Fullmetal Alchemist presents you with a lot of philosophical questions and topics like religion, racism, government, morality, etc.

There are, of course, a lot of anime that do this. But I think what sets FMAB apart from them is how well it handles them. These topics aren’t waved in front of your face like, “Oh, yeah. We’re going here! And we’re gonna make it plain as day so you don’t miss it!”

The story grows up with Edward and Alphonse. The further into this journey they get, the more they realize there’s a lot of fucked up shit in the world. That’s how it is in real life most of the time.

It’s very natural. I feel like other stories fail to do this and end up coming off as very pretentious or disingenuous.

Great writing, pacing, characters, music, etc. It checks all the boxes for me and I’ve always considered it a masterpiece.