Post #3: Fullmetal Philosophy

The hit japanese anime entitled Fullmetal Alchemist, written by Hiromu Arakawa, is the story of the Elric brothers who try to use alchemy to resurrect their mother. Their attempt fails, and because the world forbids the act of Human Transmutation, Edward loses his leg and his younger brother, Alphonse loses his body. Edward sacrifices his right arm to attach Al’s soul to a suit of armor. Edward later asks a close friend and her grandmother to give him mechanical limbs so that he and Al can pursue a method to recover their original bodies, to which they agree. There are two Fullmetal Alchemist television shows. The first and original series, which was released to the United States dubbed in English in 2004, and one that was released in the United States in 2010 entitled Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Both shows were originally adapted from the manga, but the newer series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, follows the manga more closely, and is the actual story of the Elric Brothers. Both shows surround themselves on different and important philosophies, including means of existence and equivalent exchange, and also happen to look different in terms of animation.

Before I go on to discuss the philosophies of the two shows, I want to quickly point out the differences in the animation of the two shows. In the original series, there is more detail to the characters and backgrounds.The animation in the newer series, Brotherhood, has a bit less detail, but looks cleaner than the original, all while having better character designs. You can see the differences below in the photos of main protagonist Edward Elric and one of the main antagonists, Fuhrer King Bradley. Photos from the original series are on the left and photos from the newer series are on the right.

Edward Elric

Fuhrer King Bradley

The main philosophy in the original series is equivalent exchange. The idea of equivalent exchange in the series is simply that if you want something, something of equal value must be given. It is a philosophy that our main protagonists, the Elric Brothers, live by and they believe it to be the law of alchemy, as well as the law of the world. However, later on the series, the main antagonist named Dante reveals to Edward that this is false. One of the examples she gives is how people work hard and still die in poverty. In our real world, an example would be if someone were to study relentlessly for an exam and not get the grade they were hoping for. Edward learns this flaw and accepts that the world is imperfect and that equivalent exchange being the law of the world is a lie.

In the newer series, Brotherhood, equivalent exchange is not as important a philosophy to our main characters as is the means of existence. In the new series, the value of human life is a major theme in the show. The main antagonist, Homunculus, as well as his crazed mutant followers, sees humans as worthless creatures and considers their lives meaningless. He laughs at how lost the humans are as they wage wars against each other. On the other hand, our protagonists mainly believe that when you die, it’s just the natural flow of the world, and that there is no afterlife. Furthermore, even though humans wage war, life is still precious, and even if humankind is flawed, they still do the best they can to live out their lives until the day they die. This philosophy motivates Edward and Alphonse Elric to continue to find a way to get their original bodies back, but not if it means sacrificing other human lives. Their original goal, the Philosopher’s Stone, is composed of human lives that were transmuted into one solid material. After discovering this, The brothers refuse to use the stone to return to their original bodies. Even when their father offered to sacrifice himself to save the younger brother, Edward refused to let him.

An additional philosophy in the newer series is that even with the ability to use alchemy, Edward is still a simple human being. Alchemy didn’t make him some god or messiah. After a little girl was killed earlier in the series, Edward realized that even with the awesome power of alchemy, he couldn’t save her. Because of this, Edward decides that he doesn’t need alchemy, and forfeits his ability to use it to save his brother.

In conclusion, these are some of the major philosophical points that the shows are centered around. Of course, there are other valuable lessons and ideas of life to be shared in both shows, but equivalent exchange and the means of existence remain the most important.