THE CONCEPT OF EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE: FMAB

 " In order to obtain something, u must lose something first." 

That is the law of equivalent exchange. A famous Japanese series " FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST" by Hiromu Arakawa tells the audience how we cannot obtain anything without sacrificing something of its equal value as an exchange. 

For example, we cannot obtain good grades if we don't sacrifice our hobbies and other things, we like in order to make sure we are investing all our times into doing studies. no matter where we look, we will see that the whole world works on this one concept. no one wants to give something to someone without expecting something in return.

The story follows two young brother Edward and Alphonse, who lives in a quite city named "Resembul" with their mother. The two boys were brilliant chemists and they had knowledge on the alchemy as well. Alchemy is a concept of re-constructing and de-constructing matters.

One afternoon, their mother becomes seriously ill and eventually dies by the hands of her disease. The boys couldn't bear the loneliness and loss and they were too young to accept the loss of their only shelter. This incident leads them into performing the "HUMAN TRANSMUTATION " which is a taboo in the world of alchemy. Human transmutation is the alchemy performed to bring the dead back to life. They knew they had to sacrifice something of equal value in order to bring their dead mom back to life, but they were too young to realize the consequences of their actions. After gathering enough knowledge on the procedure, one evening, the brothers perform the taboo.  Once they start the transmutation, they immediately realize that something wasn't right. But it was too late for them to stop the transmutation. In the process to take something "equivalent" in order to return their mom, the younger brother Alphonse ends up losing his whole body while the older brother Edward losses his one arm, After the transmutation, Edward realizes that he has lost his brother Alphonse.  He immediately looks upward to see if they had succeeded into bringing their mom back. Thats when he learns the painful truth. " U CANNONT BRING THE DEATH BACK TO LIFE, EVER ". There was something there, a dead body of someone, but certainly it wasn't their mother. Edward couldn't take the outcome and the loss of his brother. He performs one last transmutation believing his brother still might be somewhere in the portal of truth and maybe it still would be possible to at least bring Alphonse's soul back. He performs another transmutation by creating the transmutation circle with his own blood. He demands Alphonse's soul back and in exchange he offers his life saying "Take my leg, take my arm, take my heart, anything you can have it. Just give him back. He's all i got left!"  This time, the transmutation was a half success. He was able to bring back Alphonse but only his soul but in return, Edward loses his right arm. Edward binds Alphonse's soul into a suit of amour.  

Both brothers were in deep trauma. But that didn't stop them from searching for a solution to get their body back. After a lot of research and studies, they found out that there's a stone named "The philosopher's stone" which can help them to get their bodies back. After 5 years of the incident, the brothers set out on a journey to find this stone.

In this journey, they make new friends, learns new mysteries, and strives to reach their goal.  At the end of the story, we see Edward performing one last transmutation to bring his brother's body back. During that last transmutation, the portal of truth asks an equivalent exchange from Edward in order to return Alphonse his original body back. In exchange, Edward offers him his portal of truth, his ability to perform alchemy. Which means he won't be able to perform any alchemy ever again. When the truth asks him how he can sacrifice something so important and to that Edward replies, " Who needs alchemy, when you got them (pointing at the friends he has made during his long journey)"!! Edward tells how the real meaning behind everything is how much you can give people. How much empathy and kindness you can return to the people who have favored you. He was grateful that he was able to meet people like those and further clarifies that ALCHEMY is nothing compared to that sort of blessing. Edward finally comes back from the portal with Alphonse in his real body, by his side. 

Throughout their whole journey, the brothers got to realize how nothing is achievable without paying something for it.  

That knowledge further fuels the two brothers into learning new things. Exploring into new possibilities.  

The story ends with the brothers heading to a new journey but this time separately, into two whole different direction, in search for only one solution. "How to break the chain of equivalent exchange".

Nope, not in a sense you or I would assume. They set on a journey to find a way to "return more" than the amount we "receive". Alphonse describes the goal as " If I take 10, I will give you 11 as return." 

 This amazing story written by Hiromu Arakawa describes how we cannot achieve anything without losing something first. But if we can endure that loss and learn to walk away from it ...we'll become strong enough to overcome any obstacle and obtain the ultimate goal.