleshed-out in the extreme with individual emotions, aspirations, and personal histories that make each one entirely unique. They are complex and simultaneously appealing.

As an aside, Arakawa crafts a graphic novel that involves equal parts science fiction, action-adventure, suspense, and political intrigue.  It can appeal to a broad base of interests and a wide variety of readers.  In short, her work is excellent.

The Bad
I wouldn't necessarily label the construction of Fullmetal Alchemist as a "bad thing" so much as a side note on how many manga series from Japan are published:  the book reads from right to left.  Where a typical Western novel starts with the spine on the left, Arakawa's novel opens with the spine on the right and you read from the top right corner to the left bottom corner.

For some readers, it's backwards.

Admittedly, it's a structure that takes some getting used to, but it isn't a quality that merits not enjoying this particular graphic novel.

The Ugly
Given the consistent number of tragedies visited upon the Elric brothers, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise the amount of violence they face and the sorrow superimposed upon their lives.