After talking a bit about the various Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood properties that are expiring Sunday night, Funimation has now confirmed that their rights to the franchise for streaming and home video is expiring as of March 31st, 2016. The series was one of the bigger and more mainstream properties Funimation worked with when it came out and also one that helped to push streaming to the forefront quite a few years ago.
“Funimation licenses these rights for a limited time, after which they revert to the original Japanese license holder. After these dates, these titles will be removed from our streaming service on Funimation.com, and we will not be reprinting any more home video products.”
With some recent re-releases and big editions to get out a few more sales of the show, it’s certainly not too much of a surprise.
Plot concept: In this world there exist alchemists, people who study and perform the art of alchemical transmutation—to manipulate objects and transform one object into another. They are bounded by the basic law of alchemy: in order to gain something you have to sacrifice something of the same value. The main character is the famous alchemist Edward Elric—also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist—who almost lost his little brother, Alphonse, in an alchemical accident. Edward managed to attach his brother’s soul to a large suit of armor. While he did manage to save his brother’s life, he paid the terrible price of his limbs. To get back what they’ve lost, the brothers embark on a journey to find the Philosopher’s Stone that is said to amplify the powers of an alchemist enormously; however, on the way, they start uncovering a conspiracy that could endanger the entire nation, and they realize the misfortunes brought upon by the Philosopher’s Stone.
