The Art of Unfamiliarity: Fullmetal Alchemist Creator Deep Dive

Hiromi Arakawa used to be a farm girl. She had a rural upbringing and no personal connection with Fullmetal Alchemist's heavier themes. She didn't even know much about alchemy or philosophy until she had a few publications out. But FMA still conveys a heartfelt exploration of these concepts, weaving together societal critiques with philosophical dilemmas. Arakawa's development process for FMA demonstrates how to approach unfamiliar topics and combine those with areas of expertise. In this video,

we'll take a look at both her career leading to FMA and the actual development of the key story elements. We'll cover all of these topics and many more. Let's dive in. Arakawa grew up on a dairy farm near Makubetsu Hokkaido. Three older sisters, one younger brother, and parents who are both multi-generational farmers. Her farm mainly sold milk and potatoes, but she knows farming. She's dropped the most niche farming tips on all of these products and more on several occasions. This is also why A

rakawa's avatar is a cow wearing glasses. She is obsessed with cows to the point where her studio is referred to as the COWSHED, equipped with the finest cow print accessories. She's also a big fan of milk and often draws her avatar drinking it. And yet, Edward hates that stuff. Not a whole lot of interesting things to do here on the farm. Highlights include watching cows march in the snow and heading out to the mountains while trying to avoid bears. That's all there really is beyond the farmlan

ds by the way. Just mountains. But Arakawa made it work. Just look at all of these fun outdoor hobbies. And I need to stress the bears. With every field trip her school had, they were always met with bears in the end. To help avoid them, Arakawa took her dog with her whenever she went out at night or near the mountains. Her farm actually had all kinds of dogs and cats, but she really likes dogs in particular. That's why there's so many in her works. Densuke here was even the inspiration for Den

in FMA. Despite having such a different upbringing from the typical mangaka, Arakawa still wound up discovering manga at a very young age. Thanks to her hometown's library, the first few works she ever read are kind of bizarre by modern standards. Norakuro by manga industry pioneer Suiho Tagawa. It follows the comedic antics of a dog during his time in the army. Something Arakawa refers to as Yokai Daijiten by Shigeru Mizuki. I think she's referring to one part of a series of Yokai guidebooks ca

lled Shigeru Mizuki's Yokai Encyclopedia, but that's just a guess. Makoto-chan by Kazuo Omezu. It's a gag manga following a kindergartner and has a lot of crude humor. What else would you expect from a horror manga author writing a children's comedy series? Very strange trio of starter manga, but it works for Arakawa. Makoto-chan in particular is what kickstarted her doodling obsession. She liked these jokes and would even draw some of the panels. But her interest in both manga and drawing start

ed to really pick up in early elementary school where she discovered Weekly Shounen Sunday. Soon after, she also became acquainted with Shounen Jump and Margaret, as one of her older sisters would regularly buy these magazines. I used to copy whatever manga was popular at the time. When I was in elementary school, it was Kinikuman. But other than that, I mainly drew animals. I really didn't draw human characters that often. Her favorite would quickly become a series that's credited with populari

zing many of the anime tropes you see today. The manga I was most absorbed in reading is Rumiko Takahashi's Urusai Yatsura. That was the first manga volume that I bought with my own money. It was right when the TV anime started and I watched it and got into it. And I was living in a village where there was no bookstore, but a rice shop had books to sell. There was a book slash magazine section in the shop, so I ran in there and bought only the then -latest volume, Sixteen. I think Urusai Yatsura

made me start being conscious of how to write manga. I mean, there's no waste in this manga. I read it again when I grew up, and I thought it was astonishing. Once again, toward Takahashi Sensei, I put my palms together. When Arakawa eventually got a chance to speak with Takahashi, she elaborated further. Yes, a rice shop. Manga was also sold there. Convenience stores close at 10pm in this world. So, for this interview, I reviewed the back of the first volume of Urusai Yatsura that I bought, an

d found that it was printed in 1988. This encouraged Arakawa to draw people more often, as cherry from Urusai Yatsura was an attractive option for some reason, though animals would still take precedence. The most normal-looking person she drew once in a while was probably Ranma Sautome. As she entered high school, she went through her Jojo phase, recounting an event around age 15. In our barn, I specifically found the issue of Weekly Shonen Jump with the first chapter of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

. I went to read it in a dark barn where some agricultural equipment was stored, and I was completely captivated. I was still a kid at the time, and I imitated the ripple and said things like, I want to stand like this. These were the professions Arakawa considered while growing up. Are you beginning to notice a pattern with the animals? Well, becoming a mangaka was always my end goal, but I was content in taking some detours along the way. I went to an agricultural high school, so I thought abo

ut becoming a veterinarian once I graduated. Yeah, she actually went to a farm school. These are the classes she took. The normal high school classes were there too, but it was obvious to her the school really just cared about the agricultural classes. These kids are basically spending over half the day doing physical work, and then of course you have the club activities. Arakawa's elementary and middle schools didn't actually have a manga or art club. She instead joined the Hyaku-nin issue and

volleyball clubs. Then in high school, she opted for karate. Very sports oriented on top of all that physical labour. It was only after finishing high school that Arakawa noticed a problem. It was around that time that I finally realized that I couldn't become a manga artist unless I drew people. Until then, all I had drawn were animals, yokai, and monsters. I liked Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so I drew a lot of old men. Since my entry point for drawing humans was old men, perhaps that's why

Fullmetal Alchemist was also full of old men and muscles. Regardless, it was only after high school that Arakawa started making serious strides to become a mangaka. Arakawa's plan was to devote the next 7 years to helping out on the family farm, while improving her art skills on the side. In my student years, I reached the textbook graffiti level, but after graduation, I was practicing oil paintings while helping out on my family's farm, as well as creating a doujinshi on the Romance of the Thre

e Kingdoms with a bunch of history loving friends. I was called out by my friends to be a writer, and drew some yonkoma for a magazine. To learn oil painting, she attended monthly lessons in her town. This skill later influenced the color spreads she created for FMA. For the doujinshi, Arakawa formed a doujin group called Deno Sanzoku Bukando with her friend Zhang Fei Long. The most notable of the doujinshi she created was a work called Shishi Jushin Enbu. This actually served as the precursor t

o her published series Hero Tales. And I know at least one of you is thinking this, as far as we know, all their doujins were safe for work. In regards to the Yonkoma comics, Arakawa would eventually end up drawing these for a magazine called Gamest. During this time, Arakawa would use a couple different pen names, but the most common one was Edmund Arakawa. This looks like a pretty good multifaceted approach. The best way to get good at something is to do that thing, and Arakawa basically got u

s close to making actual manga as she could without leaving Hokkaido. Near the end of this training arc, Arakawa's attention turned to the 21st Century Shonen Gangan Award. This contest is designed to allow beginner artists to catch the attention of publishers. Arakawa would submit her one -shot Stray Dog here. Unfortunately, the process of drawing Stray Dog was really hectic. At the time, I was helping out with my family's dairy farm while working on my submission. That was one of the most inte

nse experiences I've ever had, with an incredibly demanding schedule. First and foremost, the deadline for the Gangan Grand Prize was approaching rapidly, so I decided to submit my work for that. Due to my personality, I felt that if I didn't submit it then, I might end up leading a laid-back life thinking, "Well, it's fine." I had mentally prepared myself for this decision. However, when I actually started drawing, my grandmother was hospitalized. Fortunately, she was able to leave the hospital

after a short period, and I was relieved. But just a week before the deadline, my parents went on a trip, leaving me to take care of 60 dairy cows while working on the inking. In the last three days, the situation became incredibly intense, with only a few minutes of sleep per day. After completing it, I was so exhausted that I even forgot for a while that I'd submitted it. When I had finally recovered from the fatigue, I thought, maybe it'll at least get an honourable mention. That's when I re

ceived a call from Mr. Shimomura. Yuichi Shimomura, the man who called that day, would eventually become the main editor for Fullmetal Alchemist. Arakawa ended up winning this award, which gave her access to an editor as well as a contract with Enix, pre Square Enix merger. Arakawa was so surprised she had won that she responded to Shimomura with something like, I'm sorry I won the grand prize for this. Looking at the work itself, Stray Dog is about an anti-hero warrior with a Guts-like aestheti

c named Fultac. He finds and adopts a military dog named Kilka. This is a being that's basically a half-human, half-dog chimera, but you know, not this kind of chimera. Together, Fultac and Kilka rob people for the sake of feeding themselves. Their actions are morally questionable, and you do learn why they do this as the story progresses. It even hits you with a big plot twist in the end that makes you recontextualize a lot of the events. Many of the ideas in Stray Dog were refined and eventual

ly made their way into FMA. The term dog of the military finds its roots here. Ed's hair resembles Kilka's. Golden eyes have meaning in the one-shot, similar to red eyes in FMA. They're used to differentiate the chimeras from normal people. The comedic style is very familiar too. Stray Dog even gets directly referenced in FMA, being a brand of whiskey. From this one-shot onwards, Arakawa adopted her current pen name, Hiromu Arakawa. Many third-party sources suggest she did this to get readers to

think she was male, which might be true. I didn't come across any Arakawa quotes to verify this claim. Also, both Hiromi and Hiromu are considered gender-neutral names according to the internet, though Hiromi seems like it's more common for girls these days. Authors typically use a pen name either for anonymity or marketability like these guys. Since the two names are very similar, I'm leaning more towards marketability. Could there be something more to this? Does it all just go back to cows? W

hy would you stop using Edmund? I'm not even sure if Arakawa really cared about hiding her gender due to an incident she had with a particular fan letter. The fan in this letter mentioned that they always thought Arakawa was a guy because she draws herself as a cow. She was shocked. To a farmer, it's obvious that dairy cows are mostly female. Mostly. Just look at volume 1 of FMA. The first picture she draws of her avatar is in fighting panties. Moving on, Arakawa was excited to get the chance to

make her debut, but she was also concerned about the future of the farm. Her parents were getting older, and she hesitated a little on the decision. She took about half a month to really think about it. Why she chose manga over farming, or anything else, seems to have ultimately come down to this. I had several dreams when I was a child. I wanted to be a livestock farmer, but also to take care of animals in a zoo. And also, becoming a mangaka. Growing up, this last one stayed. I explained it to

my parents. I loved working on the farm, but I loved drawing above all. Arakawa committed to this goal, saying she wouldn't come back home until she could make a living drawing manga, something she even reflected on in volume 2 of FMA. This reflects Ed and Al's mindset as they left their home. Except Arakawa didn't burn down her farm, of course. So what's the first thing you do after settling in? When I moved to Tokyo, there were many art museums I wanted to visit. So with the intention of lear

ning, I went around and explored. What reassured me the most was that there were job opportunities in Honshu. There were many part-time job opportunities, especially in manual labour, listed in the newspapers and information papers. So I didn't feel anxious about having to make a living. In Hokkaido, there were hardly any job listings at all. So I worked part-time at a security company with flexible hours and good daily wage, while continuing to draw manga manuscripts for a while. After about a

year in Tokyo, the editorial department offered Arakawa a role as an assistant to Hiroyuki Etou, working on Mahoujin Guruguru. I was anxious about whether I would be able to handle this job because our art styles were completely different. But conversely, because our styles were different, I was able to learn a lot. She actually goes into detail about what she learned. Eto mainly stressed composition. This included how to make the most important content stand out in your panels. One strategy Ara

kawa explains is maintaining thinner background lines compared to character lines. This also enhances perception of distance. She also learned how to balance betas, tones, and whites at both the panel and page levels. Arakawa continues to practice a lot of what she's learned here to this day. During her time in this assistant role, she was also working on a series of one -page comics called Totsugeki Tonari no Enix. I couldn't find any scans of these, but they're supposed to be a behind-the -sce

nes look at Arakawa's days working as an assistant. I imagine they might be similar to her future series, Noble Farmer, which I'll talk about more later. In that same year, Arakawa started her first published series, Demons of Shanghai. Though only four chapters in length, this one's a comedic adventure manga about the futuristic demon capital, Shanghai. We follow members of the supernatural Demon Taoists Corporation as they take down various quote-unquote demons who break the rules. A number of

characters in this one closely resemble FMA characters. Jack also has a unique left arm, kind of similar to Lust's powers, and it reflects Ed's unique right arm. It was pretty common to see this series get used as fake spoilers during FMA's runtime due to the similarities. In classic Arakawa fashion, she put her all into the series. I like stories that have a hint of sorrow, but I also love stories with some silliness. If the readers don't like Shanghai, then the future of Arakawa as a manga ar

tist would be clouded by shadows of doubt. That was the mood I was in when I drew this, so that I won't have any regrets, I've chucked in everything that I like. Comedy, China, monsters, bearded old geezers, muscle, worthless stuff, food, and useless military. The outcome was unexpectedly good. Notice that all these things she likes did eventually appear in FMA too. Arakawa did also fail to get works published a number of times. Her manuscripts often wouldn't get past the editor approval stage.

One worth mentioning is the first draft for a work called Souten no Komori. Shimomura thought it needed some more excitement at the time, and suggested saving it for a future opportunity. This work would eventually get published in Gangan Custom many years later. It was after this publication attempt that Arakawa started putting together the prototype version of FMA. The first concept developed for the story was the Philosopher's Stone. It would be interesting if there was magic that could make

things come out of the walls and floors in a flash. This was the idea that got the ball rolling. Arakawa wanted something more distinct than a conventional magic system, yet still easy to understand. She was thinking about making it revolve around this object. Then I did some research on the Philosopher's Stone and ended up reading about alchemy. I was fascinated, and that in turn became the framework for the whole manga. But she quickly realized how inconsistent the interpretations and findings

of this subject are from one author to another. At its core, alchemy is about changing matter, often trying to turn less valuable metals into gold. But it also includes philosophical theories, where the aim is the very abstract idea of either trying to become or look for the perfect being. As we can see in the final product, Arakawa was more attracted to the philosophical aspects than the practical ones. From the basic principles of alchemy, she started to develop additional elements of the sto

ry, including core themes and major plot points. The initial ideas for Ed and Al are really interesting, mostly because it wasn't originally two brothers. Initially, the protagonist was 18 years old, and the one forming a pair with him was his father, whose soul had transferred to a flying squirrel due to a failed alchemical transmutation. However, considering 18 might be a bit too old for shonen manga, I decided to lower the protagonist's age. Also , since the story involved manipulating life,

I aimed to keep it from becoming too heavy. I wanted the protagonist to respond to unfair situations with answers like, this is just how it is, or it can't be helped. Despite the plot being somewhat convenient, I hoped to provide a positive response. In the end, I want it to conclude with a smile. So I quadruple checked this, it does seem to be flying squirrel. A native Japanese speaker, machine translation, some FMA fan on the internet, even Edward Elric's Wikipedia page say the same thing. Thi

s last one is actually from a completely different interview too. She mentioned this flying squirrel thing twice. Now where were we? A certain unique element of Ed was still missing. When I was thinking about adding another layer to the protagonist aside from alchemy, I had an epiphany while working a part-time job directing traffic in a rehabilitation center. I saw someone walking with a prosthetic arm detached, hanging by a cord from their belt, and that sparked something in me. Consequently,

I started talking to various people. A person who lost a leg due to speeding while driving told me, I really regret being foolish, but also mentioned that through the loss, they gained something in return. It was a very impactful statement and became one of the themes in my work. The appearances of the people I met at the time were truly striking. I encountered individuals who walked with prosthetic legs clattering like in the movie or had a prosthetic arm hanging from their waist. When I asked

about the reasons behind their choices, one person explained, If I take off my arm, my balance is off, and it's difficult to walk. I found fascinating and said, "I see". This is the first instance of one of Arakawa's habits you'll see come up repeatedly: talking to people with diverse backgrounds. Through her work at the rehab center, she gained an understanding of how people with disabilities approach life. She realized that many are able to accept their challenges and have a positive outlook,

but she also understood that they have more complicated feelings about their disabilities that they kept private, something she acknowledged she could never entirely grasp. Ed's disability, the most uniquely defining physical trait he has, is something written from the author's understanding of other people, not herself. When it comes to Al, the idea for his suit of armour comes from Dragon Quest's restless armour enemy. As Arakawa is publishing with Enix, she noted that a large portion of the r

eaders like JRPGs. She thought this walking suit of armour idea was an easy way to incorporate familiar fantasy elements while also making the character range more unique. It's important to note that even though the idea of Al's armor is inspired by the wandering armor, Arakawa didn't use it as reference material. She didn't really use any specific reference, which is probably why it took so long. Since Al is kind, Arakawa wanted the armour to give off the opposite impression. She was aiming for

something that looks like a demon, complete with horns, glowing red eyes and sharp teeth. Arakawa put together the story as fast as she could, originally intending for it to be a one-shot. A culmination of her own personal experiences, tales from the people she encountered, and her extensive research on alchemy. The biggest adjustments centered around our main characters. Initially, Ed was of average height, but it was reduced to create a greater contrast with Al's large suit of armor. There wa

s a bit of a challenge to ensure that Ed's automail didn't look too bulky, and this was balanced by giving him a more muscular appearance. She submitted the manuscript to the editorial department, attributing the situation to a sink or swim scenario. Fullmetal Alchemist The Prototype did get published in 2011, and is fairly easy to find floating around on the web. I'll briefly summarize it here, so skip to this point if you want to read it without spoilers. The one-shot is kind of like the Corne

llo arc. Equivalent exchange is prominent. Ed and Al fail to bring their mother back for the same reason, and they're searching for a way to get their bodies back. Major Arzen takes Cornello's role, governing the desert town. He has a philosopher's stone, and wants an alchemist like Ed to make him immortal. Arzen forces him into a deal by imprisoning Al and Rose. In exchange for making him immortal, he'll let Ed's group go, and give them the stone to keep. As you'd expect, Arzen lied, then a bat

tle ensues as Al and Rose escape. Ed also predicted this would happen, so he mixed a single screw into Arzen when he performed the transmutation. He turns him into a steel statue. Problem solved. Before leaving this dying desert town, he uses the philosopher's stone to turn one of Rose's tears into a giant lake, but the stones all used up now, before they could get their bodies back. The search continues, but at least the town's happy now. Shimomura's response to the draft was simply, that's gre

at. We did get more insight into his thoughts in the FMA guidebooks. Shimomura was quite impressed, and saw the appeal of this unique duo of brothers. He appreciated both the visual aspects and the depth of the characters. Once Arakawa began refining her draft, he was informed of another Enix serialization contest coming up soon. The idea of serializing FMA hadn't crossed her mind at all, and so began another sprint to make even more adjustments. FMA was picked up for serialization very easily,

though to Arakawa, I think it was accepted because Enix is a game company. In fact, we were expecting readers who are used to RPGs, so we thought a title with a fantasy flavor would be good. Gangan was publishing new serializations by rookie authors on a monthly basis around this time, so Arakawa needed to work fast. As soon as she learned her work would be serialized, she asked a friend to help. In terms of editorial input, Shimomura reportedly didn't have much to give. Keeping the audience in

mind, he suggested making Ed more dramatic, and the alchemy scenes cooler and more dynamic. He's also the one who came up with the idea of having Ed react aggressively whenever he heard the word short. To add to the cool factor, he suggested adding a lot of the markings and symbols you see around the FMA world, such as the flamel symbol on Ed and Al. At some point, Arakawa considered giving Al a more complicated design. I was thinking about the speed of continuing the series and my own skills, a

nd changed the design of Alphonse's armour. Before serialization, I was thinking of making it pitch black, but I thought adding shine to account for the reflection of light would take a lot of time and make it look too dark, so I decided to use a screen tone instead. The first chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist was set to be published in the August 2001 issue of Monthly Shonen Gangan. Before we continue, you may have seen these images before and have been told that this was Arakawa. This is not true

. This is Romi Park, Edward's voice actor. She often represents Arakawa at events, and anywhere she'd usually have to show her face, hence the confusion. You might have also seen this picture before. This is also not Arakawa. This is just a presenter of the award. The one receiving this award is one of Arakawa's editors on her behalf. We don't really know what she looks like, apart from some old really low -res pictures. This is supposedly one of them. Okay, that's it. By the time serialization

had started, Arakawa already developed an outline for the story. I had only decided on the beginning, the end, and the important events in between. While fleshing out chapters during serialization, there were changes, but overall, the story has progressed as planned. It's not so much a major change, but as the story unfolds, characters grow. And sometimes, they run in directions different from what the creator originally intended. This is a common sentiment across many authors. Characters can't

be forced to do whatever the writer wants. I've got a more specific answer in regards to what was already planned. I knew from the start the major plot points. The Ishval War, the battle in Central City, etc. I also knew if the Elric brothers would get their bodies back, either entirely or partially. What was decided as we went along was the way they would bring answers, and what answers they would get in the story. The characters were the ones who naturally developed the story, but even before

specific plot points were worked on, Arakawa had already decided on the central themes. One of the earliest that was developed was, of course, Equivalent Exchange. This concept did come up repeatedly during her alchemy research, but she primarily attributes the idea to her farming upbringing. Arakawa's family had this saying, Those who don't work, don't eat. The more you love your animals, the more they give it back to you. The more you take care of them, the better their meat will be. There are

also unpredictable events. If the weather's terrible, you'll need to deploy even more work to achieve better results. Equivalent Exchange is based on the energy you'll deploy to realize the task that was assigned to you. In a way, that exchange gives rhythm to my life. Additional themes would branch off from there. Another big one she discusses is the question, what does it mean to be living? It was from this question that story elements like the homunculi were developed. A lot of her research

in regards to the setting would come from the same place as her alchemy investigations: books. Most of Arakawa's background research comes from reading, especially when it concerns historical cultures and events. As hinted at by her interest in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, she's a history buff and generally just likes to read. As she mentioned in volume 19 of FMA, If God told me I will grant you anything in the world that you desire, just ask for it, I would answer without hesitation. I want J

apan's National Diet Library. Maybe that's why the secret to making Philosopher's Stones was kept in a cookbook within a library. The scale of the research Arakawa does is so large that the series probably ended before she got to organize all of it. But she didn't solely rely on this method. Arakawa took a trip through Europe in order to further address her unfamiliarity with the setting of the story. Apart from the benefits of sensory engagement this has, she tried to develop a deeper understan

ding of the culture. Arakawa engaged with the locals and tried to gain insights on different customs and traditions that might not be fully captured in her reading sources. She even has a habit of visiting antique stores both in Japan and abroad and would spend time talking to many of the store owners. I was particularly impressed by how remarkably different the thinking and customs were even between neighboring countries. This two-stage approach to learning, of first intensely researching somet

hing through books and then directly interacting with it, continued for all aspects of FMA that were unfamiliar to her, right down to the weapons used. Hawkeye, for example, specifically uses a karabiner 98k rifle and carries two FN model 1910s. To try and make this as accurate as possible, Arakawa actually tried to buy real guns. Of course, this is difficult to do in Japan so she had to settle for prop guns. This habit does get a little irresponsible sometimes, like the time she blew an entire

paycheck on buying an antique pocket watch to use as a reference for Ed's. But back to the setting of FMA, I based it on the industrial sectors of England during the industrial revolution. It's a city with rows of factories wrapped in smoke, smog, and steam, but I've given it my own original flavor and made it into a fantasy world. By comparing the first few chapters of FMA with her previous work, we can see that Arakawa's art style is more or less established. It's basically a byproduct of the

early manga style she'd consumed. The manga artist that I look up to the most is Suiho Tagawa, the author of Norikuro. He is the root of my style as an artist. I also love Rumiko Takahashi and Kinikuman, or Ultimate Muscle, by Yudetamago. As far as composition and how to draw, I learned that when I was apprenticed to Hiroyuki Etou, the author of Mahoujin Guruguru for Shonen Gangan. As we near the end of 2001, Scar is introduced in volume 2. The original inspiration for the conflict between Ishva

lans and state alchemists in the story was actually Arakawa's local history in Hokkaido. For context, the indigenous people of Hokkaido are referred to as the Ainu. This group of people were confronted with colonialism brought about by Japan, with the most drastic decline of their population occurring in the 1800s. My ancestors were farmers and homesteaders who displaced Ainu and stole their land from them. But ironically enough, some of my own relatives have Ainu blood in them. That seems compl

icated, but it's just an everyday fact of life to have neighbors of differing ethnicity. I think the truly serious problems in this world are when people don't make any effort to learn about these everyday situations. When they turn away from them or view them from only a single perspective. Arakawa used this inspiration as the basis of the cycle of hatred seen in FMA, and it's an extensive exploration of the topic at that. By the second half of 2002, we're hitting the end of the fifth laborator

y scenario, and things are generally progressing as Arakawa planned. Of all the things that didn't stick to the plan, Barry the chopper was the one that surprised her. He was originally supposed to die at Laboratory 5, but as she was drawing that chapter, she had a feeling Barry might be useful to keep around and changed her mind. Plus, he was quite fun to draw. This resulted in a bigger role for him long term, and a lasting effect on Alphonse's character beyond that. More specifically, Barry's

suggestion that Al isn't human greatly bothered him. Arakawa commented on the chapter of Fullmetal Body, saying, Normally, Al wouldn't be able to cry because of his armoured body. But in that chapter, we made it look like he was crying. In a way, I guess I finally made Al cry. These chapters also do a good job of showing us what the present dynamic between Ed, Al, and Winry is like. Winry is the one who is keeping an eye on both Ed and Al. Actually, of those three childhood friends, Winry is the

one who has the hardest time. I wish Ed and Al would talk to each other more, but neither one of them says anything. Winry understands how they both feel, but since they aren't real brothers, she doesn't know what to do. There's a part of me that just can't get in between the two, but I'm glad Winry was here. It's like a buffer, or rather, it's a blessing for me as a writer. I was actually thinking of introducing Winry in the third chapter, but the editor said, It's still early. Why is it so ea

rly? I thought I was going to be able to draw a girl. I reacted like a rebellious child, and instead, a story about a coal mine was born that featured only men. In the end, Winry wasn't allowed to appear until the third volume of the manga. Winry's occupation is also inspired by Arakawa's family motto. The women of FMA have to work hard too, or else, they don't deserve to eat. The year was closing out, a little bit after Hugh's death. Pretty impactful point in the story for fans, and apparently,

the editor too. Actually, when I saw the storyboard for chapter 16, Separate Paths, I almost cried. After I finished reading it, I put the storyboard down, closed my eyes, and thought, What kind of story are you creating? I'm not blaming anyone, but naturally, the reactions from the readers were great. The scene where Nina is turned into a chimera in chapter 5, the alchemist suffering, and Mustang's entrance in chapter 4, Battle on the Train, also likely gripped the hearts of female fans. The a

ssistants also took Hugh's death pretty hard. Every month before we start work on the manga, I have the assistants read the dialogue in the rough draft, so that they can get an idea of how the story is going to flow. This was the one where everyone who read it cried, I had to apologize profusely. Arakawa didn't actually think fans cared about Hugh's all that much, until she saw the reactions to his death. Even so, it didn't stop her from having a hard time drawing it. The two things she hates dr

awing are actually people dying or crying, especially when a girl is crying. I feel like saying, oh, sorry, but if a guy is crying, there's this anger, like, you're a man, don't cry so easily. The death of Hugh's and Havoc's discharge from the military were planned from the beginning, so I tried to save my emotions as much as possible and not get too emotionally involved. I guess the elephant in the room is how she felt about Nina. No one really brought it up much in the interviews, but apparent

ly, Arakawa wanted this chapter to be a big atmosphere shift. It was supposed to set the tone for the upcoming story arcs. The large amounts of planning and research Arakawa had put in gave FMA a strong start, but it didn't mean it was smooth sailing. This was still Arakawa's first long-term series after all. She was committed to keep pushing the story beyond her comfort zone and grow alongside Ed and Al. I struggle right along with them, sometimes making mistakes as I go. I can't grow as an art

ist by only presenting things that I already know the answers to. Even if I were to try, I think I would just come off as pompous. Enix, soon to be Square Enix, was ready to develop a ton of spin-off FMA media. Video games, audio dramas, art books, guidebooks, and a few years later, some light novels and movies. During Square Enix's March 2003 to March 2004 fiscal year, they achieved a much higher profit than expected. In addition to the popularity of Dragon Quest V and Final Fantasy X-2, they a

ttributed Fullmetal Alchemist's manga sales as one of the big reasons for it. But of course, we can't ignore the influence of the 2003 anime in all of this, which started airing during the fall anime season of that year. Volume 8 of FMA includes a whole mini -comic about Arakawa's involvement in the 2003 anime. It devolves into a rant about Star Wars, but she saves it. While she did assist with its early development, she wasn't actually involved in any script writing. Her job was mainly answerin

g questions about the characters, her plans for future developments, how the world and power system worked, and so on. As far as Arakawa can recall, the first request she got from the director was to break down the old male characters, especially Armstrong. With all parties being fully aware that there wasn't enough material to make a year-long series, they came to the decision to have the anime split off on its own very early in its production. It's important to note that the anime staff knew a

ll of Arakawa's plans at that point, but Arakawa requested that the anime series have a different ending from her plan. To her, manga and anime are different modes of expression, and different artists are involved. There's little point in having a cross-media story if everything is exactly the same in all versions. She left the new developments completely up to the director, and was even thankful it split off by the end of its TV run. And not a terrible idea even without hindsight. They had the

hot new studio Bones on production with a notable director and producer on board. Arakawa recalls her first meeting with director Mizushima being in Fall 2002. This was also when she received the first character drafts. Sometimes the anime staff independently came up with the same idea as Arakawa. On some occasions, it even happened at the same time. The backstories of the homunculi in the anime left a particularly strong impression on her. As I watched the show, I found it very interesting to s

peculate about what kind of final showdown each of the homunculi would have with the people who spawned them. As far as Arakawa's thoughts on other mediums go, I found it interesting how various people approached Fullmetal Alchemist from different perspectives and genres, exploring differences in script writing and style. For instance, with a drama CD, it's intriguing to see how much can be conveyed with just dialogue, and how the speaking styles of voice actors can vary without visuals. It's en

joyable to listen to. In the case of novels, it's a discovery to see how the story and manga translates into written words. In anime, the addition of music further enhances the experience. When it comes to the video game Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, Arakawa focused more on the character models. There is a unique playfulness that is specific to games, so there's the joy of discovering that. It's also enjoyable to see 3D characters. Things like how the back of the hair is designed can

be interesting to explore too. She is a bit of a gamer, but I'm not sure how much of this one she actually played. As the anime reached its end in Fall 2004, the manga started to pick up a lot more attention, and that meant much more feedback and criticism. Arakawa had family members contacting her to bring up stories written about FMA in the media. One of her sisters in Hokkaido even woke her up early one day to fax over an article written by a news site. It was normal to see negative opinions

once in a while too. When it's a valid criticism, I start to feel really depressed. I think about it and tell myself, hmm, there will always be people who take things that way. Of course, the overwhelming majority were positive, and Arakawa loved to see what fans had to say. It's touching when I receive handwritten letters from little kids, as it makes me think, even little kids are reading my work. When it comes to Fullmetal, I received letters anywhere from children in first or second grade,

to even a 79-year-old man who said, I like to read it with my grandson. She'd reiterate these sentiments in a number of interviews. I've been very touched by letters from young boys and girls in the hospital, or even from adults who tell me that they felt better after reading Fullmetal Alchemist. Reading manga gave me hope as a kid, and it makes me so happy to think that now, I've been able to cheer up people with my own manga. It's such an honor, it really is. Arakawa would even get fan letters

addressed to certain characters. She recounted a certain time where she was sent chocolate suggesting... something. When I opened the chocolate addressed to Mustang, it turned out to be T-roll chocolate. I'm not sure if he's being loved or not, it's hard to tell. By the way, I also received chocolate from the same person for Hawkeye, but this time it was Godiva chocolate, which is synonymous with luxury chocolates. As the anime was closing out, the manga just wrapped up the Mustang vs. Lust fig

ht. Arakawa found this chapter to be one of her most memorable. Interestingly, this chapter had been decided from the beginning of the serialization. Things like everyone in the military giving each other code names, Havoc getting stabbed, and the Colonel using Havoc's lighter when his ignition cloth got wet had all been planned. Because of that, I had him smoking since his first appearance, and it was decided that Lust would become his lover. It goes further than that. Mustang's actions all thi

s time were very deliberate. I thought this would be the best place to showcase the Colonel, so I didn't let him play an active role until then. He's been called incompetent, but that's just because he hasn't had a chance to shine. Well, it seems incompetent has completely stuck now. The chapter that followed, however, was a struggle for Arakawa. We already know she doesn't enjoy drawing sad scenes, and the chapter Philosopher from the West was where we saw that Ross is alive and Havoc is now se

verely injured, driven into retirement. Through the actions that followed, Arakawa wanted to depict the differences between the Colonel and the Fuhrer. The Fuhrer easily discards pieces while the Colonel cannot. This difference is crucial. Whether I conveyed it well or not, I don't know, but I struggled with the storyboard. She had to lock herself in the editorial office for two days working on that storyboard. Chapter 40 is like a turning point in Fullmetal Alchemist. It's the first time that E

d and Al have openly discussed what they've been thinking. When they were hospitalized due to their injuries from the Fifth Laboratory, there was a scene in which they confirmed each other's intentions. But that was not enough. To top it off, the chapter does end with Hohenheim's manga debut, so I think it really does feel like the turning point she was going for. 2005 was when FMA reached its like a turning point in Fullmetal first peak of popularity outside of Japan, probably due to the Englis

h dub of the 2003 anime. That was my introduction to the series, as was probably the case for a lot of you. The first episode of the Funimation dub didn't actually air until November 2004 in the States. For the most part, the rest of the world received an FMA dub even later. We didn't get it on TV here in Canada until March 2006. As the story reached its halfway point, planning was becoming an increasingly difficult task for Arakawa. The manga was growing larger than she had anticipated. I don't

want the pacing of the story to slow down, so I create a climax in each chapter and then cut out unnecessary parts around that. Especially lately, I have been struggling because I don't have enough pages each month. I'm compressing chapters, and as a result, characters like Ling end up with fewer appearances. I really want to feature them more, but in the future, they'll surely have more active roles. The subject matter of the story was getting more complex too. Arakawa would soon need to depic

t the Ishval War in detail. She decided to interview war veterans in preparation. This is, of course, after doing tons of research and history books. Since I'm from a generation that hasn't experienced war, there's a constant struggle with the question of whether I, who doesn't know real war, can depict it from the perspective of someone who has only known peace. I think this internal conflict will probably continue for a long time. This quote exemplifies how sincere Arakawa's efforts to genuine

ly understand people are. She recognizes that gaining a comprehensive understanding is difficult, especially on the topic of war. The impact of such events on people is very personal and diverse. In researching this volume, I interviewed veterans who had been at the front during World War II. I read countless books, examined film footage, and listened to many detailed and intense stories firsthand. But the one comment that affected me the most came from a former soldier who lowered his gaze to t

he tabletop and said, "I never watch war movies". Apart from the groups of people already mentioned, Arakawa also interviewed refugees, former Yakuza members, foreigners living in Japan, and more throughout FMA's run. Many of the tough, painful experiences the FMA characters go through draw inspiration from the stories of real people. However, the relationships between Ed, Al, and the parental figures come from a more personal place. I don't think the world is all that terrible. If you look at T

V reports, it seems like there are a lot of children feeling lonely these days. But adults don't ignore children. They pay close attention to what they see. Yes, adults are watching. Instinctively, you might disagree. Across all generations, for all of time, it often feels like adults don't really understand kids. But Arakawa's beliefs make a lot more sense when you consider where she comes from. I grew up in a rural village, so adults were always around me. When I'd walk down the farm road on m

y way home from school, there was always adults working in the farm somwhere who would greet me During busy periods, children are also asked to work on the farm. And even though they complained, they helped out. Due to this culture, I had a feeling from an early age that adults were watching over me. This really is a perspective characteristic of rural places. Compared to large urban centers, people are more likely to know their neighbours and even have a stronger sense of belonging there. Araka

wa reflects her sentiment in Ed and Al's own upbringing. They burn down their house, signifying how serious they were to move forward with their goals. They say, we have nowhere to go. But in fact, when they return to their hometowns, there are people who welcome them. They may not realize it, but the people around them are supporting them. And that's why they can do their best. There's a suggestion that while it may not be your biological family, someone in your community sees you. Maybe a teac

her, a close friend, someone, whether you realize it or not. To Arakawa, the family dynamics children grow up with, serve as a small-scale model for the broader society they'll encounter when they're older. If we want a world where people will be more supportive of each other, then perhaps all we need to do is just gradually widen the scope of that mini society. I wrote the story with that wish in mind. I think the story's eventual destination might be an understanding of family in a larger sens

e of the world. Of course, while Ed and Al are literally family from the beginning, it was important to Arakawa to emphasize the unique side of their relationship. It was the sins and burdens that the brothers were carrying after committing the forbidden act of human transmutation. Since there were two people who had this awareness, I felt that it was important that they took care of each other. As for me, Ed was Ed and Al was Al. And since I wanted each of them to be his own person, I drew Alph

onse as Alphonse, not the brother of the Fullmetal Alchemist. Even in the manga, the brothers had been separated and faced different battles. Like the scene where Alphonse said, I have to do it and advance steadily. We also see Ed worrying a bit about his younger brother, so I really cherish the parts where Ed and Al respected each other. Having siblings herself, Arakawa was able to most closely identify with Al out of all the characters. He's generous and compassionate, often trying to avoid co

nflict, while Ed is usually much louder and more impulsive. Similarly, Arakawa's older sisters would often argue with her parents, while she would just watch them and learn how to avoid trouble. Though she admits that the people around her always say she's more like Ed or Izumi. Arakawa is very aware that there's probably some truth to this. Well, since all of the characters came from me, there must be a part of each of them that resembles me in some way. For instance, my assistant Yuzuka tells

me that I resemble Ed, and my other assistant Takeda tells me that I resemble Izumi, but I'm not that hot -headed. Out of all the characters, Ed's actually been giving Arakawa the most trouble so far. Edward will not listen to me. Based on what he has experienced since the first chapter, there are choices and lines he would never make and say under any circumstances. I understand he would never say a line like this no matter what, but it's not convenient for the person drawing it. I want to go i

n an easy-to -draw direction, but the character won't allow it, so there are situations where I have to rework the handling of the story. There was even a moment where Arakawa felt that Ed's will had finally beaten her. It was Chapter 41, On the Palm of an Arrogant Human Being, where Ed says this. As long as there's life in my body, I swear I'll never let another person become a victim in this deadly game. Arakawa found the scene to be so impactful that she thought she couldn't kill off anyone a

gain if Ed actually said this. And yet, she was absolutely certain that he would say this. Dealing with Al, on the other hand, was smooth sailing as you'd expect. Many of Al's actions on key fights practically wrote themselves. The battle with Lust in Lab 3? Of course Al would jump in and help Hawkeye the way he did. Arakawa did have ways to cheat her control of characters. In her writing style, when new characters are brought in, it's done to suit the story. There's a specific reason for it tha

t compliments the plot. Regardless, Ed and Al are both her favorite characters, as are Winry and Lieutenant Hawkeye. She also really likes Major Armstrong, as well as a bunch of the animals. They're actually the easiest of the cast to draw. The hardest, on the other hand, would be Envy, though it's more a problem of it taking a long time than it being too challenging. Arakawa prefers hand drawing over digital. The screen tones are also drawn by hand. For the coloring, it's hand painted using acr

ylic paints and Copics. Given her early experience drawing 4-panel comics and her dislike for drawing sad scenes, it makes sense that the parts of FMAs she enjoys drawing the most are the side stories and lighthearted moments. Favorite side stories include Dog of the Military and The Second Lieutenant Goes to Battle. For the lighthearted moments, she really likes the "I'm a Housewife" page from Chapter 27. She was also eagerly waiting to draw what she refers to as the muscle bonding scene betwee

n Sig and Armstrong. We didn't know it at the time, but so were we, Arakawa. So were we. She even went as far as to say this in Volume 4 of the manga. What do I most look forward to when creating the manga? Why, doing the bonus pages, of course. I wish I could just do a whole 180 pages of nothing but bonus pages. Right in the middle of FMA's run, Arakawa actually published a number of other works. Raiden 18. It's a comedy series about a doctor who builds Frankensteins for the purpose of battling

other Frankensteins. Then we saw the return of Souten no Komori, that one shot Arakawa made but put aside before FMA. This one's about a cold, emotionless ninja who runs away because she's tired of killing people. She ends up falling unconscious and finds herself nursed back to health in the mansion of her enemies. I can kind of see what Shimomura meant by it not being exciting enough back then. It's a serious drama that doesn't have the fantasy elements of her other works, but it's probably he

r best one-shot so far. Really shows her improvement. Also in 2006, Hero Tales. This one comes from Arakawa's Doujinshi days. She reunited with her old group and revisited their ideas. It's about a young warrior who's actually the reincarnation of a star. He tries to avenge victims of a shogun while seeking out others like him. It's got an anime too. And finally, Noble Farmer. This one's a comedic autobiographical series. It retells incidents that happened on Arakawa's farm when she was a child.

You've seen enough clips of its anime adaptation by now to get the idea. Bold move releasing all this content while simultaneously making FMA. Mangakas are pretty busy with just one series already. Of course, her assistants played a huge role in making sure that could happen. But Arakawa's still got to keep them on their toes. When I give instructions to my assistants for the backgrounds, I usually stick a note on the art pages. But sometimes, when I look over the memos that I wrote when I was

half asleep, I realize I wrote something crazy. So far, the best ones include, draw Koushin here and Penguin Village goes here. And also, I did it again. Scars toupee. In terms of the physical writing and drawing process, Arakawa's favorite task is inking the characters. She likes seeing them take shape on the page. Storyboarding, on the other hand, is her least favorite. Arakawa did remain relatively healthy through FMA's run. No really serious illnesses, but by 2009, she did mention back pains

. Her years of doing physical labor and all of those sports might have helped out there. The karate experience in particular helped with drawing fight scenes. Arakawa would often imagine the movements and start thinking about specific kick and thrust combos. As we near the end of 2008, it's anime time again. There was talk about making FMA into an anime again for a while before, but when I heard that they were making a new series officially, in my heart I thought, I'm looking forward to the anim

e. Though at the same time, because I had a lot of work when the previous anime was airing, my body braced itself with the thought, now I can't get sick. Arakawa's whole team was thrilled about the new anime, even making guesses to who would be voicing the new characters. The staff for FMA Brotherhood mostly comprised of new members. So they were eager to see what they could do. I am curious about how director Irie's art will move. Up to now in his work, every little movement had some kind of ex

pression. So I am looking forward to what he will create with this project. Also, I was surprised to hear that the person in charge of the music is Akira Senju-san. I've been a fan of Senju-san's music for a long time and listened to his soundtracks in the workplace. So I'm very happy that he'll be in charge of the music for this project. One of the scenes she was looking forward to the most was the Mustang vs. Lust fight. Looking back on it, Arakawa felt that the scene was rushed in the manga d

ue to page limitations, so she'd like to see how the staff could improve on that. Being a Hokkaido native, she was also looking forward to seeing Fort Briggs and the country of Drachma. And of course, Xiao mei the Panda, who she stressed is a very necessary addition. As the president of Studio Bones mentioned, in Brotherhood, we challenged ourselves to depict everything that is appealing about the original manga that we couldn't express fully in the previous FMA. It was a difficult challenge in

terms of script development and visual expression and how to change them from the first series. But everyone who worked on it is very happy that many fans loved it. Director Yasuhiro Irie would speak a bit about Arakawa's involvement. For the production of Brotherhood, the original author, Arakawa Sensei, did attend the first meetings. And of course, she also checked the storyboards and the scripts at that time. But she was too busy because of the magazine serialization schedule, so she and the

editor just attended the meetings for the first episodes. They were there to sort of check and see what kind of direction the production was heading in and what kind of approach we were taking. Instead of saying that there wasn't much creative freedom, I'd rather say that the standard was basically just the manga. That was sort of like the Bible for the whole thing. All the meetings and the whole process was about figuring out how to best convert the manga into anime. The circumstances around Br

otherhood's development are very unique in that both the anime and manga would basically end up finishing at the same time. This meant that the anime would catch up to the manga and then be neck and neck as they both approached the finish line. As you'd expect, Arakawa did tell the staff what her plans were for the future of the series, but the ideas were not fully developed yet. Because of that, some of the differences between anime and manga in this case are just a product of not having the ma

nga as a baseline. The extra things compared to the manga were not really new, but they were sometimes revealed before the manga. In fact, we had access to the author's rough draft, so we were able to work on the characters, their reactions to events, and their destiny, and all before it happened in the manga. On the manga side itself, Arakawa was working hard on the endgame. Upon entering the final chapters, I want to show the sense of speed, so I am drawing it at about 1.5 times the density of

the previous chapters. Concerning the story, I've decided who is going to fight whom, but I still haven't decided what the fights will be like. For that part, I would like to enjoy it with the same feeling as the readers while I am drawing. I've been wanting to draw the final chapter that's been polishing up in my head for so long, and that's what I've been working toward up to now, so it would be great if I could get there as planned. After all, I want the characters who worked so hard to be h

appy, and I want to properly give the characters who will be defeated in battle their own place to end. However, that increased density wasn't enough. The initial plan was for the story to take around 21 volumes, but it actually ended up going for 27. It's important to note that Arakawa did mention that she was the one who decided where FMA would stop. No one forced it on her, but the anime ran with the assumption that it would be done much sooner. Initially, the anime was spread over a year, bu

t it ultimately lasted 15 months. In fact, when we were getting closer to the ending, we were told that the manga was going to continue a little longer than expected. This posed a problem because we were going to reveal the end of the story well before the manga ended. The situation was therefore very complex. We then considered taking a break, so as to not reveal the end of the manga so soon. But upon hearing that, the producer of the series simply told us, Oh no, no need. Produce three more mo

nths, it's good. And so that was decided in no time. Suddenly, mid-production, the anime went from a planned 52 episodes to 64. They somehow pulled it off. I guess Arakawa making those final chapters so densely packed was a blessing in regards to the anime's production. A lot of the staff were supposed to move on to other projects after episode 52, but because of the passion behind the series, and hopefully not a ton of company pressure, lots of schedules got moved around and the staff put in ex

tra work to make sure they could finish the series. In the end, Chapter 108, Journey's End, released on June 11th, 2010. Brotherhood aired its final episode on July 4th, 2010. To Arakawa, the opening color spread for that last chapter is one of her most memorable pieces. It felt like, at last, I've made it this far. And now it's time to finally release everything that's been piling up right here. When I was drawing that opening spread, I was very busy with no time to spare. So I was split 50-50

on I Finally Made It This Far and This Is Awful. Since the anime and manga were both aired and published at the same time too, they were neck and neck with each other. I was thrilled while drawing it. This is the only interview where we get to see Arakawa in person, by the way. It wasn't until 2017. Arakawa describes how she felt after FMA ended. When we finished the manga, I was so surprised because I had been drawing this story for nine years and I was convinced that in the end, I would be sad

, as in a break up. When submitted the last chapter, I was actually actually relieved. Not because I was glad it was over, but because I had the conviction that I told everything I wanted to. When I gave the pages to my publisher, I shook hands with all my assistants, then we went eating grilled beef. We had nice drinks, nice food, and a nice feeling of satisfaction. As if my children just graduated. Sticking the landing in a way where the majority is pleased is always a big challenge. But I thi

nk FMA did well in that regard. Though if you look at the manga, you can feel the pressure of page limitations as it approached the end. Arakawa did dwell on several aspects of the ending. One of the biggest dilemmas was regarding Mustang. How much punishment does he deserve? He's the one taking responsibility for the war crimes committed in Ishval. There's a lot of blood on his hands. She ultimately decided to leave it open-ended. While Edward's original quest is over, Mustang's is just beginni

ng. Quick refresher. At the end of the series, Grumman becomes the new Fuhrer while Mustang and Hawkeye finally start owning up to their mistakes. Mustang vows to help get the occupation of Ishval lifted. Then he leads the effort to revitalize the region. The anime expands on this more by showing scenes of him learning about Ishvalan culture. Hawkeye even has this line added in where she acknowledges that their sins won't be forgiven, but they still need to do what they can. I think they're nice

additions done by the anime staff. We get that collage of photos in both mediums showing a time skip and we can see that Mustang is looking straight ahead without a smile. Arakawa mentioned that this was done intentionally to show uncertainty surrounding his future. At the end of the day, whatever interpretation you have of Fullmetal Alchemist is perfectly fine with Arakawa. If 100 people read it, there are going to be 100 different interpretations. So I think whatever each person gets out of r

eading the comic is the message. The Elric brothers grit their teeth every day trying to get back their original bodies. But I hope the readers don't dwell too much on the painful things and just enjoy the story. If people think it's cool, that's enough for me. Here's a quick rundown of Arakawa's work, post-Fullmetal Alchemist, Silver Spoon. This is a slice of life series following Yugo, who joins an agricultural high school in Hokkaido much like Arakawa. We follow his growth as he adjusts to hi

s new lifestyle. He gradually learns the value of collaboration and mutual understanding as he interacts with his new community. It's got a two-season anime adaptation too. The Heroic Legend of Arslan Arakawa leads the manga adaptation process of this work, but it was written by Yoshiki Tanaka. It's a historical fantasy following Arslan, the prince of the kingdom of Parrs, as he fights to free his nation against overwhelming forces. Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Arakawa's newest series. I'll give

you a vague summary of the first chapter for this one. The story surrounds these twins who were born under mysterious circumstances. Yuru grows up normally, but his sister gets locked away for reasons unclear at first. Their village suddenly gets attacked by armed men and helicopters. And these things are just here now. Yuru learns that his sister might not be who she seems. As we've seen before, we have characters who resemble those from Arakawa's previous works. And of course, Noble Farmer is

still ongoing. There are two more topics I'd like to briefly touch on. Arakawa hasn't said anything more about these two movies that you haven't already heard about the anime adaptations. But her thoughts on the live-action movies are a bit more interesting. First of all, Arakawa loves low-budget films. The over -the-top flavour, as she calls it, inspired how crazy she could get with the alchemy in FMA. So when she first learned that this movie was going to be a thing, she was all for it. She o

nce again left the director in charge and let him do whatever he wanted. Ryosuke Yamada's performance as Edward Elric was one of her highlights. There was a hasty desperation in the running, and he did it in a comical way just like the manga. Ed's comical but great physicality was on full display in the opening action scene. And I thought, he is as good as I expected this guy. This movie got two sequels in 2022. She was once again excited. And one final thing. FMA has a significantly higher numb

er of female readers compared to most other shonen series. In Entermix magazine, a number of female bookstore employees were polled on which series targeted at boys were most popular with girls. For the list of concluded works, Fullmetal Alchemist tops it. Because of this, it was normal for Arakawa to receive questions about why this might be the case, or whether she was bringing something new to the table for the shonen genre. I think her response here summarizes her thoughts best. It's above a

ll a matter of generation. 20 years ago, there were in Shounen Jump several really violent series such as Fist of the North Star or Sajigake. Oddly enough, girls liked those stories. Those female readers found those shounen very entertaining, and often more interesting than the usual shoujo manga. 10 years later, we were old enough to draw, and so we made boys manga. This explains the increased number of female drawers in this area. It is often said that women are better to talk about emotions,

to write dialogues that hit the nail on the head. And men know how to create stories with twists and turns. As for me, I think it's difficult today to make a distinction between genres. Some men are really able to imagine sensitive and complex characters, while some women are able to create sometimes violent action scenes. Nowadays, each writer has their own specialty. It doesn't matter if they're a man or a woman. Today, Arakawa keeps on doing what she's always done. She still loves history, re

ading, and learning all about different kinds of people. She still loves drawing, and continues to coordinate multiple projects at the same time. One day, I'd like to follow the Silk Road, writing an episode for each city I would go through. It would be some kind of essay, in a manga version, about that mythical route. The issue is that it would mean crossing countries that become quite dangerous, such as Afghanistan. It would be quite complicated today to come the whole way, from China to Rome.

I think I'll have to wait until peace comes back. If you're looking for more manga insights, check these out. More to come in the future, too, so stay tuned!