Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist (Japanese: 鋼の錬金術師, Hepburn: Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, lit. "The Steel Alchemist") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan shōnen manga magazine between July 2001 and June 2010; the publisher later collected the individual chapters into twenty-seven tankōbon volumes. The steampunk world of Fullmetal Alchemist is primarily styled after the European Industrial Revolution. Set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is a widely practiced science, the series follows the journey of two alchemist brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who are searching for the philosopher's stone to restore their bodies after a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life using alchemy. Fullmetal Alchemist has been adapted into various anime—two television series and two films, all animated by Bones—as well as light novels. The series has generated original video animations, video games, supplementary books, a collectible card game, and a variety of action figures and other merchandise. A live-action film based on the series was released in 2017. In North America, the manga was localized and published in English by Viz Media. Yen Press has the rights for the digital release of the volumes since 2014. The manga has sold over 70 million volumes worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series. It received the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category in 2004, the UK's Eagle Award for favorite manga in 2010 and 2011 and the Seiun Award for best science fiction comic in 2011. The English release of the manga's first volume was the top-selling graphic novel during 2005. Reviewers from several media outlets had positive critiqued the series, particularly for its character development, action scenes, symbolism, and philosophical references.