Reviews

Fullmetal Alchemist (3-In-1 Edition), Vol. 5 by Hiromu Arakawa

omara's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

greysonk's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

jessica_8675's review

4.0

This book focuses a lot on the Ishbalan war which is a big part of the Fullmetal Alchemist lore and extremely important to the story overall. Knowing that I still found a good chunk of the end a little dull. The parts that went dull were overly graphic with their violence, like unnecessarily so.

leathehatless's review

5.0

This volume is the tipping point. This is the final share of explanations and this is were the story kicks into the final stretch.

Its almost impossible to not draw paralels between amestris and the nazi army. The battle, the philosophy behind them and the thirst for extermination. Still, I felt Arakawa did a great job exploring the soldiers perspective and the perversion of war.

Also, a good chapter for the homunculi and the introduction of Father.

The bonus chapter was really sweet and I wish we could see more moments of Honeheim as a father.

bellahr's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

heysoph's review

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jessa_yes's review

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

readerbot_lu's review

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Did I like it? Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

Positives

The story dips into the darker side with these volumes (continuing the series trajectory), but the limits of alchemy and the world-building are more robust. 
 

Negatives

There were parts where I got a little confused about which flashback timeline we were in because there were two different time periods being flashed back to. 

bookosaurusrawr's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bewitchingkelly's review

5.0

volume 15 is one of the best things to come out of this series, the detail and parallels to ww2 are stunning as well as the added depth we get to hughes, hawkeye, mustang, major armstrong, etc. and the guilt they carry with them. one of my favorite things about the characters is that they all know how awful of people they are and never try to justify their actions in any way.