Alphonse Elric

Alphonse "Al" Elric (Arufonsu Erurikku), is a fictional character in the Fullmetal Alchemist universe created by Hiromu Arakawa and developed into a media franchise, consisting of a series of manga, anime, soundtracks, OVAs, movies, video games, and even collectibles. He is a human child who lost his body during an alchemic experiment to bring his deceased mother back to life, and had his soul transmuted into a suit of armor by his brother, Edward Elric.

Al's blood seal lies just below the base of the neck at the back of the suit, on the inside. It is drawn with Ed's blood. According to Edward, he needs to be careful whenever he reconstructs Alphonse's body because he must keep the blood seal intact during the transmutation. If the blood seal is removed, Al's soul will be lost.

Alphonse Elric

Alphonse is a sweet boy who loves (mostly feline) strays, a very strong pacifist, and is kind and gentle to everyone. These traits are considered childish tendencies, the reason is said to be because he has a stunted emotional maturity from not growing physically at all. He almost stays the same age in his armor 'body'. Edward, feeling a tremendous guilt over affixing Al to something that won't grow or have senses, doesn't care what happens to himself and would without second thought give his life to give Al his body; he believes Al may lose his humanity. Alphonse is completely against Edward dying or being separated from him, so Al stops his brother from going too far for him. Al is known to be one of his "tough-as-steel" older brother's very few weaknesses; enemies often take advantage over it. Alphonse sometimes feels that he is a burden to Edward, but he has saved his brother's life more than once. Alphonse is seen as the counterpart of Edward. While Edward is demonstrated as violent, impulsive, stubborn, and loud, Alphonse is quiet, pacifistic, submissive, and strategical.

Since Al is bound to one of Hohenheim's antique suits of armour, he does not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. Al's second wish (the first being to be able to eat apple pie) is to be able to sleep so that he does not have to spend his nights feeling lonely. Also, because of his armor (and the fact that he is more imposing than Edward) most people who meet Alphonse automatically assume him of being the Full Metal Alchemist.

Edward and Alphonse are both very loving and close to each other; in their traumatic struggles, they retained their very sanity by becoming each others support beams and only friends.

Alphonse Elric

Alphonse Elric

Edward Elric

Edward Elric (Edowādo Erurikku), commonly nicknamed Ed, is a fictional character in the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga series created by Hiromu Arakawa. Edward, the "Fullmetal Alchemist", is the youngest State Alchemist in history of the country and the main character of the series. He and his younger brother, Alphonse Elric, scour the world in search of the Philosopher's Stone in the hopes of restoring their bodies. In their failed attempt to revive his mother, Edward lost his right arm and left leg, having to replace them with automail limbs. Ed has also appeared in other media from the series, including the video games, the original video animations (OVAs) and the light novels.

Edward Elric

Numerous publications for manga, anime and related media have written on the subject Edward's character. Reviewers praised Edward to be the balance between the typical clever kid and the stubborn kid persona. Additionally, his comedic moments have been celebrated as the best moments in the series. Both of his voice actors, Romi Paku and Vic Mignogna have been praised for their acting as Edward Elric and have won several awards for it. Numerous pieces of merchandise have been released bearing Edward's likeness, including keychains and action figures.

Edward Elric

Edward Elric is the youngest State Alchemist to be selected by the State Military of the country, having achieved the rank of Major at age twelve. His father's disappearance when Edward was young, the death of his mother, and a failed transmutation play a key role in his story. Edward's motivation stems from a love for his brother Alphonse, for whom he is desperately seeking a way to restore to a human form after their alchemy accident. Due to this, he is also generally perceived to be very independent; he feels that he's the only one who can solve a problem. Often, he feels a heavy guilt that the problem is his fault to begin with, and thus is his responsibility to solve. This gives him a selfless inclination.

Edward Elric

His automail limbs are made by his childhood friend Winry Rockbell. Edward often fights by transmuting the forearm of his automail into a blade. Winry is always kept busy repairing them, as Edward regularly breaks them during fights. She is constantly looking for new ways to improve them, whether it is an attempt at extending their lifespan or simply lightening the weight. In both the anime and manga, Winry is an extremely important person to Edward. In the anime series, no romantic feelings are ever explicitly stated, but in the manga, Winry is in love with him. Edward has also exhibited similar feelings, but constantly denies them.

Edward Elric

Edward Elric

Winry Rockbell

Winry Rockbell (Winrī Rokkuberu) is one of the main characters in the Fullmetal Alchemist series by Hiromu Arakawa. A childhood friend of the central characters, the Elric brothers, she is often seen in their company throughout the series. Specializing in mechanical repair, specifically with automail, Winry services Edward's arm and leg whenever it is in need of repair or replacement. Her character plays a more prominent role in the manga than in the anime. She is voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi in Japanese and by Caitlin Glass in the English dub.

Winry Rockbell

Winry is portrayed in the series as kind, optimistic, and sincere, acting like a concerned family member to the Elric brothers whenever in their company. Having known Edward and Alphonse since childhood, she maintains a close friendship with the two. In the story, she was orphaned at a young age when her parents, serving as doctors in the Ishbal war, were killed, so she lived with her grandmother in the town of Resembool from then on.

Known as an "Automail Otaku", she is fascinated by any and all types of machines, excelling in building and repairing automail, and she takes pride in her work as a mechanic. Along with her grandmother, Pinako, who is a famous automail engineer, the two run a small automail shop out of their home. They are also the ones who made and installed Edward's automail arm and leg after he lost his original limbs in a failed human transmutation of his mother. Winry takes it upon herself to make sure that his automail is in top form and will go out of her way to travel for servicing when it's needed.

Winry Rockbell

Winry Rockbell

Roy Mustang

Roy Mustang (Roi Masutangu) is a character from the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga series. Holding the title of the Flame Alchemist, he is a skilled State Alchemist who ambitiously strives to become the next leader of Amestris.

Outwardly arrogant and playfully manipulative, Mustang is intelligent and adaptable. These traits usually ensure that he is always one step ahead of his opponents. He also likes to feel in control of the situation. He is one of the superiors of Edward Elric. At the beginning of the series, he appears to be nothing more than a ruthless careerist and a shameless womanizer. However, he is eventually shown to be a rather paternal commander who greatly cares for the emotional and physical well-being of his men. He's even endangering his life-long goal to become Führer of Amestris, to avenge his best friend's Maes's untimely death.

Roy Mustang

This earns him the fierce loyalty of his friends (Hughes, Hawkeye, Armstrong) and subordinates (Jean Havoc, Vato Falman, Kain Fuery, Heymans Breda). He also feels obligated to look out for the Elric Brothers after they become fellow "dogs of the military". This stems from his experience in the Ishbal War (referred to as the Ishbal Massacre) where he was forced to kill with his flame alchemy and an incomplete philosopher's stone despite learning it to help people. After the war ended, however, his fellow soldiers thanked him for saving their lives. Mustang resolves to protect his subordinates and feels personally responsible for their well being, placing their safety above his own. Though a hero of the Ishbal War, he remains haunted by the horrors of war and suffers great remorse for the lives of civilians he took.

Roy Mustang

Roy Mustang

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, lit. "Alchemist of Steel"), commonly abbreviated as FMA or Hagaren, is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after European Industrial Revolution. Set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques known to man, the story follows the brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, who want to restore their bodies after a disastrous failed attempt to bring their mother back to life through alchemy.

Fullmetal Alchemist

The manga is serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine (starting January 2001) and currently has 21 tankōbon volumes. It was adapted into an animated television series of 51 episodes by Bones from October 4, 2003 to October 2, 2004, later followed by a movie sequel that concluded the story of the anime. A multitude of spin-off novels, original video animations (OVAs), drama CDs, soundtracks, and video games have been adapted from the series. A collectible card game, multiple supplementary books, and a variety of action figures and other merchandise based on the characters of the series have also been released.

Fullmetal Alchemist

The manga has been licensed by Viz Media for publication in the United States, with seventeen bound volumes released currently. Although there are no major differences with the Japanese version, some pages have been edited to avoid references to Christianity. Funimation has dubbed the anime episodes in the United States and Canada, and has also released them in all English-speaking DVD regions. The English version of the movie premiered in a limited number of U.S. theaters on August 25, 2006 and was later released on DVD. Funimation and Destineer have also been releasing the video games from the series.

Fullmetal Alchemist

The franchise has seen high popularity in both Japan and North America. As of March 2008, the Fullmetal Alchemist manga has sold over 30 million volumes in Japan. The English release of the manga's first volume was the top-selling graphic novel during the year 2005. In two TV Asahi web polls, the anime was voted #1 most popular anime of all time in Japan. It was nominated in six of the eight categories for which it was eligible at the American Anime Awards in February 2007, winning awards in five of them. Reviewers from several media have noted the characters' complex personalities and original designs.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist

Saint Seiya Athena

The Greek goddess Athena (spelled in Greek as Ἀθηνᾶ and Ἀσάνα, in the manga and the anime adaptation respectively, and occasionally as Ἀθάνα in both) is one of the main characters in the Manga Saint Seiya, authored by Masami Kurumada, and later adapted to Anime. A character with a substantial importance in the universe of Saint Seiya, she was created by Kurumada based on the mythologic persona of the same name.

Saint Seiya Athena

As in Greek mythology, she is the goddess of wisdom and heroic endeavor, and daughter of Zeus. In Kurumada's mythos, she is sent to Earth by the Olympian gods every 250 years, when evil takes over Earth. Her mission during every one of her incarnations is to restore peace and bring hope, destroy the agent of evil and protect Earth; to do so, she has been assisted since the ages of myth by an army of 88 youths of great strength and courage, whose fists rend the skies and whose kicks split the earth, don radiant holy armor called Cloths, and are known as the Saints of Athena.

Saint Seiya Athena

Athena is said to be by birthright the goddess of battle, but she didn't believe in conquest and only fought defensive wars. She hates weapons, and thus only allows her Saints to battle using their bodies and armors. The only Saint allowed by her to wield weapons is the Libra Gold Saint, and it is only with her permission that the Saints are allowed to brandish the weapons kept by the Libra Saint.

She has opposed the ambitions of antagonist deities since the ages of myth in Greece, earning herself the rejection of the other Olympian gods. She has had specially a long-standing conflict with the god of the Underworld, Hades.

During her 20th century incarnation she uses the name Saori Kido as her civilian identity. In the English-language version of the manga and the edited anime she is known as Princess Sienna.

Athena was introduced by Masami Kurumada in chapter 1 of his manga Saint Seiya, contained in vol. 1, as the mythical Greek goddess, and in chapter 3 of vol.1 as Saori Kido; and she first appeared in the anime adaptation in episode 1. She is an extremely beautiful, short young woman with a perfectly proportionated body, who radiates elegance, wisdom and serenity, and is followed and protected very dedicatedly by her Saints, who would never hesitate to do anything for her sake, even sacrificing their lives gladly. In his manga, Kurumada gave her light brown hair; in the anime adaptation, her hair color is purple.

Saint Seiya Athena

Saint Seiya Athena

Saint Seiya

Saint Seiya, also known as Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, and later adapted to anime. The story follows five mystical warriors called the "Saints" (or "Knights"; the kanji is properly read as sei-tōshi "holy fighter" but the furigana has it pronounced "saint") who have adopted various constellations as their guardian symbols. The anime series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1987, but was cancelled in 1989. In 2002, Toei produced Saint Seiya: Hades, which continued adapting the manga story arcs to animation that remained pending when the anime was canceled in 1989.

Six years before the events at the focus of the series, one hundred orphans from Japan are sent to different parts of the world to become legendary warriors known as "Saints", who are the soldiers under the command of Greek goddess Athena. These warriors are under the protection of a celestial constellation.

The power of the Saints originates from the understanding of the "Cosmo". The concept of the "Cosmo" advocates that each atom within a human body resembles a small solar system, and since the human body consists of billions of atoms, the totality forms a "small Cosmo" or a "small Universe". Each person's Cosmo has its own unique signature. The Saints take the knowledge of the Cosmo to the next level: since humans are composed of atoms, humans should be able to use the mysterious forces behind the atoms to achieve super human feats.

Saint Seiya

Saint Seiya

The story focuses on one of these orphans named Seiya. He is sent to the Sanctuary in Greece to become the Pegasus Saint. After seven years, Seiya becomes the Pegasus Saint and returns to Japan to find his older sister. Because his sister disappeared the same day Seiya went to the Sanctuary, Saori Kido, the granddaughter of the person who sent all the orphans to train, makes a deal with him to go to fight in a tournament called the Galaxian Wars, where the orphans who survived and became Bronze Saints must fight to win the most powerful cloth: The Sagittarius Gold Cloth. If Seiya goes to compete there, Saori would start a search to find Seiya's sister.

During the series, Seiya becomes the partner and friend of other Bronze Saints: Shun, Shiryu, Ikki, and Hyoga. As the myth of the saints, they must fight together to protect the reincarnation of the goddess Athena from any danger.

Saint Seiya

Saint Seiya

Air Gear

Air Gear (Ea Gia) is a shōnen manga and anime by the mangaka Oh! great. Air Gear is about the life of Itsuki Minami "Ikki", also known as "Baby face" and "Lil (and Little) Crow", and his friends. The story follows their use of Air Trecks, an in-universe invention derived from inline skates. The early parts of the story carry out the introduction of characters that eventually join Ikki. As the story progresses, it focuses on their roles as Storm Riders and their quest to be on the top of the Trophaeum Tower. It won the 2006 Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category.

Air Gear

Itsuki "Ikki" Minami, is a student and a delinquent. Also known as the "Unbeatable Babyface", Ikki is the leader of the youth gang by the name of "East Side Gunz" (Hikatsuganzu). Upon his return home, after being humiliated by a Storm Rider team called the Skull Saders, Ikki discovers a secret hidden from him by his benefactors, the Noyamano sisters. The sisters belong to a group of Storm Riders who go by the team name of Sleeping Forest.

Air Gear

In the anime, learning the sisters' secret angers him and he steals a pair of Air Trecks, abbreviated as "AT". (In the manga, the sisters give a pair of ATs to him and invite him to skate with them.) Ikki eventually settles his grudge with the Skull Saders, but in the process he receives more than the simple satisfaction of revenge. Determined to experience the sensation of "flight" for as long as he can, Ikki is quickly engaged in the mysterious, irresistible world of Air Treks.

Air Gear

Air Gear