Full Metal Alchemist-
Volume 5-The Cost of Living
Volume 6-Captured Souls
(MVM Region 2 PAL DVD)
(2005)
review by Blackgloves

As this series (one of anime's most successful titles) continues to role onward, things finally reach crisis point for our main protagonists, brothers Ed & Al. In volumes 5 & 6, their relationship is put to the ultimate test as they come near to fulfilling their ultimate goals -- but doubt and mistrust are the only sure things they gain from the misconceived venture that takes them deep into the depths of Central City's mysterious Laboratory 5!

Over the past sixteen episodes we've seen Ed and Al battle to become state Alchemists in their quest to discover the secrets of the fabled Philosopher's Stone: an alchemical device for transmutating human flesh. Their quest was borne from the events that marked their bodies in childhood when, in trying to bring their mother back to life with their father's old alchemy books, they inadvertently ripped apart their own bodies! Ed lost an arm and a leg while Al's whole body was destroyed. Only Ed's quick thinking fused Al's soul to a nearby suit of armour, preserving his life until such time as Ed can find a way to bring back his body via the powers of the Philosopher's Stone.

With this much at stake, the brothers have journeyed far and wide across the mythical East European landscape of their upbringing, having many adventures along the way; Ed's status as Full Metal State Alchemist has brought them into contact with all sorts of people who have added pieces to the puzzle, but they have also found out all sorts of disturbing things about the power of the philosopher's stone -- not to mention the involvement of the military in a massacre in the small town of Ishbal. Now, over the course of volumes 5 and 6, the strands are finally pulled together, for it turns out that everything that has transpired thus far has been part of a wider conspiracy involving the three mysterious entities that have tracked Ed and Al everywhere they have gone in their quest, since the beginning of the series!

The boys return to their childhood village, Resembool, in the company of Colonel Armstrong, where they seek repairs to their automail from Aunt Rockbell and her Granddaughter, Winry, after the damage wrought in their battle with the powerful Alchemist-murdering serial killer known as "Scar". They spend an idyllic few days basking in the bucolic glory of their former home, reliving their days of childhood innocence before returning to Central City where they find they have been assigned two bodyguards by Colonel Mustang in the form of Lt. Maria Ross and Sgt. Denny Brosh; they eventually become good friends with their new charges, despite Ed's initial reservations. The boys are on the trail of Tim Marcho's book which will finally give them a crucial piece of information, perhaps enabling them to make a full-blown philosopher's stone rather than just the unfinished material that they've come across so far on their travels. Unknown to them, the strange three entities and the killer, Scar, have already been to the library in search of the same book, where a huge battle has taken place resulting in the complete destruction of the whole library! All seems to be lost ... Until Ed remembers the young librarian who worked there: perhaps she has some information. It turns out that the girl -- her name is Sheska -- has a photographic memory and is such a bookworm that she has memorised the entire contents of the library! Ed sets her the task of rewriting the whole of Marcho's book from memory. But the finished manuscript reveals the terrible secret of the recipe for the philosopher's stone: it requires human beings as ingredients!

The goal of returning Al to his former body now seems further away than ever. How can they bring their dream to fruition at such a high cost? Nevertheless, Ed resolves to investigate the secret "Laboratory 5" -- hidden underneath Central City's prison -- but both boys discover unimaginable horrors and great emotional pain there. Two sentinals have been left to guard the place; both turn out to be executed serial killers who have had their souls fused to armour -- exactly like Al. Lab 5 is a secret research centre where the military have been conducting their own experiments to create a philosopher's stone, using the convicts from the ajoined prison as the material!

Worse is to come ... for the three entities reveal themselves at last to Al -- also revealing the plot that both brothers have been unwitting accomplices in. These "homunculi" (artificial human beings) want to use the Philosopher's Stone in order to become fully human; they need Al to conduct the spell -- using the convict humans to do so! If he refuses, Ed's blood-seal (the alchemical symbol, drawn in blood, which holds Ed's soul bound to his armour) will be broken! The horrors of Lab 5 are revealed and the series returns to the dark, twisted Lovecraft-inspired horrors of Volume 2, when we saw the horrific results of Professor Tucker's experiments on his young daughter, Nina! It turns out that Tucker was kept alive by the military in order to continue  the search for the philosopher's stone in secret. He has now become a terrifying chimera: a deformed monstrosity -- half-animal, half human!  

In many ways, volume 6 marks the culmination of all of the plot threads that have been developing since the start of the series. The boys leave this volume having addressed the emotional problems that have lurked beneath the surface of their relationship all this time, while vowing to continue to find a way to restore Al to his body without submitting to the immoral demands of the homunculi.

As if it needed to be said again, "Full Metal Alchemist" continues to intigue, terrify and delight with its imaginative combination of comedy, horror and drama. As always -- a must-see!