Reception
Several publications for anime, manga, and other media have provided praise and criticism to the characters from the series. Though the initial volumes were felt to be formulaic, Melissa Harper from Anime News Network noted that the series and characters grows in complexity as it progresses. She praised Arakawa for making all the characters designs unique and distinguishable, despite many of them wearing the same basic uniforms. Additionally, she liked the comedy of the characters, remarking that "Ed's facial expressions are probably the humorous highlight of the series." Lori Lancaster from Mania Entertainment praised the designs from the anime as well as the facial expressions from the characters. He also added that their interactions are very entertaining, praising the way how Edward deals with his opponents and his friends, giving the anime a good balance between action and comedy. Hilary Goldstein from IGN noted that the characterization of the protagonist Edward balances between being a "typical clever kid" and "a stubborn kid", successfully allowing him to float between the series more comical moments and its underlying drama without seeming false.
Samuel Arbogast from T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews comments that the interaction between the Elric brothers as they travel is interesting, since humor is quite frequent rather than the constant grimness of many series. He also praises the fact that all the characters have distinct designs, even though some of them had the same uniforms. Anime Boredom praised the characters for having a good balance between action, comedy and deep moments and remarked the emotional core of the development of the two main characters. Maria Lin from Animefringe.com criticized the large number of sentimental scenes in the series, considering them "an abuse to make the viewers cry". She also mentioned that the characters had lack of development, such as Edward having the same beliefs during all the anime as he once again tried to revive people using alchemy. However, she noted the anime "has some of the freshest and most vibrant character designs since Naruto".
Read more about this topic: Fullmetal Alchemist Characters
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