Product Description

At the end of destiny, where will peace be found? The brothers Elric will consider the answers that are left once the Philosopher’s Stone has guided their saga to its end. True sacrifice, the deep love of family, the cruel truths of life and death… these are the realities that will bring the Fullmetal Alchemist’s tale to a close. Episodes: The Other Side of the Gate Death Laws and Promises DVD Features: Character profiles Production art Image gallery Textless songs

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43301 in DVD
• Brand: Funimation
• Released on: 2006-09-12
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Features

• At the end of destiny, where will peace be found? The brothers Elric will consider the answers that are left once the Philosopher s Stone has guided their saga to its end. True sacrifice, the deep love of family, the cruel truths of life and death these are the realities that will bring the Fullmetal Alchemist s tale to a close. Episodes: The Other Side of the Gate Death Laws and Promises

Amazon.com
Fullmetal Alchemist reaches its appropriately wrenching conclusion, as Ed's and Al's powers and commitment to each other are put to the ultimate test. The fate of their world (and, possibly, this one) is at stake: If the Elrics fail, the Homunculi will continue their murderous deeds. But Fullmetal Alchemist isn't just a simple story of good versus evil, as revelations about the origins of Envy and the role of Hohenheim prove. The drama, the adventure, the comedy, and, above all, the loving relationship between Edward and Alphonse make it a truly noteworthy series in the history of anime, one whose influence is sure to be felt for years. At the end of volume 13, viewers may feel the same sort of emptiness an earlier generation of readers experienced when Sherlock Holmes went over Reisenbach Falls, although episode 51 sets up the feature, The Conqueror of Shamballa--which robs the ending of a little of its punch. But Hiromu Arakawa's original manga continues, and fans of the Elric Brothers will enjoy The Art of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Anime, a collection of illustrations by artists who worked on the series, including a nicely incongruous painting of the cast in traditional Japanese costume. (Rated TV PG: violence, grotesque imagery, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

The Battle Done?
The trials of the Elric brothers have all been leading up to the events of this volume, which deals with the final, all-out culmination of the struggle between the story's forces of good and evil.

As Hawkeye deals with the madman Archer and Mustang tries to redeem himself by taking personal responsibility for stopping Bradley's reign of terror, the time of Dante's triumph draws nigh. As Ed races to save Al, he finally faces his greatest challenge - an inevitable, to-the-death battle with the psychotic, androgynous shapeshifter Envy - that even his love for Al might not help him win this time.

Although loose ends are left for the movie which follows, alot is wrapped up, particularly Mustang's storyline and the shocking revealation of exactly why the mere mention of any of the Elrics, especially the boys' father, throws Envy (who has some of the volume's most memorable moments) into an unspeakable rage. In a way it almost seems sad that a movie follows, because the ending of the series proper just seems so right.

As a whole, this was an intelligently written and extremely moving series that transcended it's genre.

Probably the best series ending for the best show....(SERIES SPOILERS!!!)
First of all, if you haven't already seen all of the series, DO NOT READ THIS!!! (unless you wanna suck all of the enjoyment out of seeing it...) MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS LIE AHEAD!!!

Sadly, this is the end of the series (only to lead on to the movie...), but I think it was a sorrowful but worthy ending. There are a few quick battles in this volume including:

-Roy Mustang vs Pride (Fuhrer King Bradley)
-Edward Elric vs Envy (Oh, and Envy's TRUE form is revealed!!!)
-Riza Hawkeye vs Half-Machine Frank Archer (this isn't REALLY a battle, it's just that they both target eachother)

Although these battles are short, they are rewarding, and the following people die:

-Edward Elric
-Sloth (but didn't we see that coming from the previous volume?)
-Dante/Lyra
-Gluttony

However, Al brings Ed back to life using the Philosopher's Stone which is attached to his soul and then Ed (even though he has regained his limbs) sacrifices HIMSELF to bring Al back as a 10-year-old boy and Ed becomes trapped on the other side of the gate with his father, Hohenheim.

The series concludes with Al and Ed promising to eachother (even though they are in two separate worlds XD) that they will find eachother which leads onto the movie.

I hope this review has been helpful, tell me if it has or hasn't, okay? *wink*

Climactic conclusions and an unfinished story...
Deceit, lies, death, shocking discoveries, and a lot of hard work later, Fullmetal Alchemist finally reaches the end.

Overall, the final three episodes tie a lot of lose ends together, almost too well to where the ending (Episode 51) seems a bit rushed where a two parter would have been better. The final episodes deal with various battles- Izumi vs. Archer, Ed vs Dante and Envy, Mustang vs. Pride. But all of these battles seem short and rushed. I mean, EVERYTHING in the series lead up to Pride being "dethroned" and it all happened, but all within two sword slashes and one explosion. While the conclusion of the battle WAS in fact fitting, it didn't play out as other battles. Even the battle between Greed and Ed was a lot longer in comparison to all three final battles put together.

Archer seemed to be a great villain with tons of potential, but it was all quickly ended as his battle with Izumi was short and Riza ended it all too soon. Same with Ed and Dante, I would have thought that there was going to be more action there. When Ed first attacked her in Episode 49, her powers looked like they would have been a challenge for Ed to fight against, but it never really went beyond a tiny short battle.

I am not one who needs blood and gore, but I do believe that these couple of battles, especially Mustang vs Pride should have been better played out and drawn out for a longer period of time.

But there were a lot of good points and unexpected shockers in this ending. It is still a very deep series and the ending was quite fitting indeed.

I pointed out the bad simply because that is all that I found wrong with it and as usual, when it comes to Fullmetal Alchemist, the good always overpowers the bad.

So, hang on to your seats as you watch these episodes for the conclusion of a lifetime and see all of the Elric brothers' work pay off in the end, even if they might not get what they wanted in return.

In the end, I still give this DVD a rating of five stars. Why, because even when there were things that didn't meet my expectations, as Al well put it more or less:

"The law of Equivalent Exchange doesn't encompass everything. When you give something up, you get something of equal value in return, even if it isn't what you expected."