Fullmetal Alchemist (2005)

[鋼の錬金術師]

Volume 10

Author/Artist: Hiromu Arakawa
Publisher: Gangan Comics

Synopsis:
Envy and Gluttony attack Colonel Mustang's team while he rushes to their aid.

Story/Characters:
Last volume's cliffhanger segues into a veritable explosion of action. The fight with Envy and Gluttony is quite good, but as the pursuit leads closer to the big bad's HQ, Lust enters the fray and things get kicked up a notch. Of course, as all this is going on, I'm having mixed feelings about Colonel Mustang after what happened in the previous volume. It made it difficult to root for him, but of course the homunculi are far worse, so I guess there's that. Al steps up nicely. We then get a bit of a post-battle breather before Lieutenant Breda and Major Armstrong take Ed eastward to the ruins of Xerxes, providing a new bit of backstory, and an encounter with some Ishvar refugees reveals what happened to Winry's parents during the war. Also, for our cliffhanger someone shows up in Resembool, a certain fellow named Van Hohenheim who's wondering what happened to his house.

Art:
We've got plenty of action this time around. Pitting Ling Yao and Lan Fan against the homunculi is something new and the fight with Lust is particularly impressive.

Other:
We get an alternate take on Hohenheim's return and three 4-koma. You may recall that on the spine beneath the dust cover, we see who dies in a particular volume. Well, this is the first time we find that taken back, so it shows you can't entirely trust it. Amusing that Arakawa was that committed to the fakeout, though.

Conclusion:
One of the reliable things about this series is the regular delivery of good action set pieces, revelations on persistent mysteries and further mysteries to keep you hooked. This is another good one, so give it a read.

Rating:
Read It