I've been wondering whether the storyline of the anime version was made up by bones after cutting and pasting bits of the manga together to make the first half of the series, and then slapped on their own story for the rest of it? Or did Arakawa Hiroaki-san help them create this storyline? Does anybody know?

They did make up parts that the manga hadn't come to yet, and did re-arrange the sequence of events, but it all has to go through the approval of the manga artist; Arakawa sensei first~

I've read that Arakawa sensei also supervised the character design of those characters that hadn't appeared in the manga the time the anime was made (for example, Ed and Al's dad).

Basically Arakawa-sensei was still doing the story when Bones called to say they wanted to make the anime. So she can only give them the manga materials then. Also she told them the conclusion she had in mind as well as like what Sycia said, materials and background for some future characters.

She never had a hand in deciding how the anime story went. Bones took what she had given them and made their own story. Supposedly, the only thing Bones asked of her is how the characters would likely react when confronted with certain situations they themselves created. Whether they took her advice on such character behaviour is also questionable.

I think a better question is did Arakawa take ideas from the anime? I don't really know how many manga chapters were out by the time the anime finished...

manga/anime spoiler:

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Were they up to the Greed part of the manga when the anime part came out? Martel died the same way but much much earlier in the manga, sword down Al's armor to "slay the poor chimera attacking Al." And that's where the manga and the anime split from each other the most was right after that. So I'm wondering if Bones got the idea of Martel's death from the manga or vice versa.

what chapter was that happened?

looked it up, the last chapter of the area of chapters I referred to was Chapter 30.

Well, I just got Newtype USA's january issue today and the FMA article answered my question completely. *slaps self on head*

But thanks for answering my question anyways guys.

Apparently they moved some scenes of when Ed and Al were 12 earlier in the anime so people have time to connect with them and experience their trials and stuff, and how they mature through it all. The article says that Ed and Al reacted differently to events in ep7 & ep9 because they were of a different age than they were in the manga version. Also, scar is younger in the anime version and learnes lessons througout the story.

The article says only 4 volumes were out when the story for the anime was written, so the story writer, Sho Aikawa came up with his own ending.

The manga have a dark look the anime haven't. The enemies are really enemies; they dont turn "good" at all.

Really? I always considered the anime far more sad and dark. The manga still has a lotta funny sequences and everyone doesn't seem as angsty~

O_o really? i think the manga is much darker... and i agree that the villains are much more...well, villainous...

what about Lust?

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how she ran Havoc through and paralyzed him? broke Taisa's hand and speared him? i don't think the Lust we knew in the anime had that in her...

and don't forget how

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Lust tried to kill Hawkeye and told her that the Colonel was already dead? how dark was that that Riza wanted to stay and die so she could be with Roy in death? that sure didn't happen in the anime...

and what about Lt. Ross?

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the whole scenario where she was to be executed for killing Hughes? executed without fair trial? how Taisa had to 'kill' her to get her off so she could flee to Xing? how for so long we were left wondering if our beloved Taisa had the heart of a murderer somewhere beneath the face we had grown to love? that was sure pretty dark in my book...

if you ask me, while maybe the anime is a little more...shocking at times because you see it in motion...there is so much more that has happened in the manga that is totally untouchable by the level of pain and drama we have seen in the anime...

FullMetal Lizard said all I have in mind. Plus Scar being a real motherf*cker in the manga...

Though both the manga and the anime are dark in their own ways, one way in which I believe the anime was darker was in how Winry lost her parents..

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In the anime they died at the hands of their allies, specifically killed by Roy himself. Then we have to watch him suffer for it: This is something I really appreciated in the anime.

It seems that in the manga they're just stacking the crimes on Scar and making him too much of a one sided evil character. (but I'm sure we'll find out more soon)

I guess I prefer characters where the level of evil is sort of ambiguous (makes things interesting: having characters seen in a sort of shade of gray rather than black and white) For some, the fact that Lust and Scar had all these internal conflicts is what made them feel that the anime is much more dramatic

If you had done your research more, you would know that the anime is the one who was taking ideas from the manga. The manga was started way, way ahead ( 2 years ) of the anime and a lot of the drafts ( future chapters ) were given to the anime company before they were even published.

I agree I think the Manga is a lot darker although sometimes the tension is released with funny moments. The manga has better villains.

Yea, I could see where you're coming from, Coffee...
It seems that most people's hatred when watching the anime goes to tucker..(at least for me it did).

Didn't do any research, just shot out something that was going through my head. I was just wondering how far the manga was when the anime got to that point. If chapters always came out monthly, that would go to about 24 when FMA started, plus another half a year or so when Greed entered the anime (assuming no stops in weekly episode production), they would be around manga chapter 30, plus a couple for the "future chapter drafts." Just checking. That and anime always seems to be based on its manga counterpart if there is one. I just never heard of an anime that came out before its manga counterpart, so I figured the manga was out beforehand.

I also hate Tucker! I think I do with a passion and how he was always whispering in the anime. It just annoyed me so much.

Hahaha that was pretty funny

Or

mwahahaha! I loved that one too!

Or how about

I think you mean Yoki.

Sensei? ;;

i know this is a real delayed reaction, but i just have to say kudos to blue's comment about

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roy suffering for the death of winry's parents... i thought that was really cool and showed that even tho he puts up a tough and unbreakable facade, he's really a good person with a lot more conscience than he lets on...

[blue Views tokage's comment...blushes..
"flail-suru" ]


Its one of the many reasons why Episode 15: Ishbal Massacre was so so so good. FMA definetly serves up the drama.

Fma has tension. Everytime I had to go somewhere I always thinking about watching Fma.

I am loving all this discussion, you guys are hitting all the high notes for sure, and its obvious the majority of you have read all the manga... unfortunately I have only read up to chapter 34, i need chapter 35 to the end, minus 41 and 42. any help would be incredible, thanx

peace

blast, i need to read the manga

FMA has always been a great source of drama and human interest. It hits a lot of tough issues and never ceases to induce ulcer-causing angst in all of its characters. There's so much back stuff to the story it's incredible. I'm just glad the series was handled as it was in anime form. Just think, the studio who could've bought it could've wanted a "lighter" and "funnier" version. o_0;

~Merc

To those in search of manga:
Check out Anime-source

Or go to serpent Cross they have the Zip files. You have to wait each month for it to come out since it's twice as long as normal manga. Example Naruto.

Yup Serpent Cross is a good source ( I actually came across that first)
Prob is I haven't been able to dl a single zip....(maybe they went over their limit for the month?)
In the end I got I downloaded the earlier volumes from this website, and got the later chapters the hard way...saved them from anime source (shhessh)

I did that too for couple of them it was tiring atleast I got the manga/.

Episode 37...

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Roy: "Why do they want me to go on this ghost hunt with them?"
Riza: "They respect you."
Roy: "What's the use in have males respecting me? And if they're scared of the unseen, how will they ever deal with real people?"
::car stops by Hughes' house::
Roy: "I didn't tell you to stop"
Riza: "You looked like you wanted me to stop."
::Roy talks to Mrs. Hughes for a sec, then decides to leave instead of coming in after Winry runs away from window after seeing him::
[in car] Roy: "Like I said, it's a lot harder dealing with people..."

It's a great episode, hilarious in many, many times, as well as showing more of Roy's personality, like this one part from the episode, shows so much more about him than he ever means to show, same as "It's starting to rain." People who've seen this part know what I mean.

*Sniff* Roy is a good character I can't see why some Dub-fans hate him.

I know I'm new but I think dub-fans hate Roy because so far (they just aired episode 9), Roy has seemed like a right jerk. Dub fans, at least English ones, don't really know him yet. Now, I've seen the fan-subbed ones, so I know what he's really like, but if I'd stuck with the dubs I'd hate him right now too. However, he's a good guy *huggles Roy even if he doesn't like it*.

his good character shines in episode 13 for the first time, and barely at that. Before that, all you see is the sarcastic, controlling, manipulative jackass, nothing else. You don't see any of the stuff about the Ishbal War, nor his caring for his subordinates and friends. You know Hughes considers him a friend, but you haven't seen much of him acting as a friend as of the end of episode 9.

That's true but I like the saracastic Roy. His dream to get all the females in the military wear mini-skirts XD

(which is also episode 13...)