why do shiba inus exist in amestris?

so, it's established in Canon that black hayate, riza hawkeye's dog, is a shiba inu, as proven by this screenshot on the fullmetal alchemist wiki

specifically, hayate looks like a black and tan shiba. however, this does raise an important question. the shiba is a specifically japanese dog, so what is one doing in Amestris, which canoninically seems to be modelled after Central Europe? This can only imply that Japan and Amestris have enough of a cultural connection that it's natural for the Amestris state military to casually have a Shiba on the premises.

Why is this? It's known that Xing (modelled on China) has somewhat of a connection, but it's not huge. We don't see a huge amount of Xingese characters walking around Amestris and it's specified that culture and knowledge systems are separate enough that Ed and Al don't know much about alkahestry so obviously there hasn't been much cultural exchange between East and West.

There are a few options:

• Amestris has been trading with Japan for a while. However if so, why do we not see more of this and how would Fuery, who originally owned Hayate, have had time to hunt down a presumably rare and expensive dog when his life is preoccupied by the military

• the Amestris military has actually had contact with Japan for a while, either as allies or enemies

• there are a few links with japan but not very many

What else does Black Hayate's presence imply?

If the events of Conqueror of Shamballa accurately indicate that Amestris exists in a parallel universe where alchemy developed instead of technology, it figures there are equivalents to many things in our world.

In fact, the time period is quite ambiguous. Canoninically it's 1800s BUT some of the tech we see in Father's lair is a lot more advanced. So is it possible there might also be more modern things from Japan?

If this technological blip is the case, and if a Shiba Inu is present in pretty much a similar form to those in our universe, does Amestris also have equivalents for the following?

• much doge, such wow

• dogecoin

• Mari the asshole shiba who keeps squirting random liquids on his owner?

• lovely muco? we see ed and al waving, of all things, the imperial japanese flag at the homunculi to bring them out of hiding. So does the empire of japan exist in canon? what's it's attitude to alchemy? were the homunculi responsible for it, as they were responsible for military activity in Ishval, and is this why the flag worked on them? why does Japan seem unchanged when every other location from our world has a vaguely different flag and culture?

• if Japan exists unchanged, do the Amestrians get any of their media the same way we do? Anime and manga didn't come to the west until the second half of the 20th century, but tbh, as time periods seem a little bit skewed in Amestris. Are there alchemists who sit listening to radio broadcast versions of say, something like death note, where alchemist!Light Yagami is bumping off anyone he sees guilty of misusing alchemy or something? Who knows!

And, if something like dogecoin does exist in the alchemical equivalent to cryptocurrency - say, a group of clandestine alchemists, whether decent (ish) like Doctor Marcoh or scum like Shou Tucker would be the ones who use it - are there rules on transmuting it? If Ed crossed to our world like he did in the WW2 era in Shamballa but ended up in the present day, could alchemy have contributed to the boom in dogecoin that happened?

Hiromu Arakawa, I want answers

Hi, do you have any theories about Rumble and Savage? How do you think they could appear on the show?

I would love to hear your theories/ideas on Rumble and savage

Hello! Keep in mind I am not exactly a dedicated fan, more of a lurker. If we start at how Rumble and Savage came to be, I theorised that they were made from Macaque's remains, because that monkey DID die, whether SWK was the culprit or not, so the two monkeys were made from his flesh and bones, with some bit of DNA from SWK maybe a stand of hair, for his power. I want at least one of them, preferably Rumble, to be vehemently hostile towards Macaque the same way he was towards SWK previously, for funny irony, because they blame him for their existence, because being created into life as someone's tool with no say over your own life and ending up with your progenitor's emotional baggage as your own would send anyone into a bit of rage really. And LBD is definitely involved with their creation, directly or indirectly.

While the project succeeded, Rumble and Savage's creation was NOT intended. The entity that was supposed to be the end result ended up splitting into two to stabilised itself and the overwhelming power it was infused with, so the twins were created with their powers halved from its original strength, which they make up for with innate telepathic mind link they have with each other and extremely resilient healing. They looks so similar to each other that the only way to tell them apart outside of battle is how they carry themselves.

The twins were born with Macaque's traits but divided between them, so you have Rumble, who ended with Macaque's baggage and anger issues, and Savage, who got his more quiet traits and introspective nature. Think of the Elric brothers from FMA Brotherhood anime. Thought born at the same time, Rumble declared himself as the older twin while Savage is the younger one, and looks after her in his own way.

Rumble is a he/they, slightly shorter than his twin, and isn't shy about being loud and venting his anger at anyone he can get away with. He lashes out very easily, but also would run out of steam for it quickly if the situation doesn't provoke him constantly so. He tends to stew on his emotions if not given an outlet for them, but is surprisingly more open with his thoughts and feeling, whether asked about them or not, though very violently. He's picks fight very easily and quite enjoys it, and is confrontational enough to seek them out if he feels ignored. Though he does have a soft spot for his "sister", and is more likely to listen to her first. Uses a chain whip as a weapon and his shadow powers to keep his opponents off balance while he attacks them easily.

Savage is a she/they, a bit taller than her twin, is seemingly ironic with her name as she's quite hesitant and more polite compared to her twin, but as she doesn't enjoy fighting and dragging things out the same way her twin does, despite her timid and meek demeanour, she'll act on her missions in a brutally efficient and ruthlessly relentless manner, just to get them over with. She holds herself back quite often when it comes to her thoughts and opinions, repressing herself until it boils over into something explosive. Rumble was the only at first who can spot her tipping point before she snaps and get her to let it out before that happens. She can be quite surprisingly cruel and terribly blunt with expressing her opinions even if she doesn't realised it. Uses sickles as her weapons and her shadow powers to keep her opponents in place for her to attack without them moving away.

They're both incredibly bitter due to being forced into a life of servitude against their will since birth, with a deep existential anger about their existence on Rumble's part. Rumble has a deep hate towards Macaque, seeing him as the reason for their painful creation and will not rest until the Macaque is dead or at least suffers for their pain. Savage is more open to cooperation and truce than her twin and does not share his violent fixation on Macaque and is less likely to be aggressive from the get-go, but is just as wary in letting others in. They both have an unhealthy co-dependancy with each other due to the nature of their lives, and while Savage really wants more to her life and not be alone, she's just as afraid to be let down.

If they were introduced into the show, they'd be the antagonists lackeys, tasked to obtain items and fight the enemies, in this case the Monkie crew. They'd hint themself by only being seen in mobs and in the background at first, until the first "quiet" adventure happens and they reveal themselves fully. In the fights, Rumble would be more focused on Macaque if he's involved, but would strongly enjoy himself toying with his opponents while Savage is less likely to get carried away by her emotions and would focus more on completing the mission hand.

For their redemption arc, it's more of a healing arc, with Rumble learning to let go of his hatred and rage towards Macaque as an unhealthy coping mechanism, and Savage would try to learn to let her guard down around other people other than Rumble.

Rumble and Savage both enjoy savory food, though the former has quite a sweet tooth. Rumble has Macaque's love for the theatre and enjoys acting out the roles, while Savage is content to be merely a spectator. They both can be very dramatic, especially more so when they feel safe, with inside jokes only they get. They both can be quite mischievous and enjoy pranks as well, though Savage is better at covering up their tracks.

That's all I've got! Sorry if it doesn't reach your expectations. Have a good day!

Hear me out here, Roy mustang killed lust... quite a few times.

This could mean one of two things:

1: Roy mustang is ace. I think rias and possibly hughs would object tho

2: ROY MUSTANG IS SUPRIME BONK MASTER

I’ve made a lot of jokes about how ling only packed ace bandages for his trip to amestris, but then a couple weeks ago I remembered who else was in those xerxes ruins and a different thought came to mind

YOU; Greed is straight, he prefers women. 

ME, an intellectual; Greed wants everything one can think of therefore he's PANSEXUAL. ❤💙💛

You know what? I think it was actually watching a Myst LP that brought this to the surface, based on what little I know about FMA. Family drama caused or exacerbated by a unique magic system with strict rules and a bit of a steampunk edge. That is the vibe that my brain connected. I suspect it is probably way off about FMA but I guess I’ll find out.

And idk if talking about this will bring fans out of the woodwork, but looking at the Mark Watches page for the first episode gave me the urge to describe what I know before I begin. It’s… a way to pass the time until work is over, I guess.

I plan to watch Brotherhood. My brother in law recommended that when I first expressed an interest a couple years ago, and my glance at Mark Watches confirmed that should be a legit place to start. Dubbed, if anyone cares. Technically dubbed and subbed, I process dialogue better that way.

So here’s what I know, and I have no idea whether any of it is Major Spoilers—it’s just stuff I picked up from tumblr and tvtropes over the years.

Two brothers, Al and Ed. They tried to used alchemy to resurrect their… parents I think? Maybe just one? ...and because of equivalent exchange it backfired and the one brother lost an arm and a leg and the other lost his entire body. I do not know if the resurrection worked at all but my theory from what I know is that a proper resurrection would have cost a life, and refusing to allow that is why with the backfiring. So now Ed is an insufferable child prodigy alchemist who works for the military, and I have no idea whether people other than Ed even consider Al still a person because he lives in a suit of armor to simulate a body.

I am pretty sure the classic Minecraft mod Equivalent Exchange was inspired by this alchemy magic system, but I do not recall exactly why I believe that. Also pretty sure the alchemy magic system heavily involves the concept of equivalent exchange, beyond that it’s just… symbols maybe? Transmutation?

There’s an awesome military lady and a large man. Some kind of war going on probably.

There are people or beings who are like humanoid embodiments of the seven deadly sins for some reason. Not sure how that works in the slightest. And there’s something called Father that… eats people? Unless these are from a different anime and I mixed it all up in my memory. Who knows! I would assume that if these fellows are present they are antagonists, but you never know.

And that’s the extent of my knowledge. I’m not sure I will have the wherewithal to do anything resembling live-blogging or immediate reactions, but I might if only to avoid pestering real-life people who are busy. It would be cool to know whether anything I know is like The Big Twist or anything; pretty sure even if it is I do not have the foundation to understand why yet. But no further spoilers, please, if I did manage to awaken the fandom. If all goes well I will try to start watching it tonight.

The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 26 (Zeref)

Is Zeref a villain?

Wait, no. That's not the right question. 

That makes it seem like I'm saying that Zeref didn't do anything wrong or that he isn't responsible for any of the bad things that happened in the series in his name. Make no mistake, that's not what I'm asking. What I am asking is if he did what he did for bad reasons.

Now, one complaint about the end of Fairy Tail is that it shifted focus from the big evil being Zeref to Acnologia. I mean, that series was setting Zeref up to be the villain, only to trick us into seeing that the real villain was Acnologia. The shift in focus from one bad guy to another is bad writing, right?

To be fair, I don't know that Fairy Tail handled this in the best ways. However, the idea that the big evil force isn't the one that we thought it to be isn't one unique to Fairy Tail. This is a fairly common twist in fiction, in general. One really popular theory about the Kanto Region Pokemon games is that the actions of Crime Boss Giovanni are really to make up for making the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo. It was even the angle that the Nuzlocke comics went with. (Yeah, like that Nuzlocke.)

Of course, that's based on the precedent that Zeref was trying to do something good. Was he though?

Only kind of, I guess?

Zeref was interested in the study of life and death in response to his family dying. Out of this study, the R-System and the Eclipse Gate were theorized as possibilities. After some wacky stuff happened, Zeref accidentally gained eternal life. He turned to the creation of the Etherious, which would eventually lead him to revive Natsu. However, his purpose in that was to create a way to kill himself. Sometime afterward, he got involved with the plan to defeat Acnologia and volunteered Natsu to help complete his goal.

I would say that Zeref had four main motivations for his actions, three of which are found in this explanation of his backstory: defeating Acnologia,  reviving his brother, and ending his own life. Defeating Acnologia was an ultimate good. I don't think that's something that needs to be argued for. Presentation, introduction, and necessity aside, it's hard to argue that Acnologia wasn't a bad guy, even if he did what he did for not terrible reasons.

Was it ultimately a good thing to want to bring Natsu back? Considering, I started writing the first draft of this post not too long after watching FMA: Brotherhood, I should feel a bit conflicted. Of course, this series is about rewriting Fairy Tail and not a discussion of the rewrite of FMA 2003.

In Fairy Tail, Zeref gets warned that what he is doing is wrong repeatedly by the elders around him. The reason he ends up cursed is that he was trying to bring people back to life. However, it would be foolish of me to argue that bringing Natsu back from the dead didn't result in good things happening, especially towards the end of defeating Acnologia.

Now, should he have been trying to kill himself?

Here's the thing. I'm not pro-suicide (as if such there is such a thing). I've had my struggles with suicide, as have many people I know. I believe that you ought to seek help if you have those kinds of issues. 

Nonetheless, I feel like this isn't the same kind of thing. Zeref's longing to die comes from a place that few, if any, could compare their situations with. He can't die and has been alive for hundreds of years. That's not to say that I don't think that there are things that can be latched onto from Zeref's situation. I don't know that it's entirely wrong for someone who can't die to want death.

What I do think is wrong is how this was written through the series. The simple facts that Zeref made Natsu (his brother) into the thing that would eventually destroy him and sent him into the future as a plan to help kill Acnologia make sense, given that he gave him away as a part of his ultimate plan to die. But if he's also responsible for the Etherious, I'd assume that he would have come up with some of them throughout his time, maybe he would realize the futility of sending his "one true hope" 400 years away. At least, he could have made the Etherious that would be members of Tartarus in between that gap using the extra knowledge he learned from recreating Natsu.

Though, this is getting a bit away from the main question: Was Zeref doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons? So far, the answer has only been kind of. The stuff he created ultimately achieved bad things, but I don't think that trying to defeat Acnologia or bringing his brother back were bad things. Wanting to die may be a bit more questionable, but it makes sense for him to want death.

Of course, there is one thing that does make him more of a villain than an anti-hero: his views on humanity. While he was alive, he had seen humanity fail over and over. His one romance was incredibly short-lived (pun not intended, I swear). Just as he was starting to get hope in humanity, the events of Tenrou caused him to throw that aside. He even goes so far as to say that true humanity has died a long time ago.

And this shift changes things. Zeref went from only trying to help kill Acnologia and himself to trying to destroy both Acnologia and humanity as a whole. He even says as much in his war declaration to Acnologia.

Though, there may be a reason for this change that isn't just about humanity being rotten. Natsu was asked point-blank by Zeref to kill him in Tenrou and he refused. He only concludes that he ought to destroy humanity after the first time skip and part of that may have started off the back of Acnologia supposedly destroying Natsu and other important members of Fairy Tail. Could it be that part of his will to die changed when it became clear that Natsu wouldn't kill him?

Actually, not really. He still does stuff to make Natsu angry enough to want to kill him. He sent his little gremlin (whatever that thing Oba had) to accompany the guild member who sapped Wendy's magic ability. He took the Book of E.N.D, stopping him from completing the mission that Igneel had given him. He even tried to kill Makarov with the explicit purpose of trying to get Natsu mad.

Why would he want to destroy humanity, kill Acnologia, and die? The idea that humanity has no value is fairly fatalistic. However, this feels like there's no plan to rebuild. If Zeref feels that the entire human race is imperfect, why wouldn't he also believe that he is the only one who should be able to rule over all of them? After all, he seems to have the ability to recreate life from the dead. 

Stuff like this is why I think of Zeref as a tragic villain. He was given several bad hands and couldn't have played many of them well even if he wanted to. It's easy to see why he ended up the way he did. 

At the same time, he is a villain. He does terrible things. Many of his actions aren't justifiable. There are good alternatives to what he wants to do. Often, doing literally nothing is a better alternative to whatever action he did in canon. It results in a lot fewer dead bodies in a lot of cases.

That being said, a lot of terrible actions committed by him or in his name aren't his direct fault. It's not his fault the Eclipse Gate wasn't destroyed after the Eclipse Project succeeded. It's not his fault the Tower of Heaven was created by slave labor, especially and notably by children. It's not his fault people used his demons in his stead. Heck, the Curse of Ankhseram (as far as canon is concerned) is considered a curse, as in not something he put on himself.

Will I change things about Zeref? Not a whole lot of things. Some things are worth changing regarding Zeref, but many involve other things surrounding Zeref. Much of what I want to do with Zeref is clarify and provide context to his canon goals and actions. Zeref as fans know and love him (?) is going to stay very similar to his canon iteration.

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19  | Part 20  | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25

Out of curiosity what are your top 10 FMA pairings?

I assume you mean romantic and that it can be for any series, because I do have quite a few from both, but since you say 10, that’s what I’ll do. (even though I’d love to go on all day about this.

My OTP of all time is Roy x Riza. 

I love their dynamic, I love how she’s not afraid to stand up to him, doesn’t put up with his bs, and I love obvious it is how much he cares about her. I also really like the mutual understanding they have between one another.  ARgGG it’s just such a sweet pairing in both series! x3

2. EdWin

While I don’t like the slapstick scenes with them(i find it rather tasteless personally), other than that, this pairing is a full go for me. I like how she’s able to motivate Ed when he needs it most, how she’s always there to push him forward when she has to, and how she’s so strong all the time, as well as how tender and caring Ed is towards her when it comes down to it. I really like it in Broho, but I always have a severe weakspot for 2003 EdWin, given how beautifully tragic the pairing ended in that series. T-T

3. LingFan 

I admit that while this pairing is nice, I am a little bit sad that we didn’t get any flash backs with them or any more screen time than we did. But regardless I do still ship it. I respect her devotion to him, but more than anything I just want him to let her know just how important she is to him. She’s always seeing her own life as worthless if she’s not able to protect him and it makes me so sad. But when he said he was proud of her in the manga, it made me so happy. 

4. Trishenheim 

This one I’m kind of uncertain of how to feel sometimes, since he did abandon her, Ed and Al, but I understand his reasoning and the fact still stands that Trisha is the best thing that ever happened to Hohenheim. Her love to him was unconditional and I always found it so sweet that she wanted him to stop seeing himself as a monster. And in 2003, for Trisha to still love him despite knowing his flesh was literally rotting, that’s some A+ devotion right there.

5. Sizumi 

I won’t get all bubbly over this one and I don’t have too much to say about this, but I do have a huge soft spot for this one, especially in 2003, given how Izumi dies and stuff and Sig is left without her. It really HURtS, okay. (ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW SIG IS SNORING WITH HIS EYES OPEN??? ALSO, IZUMI IS ONE DEVOTED WIFE IF SHE CAN SLEEP NEXT TO THAT NOISE OR DOESN’T MIND IT)These were the majority of the canon pairings that I really like(Well Lan Fan x Ling isn’t confirmed but it’s pretty much implied). Onto the fan pairings.

 6. EdLing 

It goes without saying that Ed and Ling are a lot alike in some ways and I feel like they could relate on quite a few things if they got the chance to sit down and talk. But additionally Ling is so clingy with Ed while Ed is like what’s this guy’s pROblEm and I just LOVE it. They’re the type of chaos duo that would get themselves into lots of trouble and make it double for both Winry and Al, (oh and for Roy too, who would probably have numerous headaches trying to put up with and rectify their shit)Plus, I really like Ling’s bluntness and honesty about things, it kind of mirrors Ed’s bluntness but in different ways. I sometimes like to imagine what Ling could have been like in 2003 and put in my own theories. What if he had met Ling’s alternate in CoS and stuff Idk.

7. ShesWin

Their friendship in 2003 is so wholesome and is kind of something I wish had made it to Brotherhood. I just REALLY like the moments they had together, from their quirkiness, to arguments about cooking, to tapwiring, to sneaking around in the military to literally everything, and I think that Sheswin is BEAUTIFUL okay

8. WinPan

I don’t have too much to say on this (since Paninya wasn’t a pickpocketer in 2003 so the differences would take longer to discuss), but Winry is a great inspiration to Paninya and their friendship is wholesome just like 2003! Sheska and Winry’s. All around great pairing. Also Winry’s fascination with Paninya’s automail is so cute.

9. AlWrath (2003)

Now this one doesn’t have a lot of context behind it except for in CoS, where Wrath literally sacrifices himself so Al can see Ed again, and I think it’s so heartbreaking. I just wish we could have got more screentime with them and some more of the dialogue with them from the script animated.10. Hyuroi

I especially like this one in the 2003 universe, which is noticeably darker, In Episode 25, Hughes came into Roy’s hotel room after Roy had been considering human transmutation and suicide, and honestly the scene was both heartbreaking and gut-wrenching to see Roy that depressed and torn up over the Ishval war and his guilt. 

Even in 2003 and Brotherhood canon verse, I feel like Hughes is the type that would sit with Roy when he could tell he was caving, sometimes maybe Roy even called Hughes over because he just didn’t want to be alone. Sometimes, they would drink, Hughes going on about his daughter to lighten up the mood on the best nights and on the worst nights Hughes would say nothing because he already knew it wasn’t what Roy needed at the moment, that Roy just needed some company without words being spoken. Hughes seems to know Roy just as well as Riza, after all. He would know when and when not to joke.11. Some other pairings (sort of crack ships) I ship are Olivier x Roy, Olivier x Izumi, Russel x Winry, Fletcher x Mei, Selim x Elysia, Greed x Martel, and Martel x Dorchet. There are others but I’m brain dead atm.

Oh and DENNY x ROSS how could I forgET

fullmetal alchemist brotherhood for the anime ask meme!

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

fav characters: i relate so much with edward (as lesbians are known to do), winry is very pretty, i like ling yaos character a lot, greed is very very good, etc etcleast fav characters: kimblee. i hate how they try to like redeem him a Little bit at the end by being like Woah Hes BadAss! sucks.fav relationship: edwin is one of the only het ships that i can stand and is also very cute! but everyone knows winry x paninya x lan fan is where its atfav moment: the ending. i absolutely love how much it subverts expectations and stereotypical stories. i know people call random shit subversive media all the time just because they like it, but fullmetal alchemist very legitimately is one of the best pieces of subversive anime i’ve ever seen. throughout the entire anime, the theme of sacrifice being necessary for gain is shown over and over again. the viewer begins to take this obvious theme, and come up with something. edward and alphonse need a philosopher’s stone. hohenheim is a walking stone, and he probably wants to die seeing how he’s lived several lifetimes and the only person he truly cared about is gone. so then, at the end, it’s like: alphonse is trapped in the truth, and there’s no way to get him back. hohenheim says he’s willing to sacrifice himself for alphonse’s return. he’s finally being the father he never could be, doing anything he can for his children. this would bring his character arc to a kind of obvious, but fitting conclusion. everyone there, every character, even the viewer has accepted this is the only way it can happen.

everyone except edward. ed can’t even believe what he’s hearing. he actually gets angry at him for even thinking of doing something as selfish as that. then, for the first time, edward calls hohenheim his father. he also stops holding back his emotions, and cries for the first time as well. (he cries before but its like silly jokey stuff so it doesnt count shut up)

he ends up sacrificing his alchemy, once again subverting the theme of alchemists being basically better than humans. i always loved the exchange “you’d give up your alchemy and go back to being a regular human?” “i’ve always been a regular human.” god i just fucking wrote an essay didnt i. god fullmetal alchemist good

headcanons/theories: nothing besides trans headcanons and stuff hdfsjhdfkunpopular opinion: none reallyhow’d you find it: on my first day of high school i decided to look in the library for any interesting books, and found out that they put in a manga corner. there was stuff like random, scattered volumes of naruto and i’m pretty sure the only series they had the first issue of was fullmetal alchemist. i had heard about it scarcely and decided to read it. i was quickly hooked. like, REALLY quickly. i read the whole thing front to back probably 5 times or more. i wanted to read the whole thing, and quickly found out about the anime. after hesitating a bit, i gave in and watched the whole thing, and loved every second of it. i mentioned it on my tumblr and a SUPER popular mutual at the time decided to watch and liveblog it because of my post. after that, everyone on my dash started talking fma. anyway i’m like 90% sure i’m the reason fma resurgedrandom thoughts: i prefer fmab over fma03, and i probably always will. fmab was hiromu’s intention from the beginning, while the latter half of 03 was more or less improvised. while i do think it’s very interesting to see someone else’s take on the story, i just can’t get into it. i see people say they prefer 03 and i just can’t agree. i guess it really depends on which one you watched first.

god i fucking talked a lot. fma good

Fma

send me an anime!

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

fav characters: ling, greed, and scar

least fav characters: envy, pride, and solf j kimblee

fav relationship: ed and al, lan fan and ling, ling and ed, winry w/the bros, scar and mei...olivier and izumi as a ship is a sexy concept.. there are probably more im forgetting but those dynamics epic

fav moment: god it’s been a minute so ive forgotten like everything plot-wise 😔 so i’ll just say greed ‘huh’ compilation

headcanons/theories: ed is a goth mlm

unpopular opinion: lots of people talk about how sad hughes’ death was or about nina and her dog and like.. those parts are def sad but i feel like the whole ishvalan massacre gets swept under the rug or the damage of that is minimized in comparison to those character deaths/events.. basically i just think the ishvalan massacre is one of the most tragic and fucked up things in fma and it shouldn’t be ignored and the alchemists involved (such as roy or riza) should be held accountable for their war crimes

how’d you find it: i have no clue.. i feel like it was first from you and steven, but then like i didnt check it out actually until years later

random thoughts: i’ve only watched brotherhood, but the openings were genuinely all so good and the animation was rlly good

Just because it’s been on my mind, here’s some of my unpopular or at least maybe somewhat controversial FMA opinions. Just for fun. Putting it under a read more because it’s kind of long and I also don’t know how to make things short and simple at all, lmao. 

-I find Greed smoking to be very unattractive. I find it unattractive in general, anyways. I know he smokes in 03, and it may be implied in the manga, idk, but I just grew up to despise cigarettes due to how I grew up and I just...the smell...the way it discolors things and sticks to things... I love Greed but he’d just have to keep it outside, away from me, lmao. 

-I find Ling/Greedling to be more attractive than first Greed. There, I said it. I love Greed. First Greed is very attractive, don’t get me wrong. But I’ll be honest...when I first watched FMA, he really was not my type. Not quite pretty boy enough for me, I guess. After I got to know his character later on...he naturally became more attractive to me. But I still have a bias towards the overall Greedling look. That’s totally my type. 

-I know some people see the slapstick in FMA as glorifying abuse, but I think that’s a stretch. I don’t think Winry is automatically an abusive wife because of the slapstick in the series. Going by Arakawa’s works, she seems to enjoy using physical slapstick a lot. Maybe physical slapstick is not something that should ever be used for comedic purposes, but it happens in so many cartoons that it seems to be kind of the norm. It personally doesn’t bother me, and I can see where it my bother some, but I don’t think it’s something Arakawa or her characters should necessarily be condemned for. 

-I don’t think the reason that the fandom seems more saddened by the Nina situation and Hughes’ death than the Ishvalan genocide is necessarily because the fans are racist. Nina and Hughes were named characters the viewers got to see and maybe even get attached to. They were also personal to Edward’s story and experience. Yes, the Ishvalan genocide is definitely a greater tragedy, but it happened pre-series, and there weren’t any Ishvalan characters shown who died in the genocide for people to get attached to beforehand. It’s kind of like watching an anime where lot’s of people die, but lot’s of those people are background no-name characters. Of course people are going to care more the named characters that were established in the story. That said, I’m most saddened by Greed’s death above all else in the series. Yes, I realize the genocide was worse, but Greed was a character that I love and feel attachment to. It’s just that simple to me. 

-It’s okay to be a Kimblee fan. Liking villainous characters who are all around bad people is totally okay. It’s different if someone is excusing their actions. Envy literally killed an Ishvalan child with no remorse. He’s still pretty loved. I like Envy as a character, but he/they’re still a pretty remorseless piece of lizard dung. 

-The thing with Nina doesn’t make me as sad as most people. I knew about it way before watching the anime and it’s been memed so much that I feel unaffected by it at this point. 

-I think Roy and Riza are inherently good people at heart and don’t deserve to suffer/die/be unhappy for the rest of their lives because of what they did in Ishval. They’re working hard to make things better and help the Ishvalans, and that speaks volumes to me. 

-I’m neutral on whether Roy should have stayed blind or not. Either way, I’m fine with it. I can see both sides of the argument though. 

-Lan Fan isn’t as bad or flat of a character as some people may think. The anime missed out on a big part of her character development, though granted it’s because her Japanese VA couldn’t be available to do those parts. It’s understandable, life happens, but it’s still kind of disappointing. Also, she’s not just some obsessed Ling fangirl. She doesn’t even act that way. She’s protective of him mainly because it’s what she was raised to do. That said I totally think she loves him and Lingfan is beautiful. 

-The color blindness thing with Ed and Miles was poorly executed. I won’t lie. But I can also see where it came from and can understand where Arakawa/dub script writers/etc may have thought it was “progressive” or “good.” I myself used to think that was a good way of thinking until I learned better. Also, I think the dub did make it sound worse than it was originally intended, but it may have still been a bit...eehhh beforehand. I get where it’s a flaw that shouldn’t be ignored, but I don’t think Arakawa/the series should be dragged for it either. Good intentions, poorly worded/executed. 

-I can see Ling being bi/pan, even het. Not so much gay. 

-I don’t see the Win/Fan ship so much. I get where it would be interesting if they actually had some meaningful interaction in the show, but they didn’t. In theory maybe I could see it? But I usually don’t pay much attention to ships that don’t have a lot of canon backing/heavy interactions. So it’s probably just a personal preference for shipping. 

-I’ve said this before, but I really don’t like the idea that Ling went back to Xing, took his 50 wives, had babies with them, and continued the same twisted system that’s hurting his country. It does’t align with the fact he said he’d accept all the other clans and not continue the clan wars. 

-Adding to that, I don’t like when people say Lingfan CAN’T happen because Ling MUST take these wives and have a bunch of babies, and he has no choice in the matter, or he wants to keep the 50 wives system for some reason (because he wants trophy wives??Idk?) Or you know, because Lan Fan is a guard and it would never be allowed. No one knows for sure what happened after he went back. Lingfan could totally happen...or not. No need to shatter hopes.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Not saying fma is some ultra feminist series or feminist at all (not intended to be at least), but I think the female characters are in general well rounded and have different things they do in their lives, and that makes it feel more realistic. We have badass fighters, leaders, guards, housewives (nothing wrong with being a housewife if that’s what someone wants), mothers, mechanics, etc. It may not be perfect but the reason it gets praised so much for female characters is that it does them better than a lot of anime. Could it be better? Yes. But there are those that claim that FMA is just so misogynistic that it may have well been written by a man (I’ve seen this)...and well...can’t agree at all. It’s pretty well handled considering cultural context. 

-03 and Brotherhood are good in their own ways. I prefer Brotherhood a million times over (plus the manga!) for my own reasons (Ling and Greed’s development are huge reasons why) but sometimes the hate for 03 gets a little out of hand. A lot of people hate it only for not following the manga and characterizing the characters a bit differently. However, that was a part of the point. It was supposed to be different. And Arakawa herself approved of it and loved it (also if anyone thinks they “took her work and bastardized it” she wanted them to make it different). The 03 vs BH comparison arguments are so tiring and pointless. Actually when I see people who think 03 is so superior and constantly put down Brotherhood, it actually at times made me feel bad for preferring BH (because I’m insecure), and drove me further away from 03. I also know that 03 fans have to deal with people crapping all over their favorite series far more than BH fans do, so it’s all annoying. 

-There should be more FMA Pokemon aus. The characters with Pokemon teams. I’m always a slut for Pokemon. 

-Greed has a good heart. (Is this unpopular? Probably not, but adding it anyways)

-Ling is a good-hearted caring person who would try to do the best for his country and people and make it a better place. (Probably not unpopular, just have to say it. 

-Ling and Greed, at the end of the day, are wonderful people, no matter their flaws. 

-okay these opinions are becoming less unpopular so it’s time to stop. 

I may have more, but I just can’t think of them right now. If anyone wants to debate or throw their opinion in, feel free too. Also feel free to reblog with your own unpopular opinions. 

FMA Brotherhood

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

fav characters: Al, Winry, Lan Fan, Riza Hawkeyeleast fav characters: Envy, Kimblee and Fatherfav relationship: There are so many good relationships here, both romantic and platonic, but I’ll go Ed x Winry because it’s so well developed. fav moment: When a restored Ed and Al come home to Winry at the end of the series. headcanons/theories: Al is considered a really cool uncle by Ed and Winry’s kids. He loves to play with and hang out with them. unpopular opinion: They didn’t need to rush through the first 9 or so episodes until they got past material the original anime covered.how’d you find it: I love the manga, and was looking forward to an adaptation more accurate to that version. random thoughts: The manga is better, it’s one of the very few things I would call a masterpiece, but FMA Brotherhood is still a wonderful adaptation. 

all the fma asks with 1 in them

1. Original or Brotherhood? Why?

As far as visual aesthetics, I prefer 03′s color palette and love the way steel especially looks in it. I feel that Brotherhood’s modern anime pastel palette consistently whitewashes Scar and other Ishvalan characters. Also as a billion people have pointed out, Brotherhood has some sloppy pacing stuff going on in the beginning but overall I do love it! I love them both! 

03′s plot is. a complicated bee swarm. There are many Ideas, some of which are really interesting to explore. The homunculous especially get a lot of cool moments which I enjoy. I was also really happy that they expanded Sheska’s role and had lots of stuff with Izumi.

HOWEVER, no Ling Yao? No Lan Fan? No GREEDLING??? Very upsetting.

I sort of like the animes equally and think the manga is the best??? am I allowed to say that???

10. Favorite opening?

Rewrite for 03 and Again for fmab bc I am. a humble and generic man. Love hologram a lot as well! 

11. Favorite member of Team Mustang?

Hawkeye! Hawkeye! Hawkeye! 

12. Explain how you felt/your reaction at the end of Brotherhood.

I enjoyed it a lot but was frustrated with the need to tack on “oh! and they have kids!” I understand how that ending works thematically but it’s always been a point of bitterness to me. 

13. Explain how you felt/your reaction at the end of the original.

I’m rewatching 03 for the first time since high school but I’m not done yet. So I’ll give you the skinny from 2011 me: Very frustrated! the original series is.. a fun goth ride, don’t get me wrong. But I hated a lot of the decisions around the end, especially the stuff with Rose. I don’t think the series had the right toolkit to work with sexual violence and should not have tried to tackle it. I was also furious about how unhappy the series leaves Winry. 

Now, I’m finding my memory of non Conqueror of Shamballa 03 endgame has faded, so we’ll see how I feel this time around. Still mad for Winry though. 

14. Which character death affected you the most and why?

Remember Alfons? Him.... And Izumi. 03′s endgame deaths are characterized by what that series does best- small melancholic moments. The scenes about their deaths don’t feel like big shonen dramatic moments, they’re just desolate with this soft sunny wistfulness infused. I’m drawn to that sort of thing, as you maybe have guessed. 

15. What’s one thing you would change about the series and why?

Replaced the Ed Has Kids Now photo with an intimate moment of Ed and Al and Winry together? The hug was sweet and big and beautiful but. yeah. I also wish the anime would have included the scenes about what Al did with his armor. That could’ve been a great final moment! 

16. What’s your favorite episode and why?

I don’t usually go back to single episodes. I tend to watch the series all at once when I go back to them. So it’s hard to say what my favorite would be. I really love the one where they see Izumi again for the first time. And of course, gotta love those boys eatin boots in the belly of the beast. 

As far as the manga, the chapter where Hawkeye honestly talks to Ed about the war. It’s very striking and seeing Ed and Al reconvene afterward. It just hits hard on how young they are. And how much they have and haven’t dealt with. 

17. What’s your favorite quote and why?

I genuinely love the bits where the brothers talk talk about their 10-11 theory. It’s so sweet that they thought to apply the very personal thing they learned to theoretical alchemy. Because they are dorks. 

18. What was the biggest thing you took from the series (most important moral)?

Someone wrote a great Mary Sue article about the needlessness of self-sacrifice as a core theme in Arakawa’s work and that’s the biggest takeaway for me. I think that’s something 03 lacked thematically with its fixation on grand moments of sacrifice. 

I love how strong and good all of Arakawa’s leads are! They’re inspiring good people without being generic or unrealistic. I know it’s not fma, but seeing the way a character like Hatchiken in Silver Spoon grows and learns not to burden himself while still caring about others- it just makes me think “I want to be more like that!” 

19. You wake up in their universe somewhere in Central. What’s the first thing you do?

make the big booty alchemist happen

stand on a cliff side looking sadly at the water and use alchemy to make everybody think i’m a ghost

get a ton of takeout and hit the library

Fma

Going with FMAB ofc

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

fav characters: Winry! After her, Ed, Riza, May, Al, Lan Fan, Olivier, Izumi, Ling, Scarleast fav characters: Grumman, Shou Tucker

fav relationship: the Resembool Trio- Ed, Al and Winryfav moment: It’s hard to choose. I’ll go with a tie between Ed getting Al’s body back and the reunion with Winry afterward- everything the series had been building to and it was done so perfectly- and “Why couldn’t I kill him/your hands were meant to save lives” which was when I knew officially that this series was never gonna stop fucking me up and I was in it for good.

headcanons/theories: I have a ton, but one I’m fond of is that Winry invents a type of automail that can cross the desert (a cooling mechanism or something) and they all visit Xing together as a result.unpopular opinion: My passionate love of Winry and dislike of the 2003 anime got me in a lot of troublehow’d you find it: I’d heard from a few people online it was good and a post on scans_daily and a few posts on tumblr mentioned it was solid when it came to female characters. So I started reading the manga in Books-A-Million (RIP sobs) and got really into it. I started Brotherhood before I finished the manga, but I can’t remember exactly when. random thoughts: I’ve had...bad experiences with the fandom but I refuse to let that taint the story for me. It’s still one of my favorites and I think the narrative execution is damn near perfect. 

*ZOOMS INTO YOUR ASKBOX* FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST *ZOOMS AWAY*

AH! I just finally watched FMA: Brotherhood earlier this year as part of my translation practice. I ended up giving up halfway through and finished it in English, there's too many alchemy terms for me to have been able to continue to understand more than the basic gist of conversations and it was way too in-depth and complex for "basic gist" understanding.Loved it | a favorite | 5 star recommendationFav characters: Mustang, Ling!Greed, HawkeyeLeast favorite characters: I... actually don't think I actively disliked *anyone* in FMA. It's pretty rare for me to love the whole cast, but Brotherhood was very careful to make sure everyone had a place in the story and everyone was multi-dimensional and relatable in some way.Fav relationship: a definite tie between the Elric brothers, Hawkeye and Mustang, and how the entire community continued to think of HughesFav moment: the triple-cross of Hawkeye confronting Envy in the sewers was just... perfection. That, and the moment Mustang realized maybe he revealed his hand far too early to Wrath.Headcanons/theories: I'll admit that I didn't have a lot of time for headcanons or fantheories, simply because I *just* watched it a few months ago well after it was more than done with, and I watched the whole thing in under a week. I've gotta read the manga sometime but my kanji comprehension is noooooooot good enough for that and I'd really like to reserve manga reading for translation practice so that's delayed too.Unpopular opinion: Oh jeez, this is why being outside the fandom and finally watching something well after the fans have mostly moved on can be a little tricky. I don't know what the popular opinions even ARE, so I don't know what opinions could be unpopular.How'd you find it: it's a classic! I've always known about it since it first came out, I just didn't have the time or interest (alchemy was never really "my genre", despite me liking a lot of alchemy-focused stories). When Brotherhood was released to fix the shitshow of the original anime, I was significantly more interested, but then didn't have time. So now that I have an excuse to watch Japanese-language things I've been catching up on various anime, la dramas, movies, radio shows, etc that I've been interested in over the years.

How I generally define ‘Canon’

Hey, this is just a post I wrote about defining what Canon is. Why? I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to ramble.

So when you’re talking about a specific fandom based around some sort of fictional story it is useful to keep in mind what is actually canon and what is not. 

Canon means anything in the source material, anything official as opposed to fan-created stuff. Err, I wish it were that simple but not all official stuff will be counted as canon. And in certain fandoms you get multiple writers and their ideas can conflict and it can be a little confusing.

So, how do you decide on what is canon? My approach is to find the stuff that is most canon first and go on from there. I’m going to use Harry Potter as an example as it’s a fairly straightforward one.

- The seven Harry Potter Books are all canon. They’re all written by J.K Rowling and they tell a complete story.

- Also canon but a level down from them would be some of the other stuff Rowling has written set in the Harry Potter Universe. These provide some extra world building. 

- These are: Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, Quidditch through the ages, and the Tales of Beedle the Bard (the fairytales are meant to be fictional in the Harry Potter universe so what’s canon is that these are examples of wizard fairytales not events that actually occurred in-universe.)

- The next level down is the Fantastic Beasts movies. They’re consistent with events in the Harry Potter novels but taking place in the past and set in the US. 

What about the Harry Potter movies? Their storyline is a retelling of the books so I would rate them as based on canon but not really a source of canon themselves where the books are my top-level canon. 

- So another level down and you get stuff like Pottermore if you want to use it as canon. It’s a site where the information comes from Rowling and provides extra detail about the Harry Potter world. If you want, you can also consider other stuff Rowling has said about the Harry Potter world to be canon. That’s up to the person though. It’s not nearly as good a source for canon as the Harry Potter books. 

- There’s also the play the Cursed Child which was not written by Rowling herself. It’s set in the future and if you want to consider it canon you can. We’re firmly in a grey area of canon-ness.

What if one bit of information contradicts another? My method is that the main books are top-level canon. If other canon sources contradict the books then the books would take precedence. And if the books contradict themselves? Latest one published takes precedence. So Deathly Hallows then Half-blood prince etc. Reason for this is because facts established early on may be unreliable. The first book had comments about werewolves living in the forest. Book 3 would establish that Werewolves only turn on a full moon. Obviously book 3 rules take precedence and the stuff in book 1 is just early weirdness before the world had been more fleshed out.  

With most fandoms, you can generally follow the same rules to establish canon. Main work is canon. Latest stuff in main work is canon over earlier stuff. Any supplementary official stuff can be considered canon if it doesn’t contradict main canon. 

How about stories with multiple reboots and different plotlines (like comic books)? In that case, it is not a single canon story but multiple stories each with their own separate canon. Every version of the characters/plot can be considered correct in their own canon. (However, if a work is meant to be consistent with another then it’s part of the same canon.)

I’ll use Fullmetal Alchemist as an example here as I’m very familiar with it. There’s a manga and two anime adaptations. The first, the 2003 adaptation deliberately diverges from the manga storyline so it’s in its own separate canon that is not consistent with the manga but is internally consistent (mostly, all works develop plot holes). It’s sequel movie, Conqueror of Shamballa, is part of its canon as well, (though it can be considered supplementary material.)

The second anime adaptation, Brotherhood, is a retelling of the manga as it largely follows its plotline and characterisation (with some minor changes that are inevitable when adapting.) In that case, the Manga is still canon. (Though if you prefer the changes Brotherhood makes, you can consider it ‘your canon’ with the manga fleshing it out with extra detail). The movie Sacred Star of Milos is also made to be consistent with Manga canon (though it’s also supplementary). There was also some Light Novels created to fit into Fullmetal alchemist canon which the manga writer, Arakawa, didn’t write, consider them canon if you want (some will not). 

How about extra omakes and OVAs? Some of these are explicitly non-canon joke chapters. If they’re canon-consistent then you can consider them canon if you want, again on a lesser level to main canon. FMA also gives you the live-action adaptation. It’s another interpretation of manga canon with quite a few differences. You can consider it to be its own separate Live-action canon if you want, I guess?

-

So where do fan-theories and ‘headcanon’s fit in? They’re firmly not canon. They may be canon-consistent but they are not actually canon unless acknowledged as canon by an official source. You can consider your ideas canon in your own mind, for the purposes of your interpretation of canon if you want, of course (hence the term headcanon). 

So, what you consider canon can quickly become open to interpretation. It’s totally cool to do so. Other people may have different ideas and these aren’t actually wrong either. People do get canon facts wrong too of course and you can correct them (politely). If someone’s making an AU (alternate universe) story then they’re not trying to follow canon instead exploring fun alternative possibilities. Fanfiction isn’t canon of course, and it’s not trying to be. 

A lot of stuff may not have answer in canon and you’ll get some consensus in a fandom for it - it’s still not canon but it’s probably canon-consistent and you may like it enough to put it into your own interpretation. Sometimes canon is really stupid and dismissing it may be sensible.