Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - OVA Collection (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) [Blu-ray]

First off, I am a huge fan of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. It is the first anime in about 10 years or so that i've watched more than once. The characters' emotions and developement felt very real to me, and I love the mix of humor and seriousness that makes you both laugh and cry throughout the story. I also happen to love the english voice actors, even though I realize there are huge sub vs dub camps out there. I personally tend to try to watch the English versions if the voice actors do it justice, and I think they largely succeed in this particular anime. But enough about that.This dvd/bluray combo, especially at the roughly 13 dollars price, was worth it for me. I know some are upset about having to buy both, but i've paid 13 dollars for just a dvd before, so a 2-for-1 deal for what I got was good for me. I primarily buy bluray now but still enjoy having dvd or digital copies for use with my computer player.I enjoyed all 4 of the OVA's, having never seen them before. Each one averaged about 15 minutes in length (the total for all 4 was about an hour). The first one, The Blind Alchemist, was a relatively serious OVA that deals with the Elric brothers investigating a report of a possible successful human transmutation. It had the usual funny Al/Ed faces and antics in a few spots, but overall it had a rather grave tone, similar to Shou Tucker episodes.The second OVA, Simple People, focused on the Elrics visiting Winry for repairs. It explains Winry's fondness for earrings. Riza Hawkeye has cameo appearances as well, and a rather poignant scene at the end. I really enjoyed this one, it had me laughing out loud at parts, and was a lighthearted break after the first OVA.The third OVA, The Chronicle of Teacher, was another lighthearted and funny episode. As the title suggests, it features Izumi "Teacher" Curtis, Ed and Al's infamous teacher and one of my favorite minor characters of the series. It chronicles the month she spent 'training' out near Fort Briggs when she was 18. Without spoiling it, the end of the episode cracked me up.The fourth OVA, Yet Another Man's Battlefield, was definately my favorite of the serious OVAs. It is the backstory of how Mustang and Hughes met in military bootcamp, and also shows some scenes of them in the Ishvalan War. I loved seeing Hughes again, and this episode almost had me teary a few times with the serious subject matter involved with the war. I loved it and it felt very real.The bonus material of this dvd was the Four Panel Comic Theater. It is a collection of 16 comic short cartoons, found under the extras. Playing all of them took about 30 minutes. As their name suggests, they imitate a 4 panel comic cartoon strip. At the beginning of each one, the curtain lifts and a chibi style character from the show introduces it, a bit like an episode of Saturday Night Live. Following that are 4 short mini skit-style gags drawn with overly exaggerated animation. The humor was hit and miss sometimes for me, but overall they were cute and made me chuckle. They roughly follow the chronology of the Brotherhood anime so far as the characters featured in each episode and do a good job of poking fun at many scenes from the series. They are definately worth a watch.Overall, i'm glad I bought this to add to my Brotherhood collection. I think any fan of the series would enjoy it, and the backstories flesh out the main series well. Enjoy!

I got this for about $10, and it was so incredibly worth the money.If you're a fan of FMA, then this is a no brainer - you need this collection. Listen to all of the happy reviewers! The funny shorts are cute with one or two that really outshine the rest (oh, snap, snap! spark, spark!), but the real treasure is the four extra episodes.The Blind Alchemist was one of those filler episodes. I understood why they cut it, but it had that same feeling we had from the original series where they were adventuring more and fighting like crazy less. Don't get me wrong - Brotherhood had it right, but sometimes I wish we could have slowed down. If you remember the episode with Majhal from the original, it's reminiscent of it, but this episode is done a thousand times better, in my opinion. Worth watching, but the episode would have been more powerful to me if the end dialogue was just: "Yeah..." and Ed would end it there. Otherwise, it came off a bit cheesy to me. That'll make sense when you watch it; I promise.Simple People was worth the watch. It's funny, cute, and light-hearted. I'm not a huge fan of Winry myself, but she really came through in this episode. And I'd watch anything with Riza Hawkeye in it, so that didn't fail to promise. Great episode that was a bit slow for the series, so that's why it was probably hacked.The Chronicle of Teacher is exactly what you think it is. It's a great episode, but it doesn't belong in the series. It's best when served like this as a bonus. And let me just say - the scene after the credits was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Not gonna say more. It's an amazing episode - love it to death.Yet Another Man's Battlefield is perfect. I can't even talk about it. I'm even angry that they cut it from Brotherhood. This episode is one of my favorites from the entire series, maybe my number one. This is the one you need to see. As I'm a diehard fan of both Roy Mustang and Maes Hughes, this episode detailing their friendship was more than great - it blew me away. It's powerful.Other than the episodes themselves, the shipping was earlier than expected and the box was unharmed. My only nitpick on the cover is Hohenheim's presence. I love Hohenheim, but... why is he there? He didn't make an appearance in any of the extra episodes, and he was barely in the comic theatre. Whatever. He's cool. It ends at that. Though a bit confusing, it's obviously not a problem that should prevent anyone from buying this set.Since I bought this, I've watched it again and again. More than the main series, too! Mostly because it's an easy watch like a movie with no strings attached, and I get to see all of my favorite characters in action again.I spent just over $10 for this, and it was worth every penny. I don't know if I've ever gotten a better value!

If you loved FMA and FMA Brotherhood; these OVA's are also a great watch adding more uncensored adventure Brotherhood style.

After not watching the series for several years this was a great way to start back up again. Though each mini episode was short it was enough to show just why why FMA is my favorite anime. These side stories fit in well with the other all feel of the series as well as give the viewer a chance to see a bit of the back story of this great anime. The animation was top notch as always and like any good FMS story they writers once again masterfully weave humor and drama so very well into each telling.A must have for any fan of the series.

Fullmetal alchemist is my favorite series and it was great to see some new content I hadn’t seen before.

If you're a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, and you own all of FMA: BH series, then you definitely need to pick this up. While the series is perfectly fine without the four OVAs, they make for interesting pieces (I particularly enjoyed the one with Izumi training on Mt. Briggs...).The Comic Theater mini-episodes are, overall, entertaining. They're not all spectacular, but overall they're a good laugh (loved the Führer ones).

This is a great addition for any FMA fan's DVD collection. The ova's were nicely animated and made me laugh. The Comic Theater shorts were funny and reminded me of the little 4 panel type comics in the back of the manga books. I'm glad Funimation decided to dub these. Makes me a happy camper lol.