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A review by eesh25
Fullmetal Alchemist (3-In-1 Edition), Vol. 4 by Hiromu Arakawa
4.0
4.5 Stars
I wish I'd read more manga so that I could start the review by saying that I was glad to be continuing my favourite one. Because I'm pretty sure this would be a favourite. There's a lot of creativity, humour and heart that goes into every single volume. I also love the art in this series and all the characters.
At the end of the last three volumes (pretty sure it was near the end), we found out that fucking King Bradley is a homunculus! I did not see that coming! And that's just one of many things when it comes to this series. Arakawa does a fantastic job of subverting expectations. There were several things/revelations that I didn't think could, or would, happen; but they did! The priorities are shifting fast—though getting Ed and Al's original bodies back is still a focus—and we're getting a lot more insight into the side-characters.
I think that, at this point, all the major players have been introduced to some extent. We even got a teeny-tiny glimpse of the Big Bad. And now, what's left is for us to know which characters will play what part. But Arakawa is so good at not being predictable that we can't be sure where each character will end up.
For example, I thought Lin was just going to be a useless fucking asshole for a couple of chapters and then disappear. But it turns out there's more to him than meets the eye. Scar keeps coming back too, and I still fucking hate the guy. Self-righteous fuck-heads like him are particularly loathsome to me. But, at the same time, I'm curious to know what he has to do with everything. I want him to be one the "side of good," but I also wanna kill him.
The developments in these three volumes had a lot to do with forming a team of good guys, and about them finding out what the fuck is going on. There was a lot of action, not as much humour (understandable), and plenty of having to deal with the Homunculus. Also, plenty of Winry (yay!). So, overall, this was another great installment in the series, and I'm excited to read further. And... also a little afraid, because our protagonists are in so much shit.
One last thing, if this review felt a little swear-heavy to you, you can blame Gordon Ramsay because I've been binge-watching Kitchen Nightmares clips for the past two-to-three days.
I wish I'd read more manga so that I could start the review by saying that I was glad to be continuing my favourite one. Because I'm pretty sure this would be a favourite. There's a lot of creativity, humour and heart that goes into every single volume. I also love the art in this series and all the characters.
At the end of the last three volumes (pretty sure it was near the end), we found out that fucking King Bradley is a homunculus! I did not see that coming! And that's just one of many things when it comes to this series. Arakawa does a fantastic job of subverting expectations. There were several things/revelations that I didn't think could, or would, happen; but they did! The priorities are shifting fast—though getting Ed and Al's original bodies back is still a focus—and we're getting a lot more insight into the side-characters.
I think that, at this point, all the major players have been introduced to some extent. We even got a teeny-tiny glimpse of the Big Bad. And now, what's left is for us to know which characters will play what part. But Arakawa is so good at not being predictable that we can't be sure where each character will end up.
For example, I thought Lin was just going to be a useless fucking asshole for a couple of chapters and then disappear. But it turns out there's more to him than meets the eye. Scar keeps coming back too, and I still fucking hate the guy. Self-righteous fuck-heads like him are particularly loathsome to me. But, at the same time, I'm curious to know what he has to do with everything. I want him to be one the "side of good," but I also wanna kill him.
The developments in these three volumes had a lot to do with forming a team of good guys, and about them finding out what the fuck is going on. There was a lot of action, not as much humour (understandable), and plenty of having to deal with the Homunculus. Also, plenty of Winry (yay!). So, overall, this was another great installment in the series, and I'm excited to read further. And... also a little afraid, because our protagonists are in so much shit.
One last thing, if this review felt a little swear-heavy to you, you can blame Gordon Ramsay because I've been binge-watching Kitchen Nightmares clips for the past two-to-three days.