Recently this channel was on a bit of a stand-still while I was working on OTAQUEST Connect, a
digital convention filled with exclusive interviews with Japanese guests and performances from
Japanese music artists.
One of these interviews was with Seiji Mizushima, the legendary director behind the original
2003 Fullmetal Alchemist.
Which got me thinking, why not cover this unforgettable show?
A manga that didn’t just get adapted into an anime, but got adapted twice.
Here’s 5 things you need to know about Fullmetal Alchemist.
While the author of Fullmetal Alchemist’s name is printed as Hiromu Arakawa, her actual
name is Hiromi Arakawa.
She uses a male name for the same reason as JK Rowling, to disguise the fact that it’s
a woman writing for books traditionally aimed at boys.
But the thing is, Arakawa recognises that despite these being called “Shonen Manga”,
both girls and boys read them, as she did when she was younger.
She says that there’s a belief that women are better at writing emotional stories, while
men write more exciting stories.
But obviously, that’s nonsense, especially when you consider Arakawa’s track-record
with both.
“Nowadays, each writer has their own speciality.
It doesn’t matter if they’re a man or woman,” she says.
The story of Scar and the Ishvalans was Arakawa’s way of discussing racism and genocide within
a fantasy story.
But this wasn’t a topic that she engaged in flippantly.
Before moving to Tokyo to pursue her dream of becoming a mangaka, she was born and raised
in Hokkaido.
The Ishvalan people were based on both conversations she had with both the surviving Ainu people
today, and her own experiences as someone with ancestors that include both Ainu people
and those that displaced them.
This inspired her to create a conflict that was less about good and evil, and instead
about communication and understanding.
When Fullmetal Alchemist was first greenlit for an anime, Arakawa requested that it have
a different ending and tell a different story, since her manga wouldn’t be complete for
a while.
The responsibility came to lie with director Seiji Mizushima and screenwriter Sho Aikawa.
But the thing is, Aikawa has a bit of a reputation in the industry for writing scripts that,
while deep, can be difficult to understand.
He says that while most directors don’t understand his work, Mizushima also can get
quite confused, but is generally fine with that.
This led them to creating an ending for the anime that was absolutely bizarre, but ended
up really interesting Arakawa.
One of the standout points of the original anime is also the presence of animator Yutaka
Nakamura, one of Bones’ star animators, who created many of the most impactful fights
from the show.
But to fully take advantage of a great animator, you need a director who can communicate well
with them.
That’s where Seiji Mizushima comes in.
During his panel at OTAQUEST CONNECT, he spoke about how he used to be the designated driver
for all of his friends, Yutaka Nakamura included, when they went out drinking.
He credits this experience as one of the reasons he’s able to work so well with animators.
It’s hard to know if Fullmetal Alchemist would’ve been that good, if Mizushima wasn’t
there to drive one of its star animators home each night.
While Arakawa enjoyed the original anime, it was later decided to have a second adaptation
that would complete the story and coincide with the end of the manga.
This was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a 64 episode show that ran for 15 months.
However, that wasn’t always the plan.
Initially, it was only going to run for a year, but the manga ended up taking a bit
longer to reach the end.
So under the original plan, Brotherhood was going to show the ending before the manga
did.
In the end, they managed to greenlight an extra 12 episodes and the staff agreed to
cancel future plans to work on the show for an extra 3 months.
That’s dedication.