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[chapters 1-35, ~volumes 1-9] Fullmetal Alchemist is infamous for dropping you into the story/conflict pretty quick, but after the explosive opening sequence, this often felt as though Daemons of the Shadow Realm starts on the second arc, after the initial antagonist has already joined the friend group. I get why a seasoned author would hesitate to commit another ten years to a sweeping fantasy epic, but a lot of character charm is lost in the pacing, and most of the story takes place in what feels like a 10 square mile radius of 2-3 locations. Everything’s really modern, but in a tumblr OC “artist who’s super eager to reveal that their character who LOOKS cute? they’re actually Fucked Up� kind of way, also your entire webcomic cast is 19 and they all have guns.

The fantasy premise of magic users with a Cosmo/Wanda pair is fun, though, and Hiromu Arakawa’s designed a lot of GREAT Cosmo and Wandas. Right Hand and Left Hand are obviously super likable, and the two aliens with a dog are immediate contenders for all time greats. At the best of times I was reminded how good she was at writing married couple dynamics in FMA, but also at nine volumes in, I would’ve hoped for a liiiiittle bit…more.

Who knows - it’s clearly been ramping up towards the second wave of characters, and Ling Yao wasn’t introduced until chapter 32 of FMA, and the eternal anime boyfriend Greedling, chapter 55. Maybe the dad’s gonna turn out to be CRAZY hot.