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fullmetal-scar-simping · 27 days ago

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have you ever gotten a chance to read some the 03 creator commentaries? saw a translation floating around and it's interesting https://docs.google.com/document/d/13LxWEZiPfbZwTUyhgx1ausapBMGSHdJn79XBj8_Dppw/

I've never had a chance to read their commentary, no. But getting a small look into Sho Aikawa's and Seiji Mizushima's perspective and processes was really interesting. I appreciate you sharing this with me! If there are other translated sources where they, or anyone else involved in the creation of the 2003 anime, speak on their experiences I'd love to read more.

So many things stand out to me. The fact that the anime was initially slated to be 24 eps alone, but was confirmed for 51 as the production progressed makes me so grateful for what we ended up getting. Most of my favourite arcs and character moments are post ep.25. This anime wouldn't be nearly as impactful without the its other half (which isn't a knock against the first 24 eps at all, I love 'em too).

We always have to remember how fraught the animation process is, with numerous parties making decisions that can cut down or hamper a production. When we get anything, be it an animated short, an independent project, an animated show, or a film, so much labour and last minute decisions were made to get any of it out into the world. And we see the devastation that capital and shareholders have over animation industries globally. So many projects scrapped even when the work has been completed and ready for syndication; or cancelled mid-production; changed and micromanaged to oblivion; or churned out en masse just to make a buck for execs while the workers languish. Looking back on all of the animation that I have enjoyed over the years, I really respect the people behind each of them. And since fma 2003 has a special place in my heart, I'm particularly relieved we got 51 episodes rather than ending prematurely at 24.

(And hell, even animated shows I dislike, such as Brotherhood, still generally get my respect for the animators, writers, and actors for how much work all it took to make it.)

Diving into all of details that caught my attention [not spoiler-free naturally]:

How often Aikawa explicitly points out that he wanted the anime to deviate from the manga. We can already see all of the evidence of these decisions from the outset at episode 01, but this puts a finer point on the fact that this was an adaptive story, not merely a transfer of a story from one medium to another. (People have an astonishingly difficult time grasping that there is a difference between these approaches, often reducing the former to a generally pejorative/diminishing descriptor of being "AU fanfic". 😮‍💨)

Mentions of Al's subtle emotional landscape and how that weaves into his existential crisis.

The intent on making Izumi's contrasting care and rage against the brother's as highlighting her weakness. That she can love them, see them as deserving of her retribution for carrying the same sin as her (which they now carry in part due to her tutelage, no matter how much she tried to dissuade them); how this flaw of hers comes into play with how she attempts to handle Wrath once he too becomes sinful.

LOL at Mizushima insisting on practicing his cat anatomy by including the dying cat scene, despite Aikawa not being comfortable with the cat death due to his love for them. (Very Scar coded :p)

Wrath is introduced as a rival for Ed, since they felt Ed wasn't at Envy's level for that to be the rivalry just yet. Interesting! I see this as showing where Ed needs to mature, or more specifically harden himself, to the deeper truths of the world. Wrath is how they learn how homunculi are 'born'. From the one who was made a homunculus soon after his human birth (and death), unique compared to the other homunculi. And this is yet another example of the weaknesses of all the people who have guided the Elrics. Envy is a much older, harsher truth even beyond this reveal. (The reality of "equivalent exchange", who he is and what Hohenheim had done long before creating a family with Trisha, that Ed will have to resort to the sin of murder when there seems to be no other way.)

Which makes Wrath revealing how humunculi are created, while everyone is gathered on Yok Island extra tasty. This is where the Elrics were trained to learn One is All, All is One. That to be in sync with the rhythms of life and death, to respect your place in this grand tapestry thereby maintains a fraught but interconnected harmony. That alchemy should not be the way to lead your life, should not replace honing your other skills, nor should it dull your understanding for how your actions impact everything and vice versa. Something that Izumi tries to live by after committing the greatest taboo on her deceased infant, and that she hoped would sway the brothers from making that same grave mistake. And here they all are, gathered around the proof of their collective hubris. Their failures standing before them in the form of a feral child grinning at their horror. The body of Izumi's child, Ed's arm for his mother, Ed's leg for his brother, and Al without a body whatsoever, in union on Yok Island. Furthermore, creating a homunculus creates a being who is a slight against life and death, one who cannot fit into a "natural" One Is All order. They are rejected by their creators, by people, by society, by death and by life itself.

The obvious inspo for Wrath being a famous "feral child" case. Again, it is obvious, but I appreciate having that spelled out with even the exact name of the kid Wrath's character is based off of.

How Izumi's sin and flaws, her weaknesses, how they all prevent her from finding the path that makes things right with the world, with Wrath, with herself, and with those Wrath impacts (such as the Elrics); all serving as a necessity for the brothers grapple with, in order to grow as people. That things can't be made all right by a convenient contrivance that absolves them both in one fell swoop coughcoughmangahoodcough

The way writing for the Dublith Wrath Arc split the writing team supervising for said arc, while Aikawa supervised Dante's intro. Also how they wished they could have done more for Greed's story, but the decisions regarding the length of time for the series' syndication meant they couldn't keep him around longer than necessary for the story they were telling.

Mizushima appreciating the strength of Greed's self-identity against all odds. Which, in contrast to Greed's story in mangahood, he loses and has to regain and grow from.

How the entire staff put their collective pussys into Greed's final episode, resulting in the iconic showdown between Ed and the homunculus. 🤌

The craftmanship with the Lust-centric ep (and one of the best in the show imo) "Reunion of the Fallen" is *chef's kiss*

Woof, I'm glad they didn't go with Rick and Leo wielding a firearm against the Elrics and subsequently getting Rick killed in the ricochet. 😬 However I appreciate that they were aware of the potential to make Ed's speech about discrimination come across as Ed acting self-righteous, so the voice actor's duty is to sell his humility. The realization of his internal bigotry is such a pivotal moment for his character development. That being said, it's absolutely wild that Aikawa mentions some people seeing this scene and proudly proclaiming it has no affect on them because they "don't feel any discrimination." 🚩🚩🚩

Mizushima acknowledging Al's petulant transmuted poo 🤭

Aikawa talking about how he was reminded of (or perhaps referencing) the Sino-Japanese war regarding Amestris' invasion of Liore, and how others saw the USA's invasion of Vietnam and Iraq reflected in this arc. He acknowledges Japan's imperial history and the rampant atrocities it committed, and this arc does not allow us to turn away from this fact in-universe either.

That Aikawa not only originally considered having Lust remain memory-less of her past life, but that he specifies this past as "the person who was her source." I love this! The phrasing is so important, as he appears to be avoiding fully 'solving' the existential questions around the relationship between homunculus and their human origin. Though this doesn't stamp out individual interpretations based on the text by fully Word of God'ing an answer, he does show his hand just enough to reignite theorizing. The mysteries around the homunculi and their existence is one of my favourite topics in this show. Aikawa offers some credence to what Ed had asserted to Scar, that she isn't Her; which Scar echoes back to Lust in his final moments, leaving her with a poignant rejection in her one moment of vulnerability and hopefulness that someone from a past she can't fully grasp still cares for and loves her. MAN 😩💔

I'm glad Aikawa was so keen on how Martel's murder was done in the manga that he made sure to have it in the show too. It's a damn memorable scene, and the 03 team really nails the shock and heartbreak of her demise, with Bradley's reveal hitting just right.

That Aikawa implies that Rose's presence what held Scar back from potentially reigniting the fight he and Ed were having is interesting here. Because it feels as though that skirmish simmered down into a verbal, ideological front. With Ed arguably being the instigator, given his initial goal of investigating Liore that night in order to stop whatever Scar was planning. Given that Scar frees Ed from the holding cell he gets thrown into, quite calmly too, and the proceeding discussion between them and "Lyra", though heated particularly from Ed, Scar never came across as teetering on the edge of breaking into another (physical) fight. I wonder if this is a matter of something lost in translation? Language certainly, but perhaps production too? (The internal workings of the goals of the creators is not necessarily always conveyed or achieved in the final work.) If Scar wanted to serve Ed a beatdown, he had ample opportunity while Ed's hands were shackled. I dunno, I just don't see this intent on Aikawa's part as present or relevant to this scene. And frankly, after Scar forces Ed to visit the massive gravesite for the fallen Liorans, he could have easily reneged on his decision to not kill him and gotten retribution for Ed's (unwitting) act as military saboteur. But he doesn't. He merely asserts that nothing will stop him from luring the army into their own slaughter. As I noted, an ideological fight is certainly being waged between them, for which Rose, even in her mute state, contributes and argues as well. Her trauma and child as an argument is something Ed cannot rebut or deny with any self-assurance.

But just as significantly is Aikawa mentioning that Rose's contribution, and Scar's steadfast adherence to the plan to mass transmute the Amestrian armed forces lead Ed to finally abandon the military. That he cannot act as though he can remain in an apolitical, self-centered bubble while carrying the State's badge after everything he has witnessed. Because Ed's white Amestrian position as, in essence, a cop is not the moral arbiter here, nor can it be conveniently ignored with his soap boxing. It is a blinder that had to be shed if he wants to stop directly participating in a system of human misery. Yes, this is to solidify the motivations needed to pit Ed against, and then in-line with, a soon-to-be renegade Mustang, but Ed's own motivations have nothing to do with reforming someone he otherwise was in an antagonistic subordinate position with. He and Al deserted the military for themselves and to avoid having the Stone fall to the State. The fact that Mustang would choose to abandon the military in order to squash the dictatorship is a happy aligning of their disparate goals.

Queue the obvious "Wow, this is infinitely superior to inverting Ed's moral positionality in 03 to one as standing above Scar AND successfully """"""""""reforming"""""""""" Scar via Ed's white, Amestrian, military chauvinism, AND while having Mustang staunchly remaining pro-military while receiving the career boost he always ruthlessly gunned for. And all for the low low price of degrading Scar into a perfectly whipped 'savage' who renounces his 'terrorism'" rant that bubbles in my soul when I think of the absolute contrast between 03's and mangahood's philosophies. I'll spare us all any further ranting for now. It's well-trodden territory by this point.

I'm charmed when artists refer to characters like they're actors to be negotiated into or out of the spotlight. "I've politely asked Ed and his friends to take a backseat," ha. It shows a fondness and intimacy with his work. Anyway, "His Name is Unknown" is yet another excellent ep and it centering Lust and Scar is 💯/💯.

Again I appreciate the openness about which parts of the manga were simply drafts, and how that led to the 03 team to devise their own goals with a character. Hohenheim of Light isn't Van Hohenheim because he wasn't meant to be. Van was hardly a solidified character in the manga at this point, and how he would go on to be articulated within Arakawa's work would never truly fit in the world and plot of 03 anyway.

The commentary for ep.44-! So it's fairly well known that not only did Arakawa ask the team when the anime was first greenlit to create their own story from her materials, but she (and Aikawa here) has mentioned that they did keep in touch for details here and there. (Sometimes with disagreements, as she notes in one of her diary-comics.) But here we get the admission that Dante's role (perhaps even her existence itself) coalesced by Aikawa tapping Arakawa for some input. As he points out in the next segment, Dante was introduced in ep.32 and that aligns with their decision for the show's final villain. (Please note that this isn't the same as "Arakawa wrote fma 03" as some folks have sometimes misinterpreted this as. She had some involvement, but she is not a writer or producer for the show.)

Also of note: that Aikawa feels some of Dante had been 'wasted' via the body transfer. Fascinating! Did he feel she needed more time to cook first in the body we initially meet her in? That the visage of the elderly woman living a stately hermetic life had more to impart before she jumped ship to a new body? Hm. This is my interpretation, so I want to be clear that this isn't necessarily what Aikawa's perspective is. The statement is vague enough to mean anything. I wonder tho. Anyone else have any takeaways? At the very least I think most of us can agree that Dante could have used more time to develop pre-Lyra bodysnatch. I quite liked her elderly form and how that weaves with her misanthropic 'wisened' paradigm. Lyra's youthful physicality does lend a symbolic renewal of Dante's energy, that a new philosopher's stone is at hand and this time- This time it will be key to an eternal, rejuvenated life.

It makes chronological sense within the show's production timeline that Lyra was created before Dante, given that we are informed that Dante was decided as the villain coming up to her introduction in ep.32. This places Lyra as 23 episodes older than the woman who would kill and embody her. Neat! And with Aikawa mentioning how Lyra wasn't originally intended to be reintroduced into the show (she was meant to be a one-off), but the strength and range of her Japanese VA swayed the decision to offer up Lyra to Dante is serendipitous!

The admission that FullMetal Alchemist is a show about philosophy, about conflict via paradigm rather than a typical action shonen that communicates via battles. Love it! Ep.46 could have been an Al vs Tucker smackdown, but Aikawa knew that this isn't in the spirit of what he and his team had created. I'm with him on this and I'm glad that they took the route they did, both broadly for the entire show, as well as for this episode. Show the tragedy and sin of Tucker and those like him (ruthless scientists who view others only via their utility for their own goals/purview), that the disastrous and tragic consequences of those actions speak for themselves. A fist fight or alchemic battle would be superfluous, if not a detractor. (It would definitely have been a distraction imo.)

OUGh, now this is something I actually never tapped into, and it feels foolish on my part for somehow missing this all these years: Wrath and Selim both are the unwitting child who brings the homunculus parent's remains to them, leading to their downfall. Dude! Yeah! And the contrast here is fun, as Selim believed he was helping Bradley. He was trying to be a thoughtful son and paid the price. Wrath, on the other hand, though he intended to help Sloth he was also wild and fully lacked forethought and impulse control. He took her weakness into himself, and through his imposition of motherhood onto Sloth as she actively tried to end that reality with Trisha's/her own children, gets her killed. And his merging with her being symbolic of the return to the womb, from the dead infant transmuted and stolen into the void? Who hates his true mother and wanted to force another to be his replacement mother, who herself lacked the wherewithal to rebuke him (plus it was a useful control over his erratic behaviour)? Beautiful, horrendous, poetic, gutting!

Aikawa admits that he regrets the decision to offset Sloth's full death scene to the next episode as it less gracefully blends into the ongoing plot and character presences to come. Tbh I never felt this to be too janky or tone-eroding. It works, though I understand how more room to breath would enhance the emotions that emerge from Sloth's death and final words. For the Elrics (and Wrath) to really writhe in it, before Envy steals Al away and Izumi retrieves Ed.

But bless, BLESS them, for writing Mustang as a defector rather than a reformer and power grabber in the end of it all.

A confluence of reasons for Archer's transition into TerminArcher. It does explain the wonky execution of Archer's presence in the story this far in. Tbh he should not have survived being sagittally severed by Scar's alchemy, but hey. I've mentioned wishing that the body horror and human experimentation via bio-industrial processes rather than bio-alchemical had been better examined. Because the potential was there! The design also needed work, lbr. Still, I embrace 03's janky bits alongside it's quality and often brilliant sides altogether. The fact that they're running up against the final eps and being unable to organically introduce a new character this far out does make sense. They had to compromise by having Archer fill a necessary role rather than explore anything new with the in-universe methods that kept him alive (and what that says about non-alchemic sciences and systemic dehumanization via weaponization).

Here it is, the truth that the writers did not mistakenly forget about the laws of conservation, nor were they ignorant or accidentally stumbled into an explanation for why Ed's (and many alchemist's) dogma did not match the reality we were so often presented with throughout the entire show! So many people watch 03 (or, y'know, half pay attention to it and then dismiss it as they originally intended to anyway) and somehow miss Dante's grand obliteration of the 'Law' of Equivalent Exchange. They miss that this is the show's way of affirming that, yes! We know this has never been true, we have been showing you this in innumerable ways! Al's opening narration before the intro song was telling you the same thing too! If you were paying attention and noted that something wasn't adding up, this is because we were leading you as well as the Elrics to this destination! Now grapple with what that means across the themes and events we have been presenting you.

This next line shook me: Aikawa does not view the Hohenheim-like, youthful face that Envy dons to get Ed to slip up in their fight as his true face! Holy shit! There has been so much debate over the years about whether this is what Envy truly looked like as a human; whether this could even be possible given that Hohenheim's most current body could not have survived through centuries. (Envy being the oldest homunculus at around 400 years, therefore Dante and Hohenheim had him 4 centuries ago.) And here's Aikawa, saying he doesn't see this as Envy's truth! Goddamn. If we take this as Word of God, then Envy was not lying earlier in the series when he states that he has long forgotten what his original form looked like. Thing is, I don't think we have to completely abandon creating interpretations for why Envy presented this face (beyond the pragmatic shock that allows him to overcome Ed), since Hohenheim's current face does not look wholly unlike his original visage before having to jump into a new body. I personally enjoy the idea that Hohenheim tends to seek out men who have some resemblance to his original self, unlike Dante who wears human beings for the novelty of each of their unique selves. Envy may not remember what he looked like precisely (and given Dante's control over humunculus embodiment she may not allow him that recollection) but perhaps he could have been unwittingly close enough. Regardless of interpretation, that Aikawa sees the serpent form as more true to Envy due to its symbol as the Ouroboros to me underlines that Envy has drifted so far from humanity so severely. His contempt and pain buries the past that fuels his rage all the same.

And as though ep.50's revelation wasn't big enough, ep.51's is a sledgehammer to my brain. Aikawa describes the process Ed had to undergo in order to successfully bring Al back to life and I am !!UNWELL!! Holy shit. The Gate did not necessarily comply with the transmutation! It did not follow through with that exchange, as if to put the finest point on Dante's speech possible! Though perhaps one could argue that it did allow the opportunity for Ed to do what he does.

"The only way he could prevent himself from decomposing inside the gate entirely was to leave his body behind. During this process, he came across Al’s body and soul while in the gate, just as he left it at age ten. As Ed crossed to the other side of the world with all his memories intact, Al could only regenerate by losing those same memories of the last four years."

EXCUSE ME. AIKAWA. ED WOULD HAVE DIED AND ROTTED IN THE GATE?! HOLY FUCK. He had to encounter Al's body and soul himself! Which was being protected in stasis, the Gate staving off death and decomposition from the younger Elric, unlike Ed's! I'm devouring bedrock, omfg. And yet, had there not been an exchange of Al's memories post-body loss for keeping Ed's memories as he crossed universes, there's an implication that Al would not have survived returning to the world! I am now consuming magma from the Earth's core. The Gate truly toys with lives in unfathomable ways.

The Elrics reaching to the sky, to each other, inspired by a shot in the first opening! That they're happy, in spite of their separation. Aikawa emphasizing that the ending is not wholly tragic, but, as many people have interpreted, it is bittersweet. (Interesting then how CoS modifies, contradicts, and replaces this ending.)

Man... my appreciation for the folks who made fma 2003 has been renewed.

Once again, thank you so much for sharing this with me, anon! I'm sure this is old news to a lot of fans, but for those who haven't read the commentary, please do!

#ask #fma 03 #meta #ed #al #scar fma #lust #wrath #izumi #dante #lyra #rose #winry #pride #sloth #envy #hohenheim #greed #long post after the jump

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