Creative Staff:
Writer/Artist: Hiromu Arakawa
Translated by: Akira Watanabe
Adapted by: Jake Forbes
What They Say
The hunters become the hunted when the Elric brothers and Prince Lin set a trap for the homunculus with the insatiable appetite: Gluttony! On another front, state politics are shaken up when a horrifying truth about Fuhrer President King Bradley is revealed – and Colonel Roy Mustang is right there to capitalize on the situation.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Prince Lin and Ed have laid out their plans to catch a homunculus, but things go awry when Lin and Lanfan are beset by not one but two homunculi! Meanwhile, the Elric brothers’ battle with Scar takes a dramatic turn when Winry plunges into the fray! Ultimately, a homunculus is captured — at great cost. But now that they’ve got one, what are they to do with him?
This volume is a real page-turner. The Lin/homunculi and Scar/Elric battles each have their own surprise moments, and the two fights eventually converge for a spectacular ending. In addition to impressive action scenes, Arakawa is masterful in the emotional moments as well. Lanfan’s sacrifice and Winry’s confrontation with Scar, in particular, had me on the verge of tears. My one main criticism of this volume is Gluttony’s alternate form. After transforming, he goes on a rampage, supposedly “devouring” everything in his path. However, the way he’s depicted with sound effects like “Gaboom!” he looks more like he’s blasting instead of eating things. Too bad the contents of this volume weren’t part of the anime; it would have been nice to have seen it all animated.
Extras consist of a story thus far summary and character lineup, eight pages of post-manga extras (including the lyrics to the song “I’m the Flame Alchemist” by Roy Mustang), and ads for other Viz media products.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: March 20th, 2007
MSRP: $9.99