Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 5 by Hiromu Arakawa
Brothers Alphonse and Edward Elric stop at Rush Alley on their way to see their old alchemy master. Rush Alley is the "Boomtown of the Broke Down," a place where the artificial limb industry took off after the last civil war. In this story, artificial limbs are called "auto-mail" and are more like cybernetic appendages. Auto-mail is hi-tech and quite common. Edward has an auto-mail arm and leg. Winry, the technician who built his appendages, is with them and is all agog over the shops and people of Rush Alley. She's clever enough that the locals want a closer look at Ed's limbs. She winds up trying to mentor with one of better auto-mailers who lives out of town, the grumpy old Dominic. Dominic's grandchild is about to be born, which is relevant because a storm washes out the bridge so he has to go by a treacherous mountain path to get the doctor. Winry, Ed, and Alphonse help with the delivery (mostly Winry), thus getting the grump to take her in. Ed and Alphonse leave her behind and finally reach their mentor. A big long flashback shows the boys' childhood and how they first met their mentor, which is an exciting story in and off itself.
This volume didn't move the main plot forward but did send it deeper. Ed and Alphonse spend a lot of time thinking about what they were trying to do (raise their dead mother back to life) and have the amazing contrast of a new-born child being brought to life. They have some interesting conversations which raise the story above the jokey adventure it seems to be on the surface.
Recommended, though the series is complicated enough that you can't just jump in at this point.
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