10 Things You Didn't Know About Fullmetal Alchemist

Death occurs so often in Fullmetal Alchemist; it can be easy to ignore individual demises that don't involve major characters in favor of moving on with the plot. The show creator Hiromu Arakawa refuses to allow readers to forget, though.

After each manga volume, there's a memoriam section for deceased characters' names and likenesses. The memorial panel has only been left blank six times, proving how rare it is for characters to exit the story unscathed. 

Before the final volume, Arakawa wrote, "Spoiler prevention in effect for the final volume" instead of listing out deaths.

The memoriam section shows the creator's respect for her characters and likely her respect for human life.

Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa planned to write extensively about characters going through the pain of war, so she wanted to make sure she got all the facts right.

To achieve this, Arakawa interviewed WW2 veterans to learn about their experiences as soldiers. As a result of Arakawa's interviews, several characters in the show exhibit symptoms of PTSD.

Though her interviews were sometimes harrowing, they were also occasionally funny. In volume 15 of the manga, Arakawa drew an illustration of herself asking one of the veterans about his eating habits.

Hiromu Arakawa got many of the ideas about alchemy and the other philosophical constructs that crop up in Fullmetal Alchemist from both Eastern and Western sources. However, one of the series' central constructs, the law of equivalent exchange, came from a far more personal source: her parents. 

Arakawa grew up on a dairy farm in Hokkaido, and if you didn't work, you didn't eat. She shared:

If you are lazy, you will only suffer hardships at the end. Our ancestors were the pioneers who came over to Hokkaido, their stories were passed down by word, but they lived in perfect accordance to the principle of equivalent trade.

This probably means Edward Elric would actually make a great farmer.

It's not just the fans who love Fullmetal Alchemist enough to make fan works. The people involved in the show's production honor the show too.

The English voice actors created a short fan video called Fullmetal Fantasy, in which everyone cosplays as their respective characters. According to Vic Mignogna, who funded the film with his own money, Hiromu Arakawa expressed her approval.

The video has been featured multiple times at anime conventions, but can no longer be shown due to copyright issues. 

It's clear Hiromu Arakawa cares deeply about representing the culture and history she draws from to create the Fullmetal Alchemist world.

However, Arakawa also cares about accuracy in less abstract areas. In order to correctly draw the weapons in her anime, she actually bought replica prop guns for reference. Her characters use guns appropriate for their time and station. Riza Hawkeye uses two FN Model 1910s and a Karabiner 98K—a WWII German sniper rifle.

Arakawa kept the prop guns in her office while drawing the manga. 

If you're not a major Fullmetal Alchemist buff, the name Mobuo Mobuta might not mean anything to you. If you're a devout fan, though, you know Mobuo is a recurring background character who appears throughout both the manga and the anime.

His name, which is Japanese for minor character, was revealed in the Perfect Profiles data book. He has no personality or role, but he pops up whenever a random background character is needed.