Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Japanese: 鋼の錬金術師) is a Japanese anime television series, serving as the second animated adaptation of the manga series Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, after the 2003 anime series. Produced by Bones, the series was directed by Yasuhiro Irie and written by Hiroshi Ōnogi, with music composed by Akira Senju. It was conceived to create a faithful adaptation that directly follows the entire story from the original manga, as the first anime adaptation strayed away from it to create a story exclusive to that series after running out of published manga material to adapt. Production for Brotherhood began in 2008. The series aired a total of 64 episodes on MBS, TBS and its affiliates from April 2009 to July 2010. It was originally licensed in North America by Funimation and broadcast English dubbed on Adult Swim in the United States from February 2010 to September 2011. In March 2016, Funimation's license for the series expired and it was transferred over to Aniplex of America. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has received acclaim since its initial airing and is regarded as one of the greatest anime series of all time, with praise given to its faithfulness to the manga and its incorporation of characters and plot details that were not present in the 2003 anime series, either due to unpublished manga material or creative changes to accommodate the former; the climactic episodes were also lauded for both their action sequences and moral messaging. Brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric are raised by their mother Trisha Elric in the remote village of Resembool in the country of Amestris. Their father Hohenheim, a noted and very gifted alchemist, abandoned his family while the boys were still young. While in Trisha's care, Ed and Al began to show an affinity for alchemy and became curious about its secrets. However, when Trisha died of a lingering illness, they were cared for by their elderly neighbor Pinako Rockwell and her granddaughter Winry Rockbell, the boys' closest friend. Ed and Al traveled the world to advance their alchemic training under teacher Izumi Curtis. Upon returning home, the brothers desperately decide to try to bring their mother back to life with alchemy. However, human transmutation is a serious alchemical taboo, as it is impossible to do so properly. In the failed transmutation, Al's body is completely disintegrated, and Ed loses his left leg. In a last attempt to keep his brother alive, Ed sacrifices his right arm to return Al's soul and binds it to a nearby suit of armor. After Edward receives automail prosthetics from Winry and Pinako, the brothers burn down their house, symbolizing their determination and decision of "no turning back", and head to the capital city to become government-sanctioned State Alchemists. After passing the exam, Edward is dubbed the "Fullmetal Alchemist" by the State Military, and the brothers begin their quest to regain their full bodies back through the fabled Philosopher's Stone under the direction of Colonel Roy Mustang. Along the way, they discover a deep government conspiracy to hide the true nature of the Philosopher's Stone that involves artificially-made humans known as homunculi, the alchemists of the neighboring nation of Xing, a scarred serial killer from the war-torn nation of Ishval, and their own father's past.