Summary Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is often touted as one of the best anime, if not the best, and it’s easy to see why. The story is structured in a way that’s easy to get into while still having moments of maturity and complexity, and that level of accessibility has allowed it to maintain a fanbase of old and new anime fans for over a decade.
“Backs in the Distance” is an episode that perfectly captures the emotional highs of Fullmetal Alchemist’s writing. Winry learning the truth of her parents’ death was as emotional as one would expect it to be, and going off of that, the way Edward comforted Winry did an excellent job of highlighting how well they support each other and why their relationship is so pivotal to the story.
Between the score, animation, and overall direction of the episode, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood perfectly captured the tragedy of Nina’s fate and how much it affected Edward’s worldview, said tragedy made even worse by her unceremonious death at Scar’s hands. It’s one of the most important stories in Fullmetal Alchemist’s overall narrative, and Brotherhood did a perfect job with it.
Lust’s death is one of the most iconic deaths in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and for good reason. Not only was it incredibly cathartic to finally see one of the Homunculi die, but the animation and music used for Mustang’s killing of Lust did a great job of capturing the intensity of the scene and stands out as one of the best scenes in the entire anime. It was one of the heroes’ first genuine victories over the Homunculi, and it never fails to be great to watch.
The drama of Hohenheim gaining a life for himself only to have it ripped away and forced to live as a monster was nothing but heartbreaking to watch and perfectly played into the theme of ironic punishment in the story. In a single episode, Hohenheim went from being a complete enigma to the anime’s most tragic figure, and it was great to see how his story continued to play out from there.