A review by gjeebus_k
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 6 by Hiromu Arakawa

5.0

After the emotional (and quite agressive) introduction of the Elrics' teacher Izumi, it's time for a flashback story featuring 2 young brothers.

We get to learn how Izumi trained the Elric brothers. Normally when you hear the word 'training', you expect some fragments of how they learn what they want. Well, this volume showed me a whole new level of a teacher training her pupils.
I'm talking about surviving on an abandoned island for a month, while a stranger does everything to make it as hard as possible for you to stay alive.
It may sounded a bit too much, but it showed how much Edward en Alphonse grew to become the mature boys they are now.

But then comes the emotional part. The part where their training is over, and it's time to do what they planned all along.
We know what happened, but this volume gives us a more detailed look at what actually happened to Edward after Alphonse disappeared. It utterly shocked me...
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And when you thought Izumi was still mad about what happened, she tells something that will make you understand why she still cares so much for Ed and Al. Even after what they did.
But the part that really suprised me, was when Roy Mustang and Hawkeye go and meet the brothers for the first time. The way how Mustang understood Edward and saw the real fire in his eyes, gave me a lot more appreciation for Mustang.

Of course, the volume ends with another rather mysterious ending. The Elric brothers meet a strange man who turns out to be something else than human. And it seems their meeting was a setup for someone else who wants to meet the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother in the empty armour.