Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – OVA Collection (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) [Blu-ray] by Funimation

Actors

• Maxey Whitehead
• Vic Mignogna
• Christopher Sabat
• Caitlin Glass
• Travis Willingham

Format

• Animated
• Widescreen

Editorial Review

The four brief OVA adventures in this collection suggest short stories that explore the pasts of the main characters from the popular Fullmetal Alchemist continuity. In “The Blind Alchemist,” Edward and Alphonse Elric pursue Judau, an alchemist serving a wealthy family, following a rumor that he successfully performed human transmutation. The melancholy tone of this episode recalls the Elrics' visit to Liore and their grisly encounter with Shou Tucker, the “Sewing Life” alchemist. Episode three recounts the student days of the Elrics' teacher, Izumi-sensei. She was every bit as formidable as a teenager as she is as an adult: a bear carcass served as an introduction to her soft-spoken future husband. In “Yet Another Man's Battlefield,” cadets Roy Mustang and Maes Hughes forge the deep friendship that will become a key element in the later narrative. The “Comic Theater” mini-episodes offer the animated equivalent of the four-panel cartoons Hiromu Arakawa put at the end of her manga collections. The slapstick antics involving simply drawn versions of the familiar characters suggest a blooper reel from a live-action film. (Rated TV 14: violence, grotesque imagery) –Charles Solomon

(1. The Blind Alchemist, 2. Simple People, 3. Chronicle of the Teacher, 4. Yet Another Man's Battlefield)