Fullmetal Alchemist #2 ★★★★☆

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Title: Fullmetal Alchemist #2
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: Hiromu Arakawa
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 187
Words: 9K

Even with the Shou Tucker (the Stitching Alchemist) arc, I still really enjoyed this volume. Unfortunately, Shou murdering his wife and then 2 years later his little daughter to create talking chimeras was just brutal. I still remember this from the anime and it had a lot more heart and punch than was presented here in the manga.

There is a lot of info revealed yet again. Another entity, Envy, is revealed and we’re also treated to the debut of Scar, an alchemist who is one of the last surviving Shambalans. Shambala was a country that defied the Government and said government used State Alchemists to wipe it off the map in retaliation. Lust, one of the entities, reveals that the Entities have some sort of master plan that the Elric brothers figure into but we’re not given much info beyond that.

Lots of existential angst and wondering if the rules are good and fights. Oh, the fights are grand. Scar has the power of destruction and explodes people and things and is also apparently superhumanly fast. Ed gets his arm destroyed and Al gets massive holes blown in him. The volume ends with them going back to their home village to be repaired by the mechanic who created Ed’s automail arm and leg in the first place.

My only quibble here was how everyone didn’t shoot first and ask questions later when it came to Scar. He has already killed over 15 state alchemists but nobody shoots him. They try to go mano a mano with predictable results. There’s a reason we have armies of soldiers now and not one of warriors.

★★★★☆

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