Fullmetal Alchemist, by Hiromu Arakawa

Continuing in the shounen theme, Fullmetal Alchemist is an action/adventure story written by Hiromu Arakawa; it's set in a fictional world reminicent of pre-WWII Europe, with the major difference that alchemy is a (relatively) accepted branch of science with heavy military use. Like Naruto, it has a large cast of characters, some of whom are nearly as important as the main protagonists; but it's primarily about two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, young men who have joined their country's army in order to gain access to research materials and labs to further their quest for the philosohper's stone. The reason they are searching for this is because, at the start of the story, the misuse of alchemy has caused Edward to lose his arm and leg and be forced to wear metal prosthetics in their place, and has left Alphonse as nothing but a soul bound to a suit of armor. Their belief is that the philosopher's stone will allow them to restore Ed's arm and leg and bring back Al's human body so that his soul can return.

This is about all the anime and manga share in common--at a certain point in the plot, when the brothers reunite with their mentor, the two diverge wildly; and unfortunately I can't give any more details on how without horribly spoiling both stories for you. However, the main difference is that the manga--the original story--just ended this month, while the first anime ended in 2004, meaning that it had to create its own ending; and the movie, Conqueror of Shamballa, which came out afterward followed the anime's storyline further. A second anime, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, also began in 2009, and follows the manga storyline instead of continuing the original story of the first anime.

It sounds pretty complicated (okay, it is pretty complicated), but in essence there are two versions of FMA, the manga and the anime; and both are really good. The cast of characters remains essentially the same in both, but the paths that they all take and where they end up in the end are the real differences.

The Fullmetal Alchemist manga is published by Viz in the United States, while the two animes have both been licensed, subtitled and dubbed into English by Funimation. The second anime is still being produced in Japan, so English-dubbed episodes of it are still ongoing, as is translation of the manga; however, the Mooresville Public Library carries the entire manga series up to the latest volume (volume 22 at the time of this writing), so if you're interested in a story about alchemy, military life, and the consequences of making choices, give it a try!