4 Reasons Why Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the Best Gateway Anime - Ep. 23

All right, time for one of the GOATs of anime: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Here, we discuss why this is such a great anime for first-time viewers, how it uses shōnen storytelling in a way that’s actually emotionally grounded, and why Edward and Alphonse Elric stand out as some of the most iconic protagonists in anime.  From its amazing cast and character writing to its awesome action and emotional storytelling, we dig into why it still holds up as one of our favorite anime of all time. Oh, and spoiler warning for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. 00:00 - Intro 01:17 - Some background on our anime-watching history 04:18 - Why FMA:B is the perfect gateway anime 10:08 - The themes are accessible without dumbing things down 15:00 - Erm… How does Alchemy work…? 16:15 - Hiromu Arakawa is the COW (Coolest Oathor Woman) 17:34 - Minimal reliance on anime-specific tropes 23:00 - Shōnen storytelling, but refined -waggles eyebrows- 29:10 - The writing of the female characters 34:40 - This show has the BEST. [relation]SHIPS. EVERRRRRR. 25:45 - SONG BREAK 37:35 - Back to our regularly scheduled programming :-)  41:45 - The Elric Brothers 47:48 - 2003 tangent 49:25 - Can Homunculi become better people? 52:00 - Envy origins 57:52 - Alphonse and Edward’s character arcs