Inside Fullmetal Alchemist

Inside Fullmetal Alchemist

We adults are angered by the senseless things that happen every day in this world.. But at the same time we repress those feelings by telling ourselves ‘There was no other choice’ or ‘There must have been a reason for it.’ But it’s a natural human reaction to be outraged when senseless things happen. Some things can’t be justified or rationalized.

– Hiromu Arakawa, creator of Fullmetal Alchemist

By reading the quoted speech from Hiromu Arakawa above, you can tell that she based Fullmetal Alchemist in the realistic point of view of living. You cannot turn back time. You make mistakes. You regret them. You learn from them. And then you move on. To me, this is why I love the series a lot. If you will think about the whole concept of it, you’ll understand how Hiromu Arakawa showed the that humans makes mistakes and these mistakes makes us stronger. That’s one of the things that I learn from reading the series. It has a strong concept which makes it so much better than other shonen manga.

My opinions

Fullmetal Alchemist is based on family and gaining strong bonds. It’s not just about the brotherly relationship of Edward and Alphonse, but also the concept of loyalty from Col. Mustang’s men and Ling Yao’s guards. I think old man Fu, one of Ling Yao’s underling, shows the symbol of loyalty. And also Greed’s underlings who fought knowing that they were powerless and were about to die. It also shows the concept of trust which can be found from Major General Armstrong trust towards her men. To be honest, Fullmetal Alchemist shows a great concepts of life lessons. For example, Scar is a character who lives with his anger and kills to attain revenge. However, as the story goes, he realizes that revenge was not the answer to his questions. He learns to forget and accept and learns that nothing will come out with revenge. Also for Edward himself, he learns to accept his mistakes and to move on with life.

Fullmetal Alchemist is concentrated on alchemy which symbolizes the human’s wants. In the story, it focuses on letting the characters realize that alchemy is just a tool. If used wisely, it gives them a taste of power. If used wrongly, then it will backfire and take away what is important to them. Alchemy symbolizes money and power which are not necessary for a person to achieve happiness. Fullmetal Alchemist focused on acceptance on oneself. You have to accept what happens in life and what matters most is achieving happiness through friendship, love, and family, loyalty, and trust. As Edward learns what alchemy is all about, he realizes that the thing that can make him happy is believing and trusting others.

Fullmetal Alchemist is also about overcoming oneself. The symbol of human weakness is shown in the character of the “Homunculus of the Flask” or whom the Homunculus calls Father. The Homunculus of the Flask carries the 7 sins inside him: Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, and Pride. He removed the 7 sins inside him and made them into 7 different Homunculus. ( This is why in the series, Father or the Homunculus of the Flask is always emotionless. ) All of the characters in Fullmetal Alchemist united to defeat all the 7 Homunculus and the Homunculus of the Flask which shows both unity and defeating ones weakness. This part is hard to explain to be honest. haha.

Also, Fullmetal Alchemist shows the strength of humans united! It is shown in the final battle of the story which I don’t want to spoil you about because I would prefer if you watch it yourself. :D

.. no matter how often we get beaten down.. become discouraged.. lose our way.. come close to falling.. and even if we know that it’s for superficial reasons.. we keep fighting on. We find strength from each other.

– Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 23

The quote above is what Fullmetal Alchemist is all about. It gives off this thought that humans are strong and no matter what happens along the way, we still find our own path and make sure to keep moving on and gaining strength from one another. This is why love is an important feeling in human lives. It is hard to explain but maybe by watching the 5th opening of the series would make you realize what I am talking about. At first, It shows the pain and suffering but after the battle we see Edward sleeping smiling and contented.

Will the rain ever stop, I wonder? For a pretty long time now it’s been cold
Why does the rain choose me? Why does it choose me who has nowhere to escape to?

The rain keeps on falling today as well knowing no end
While we quietly nestle together under the umbrella I hold

– Rain by Sid. FMA 5th Opening

On the other part of Fullmetal Alchemist is the art of it. To be honest, Hiromu Arakawa is my favorite manga artist. She not only show uniqueness with his drawings, but all her characters are buff and alive. When it comes to manga, you’ll find most characters are always drawn skinny even if they have muscles drawn on them, but in Fullmetal Alchemist her characters are wonderfully drawn. Also, female characters are strong and tough. If you’ll notice it most of the battles scenes in Fullmetal Alchemist shows a huge element of difficult poses and strong perspective which helps to give the readers more excitement reading the battle scenes.

In my opinion, everything in Fullmetal Alchemist are not just well written or drawn, but everything makes sense.! In one word, PERFECT!