7 Reasons to (Re-)Watch Fullmetal Alchemist Before the New Movie Comes Out

With the release of the live-action Fullmetal Alchemist this year (and, even more, an all Japanese cast — that’s right, in this age in which Scarlett Johansson can be Motoko Kusanagi and white people can fill in for, well, any race imaginable, we’ve got a Japanese cast!), I’ve decided to pay homage to the iconic manga/anime with this spoiler-free list of reasons why you should discover or re-watch Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, what I consider one of the greatest anime of all time. [title type=”h4″]Plot[/title] Okay, so this is an obvious place to start, but this series simply has an engaging, entertaining plot. There’s enough action to make it dangerously binge-worthy without making it feel like an overdone action flick. There are surprising twists and turns in both the original and Brotherhood, but I have to say that the latter does come out on top in terms of what it offers. While the original veered away from the manga into some strange but interesting areas, Brotherhood sticks more closely to the manga’s story, which is much broader in scope and has a hell of a lot more at stake. It took me years to watch Brotherhood because as much as I love FMA, I couldn’t forget how thoroughly I was wrecked by the tragic deaths of some of the characters. But despite how dark the show might get—and this holds true of both versions—there is always plenty of humor throughout, so nothing ever feels hopeless. …in which Ed and Izumi humorously describe a tragic,…