It takes a beautiful story to make a life long impact. And Fullmetal Alchemist meets this requirement. (Note: FMA will refer to FMA 2003 and FMA: Brotherhood (2009))

In order for alchemy (magical abilities to create things) to work, the alchemists must follow the Equivalent Exchange property. This is best described in the opening dialogue of FMA (English) (The transcript is below the video).

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"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth."

This is my favourite part about FMA. The idea of equivalent exchange made me look at life differently. In many cases, this holds true to things humans do today, with the occasional exception.

Along with that, FMA had the humour to keep it a lighthearted anime, but at the same time knowing when to cut back on the humour and let the more serious themes (like suicide and sacrifice) take over.

(I believe the watermark in the corner says Mistsan. So thank you Mistsan for this beautiful manip)

Honourable Mention:

Death Parade

Garden of Words