the series was transferred to Aniplex of America and it would be streamed on Crunchyroll. Netflix released the series on their streaming platform in the United States and Canada in January 2018. Aniplex of America released the series on two Blu-ray Disc box sets in November 2018. In November 2019, Funimation re-licensed the series for its streaming service. Madman Entertainment distributed the series in Australia; it was broadcast in Canada on Super Channel; and in the Philippines on TV5's AniMEGA anime programming block. Reception On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood holds an approval rating of 100%, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critic consensus reads: "With impeccable world-building, rollicking action, and emotionally intelligent themes, all the elements come together to make this Fullmetal Alchemist reboot a pristine distillation of the shounen genre." The series is considered to be one of the best anime of all time, and has earned acclaim from several reviewers and publications. D. F. Smith, writing for IGN, noted the short time-span between the releases of the 2003 series and Brotherhood, which he deemed peerless among other anime. Smith judged the pace of the first 14 episodes to be quicker than their original-series counterparts, which he interpreted as the series presuming the viewer is already familiar with the characters. Smith also observed that while this approach enables reaching the more "exciting" story elements faster, it does exclude enjoyable moments with supporting characters, such as Winry and Major Hughes, found in the first adaptation. The first fourteen episodes of Brotherhood initially were criticized by members of the Anime News Network staff, who said that repeating events from the first anime led to a lack of suspense. Mania Entertainment's Chris Beveridge said that the entertainment in these episodes lay in the differences in the characters' actions from the first series, and original content which focused on the emotional theme of the series. Beveridge praised the new fight scenes and the extra drama, which made these episodes "solid", while Smith found the action scenes unexpectedly "compact". Megan Gudeman of CBR called relationships in the anime "dynamic and memorable". Chris Zimmerman from Comic Book Bin said the series "turns around and establishes its own identity" because of the inclusion of new characters and revelations not shown in the first series, increasing its depth. He said the animation was superior to that of the first anime; his