Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist

鋼の錬金術師
2003 -2004 Bones MBS 51 episodes Completed
Action Adventure Drama
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Details & Synopsis
The year is 1910, approximately. The country is Amestris, approximately. Two boys in a rural town teach themselves alchemy from their absent father's books and decide to do the one thing every alchemical text agrees cannot be done — human transmutation, the resurrection of the dead. Their mother. They are children. They do not survive the attempt intact.
Edward Elric loses his right arm and left leg. Alphonse Elric loses everything — his entire body, seized by the Gate, leaving behind only a soul that Ed binds to a suit of armour in the seconds before he loses consciousness. The exchange is the series' foundation and its recurring nightmare: the law of equivalent exchange, the principle that underpins all alchemy, applied to the thing it was never meant to touch. They paid. They did not get what they paid for.
Produced by Bones and directed by Seiji Mizushima, Fullmetal Alchemist aired on MBS from 2003 to 2004. Fifty-one episodes. It began adapting Hiromu Arakawa's manga faithfully and then, around episode fifteen, ran out of manga to adapt. What followed is one of the most remarkable pivots in anime history: the production team, with Arakawa's blessing and a handful of her discarded plot threads, invented their own story. Their own villain. Their own ending.
The ending they arrived at is darker than Brotherhood's. More ambiguous. More interested in the cost of the boys' choices than in the resolution of the world's politics. Dante. The Gate. What is on the other side of it. A finale that refuses the comfort of restoration and insists that some debts cannot be paid back — they can only be carried forward.
Brotherhood is the manga. Faithful, complete, structurally confident, the story Arakawa intended. This is something else. A parallel history. A what-if that the people who made it took entirely seriously. Both versions are essential. They are not the same show wearing the same premise. They are two writers asking the same question and arriving at different answers about what human beings owe each other and what alchemy — the science of transformation, of making one thing into another — actually costs when the thing being transformed is a person.
Watch both. Then argue about which one broke you worse.
Alt Title 鋼の錬金術師
Studio Bones
Network MBS
Aired 2003 - 2004
Episodes 51
Genre Action, Adventure, Drama
Status Completed
Search Go to ep Filters
Arc List (8)
State Alchemist Arc (8) The Elrics' Journey (8) Laboratory 5 Arc (9) Rush Valley Arc (1) Teacher Arc (3) Greed Arc (5) The Lior Rebellion Arc (6) Final Arc (11)
State Alchemist Arc 8 eps 7 canon 1 good filler 📷 8
001 To Challenge the Sun Aired Oct 4, 2003 canon 📷 80 ►
Edward and Alphonse Elric arrive in the desert city of Lior, a town gripped by the zealotry of Father Cornello. The brothers quickly realize Cornello is using a fake Philosopher's Stone to perform "miracles" and manipulate the desperate citizens.
View all 80 screencaps from this episode →
002 Body of the Sanctioned Aired Oct 11, 2003 canon 📷 121 ►
The dark reality of the Elric brothers' past is exposed when Cornello attempts to kill them. Ed reveals his automail limbs and Al's hollow armor body, proving the horrific price they paid for violating alchemy's ultimate taboo.
View all 121 screencaps from this episode →
003 Mother Aired Oct 18, 2003 canon 📷 106 ►
A devastating flashback details the brothers' childhood following their mother's death. Desperate to bring her back, they study alchemy under Izumi Curtis, culminating in the disastrous human transmutation that cost them their bodies.
View all 106 screencaps from this episode →
004 A Forger's Love Aired Oct 25, 2003 good-filler 📷 106 ►
On their way to Central City, the brothers cross paths with Majhal, an alchemist obsessed with creating life to replace his lost love. The episode serves as a grim warning of how obsession can deeply corrupt an alchemist's soul.
View all 106 screencaps from this episode →
005 The Man with the Mechanical Arm Aired Nov 1, 2003 canon 📷 104 ►
A train hijacking forces the Elrics into action, putting them on the radar of Colonel Roy Mustang. The incident highlights the simmering political tensions within Amestris and introduces the military's ruthless efficiency.
View all 104 screencaps from this episode →
006 The Alchemy Exam Aired Nov 8, 2003 canon 📷 158 ►
Edward takes the grueling State Alchemist exam. He moves in with Shou Tucker, the "Sewing-Life Alchemist," and bonds with his daughter Nina, unaware of the immense pressure Tucker is under to produce results.
View all 158 screencaps from this episode →
007 Night of the Chimera's Cry Aired Nov 15, 2003 canon 📷 145 ►
Faced with losing his military funding, Shou Tucker commits an unthinkable atrocity by fusing his daughter Nina and her dog into a chimera. The Elric brothers are left completely shattered by their inability to save her.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
008 The Philosopher's Stone Aired Nov 22, 2003 canon 📷 145 ►
The serial killer Barry the Chopper kidnaps Winry, forcing Ed into a terrifying confrontation. Ed realizes how close he is to losing his own humanity, traumatized by the violence required to survive as a dog of the military.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
The Elrics' Journey 8 eps 4 canon 4 good filler 📷 8
009 Be Thou for the People Aired Nov 29, 2003 canon 📷 145 ►
Ed is officially given his silver pocket watch and the title of "Fullmetal Alchemist." He is immediately sent to inspect the corrupt mining town of Youswell, where he uses his sharp wit to outsmart a tyrannical military lieutenant.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
010 The Phantom Thief Aired Dec 6, 2003 good-filler 📷 145 ►
The brothers visit the beautiful water city of Aquroya, which is scheduled to be demolished. They get tangled up with a brilliant, acrobatic phantom thief named Psiren who uses alchemy to steal from the corrupt.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
011 The Other Brothers Elric: Part 1 Aired Dec 13, 2003 good-filler 📷 165 ►
Ed and Al arrive in a town where two imposters are parading around using their names. The situation becomes complicated when they discover the imposters are researching a terrifying substance known as Red Water.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
012 The Other Brothers Elric: Part 2 Aired Dec 20, 2003 good-filler 📷 215 ►
The true nature of the Red Water is revealed as a toxic precursor to the Philosopher's Stone. The Elrics must save the imposters from a corrupt local lord and stop the town from being poisoned by the alchemical runoff.
View all 215 screencaps from this episode →
013 Fullmetal vs. Flame Aired Dec 27, 2003 good-filler 📷 215 ►
In a highly anticipated, action-packed showdown, Edward challenges Roy Mustang to a duel during the annual military assessment. If Ed wins, Mustang must reveal his classified knowledge regarding the Philosopher's Stone.
View all 215 screencaps from this episode →
014 Destruction's Right Hand Aired Jan 10, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
The brothers encounter Scar, an Ishvalan survivor with a mysterious alchemical tattoo who is hunting down State Alchemists. Overmatched and terrified, Ed and Al narrowly escape the brutal encounter with their lives and armor in pieces.
View all 155 screencaps from this episode →
015 The Ishbal Massacre Aired Jan 17, 2004 canon 📷 150 ►
While recovering from Scar's attack, Marcoh reveals the horrifying truth about the Ishvalan War of Extermination. The military used State Alchemists as human weapons to systematically slaughter the Ishvalan people using incomplete Philosopher's Stones.
View all 150 screencaps from this episode →
016 That Which Is Lost Aired Jan 24, 2004 canon 📷 145 ►
Ed and Al travel to Resembool for repairs. The journey is delayed when Ed loses his automail leg, forcing him to rely entirely on Al while reflecting on the heavy physical and emotional toll their quest is taking.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
Laboratory 5 Arc 9 eps 9 canon 📷 9
017 House of the Waiting Family Aired Jan 31, 2004 canon 📷 145 ►
Returning to their hometown of Resembool, Winry and Pinako Rockbell work exhaustively to rebuild Ed's shattered automail. The brothers find quiet comfort in the only place they can truly call home before heading back into the fray.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
018 Marcoh's Notes Aired Feb 7, 2004 canon 📷 145 ►
Back in Central City, Ed and Al gain access to the First Branch Library. They must decipher Dr. Marcoh's heavily encrypted research notes, only to uncover an ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone that makes their blood run cold: living humans.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
019 The Truth Behind Truths Aired Feb 14, 2004 canon 📷 145 ►
Following the clues in Marcoh's notes, the brothers break into the abandoned, highly classified Military Laboratory 5. They immediately trigger the facility's defenses, separating them into two terrifying, isolated battles for survival.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
020 Soul of the Guardian Aired Feb 21, 2004 canon 📷 145 ►
Alphonse is confronted by Barry the Chopper, whose soul has been bound to a suit of armor just like his. Barry exploits Al's deepest insecurities, planting the horrific idea that Al's memories might be entirely fabricated by Edward.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
021 The Red Glow Aired Feb 28, 2004 canon 📷 145 ►
Deep inside Laboratory 5, Ed discovers the massive transmutation circle designed to sacrifice prisoners. He is confronted by the Homunculi Lust and Envy, who attempt to force him into completing the dark ritual.
View all 145 screencaps from this episode →
022 Created Human Aired Mar 6, 2004 canon 📷 185 ►
The laboratory begins to collapse. Ed is severely injured and rescued by the military, while Alphonse is left grappling with an existential crisis about whether his soul and memories are real or just alchemical programming.
View all 185 screencaps from this episode →
023 Heart of Steel Aired Mar 13, 2004 canon 📷 185 ►
Tensions boil over as Al accuses Ed of fabricating his existence. A violent, deeply emotional fight breaks out between the brothers, forcing them to confront the unspoken trauma they have carried since their failed transmutation.
View all 185 screencaps from this episode →
024 Bonding Memories Aired Mar 20, 2004 canon 📷 185 ►
The brothers finally reconcile, reaffirming their unshakeable bond. Meanwhile, Maes Hughes uncovers a massive, terrifying conspiracy hidden within the military's top brass, making him a prime target for the Homunculi.
View all 185 screencaps from this episode →
025 Words of Farewell Aired Mar 27, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
In one of the most heartbreaking moments of the series, Hughes is murdered by Envy disguised as his wife. The military mourns the loss of a great man, while Mustang silently vows to hunt down those responsible.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
Rush Valley Arc 1 eps 1 canon 📷 1
026 Her Reason Aired Apr 3, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
The brothers travel to Rush Valley, the automail capital of the world, hoping to find a way to make Ed's prosthetics stronger. Winry meets a brilliant but cynical automail mechanic named Paninya, leading to a profound realization about why Winry dedicates her life to building limbs for Ed.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
Teacher Arc 3 eps 3 canon 📷 3
027 Teacher Aired Apr 10, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Ed and Al are finally reunited with their terrifying alchemy teacher, Izumi Curtis. Izumi quickly deduces the horrifying truth that the boys attempted human transmutation, violently expelling them from her tutelage before demanding to know exactly what they saw inside the Gate.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
028 One is All, All is One Aired Apr 17, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
Izumi strands the brothers on a deserted island for a month to test their resolve, mirroring the brutal survival training they endured as children. Through starvation and isolation, Ed and Al rediscover the fundamental alchemical philosophy that the universe is a massive, interconnected flow of energy.
View all 155 screencaps from this episode →
029 The Untainted Child Aired Apr 24, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
A mysterious, feral boy with the ability to use alchemy without a circle is discovered on Izumi's island. The boy, possessing Ed's missing right arm and left leg, is revealed to be Wrath-the horrific result of Izumi's own failed attempt to resurrect her stillborn infant.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
Greed Arc 5 eps 5 canon 📷 5
030 Assault on South Headquarters Aired May 1, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
The rogue Homunculus known as Greed makes his move, recognizing the immense value of Alphonse's blood-sealed armor. Greed launches a coordinated, brutal assault on the military's Southern Headquarters using his team of heavily modified chimera outcasts.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
031 Sin Aired May 8, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Ed tracks Alphonse to the Devil's Nest, an underground bar operating as Greed's sanctuary. Inside, Greed explains the true nature of the Homunculi in this timeline: they are the tortured, soulless byproducts of alchemists who dared to play God by attempting human transmutation.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
032 Dante of the Deep Forest Aired May 15, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Ed seeks guidance from Dante, Izumi's former alchemy teacher, a mysterious elderly woman living deep in the woods. Dante's vast knowledge of alchemy hides a dark, sprawling history connected to Hohenheim and the true origins of the Philosopher's Stone.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
033 Al, Captured Aired May 29, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
The military, led by a ruthless King Bradley, violently raids the Devil's Nest, slaughtering Greed's chimera friends without mercy. In the chaos, Greed takes Alphonse captive, realizing that the secret to immortality might lie in how Al's soul is bound to inorganic matter.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
034 Theory of Avarice Aired Jun 5, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Ed engages Greed in a savage, bloody duel. Realizing that Greed's "Ultimate Shield" relies on rearranging the carbon in his body, Ed uses alchemy to alter Greed's molecular structure, delivering a fatal blow that leaves Ed horrified by his own capacity for murder.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
The Lior Rebellion Arc 6 eps 4 canon 1 mixed 1 good filler 📷 6
035 Reunion of the Fallen Aired Jun 12, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
The brothers return to Lior, only to find the city torn apart by civil war instigated by the Homunculi. Lust begins to question her own existence and the fragmented memories of her past life, slowly realizing she is being used as a pawn by a higher power.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
036 The Sinner Within Aired Jun 19, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
A deeply unsettling flashback delves into the military's massacre in Ishval. The episode exposes the psychological destruction of the State Alchemists forced to act as living weapons, and reveals how Scar's brother sacrificed himself to give Scar his destructive tattooed arm.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
037 The Flame Alchemist, The Bachelor Lieutenant & The Mystery of Warehouse 13 Aired Jun 26, 2004 good-filler 📷 165 ►
A brilliantly timed, comedic breather episode focusing on Roy Mustang's subordinates as they investigate a supposed haunting in a military warehouse. It offers a rare glimpse of levity and camaraderie before the narrative plunges into absolute darkness.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
038 With the River's Flow Aired Jul 3, 2004 mixed 📷 165 ►
Winry and Sheska team up to investigate the conspiracy surrounding Maes Hughes' death, stumbling into a deadly confrontation with Sloth. Winry is forced to confront the terrifying reality of the military's shadow government and the danger Ed and Al are truly in.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
039 Secret of Ishbal Aired Jul 10, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Scar's tragic backstory is fully unveiled, detailing his desperate attempt to save his people using the forbidden alchemy his brother researched. The military prepares to annihilate Lior, trapping the Elric brothers in a city about to be wiped off the map.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
040 The Scar Aired Jul 17, 2004 canon 📷 171 ►
Scar enacts a massive, city-wide transmutation circle in Lior, intending to sacrifice the invading military forces to create a Philosopher's Stone. Ed frantically tries to stop him, but the overwhelming scale of the conflict spirals completely out of control.
View all 171 screencaps from this episode →
Final Arc 11 eps 11 canon 📷 11
041 Holy Mother Aired Jul 24, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
The horrifying truth is finally revealed: the Homunculus Sloth is the physical manifestation of Trisha Elric, born from Ed and Al's failed human transmutation. The brothers are paralyzed by the trauma of facing the twisted, water-based abomination that wears their mother's face.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
042 His Name is Unknown Aired Jul 31, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Hohenheim of Light, the Elrics' estranged father, unexpectedly returns. His confrontation with the Homunculi reveals his ancient, immortal past, his deep connection to Dante, and his overwhelming guilt for abandoning his sons to a cursed fate.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
043 The Stray Dog Aired Aug 7, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Realizing that the military high command is entirely controlled by the Homunculi, Roy Mustang orchestrates a brilliant, high-stakes coup d'état in Central City. He risks everything to expose the corruption and avenge the death of Maes Hughes.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
044 Hohenheim of Light Aired Aug 14, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Hohenheim confronts Dante in the underground city beneath Central. Their confrontation exposes the tragic, parasitic cycle they have perpetuated for centuries by jumping between host bodies using the Philosopher's Stone, a cycle Hohenheim refuses to continue.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
045 A Rotted Heart Aired Aug 21, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Dante uses her mastery of alchemy to violently expel Hohenheim through the Gate of Truth. Meanwhile, Ed and Al desperately fight against Sloth, realizing they must destroy the creature that looks like their mother if they want to survive.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
046 Human Transmutation Aired Aug 28, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
In a truly heartbreaking battle, Edward uses the remains of his mother to paralyze Sloth, allowing Wrath to unknowingly absorb her. The brothers are forced to accept that the dead cannot be brought back, no matter the alchemical cost.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
047 Sealing the Homunculus Aired Sep 4, 2004 canon 📷 165 ►
Ed races into the underground city to rescue Alphonse, who has become the Philosopher's Stone itself. He faces off against Envy, who reveals his true form and his bitter, twisted connection to Hohenheim as the first Homunculus ever created.
View all 165 screencaps from this episode →
048 Goodbye Aired Sep 11, 2004 canon 📷 185 ►
Mustang stages his final, bloody assault against King Bradley (Pride). In the underground city, Envy delivers a fatal blow to Edward, piercing his heart. Alphonse, watching his brother die, makes a desperate, unthinkable decision.
View all 185 screencaps from this episode →
049 The Other Side of the Gate Aired Sep 18, 2004 canon 📷 225 ►
Edward awakens in a completely different world-our reality, in early 20th-century London-discovering that the energy fueling alchemy actually comes from the deaths occurring in this parallel, non-magical universe. He realizes the horrifying cost of the power they wielded.
View all 225 screencaps from this episode →
050 Death Aired Sep 25, 2004 canon 📷 225 ►
Alphonse uses the entirety of the Philosopher's Stone within his body to perform the ultimate human transmutation, sacrificing himself to resurrect Edward. Ed awakens with his limbs restored, but shatters at the realization of what Al has done.
View all 225 screencaps from this episode →
051 Laws and Promises Aired Oct 2, 2004 canon 📷 225 ►
Refusing to accept a world without his brother, Edward sacrifices his own body and soul to bring Alphonse back. Al awakens in Amestris in his original body with his memories erased, while Ed is left stranded in the parallel world of 1921 Munich, vowing to one day find a way home.
View all 225 screencaps from this episode →
ⓘ Legend
canon Episode adapts events from the source manga.
mixed Adapts source material but adds anime-original scenes.
good-filler Anime-original episode generally well-received by fans.
filler Anime-original episode not based on the source manga.
📷 Number of user-uploaded screencaps available for this episode.
EE

Edward Elric

Protagonist

State Alchemist at twelve years old. Youngest ever certified. Lost his right arm and left leg performing human transmutation to resurrect his mother and paid his brother's entire body as the toll when the Gate took Al instead. Automail prosthetics, a scarlet coat, and a chip on his shoulder the size of Central Command. The 2003 version of Edward is angrier and more uncertain than most protagonists get to be. He is chasing the Philosopher's Stone to restore Al and the further he gets the less sure he is that the path leads anywhere clean. Do not call him short.
AE

Alphonse Elric

Protagonist

His entire body was the toll. Ed bound his soul to a suit of armor at the last possible second before the Gate took him completely. Seven feet of medieval plate steel with no heartbeat, no sense of touch, no taste, no smell. Gentle past all reasonable explanation given what he has been through. The 2003 anime adds a particular cruelty unique to this version: the question of whether Al's memories of his childhood are real, or whether they were implanted by Ed to give the soul in the armor something to hold onto. Whether the person inside the armor has always been there. The show does not answer this quickly.
RM

Roy Mustang

Supporting

The Flame Alchemist. Colonel. His gloves create a spark through friction and the arrays on them do the rest. Useless in the rain, which the show remembers at the worst possible moments. Ishvalan war veteran who burned people alive on orders and has been climbing toward the Fuhrer's office ever since on the theory that getting there is the only way to make it mean something. Uses the Elrics as pieces in that climb. Genuinely cares about them. Both things are completely true and the show never lets either one cancel the other out.
WR

Winry Rockbell

Supporting

Automail mechanic from Resembool. Built Edward's prosthetic arm and leg and maintains them every time he comes back from wherever the military sent him having broken something. Her parents were doctors who treated both sides during the Ishvalan war. In the 2003 version that fact has a specific and painful shape that the show eventually forces into the open. Winry is the emotional fixed point the brothers keep measuring their distance from. The further they get the more that distance costs.
RH

Riza Hawkeye

Supporting

Mustang's lieutenant and the most reliable person in his orbit by a significant margin. Sharpshooter. Her father Berthold Hawkeye originated flame alchemy and in the 2003 version encoded everything he knew in tattoos across Riza's back before he died, passing the knowledge to Mustang through her. She follows Mustang because she believes in what he is trying to become. She is also the person in the best position to stop him if he becomes something else. The show understands that these two facts are connected.
MH

Maes Hughes

SPOILER!

Supporting

Lieutenant Colonel, Investigation. Will show you a photograph of his daughter Elicia whether you asked or not. One of the warmest presences in a show that is frequently brutal, a genuine friend to Mustang that predates everything else, and the kind of character a series builds carefully so that what it does with him lands with full weight. His arc in the 2003 version hits the same as the manga and Brotherhood because the material is that strong. Do not get too comfortable.
IC

Izumi Curtis

Mentor

The brothers' alchemy teacher. Took them on, threw them onto an island alone for a month with nothing as a training exercise, and hit Ed hard enough to send him through a wall the first time he got smart with her. Also a failed human transmutation. She tried to bring back her stillborn child and lost organs at the Gate that have been slowly killing her ever since. The best alchemist the show introduces who refuses to be a State Alchemist on principle. She thinks the military is rotten. She is not wrong.
SC

Scar

Antagonist

Ishvalan survivor. His people were exterminated by State Alchemists on government orders and he walked out of the massacre with his brother's research tattooed onto his right arm, arrays that deconstruct anything he touches. He hunts State Alchemists. Has specific and complicated feelings about the Elrics specifically. The 2003 version handles his arc with more ambiguity than most revenge narratives allow themselves, refusing to settle him into a clean category of hero or villain. He does not fit and the show does not try to make him fit.
VH

Van Hohenheim

SPOILER!

Supporting

The brothers' father. Left Resembool when Edward and Alphonse were small and did not come back. Turns up in photographs that should not exist given when they were taken. In the 2003 version Hohenheim's nature and history are entirely original to this anime, distinct from the manga and Brotherhood, and central to how the second half of the story works. What he is, what he did, and what he owes are questions the show answers slowly and on its own terms. He is not what he appears to be. Neither is his absence.
ST

Shou Tucker

Supporting

The Sewing-Life Alchemist. Certified his State Alchemist license by creating a chimera capable of human speech. Generous to the Elrics during their time in East City, a seemingly kind and harried single father. His daughter Nina adores him. The show introduces Tucker carefully and spends real time making you comfortable with him. It knows exactly what it is doing. Episode thirteen is one of the most devastating hours in the series and Tucker is the reason. Not a minor character. The show does not allow him to be a minor character.
LU

Lust

SPOILER!

Antagonist

The homunculus who operates as the public face of the group. Poised, precise, her Ultimate Shield ability extends her fingers into hardened lances capable of cutting through almost anything. The 2003 version of Lust is unique in the franchise for how much interiority the show gives her. She questions her own existence with a genuine philosophical weight, wondering what a homunculus actually is and whether the person she was made from had anything to do with who she became. The most human of the homunculi. The show uses that against you.
EN

Envy

SPOILER!

Antagonist

Shape-shifter. Can assume the appearance of any person with precision that makes him the homunculi's most useful infiltration asset and cruelest psychological weapon. Sadistic, theatrical, genuinely enjoys causing pain in a way the other homunculi treat as a job. The 2003 version of Envy has a backstory and a specific relationship to Hohenheim that is entirely original to this anime and reframes everything about him once it lands. The name is not an accident. The hatred underneath it is older than almost anything else in the story.
GL

Gluttony

Antagonist

Eats everything. People, objects, the ground he is standing on. Childlike in affect, simple in motivation, and built like a weapon anyway. Gluttony operates as Lust's shadow for most of the series, attached to her with a devotion that is one of the stranger and more affecting relationships the show produces. He is not complicated. The show does not try to make him complicated. What he is, is enough.
GR

Greed

Antagonist

The rogue homunculus. Broke away from the others and set up his own operation in the underground of Dublith, running a gang of chimera outcasts called the Devil's Nest. Ultimate Shield hardens his skin into a carbon surface that stops almost anything. Wants everything: money, women, power, immortality, freedom. The most upfront about what he is and what he wants, which makes him the easiest of the homunculi to read and paradoxically one of the more interesting ones to watch. His arc in the 2003 version is short and deliberately so.
WR

Wrath

SPOILER!

Antagonist

The youngest. A child, visibly and in behavior, volatile and desperate in the way children are when they have been given no stability. Wrath is unique among the homunculi in this version for reasons the show earns the right to explain on its own schedule. What he is and where he came from is one of the 2003 anime's most original and painful creations, tied directly to Izumi Curtis in a way that recontextualizes her arc entirely. The fury in the name is real and it is not simple.
SL

Sloth

SPOILER!

Antagonist

Appears as a high-ranking military official. Composed, efficient, dangerous. Everything about Sloth in the 2003 version is specific to this anime and none of it is in the manga or Brotherhood. Her true nature is the single most deliberately cruel thing the show does to Edward, a reveal engineered to hit as hard as possible at the exact moment the series chooses to deploy it. The name is a misdirect. What she represents to the Elric brothers is something much harder to look at than laziness.
KB

King Bradley

SPOILER!

Antagonist

Fuhrer of Amestris. Commander in Chief. Decorated veteran, decisive leader, a man who projects absolute authority so naturally that the camera believes him even when the audience starts not to. In the 2003 version Bradley is Pride, not Wrath, and the distinction matters because Pride is the sin about believing yourself above everything else. He runs the state. He believes in what the state is doing. Both of those things are true at the same time and the show does not flinch from what that means.
DA

Dante

SPOILER!

Antagonist

Exists only in the 2003 anime. Not in the manga. Not in Brotherhood. Entirely original to this version and the reason the second half of the series goes where it goes. An ancient alchemist who has extended her life across centuries by transmuting her soul into successive host bodies, each one discarded when it decays. Connected to Hohenheim in ways the show reveals across the back half of the series. The true architect of everything the homunculi have been doing and the answer to the question the series spends 40 episodes building toward. The 2003 anime lives or dies on whether you accept her as a final villain. It earns it.
ZK

Zolf Kimblee

Antagonist

The Crimson Alchemist. Arrays tattooed on both palms that cause targeted explosions. Ishvalan war veteran who did not merely follow orders. He enjoyed it. Imprisoned afterward, which the military treats as a temporary inconvenience when they need him operational again. Cold, articulate, genuinely dangerous in the specific way that people without functional limits are dangerous. His role in the 2003 version's second half involves Scar in ways that pay off the Ishvalan thread with real weight. One of the series' best arguments that the State Alchemist system was rotten at the core.
← All lore

2003 Alchemy Mechanics

About this archive

Archival note

Deep-dive "What is X?" guides for 2003 continuity physics. The original anime altered fundamental alchemy rules versus the manga - Gate energy sourcing, Red Stones, and how Homunculi are born and bound. Pair with the divergence page when comparing to Brotherhood.

The Gate

What is the Gate of Truth?

SPOILER!

2003 continuity · Bridge to real-world Earth

In the 2003 continuity, the Gate is not only an abstract spiritual void - it is a physical doorway bridging Amestris to real-world Earth. Alchemy in Amestris works by pulling the kinetic energy of human deaths and souls occurring on the real-world Earth side of the Gate. That energy debt is why Equivalent Exchange still bites, and why the Gate can dump travelers into a Munich that knows nothing of alchemy.

Stones

Red Stones

Unfinished / incomplete stones · Synthetic catalyst
Synthetic catalysts that temporarily bypass Equivalent Exchange but degrade rapidly. Used to stabilize 2003 Homunculi and power short-term miracles that true Philosopher's Stones would sustain permanently.

True Philosopher's Stone

SPOILER! Condensed human souls
Forged directly from thousands of condensed living human souls. The finished article - not a Red Stone shortcut. The moral horror of the franchise in mineral form.

Homunculi (2003)

What is a Homunculus in 2003?

SPOILER!

Failed Human Transmutation · Red Stone awakening

Each Homunculus is born when an alchemist attempts Human Transmutation. The resulting mindless monster takes the form of the deceased loved one; when fed Red Stones, it gains human intelligence, shape-shifting abilities, and immortality - but lacks a human soul. Their weakness is proximity to the physical remains of the original human they were transmuted from.
Fullmetal Alchemist - 1 topics, 9 posts
Welcome to the FMA Board — 2003 vs Brotherhood, Manga, and Everything In Between
by Sarutobi · May 9, 2026
8 replies
Equivalent exchange. Fullmetal Alchemist & Brotherhood Talk goes here. All Topics →
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