Television series

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Name: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Genre: Action, Adventure, Anime, Fantasy
Released: 2009
Cast: Romi Park, Rie Kugimiya, Shinichiro Miki, Kenta Miyake, Mai Goto

The complete, faithful adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa's manga: two brothers use forbidden science to chase a cure for a catastrophic mistake, and end up uncovering a rotten state, a devastating war, and the price of playing god. It moves from slapstick comedy to genuine tragedy without ever losing its footing — funny, brutal, and finally, deeply satisfying.

TVMaze rating

3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a fantasy world with real rules, where a clever plan lands and every shortcut carries a cost, told across a long, character-driven story.

Skip it if you want standalone episodes each week, because this is one long serialized story with heavy war and grief in its middle hours, and it rarely comes up for air.

What it asks of you: Sixty-four episodes of roughly twenty-five minutes each, so the commitment is real, but the pace is brisk and the episodes are tightly plotted rather than padded.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Attack on Titan2013

Another epic that starts as a monster-of-the-week adventure and slowly reveals a devastating war story about cycles of violence and impossible choices, with the same commitment to consequence and character growth.

But Grimmer and more relentless — Brotherhood's warmth and humour are largely absent, so it can feel unremittingly bleak.

Hunter x Hunter2011

Same studio-level ambition for stakes and worldbuilding, but swaps alchemy for a wildly inventive power system, and delivers one of anime's most acclaimed arcs about power, ethics and found family.

But Slower start and a notorious mid-series arc that tests patience before the show reveals what it's really doing.

Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch2006

A tightly plotted, morally knotty war epic about a brilliant strategist wrestling with the cost of his ideals — the political intrigue and tragic inevitability rival Mustang's own arc.

But Melodrama runs hotter here, and the central hero is far more ruthless than anyone in Brotherhood.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Grave of the Fireflies1988

Brotherhood earns its emotional weight through the Elric brothers' bond under unbearable loss; this 1988 Studio Ghibli film strips away every fantastical safety net and asks what that same devotion costs when there's no magic left to fix it.

The Elric brothers' loyalty finds its most devastating echo here — two siblings clinging to each other through a collapsing world, with the same devotion but none of the alchemy to save them.

But There's no adventure, no victory, and no comfort — this is one of the saddest films ever made, not a rewatch for a rough week.

Naruto: Shippūden2007

If you loved the brothers' unbreakable bond, this gives you a whole ensemble built on that same idea — loyalty, sacrifice, and hard-won growth across a genuinely epic scale.

But Much longer and baggier, with filler stretches Brotherhood's tight pacing never allows.

My Hero Academia2016

Lighter in tone but built from the same DNA — a found-family ensemble, a rigid power system with real rules, and heroes who earn their growth through failure.

But Simpler morally and aimed at a younger audience; it never digs as deep as Brotherhood's darkest turns.

Demon Slayer2019

For the pure spectacle — gorgeous, kinetic animation and a sibling-driven quest structure, with the same sincerity about family and sacrifice powering the action.

But Thinner characterisation and simpler themes; it's more about awe than the moral complexity Brotherhood thrives on.

Mob Psycho 1002016

A shorter, stranger cousin — same emphasis on character over power, same insistence that restraint and kindness matter more than strength, wrapped in gorgeously inventive direction.

But Much smaller scale and quieter stakes; if you want another sprawling war epic, this isn't it.

Vinland Saga2019

Swaps alchemy for Vikings but keeps the core question — what do you do with vengeance once you've earned it — in a story about growing past violence into something better.

But Far more brutal and slow-burning, with a first season that's bleaker than almost anything in Brotherhood.

The Promised Neverland2019

Clever kids outthinking a monstrous system they were raised inside — the same satisfaction of watching planning and sacrifice pay off against overwhelming odds.

But Confined and claustrophobic where Brotherhood is sprawling; later seasons drop off sharply in quality.

Princess Mononoke1997

Alchemy's "equivalent exchange" and the industrial war on the forest gods are the same idea in different clothes: tampering with a natural order always demands payment, and both stories refuse to let anyone escape that bill.

Miyazaki's masterpiece asks the same question Brotherhood keeps circling — what happens when humans overreach against the laws of nature — but compresses it into two mythic, gorgeously drawn hours.

But Slower and more ambiguous, with no clean heroes or villains and an ending that refuses easy resolution.

Pinocchio1940

Alphonse's soul bound to an armor body that isn't his, aching to be whole again, is a direct descendant of Pinocchio's wish to become a real boy — same fable, eighty years and one genre apart.

A century-old Disney classic about a wooden boy who isn't quite human yet, longing to become "real" through selflessness — watch it and you'll see Alphonse's whole arc in miniature.

But It's a gentle children's film with none of the stakes, violence or moral weight Brotherhood built its reputation on.