By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Shonen Gangan. Released in North America by Viz.

Skipping ahead here, obviously, to review the most recent volume. In the interim, stuff has happened, and all the major characters (minus Winry, who’s back home – at least the author hasn’t tried to shoehorn her into a situation she doesn’t belong in) are continuing to fight the remaining Homonculi. This, of course, means that the majority of the volume is a giant fight, with all that this entails.

However, the real reason to read this volume, and what makes it one of the best to date, is Roy meeting Envy. Finding Hughes’ killer has been a major focus of Roy’s and this time when he asks he finally gets the answer he’s looking for. Roy’s reaction is… well, predictable, as we all sort of expected that he’d flip out. What’s more intriguing is the reaction of the other characters there.

Scar and Ed immediately realize what’s going to happen, but Ed’s going to have to act alone, as Scar is not about to lecture anyone going off on a huge hatred-filled cycle of revenge, for obvious reasons. Meanwhile, they’ve still got to catch Envy, who I must admit is really being an asshole here. The comments on Maria Ross, morphing into Gracia Hughes… Envy is trying hard to make Roy lose it. (Great to see Maria running around again, by the way).

Then we have a series of wonderful moments that are not only great character drama but are pure gold for shippers of Roy/Riza. First we get Riza’s elaborate double bluff, playing on the fact that everyone already thinks that Roy and Riza are closer than they actually are. Then of course Roy arrives and reduces Envy to its true form, and prepares to kill it… but is stopped by Riza’s gun to his head. She won’t let him kill Envy out of murderous hatred.

This is pretty much the best scene of the book, beautifully drawn and making a terrific point about letting your emotions consume you. Scar and Ed both get really good shots in, but Roy is still ready to murder Envy anyway (and it is totally played as murder, not anything else). It’s Riza who gets through to him though, especially when he realizes what she’s willing to do should this situation happen. He backs down… and Envy just loses it, screaming at everyone that they’re all idiots. Ed, of course, can see what’s really behind this, and pushes Envy (unintentionally) into one final act of pettiness.

This, believe it or not, still leaves out the best line of the volume. That’s because the best line of the volume is on the final page. If you’ve ever loved watching one specific character kick ass and take names, you will be cheering when you get to this page. Further, deponent sayeth not.

Clearly, this isn’t a volume for new readers, and I wouldn’t expect them to read it. For FMA fans, though, this is just terrific, giving our heroes plenty of awesome scenes of combat (even tiny powerhouses like May) and some real emotional drama, especially involving Roy and Riza. Fantastic shonen, one of the best currently coming out in the United States. It’s a shame it’ll be another 6 months till Volume 24.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Gangan. Released in North America by Viz.

Sometimes, you just get behind, and have to play catch up. Maybe other series hold your purse more. Maybe you got sick of the ship wars and take a break from fandom for a while. Or maybe you read something that freaked you out, and you just couldn’t go on as you kept thinking about THE SCARY THING.

But, time passes, and your tastes change. And so you go back to remember what it was you first loved. And that’s what I’m doing now with Fullmetal Alchemist, one of the best shonen titles currently being published, and which I accidentally kinda got 21 volumes behind on, and I fell behind on the anime as well (like 7 years behind – I keep meaning to watch Brotherhood). However, I’ve remained active in the fandom, and the chatter has gotten big enough that I wanted to go back and do some mass reading.

(If you don’t know how you can be active in a fandom without actually reading or watching any of the source material, boy, are *you* new to the Internet.)

So, for the uninitiated, Fullmetal Alchemist, or FMA, is a fantasy action series about two young teenage boys searching for the Philosopher’s Stone. Due to an alchemy experiment gone horribly wrong (get used to that phrase throughout this series), the younger brother, Alphonse, is merely a living suit of armor with a soul, and the older brother, Edward, is short. Oh yeah, and he’s missing an arm and a leg as well, replacing them with robotic ‘automail’. They travel around, trying to track down leads, occasionally righting wrongs, and taking a lot of umbrage at having his size made fun of. (OK, that last one is just Ed.)

Volume 1 start off with what appear to be a few stand-alone chapters, with Ed and Al battling corrupt priests, corrupt military officers, and normal boring old train robbers. We do meet two of the series’ villains, Lust and Gluttony, and aren’t they just creepy as heck. Most importantly, this series lets you know right off the bat that it is not Shonen Jump – there will be death, and blood, and so you’d better get used to it. Shonen Gangan is for the *older* boy. We also meet, at the end, the goofy Colonel that Ed reports to, Roy Mustang, and his stoic Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. Far more on them later.

Volume 2 gives us another running plot, as a man is running around killing State Alchemists. To be fair, the Alchemist we see him kill here really was an utter scumbag, but still, vigilantes are bad! Chapter 5, by the way, is the series’ first really nightmarish one, and was the main reason I paused in both the manga and the anime. Those who’ve read it will know exactly what I mean. The vigilante, Scar, then goes after Ed, and manages to utterly annihilate his automail arm before the cavalry arrives. We also meet more of the military, including one of the most ludicrously silly men in the entire series, Alex Armstrong, and another, as yet unnamed villain. (Given his cohorts are Lust and Gluttony, I think I can take a few guesses at what he might be called.)

FMA has a very good balance between action, drama, exposition, and humor. And there’s several bits in the two volumes that are really rather scary – I wouldn’t show this to anyone under 12, that’s for sure. Oh yes, and since the manga is drawn by a woman, I am pleased to see several strong female characters in here – both good (Hawkeye) and bad (Lust). An excellent series for those who like thrills and fights with a good dose of backstory intrigue.