Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga anthology magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan between July 2001 and June 2010; the publisher later collected the individual chapters in 27 tankōbon volumes. Set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is a widely practiced science, the series follows the journey of two alchemist brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, as they search for the philosopher's stone to restore their bodies after a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life via alchemy. The steampunk world of Fullmetal Alchemist is primarily styled after the European Industrial Revolution.