How Fullmetal Alchemist Integrates Theme and Character
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | How Fullmetal Alchemist Integrates Theme and Character |
| Creator: | creative-type |
| Date(s): | February 15th, 2018 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | Fullmetal Alchemist |
| Topic: | character analysis, themes, etc |
| External Links: | on tumblr, archived |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
How Fullmetal Alchemist Integrates Theme and Character is a 2018 meta essay by creative-type posted on tumblr that discusses how Hiromu Arakawa, the mangaka of Fullmetal Alchemist, kept her series from suffering from the decay of theme and focus that haunts many long-running shonen.
The essay is split up into an introduction and two sections: "Fullmetal Alchemist: A Series of Terrible People Trying to Become Less Terrible" and "Overcoming Ignorance and Finding Truth." It's accompanied with pages and panels from the manga.
Excerpts
The Elric’s attempt to resurrect their mother is never treated as anything but a horrible thing that never should have happened. Yes, the boys’s plight is sympathetic and the loss of their mother after their father abandoned the family was a tragedy, but they were told time and time again that human transformation was not only impossible, but forbidden
It is impossible to fully implement a theme of overcoming past mistakes without having characters be fully responsible for said mistakes. I feel like it’s a common trap to sacrifice likability for pathos. How easy would it have been to say that Ed and Al couldn’t be held responsible for their actions because they weren’t aware of the consequences, or had never been told that human transformation was forbidden? How easy would it have been to say that the military made Roy and Riza and the rest participate in the Ishvalan massacre?
With their worldviews essentially shattered it would have been easy to give up or give in to the darkness that they had seen, but instead each main character decides to take full ownership of their mistakes and takes steps to correct them.
There are very few irredeemable bad guys in Fullmetal Alchemist, and it’s a series that ultimately has a very hopeful view on humanity. Because of this underlying philosophy people are not ruined or broken by their pasts, but rather learn from them.