First, the storytelling is tighter than a state alchemist’s gloves before a transmutation. No filler. No lazy detours. Every line, every action circles back to a central purpose. The narrative hits like a bullet train powered by loss, revenge, and the law of equivalent exchange. It begins with a child’s mistake and ends with the world on the brink of godhood. Plotlines converge like rivers in a storm. Every episode feels like a chapter in an ancient text that has survived fire, censorship, and madness.

Second, the characters are not just drawn. They are carved out of bone, regret, and raw conviction. Edward Elric is a short-tempered prodigy with a broken past and a titanium will. His brother Alphonse is a gentle soul trapped in armor, the perfect symbol of innocence bound by sacrifice. And then there is Roy Mustang, a fire-wielding colonel with eyes full of vengeance and a code of honor tighter than a noose. Even side characters—Scar, Ling Yao, Olivier Armstrong—are so well-developed they could lead series of their own. They breathe, fight, suffer, and grow.

So yes, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the greatest anime ever. Not because it tries to be cool. But because it dares to ask what it means to be human in a world that keeps breaking people apart.