Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Complete Collection Two [Blu-ray]

Don't read the Amazon editorial review if you haven't seen this - it contains MASSIVE spoilers on this series, including the culmination of Mustang's vengeance, and the ending of the series. Shame on you Amazon!!!I recently purchased this collection for $29.99 (thank you Funimation!). This is the second half of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. FMA Brotherhood is the second FMA series, and the one that follows the manga more closely. In the first half, there were some changes from the manga just so that there wasn't too much overlap (the original series was being released while the manga was running and it caught up and passed the manga and therefore had a very different direction after about episode 15 or 20).(This review assumes you have watched the first half)This half covers episodes 34 to 64, starting with the arc in Briggs. May and Marcoh have discovered the nation wide transmutation circle while Scar and Kimblee head north as well. Ed and Al are 'guests' of Olivia Armstrong at the Briggs Fortress. Their quest takes a different approach in this half, less on the journey for the Philosopher's Stone, focused more on their attempts to free the nation from the grip of the homonculi and Father (who they met up with earlier in the series). The second half of the series follows the manga so exactly, that there are even lines exactly from the manga. I read the manga after watching this series, then re-watched and it's remarkable.Hiromu Arakawa is a talented female manga author, and she has done her due diligence in researching the background required for this series. For the Ishvalan War she actually even interviewed WW2 vets. Her story telling is magnificent. This series is all about friendship and unity. A common theme to Japanese manga and anime (like a lot of the war anime that are inherently anti-war). The characters may be rather over the top in many cases, but they are so interesting and likable that the viewer just can't stop watching.I prefer the Japanese audio track. Romi Park (a Korean / Japanese voice actress) is masterful as Edward Elric. The supporting cast is very well matched with their characters. I especially enjoyed Olivia's very gruff voice actress, and Wrath and Greed are both cast well also. Some of the humor is much more apparent with the subtle Japanese voice inflections as well. Many times this doesn't come across on the English language dub. But this is one of the better dubs, just comparing one of the better English dubs to quite possibly the best Japanese original voice cast is incredibly tough. A lot of the Japanese (and American for the dub) voice actors reprise roles from the original series.The Blu-Ray is incredible. Playing it side by side next to the DVD version (thanks to my local library), you really see a difference. The audio is also amazing. One little weird thing: switching to the Japanese audio while watching requires pulling up the pop-up menu rather than just flicking the audio button on my PS3 remote. It's one of the only Blu-Rays that does it that way. But you don't have to set the English captions, once you hit Japanese 2.0 audio the English captions are automatically activated. The American dub is in 5.1 surround.This is an amazing series. I firmly believe that this is the best anime release this year. FMA Brotherhood on Blu-Ray is amazing, and I waited to purchase the series until the Complete Collections were released, rather than buying the 5 individual release sets at $25 - $35 each. For $30 each ($60 total) you get 64 episodes of one of the greatest anime series of all time. I love you Funimation! Now just finish D-Gray Man!

Bought the DVD set when the series left a streaming platform I was subscribed to. DVDs arrived in great condition and have had no issues with playing them in my dvd player.

I've been looking for the Blu-Ray set of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood for a long time, and usually I would find some $40 copy that wouldnt run on any Blu-Ray players in the U.S. which was a mega bummer. I kept an eye on this set, but the price was keeping me from purchasing it. I eventually had enough spare funds to acquire it, and I can say that I personally am very happy with it.Now theres nothing *too* special about this set, other than the beautiful box it comes in, and the art on both the box and each of the cases for the 7 discs (2 per case plus a single 'extras' disc). It also comes with a small pamphlet with short descriptions of each episode as well as character descriptions for every main character in the second half of the show. But the show is what you're purchasing, and it is amazing in its quality, both of the discs and the shows content.Now, this set may not be the most necessary thing for most fans of the show. Its expensive for just half of the show, and also the full show is available on a lot of the streaming sites, such as Crunchyroll and Netflix, so its not really hard to watch. However, if youre like me, and enjoy collecting physical releases of your favorite shows, this is a no-brainer. Having the show available to watch with no internet connection, or if any of the sites removes it due to licensing or whatever, makes physical discs still much more valuable to me than streaming sites.TL;DR,Expensive, but if you collect physical editions or just really REALLY like FMA:B, this set is a great buy.

- Synopsis: The adventures of our unique heroes continues in this sequel. There is no turning back now, as the path they walk to the discovery of the legendary philosopher stone leads them down a path of misery, death, and peril. Additionally, new enemies and allies join the fight, further adding to the drama, suspense, and action that this anime has to offer. Tune in to find out how the thrilling conclusion to the fate's of the Elric brothers and those around them unfold.===========================================================================================================- Comments: This anime does an excellent job of balancing two contrasting factors such as silly situations and dead-serious scenarios with ease. Further adding entertainment value and breaking some of the more suspenseful situations with some comic-relief. Thus, keeping the viewer engaged but also allowing for room to surprise the viewer in ways they may not necessarily expect. All in all, a fantastic anime that should be a must-watch for anime fans alike.- Features: English and Japanese audio, as well as English subs. Includes 31 episodes on 4 Blu-rays with a run-time of about 12 hours. Rated TV-14 for violence and suggestive scenes.===========================================================================================================- Recommendations: Tokyo Ghoul, K, Tokyo ESP, Ben-To, Chaos;Head, Tokyo Ghoul, Valkyria Chronicles, 11eyes, and Code:Breaker.

Me encantó poder volver a ver la primera serie anime que vi . Lo que no me ha gustado es que no pueda poner los subtítulos en inglés . Solamente se puede o bien poner en japonés y subtítulos en inglés o directamente en inglés sin subtítulos . Por lo demás , perfecto.

リージョンBなので、普通のプレイヤーでは見れません。PCにドライブをつないで見ているので、視聴環境を作るのが少し面倒でしたが、内容には文句無し！です。英語音声・英語字幕で見れるのも楽しいです。

Este anime es de lo mejor que puedes encontrar. Lástima que el Blu-Ray no viene con subtitulos en español, ya que me acostumbré a los nombres y lugares de la serie en ese idioma.Tiene muy pocos extras, pero vale la pena tener esta serie en original y en la mejor calidad posible.Muy recomendada.

I first started watching the original series on Netflix. Watched every episode of that, and got hooked. Then I saw Brotherhood and was disappointed that it was an adaptation, not a continuation of the first series. However, after watching more than half of Brotherhood, I can admit that this series is better developed, and more exciting than the first. My reason for buying this is because Netflix only had 52 out of the 64 episodes available... A tease, right? So, I decided that since this show is pretty entertaining, I would just buy the rest of the damn series!

fullmetal alchemist brotherhood collection 1 & 2 is superior to the also excellent fullmetal alchemist dvd from a few years back in every way for a few reasons.-its more accurate to the manga which its based on.-its so emotional in places,you really feel what these characters have been & going through.its done to perfection.-the english dub is one of the best i've heard.-the action & violence is top notch.-some of the episodes are very dark in tone.-introduces loads of new & interesting characters.-fantastic music score.a must buy for all anime fans!