ETA: 12/23/06 by Tombow

For FMA anime fans who are wondering how FMA anime story line is carried over in FMA manga:

FMA manga has very, very, VERY different story line from FMA anime.
It was more or less similar during the first season of FMA anime, but during the second season, FMA anime story line went far different from FMA manga.
I mean, UTTERLY, COMPLETELY, TOTALLY different way.

As Reika and RocketJess and mommaG and others have posted on this thread, FMA manga started first, but the anime was made before a lot of the manga had been released. And, following the Manga version of FMA storyline faithfully would have meant not animating it until the manga was actually written .... When they started the animation project, there were only 2 volumes out, and many later scenes were based on what Arakawa-sensai told them she was planning to write, according to the interview with the director in a recent Newtype USA.

*The first chapter of the FMA manga was published in Shounen Gangan in 2001 and one chapter every month thereafter (at this current moment, up to chapter 48).

*The first episode of the anime was aired over Japanese TV in 2003. At that point in time, the manga was dealing with its Devil's Nest arc.

So the anime quickly got ahead of the manga and they made up their own story, using a mixture of Arakawa's plans and their own ideas. Anime starts at manga volume 2 and started separating somewhere between manga volume 4-5, and there's not much of anything coincident from episode 37 on.

By the time FMA anime has completed with the FMA "Shambara" movie, FMA anime and FMA manga were not even in the same world!!

Basically, by now it's safe to say FMA manga is a different story altogether from FMA anime.

Spoiler Alert!!!

Besides THE MAJOR story differences of "the other world" FMA anime story line NEVER HAPPENS in FMA manga, there are smaller anime/manga differences. And, some of them are listed below.


The following is a partial list of FMA manga/anime differences, posted by Nepharski on Oct. 13, 2005. (Since then lot more differences have emerged, but these still hold true in most parts. Though, I edited and added few extras here. You can find Nepharski's post with the original list on page 4, post #51 of this thread.)

• Furher King Bradley is Wrath, not Pride. Pride is still unknown in manga. The Kid known as Wrath in anime does not exist in manga.
• Sloth is not the product from Trisha. Sloth is a huge male monster in manga.
• Frank Archer does not exist.
• Kimbley is still incarcerated. Appears only in Scar's flashbacks and at the destruction of Lab 5. (ETA: Later gets released and goes to North and blah blah.)
• Yoki lives now as Scars "Servant."
• Fletcher and Russel Trigum do not exist in the manga.
• Greed was never trapped in Lab 5 in the manga.
• Basque Grand has not yet appeared in the manga, if ever. He is supposedly dead from the start.
• Shou Tucker is killed by Scar right after his experiment is discovered. He does not get transformed into a chimera.
• Scar killed Winry's parents.
• Dante does not exist in the manga.
• Ling, Mei, RanFan, & fellow Xingians do not appear in Anime.
• Homonuculi are created artificial humans in the manga, NOT failed human transmutation side-effects.
• Homonuculi can only be destroyed via the stated biblical/inferno punishment for each of their respective sins.
• Homonuculi are created by someone known as The Father.
• The Psiren and Other Brothers Elric parts do not exist in the Manga.
• Number 48's head is killed by Lust and body killed by Envy, both before they can reveal the truth to Edward.
• Barry's true manga body is nothing like his anime body, and is revealed after the fact, not before. Also, Barry plays more significant role in manga.
• Maria Ross is used as a scapegoat, accused of murder, then escapes to Xing with Mustang and others' help.

And, the following is FMA manga/anime timelines put together by our THE FMA manga expert csakuras and posted on LiveJournal, but since you have to be a member to see that content, I repost it here. (Hope that's ok with csakuras. )

Anime Timeline
1899- Edward & Winry are born
1900- Alphonse is born
1902- Hohenheim leaves
1905- Ed & Al's first transmutation (Ed: 6 yrs old, Al: 5 yrs old)
1907- Rockbells killed (Ed: 8, Al: 7)
1909- Trisha dies (Ed: 10, Al: 9)
Apprenticeship with Izumi
1910- February, Failed transmutation (Ed: 11, Al: 10)
February-October, Automail surgery & rehabilitation
October 3rd, Ed & Al burn their house and leave Resembool
1911- State Alchemist exam passed (Ed: 12, Al: 11)
1914- Present Day (Ed: 15, Al: 14)

Manga Timeline
1899- Edward & Winry are born
1900- Alphonse is born
1904- Hohenheim leaves
Ed & Al start doing alchemy (Ed: 5, Al: 4)
Trisha dies
1908- Rockbells are killed
Summer, apprenticeship with Izumi (Ed: 9, Al: 8)
Winter, Ed & Al return to Resembool
1910- Failed transmutation (Ed: 11, Al: 10)
Automail surgery & rehabilitation (takes aprox. 1 year)
1911- October, State Alchemist exam passed (Ed: 12, Al: 11)
October 3rd, Ed & Al burn their house and leave Resembool
1914- Present Day (Ed: 15, Al: 14)



<Thanks, fyleow for letting me share your post space!! ^^ ~Tombow >
--------------------------------------------------------------
<The following is fyleow's original post. ^^>


I just finished watching the anime and I was wondering how well the manga for FMA and the anime match up. The ending of the anime felt rushed but that's expected since the manga is still ongoing. I was just wondering if the anime's ending is what the author intended or one that's created to end the anime?

The anime and manga start to drift off in seperate ways around episode 30 or so. Maybe even earlier, b/c the story with Izumi is slightly different then it is in the manga. I don't think the manga artist intends to end the manga that way so the ending was created for the anime.

acutally the Manga and Anime are nothing alike. they are similar but they have alot of a different story. especially past episode 20, the manga starts out with ed as a State Alchemist when hes on the train. but the anime flashes back and hes not one while on the train in the anime.

Yeah, some differences between the anime and manga really bugged me for awhile (like how they left out one of my favorite book characters in the anime)

*nods* i very much so love the Manga more than the Anime, and also i hope it has a different ending.... and by the way its looking now, it may have a REALLY different ending.

I especially hate how they changed Lusts death in the anime. It was so cool in the book, and it really gave you a Roy/Riza moment

through so spoiler tags around that will ya? and i totally agree i loved that part of the manga *points*

The FMA anime and manga are really, REALLY different. There are whole plot arcs and characters that don't exist. Details on the world and how it works and background info are altered. And from the looks of it, there is no doubt that the ending will be completely different.

The manga normally comes first and hence is always better. My sister absoulutely refuses to read it because she calls it a spoiler for the anime.

I'm disappointed that key parts were changed and that a lot of good stuff was cut out.

tell your sister that if she has been watching the Dub then the Manga wont spoil ANYTHING for her.... because basically from here the Manga goes one way and the Anime another.... actually they do from the begining

I find it odd that it can differ by so much, especially given the popularity of the TV series. It's interesting how the anime can change the orignal story so much. I know a lot of anime doesn't follow the manga because it had to end before the series was completed, but for most of those it's an incomplete or abrupt ending. The FMA anime changed things so much and maintained it's popularity.

I wonder if the author has any say in how the anime ended up going. It would be interesting to see how the end of the manga compared to the upcoming movie....

well i must totally agree with Guest on all of the Points he mad. and oh about Lab #5 i like the manga version MUCH BETTER.... oh wait... its almost EXACTLY THE SAME!!!!

Guest
[quote]That's the typical "evil mastermind" plot that goes for thousands of such films and shounen series[/quote]
Uh, I guess the manga is _much_ better with Hohenheim being the main bastard and all? Yeah, right, Hohenheim or Dante, big difference now.
[quote]The Ishbal story hasn't been fully explored yet but only touched on here and there in the manga which is still going on.[/quote]
I rather doubt there would be some ties to the main plot with Ishbal in the manga. Oh, whatever, it's still going on.
[quote]Scar doesn't have a brother in the manga? That makes Scar's master a liar at the start of Volume 7 by your words.[/quote]
Sorry. Missed on this one. Yeah, my fault. I do read the manga, but some things just slip. His brother did not play any major role in the manga whatsoever.
[quote]Yeah right, having Scar's arm being a stone is so wonderful[/quote]
Having a decomposing array for no plot meaning is better? So what does this "Scar" do in the manga? Clean up after Ed's adventures and have some battles with alchemists? Yeah, I guess, that's a big deal for the plot.
[quote]Homunculus with their super powers in the anime wants to be weak humans. Humans are great.[/quote]
You're being silly. Read the Greed dialogue with Al in the manga. Al doesn't want to be an eternal armor suit, doesn't he? So what's the point in making him a "weak human"? I guess you just didn't catch that. And I guess Edward has to make his whole body encased in auto-mail, since he's gonna be much powerful that way!
[quote]Not everything thinks like humans or even wants to be human, especially if they are more powerful than a human.[/quote]
Super-powered villains without any troubles are silly.
[quote]Then they have to drag out the Nina story until it becomes from a sad touching tale into something that is too long drawn.[/quote]
A matter of taste. Having Scar "clean up" for Edward's sad little adventure with Tucker&Nina is better in no way (except the way that Tucker got death in the end). But was that really better?
[quote]Explain why Roy knowing that the Fuhrer is a homunculus, choose to lock himself up in a small room with the Fuhrer without any methods to kill him off.[/quote]
What exactly did Roy know of Homuculus and how to kill them? Did Edward tell him how to do it? And did he have a choice anyway? I think Roy intended to have revenge for Hughes.. that is, to blow everything up, including the Fuhrer. Just listen what he says about abandoning his "goal" for revenge.
[quote]Why Hughes being a smart guy knowingly chose to go into a trap without a backup or even telling anyone[/quote]
Did Hughes not get into the same situation in the manga? Or am I wrong, I read that chapter quite a while ago?
[quote]How is it that if equivalent trade is wrong, Ed still has to trade off his arm[/quote]
The question is, IS equivalent trade wrong. All I heard was some philosophical blah-blah on the matter. They still had to trade off.
[quote]Why do the homunculus all react so differently to their supposed weakness, especially Lust who changes the way she reacts to her weakness every time the locket shows up[/quote]
That moment with Lust (throwing it away) bogged me too. But the reaction is the same in most cases - they get incapacitated, weak, and can barely move.
[quote]Again is being the leader of a country showing off the sin of pride?[/quote]
Being a Fuhrer in a military dictatorship. Don't twist things round. Bradley is something like Hitler.
[quote]In the manga, we know they are created for the seven Sins.[/quote]
Yeah, I guess that's pretty much it. So who does Envy envy? Is Lust related to lust in any way? What's up with Sloth, was he just lazy or something? And is Bradley really wrathful or something? They don't fit at all, except Gluttony.
[quote]Have you even read the chapter where Roy's gang is fighting Envy and Gluttony?![/quote]
Which chapter is it? The last one I read was 44 I think. So does Pride take any action, and is he connected to pride in any way?

Hmm... you annoy me. But I can't come up with a coherent rebuttal at the moment. I'll get back to you after I get some sleep.

Arakawa-sensei deserves more credit than you seem to think, though.

Uh, I guess the manga is _much_ better with Hohenheim being the main bastard and all? Yeah, right, Hohenheim or Dante, big difference now.

We don't know that Hohenheim is the Father yet. We just know that he looks like him. And in my opinion it seems almost TOO obvious for it to be true...

I rather doubt there would be some ties to the main plot with Ishbal in the manga. Oh, whatever, it's still going on.

Well we've barely gotten into the Ishbal plot yet. It SHOULD have ties to the main plot, because of what happened with the military and the Philosopher's Stone there, not to mention Scar's origins. You can't just write it all off because it hasn't happened yet.

Sorry. Missed on this one. Yeah, my fault. I do read the manga, but some things just slip. His brother did not play any major role in the manga whatsoever.

Like I said, we don't KNOW that yet. We do know that Scar's brother is the reason why he has the arm, and that he's dead, and that he learned alchemy. From what we've seen so far, Scar's past in the manga could turn out almost exactly the way it is in the anime.

Having a decomposing array for no plot meaning is better? So what does this "Scar" do in the manga? Clean up after Ed's adventures and have some battles with alchemists? Yeah, I guess, that's a big deal for the plot.

Scar has barely been in the manga so far because of other plot arcs. Now he's BACK and has apparently killed Winry's parents and he's in the same city where Kimblee (who has some tie to his past) is being held captive while the military is in chaos. I'd say he has plently to do from now on. And Mei recognized his tattoo; it holds some significance.

You're being silly. Read the Greed dialogue with Al in the manga. Al doesn't want to be an eternal armor suit, doesn't he? So what's the point in making him a "weak human"? I guess you just didn't catch that. And I guess Edward has to make his whole body encased in auto-mail, since he's gonna be much powerful that way!

In the manga, humanity is important for Al. Not so with the homunculii. They look down upon humans because they see themselves as superior beings, and work for their Father for an unknown purpose. Whether this is better or worse is a matter of opinion, but I thought it was a bit weird that in the anime, the homunculii wanted to become what they detest. And I don't understand your Ed-encasing-his-body-in-automail comment. O_o

Super-powered villains without any troubles are silly.

I guess I do agree with that. The homunculii in the anime were made to be complex, three dimensional characters (despite lacking a soul). We haven't seen as much of that in the manga yet.

What exactly did Roy know of Homuculus and how to kill them? Did Edward tell him how to do it? And did he have a choice anyway? I think Roy intended to have revenge for Hughes.. that is, to blow everything up, including the Fuhrer. Just listen what he says about abandoning his "goal" for revenge.

I didn't think that made much sense after the whole "he's an adult because he puts his goal before personal feelings" speech in episode 44. After going through all that, he throws down everything to go kill an (for all he knew) immortal monster. It seemed like an excuse to end the show with a bang.

Did Hughes not get into the same situation in the manga? Or am I wrong, I read that chapter quite a while ago?

In the manga, Hughes was in the middle of investigating when suddenly Lust comes to attack. In the anime, he knowingly followed Juliet Douglas into a trap.

Yeah, I guess that's pretty much it. So who does Envy envy? Is Lust related to lust in any way? What's up with Sloth, was he just lazy or something? And is Bradley really wrathful or something? They don't fit at all, except Gluttony.

Lust seduces people (Havoc, attempts to get to Roy). It's been said that Sloth has to be chained up or else he won't do any work. And Wrath looks really angry when he's fighting, but other than that I don't get him either.
As for Envy, it seems he is very self conscious about his "true form", judging from how he reacted to Greed's insults. It's been hinted that he is somehow inferior to the other homunculii (possibly he's one of the eldest, so he's not made as well?). And he doesn't seem to be very powerful without his shape-shifting abilities, unlike the anime. Of course we haven't seen the whole story, but I think "Envy" suits him pretty well.

Which chapter is it? The last one I read was 44 I think. So does Pride take any action, and is he connected to pride in any way?

All we've seen of Pride so far is his voice?/thoughts? calling Envy and Gluttony back from their fight. We don't know much else about him/her yet. In fact there's been very little development for any of the homunculii and their origins, so there's not much we can say.

I think the key to this debate is that the anime is, for the most part, over, while the manga still has a lot to get into and reveal. I'd guess that it's only about 1/3 way into the story. So not many things can be comparable as it is right now.

CSakuraS
We don't know that Hohenheim is the Father yet. We just know that he looks like him. And in my opinion it seems almost TOO obvious for it to be true...
Well who knows. Anyways, that Father is the villainous figure.
It SHOULD have ties to the main plot, because of what happened with the military and the Philosopher's Stone there, not to mention Scar's origins.
I hope so. I just hope Scar's line just doesn't get cut somewhere in the process.
Now he's BACK and has apparently killed Winry's parents
That's also bothering me. Having Mustang kill Winry's parents [anime] did present some moral issue. Having Scar kill them doesn't, since Scar is so fanatically evil in the manga [as of yet] I also hope Kimblee will resurface, he did rock in the anime.
I thought it was a bit weird that in the anime, the homunculii wanted to become what they detest
Not all of them, actually. Envy didn't. He really hated humans and everything, and he was the most powerful of them. But even Envy doesn't seem unapologetically evil in the anime, if you know what I mean. You can feel compassion for Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Greed, Envy in the anime. Homunculi are much more complex in the anime due to their backstories mainly. And that they wanted to become humans despite having this freakish powers... I guess it's just that a Human Soul is worth much more than "Ultimate Whatever" and that's what I like about the anime.
It seemed like an excuse to end the show with a bang
Yeah, Roy-Fuhrer seemed rushed and unreasonable from Roy's POW. But then, don't we all do unreasonable things? So Hughes death ended up being more important for Roy than his "dream". It's something I may not agree with, but it's definetely something to think on.
In the anime, he knowingly followed Juliet Douglas into a trap.
Ah, Douglas.. after all, he did not yet know what was _really_ going on in the military, didn't he, and that's what he asked of Douglas.

But yeah, I guess the problem with the manga is that it's plot is too undeveloped as of yet, so there's not much to compare, that's just unfair compairing a half-complete story to a story which is only in the beginning.

Hmmm. Well, so far the manga is incomplete, but the story (I think) is a lot more detailed.

i absolutly agree i would also like to note that i love

[spoiler] Hughes death better in the Manga than in the Anime. i think personally it makes Roy look a whole lot better and also gives us some reason to go to Xing (aka Maria Ross) so that will also open up a door for us to see if anything else happnes in Xing, through Maria Ross [/spoiler]

I read somewhere that the show creators had to change some things from the books (besides the obvious). Like in the manga, King Bradley ( I thought he was also royalty for the longest time until I figured out that that was his name, not title) is simply called president, not Fuhrer. So it stands to reason that they either knew they were going to have a movie for a sequel, or wanted to give the show more basis in fact.

No, he's "daisoutou" in both the anime and the manga. It's just that some people translate it differently. :D

so then which one is more correct?

I don't think either is "more correct" than the other; however, the word used to refer to the President of the United States is "daitouryou," so if we were to consider that then "Fuhrer" would probably be the better choice. (It seems to be the more widely-accepted term in the fandom, anyway.)

also just like to point out that it's not exactly a Democracy, so president wouldn't be the correct trem in the first place since you become ruler by gaining that Military Rank ;;

Right, that too. XD

And besides the English dub for the anime uses the term "Fuhrer" as well. :/

Yeah, and FUNi collaborates with the Japanese creators on what terms and names they should use or something like that, right? :/

Huh, so if its just a translation note, it has absolutly nothing to do with the *semi-spoiler* location of the movie?

Yeah, most likely.

Though there are a few instances in the anime when we see documents (written in English) that suggest that the anime is set in Britain. Like... here.

I chalk it up to BONES being careless in consistency. XD

*tries to think* is there anything in the Manga that is english text? or anything like that?

Maybe in a few places? I'll flip through the books when I get home to see if I can find anything. :O

Though there is that one point when Ed and Ling first met and they're drawing out a (rough) map of the countries in the dirt (with names in English - Amestris, Xing, Drachma, I can't remember the others...).

hmmmmm i dont remember that part *looks*

So..the general idea here is that the anime and the manga are different, and will probably have different endings..

I hope so, actually.... Because I`ve read all of the manga (and Loved what I saw ) and then I`m planning on watching the anime as well now.... and.. I mean.. if the anime had the same ending as the manga, it would be a spoiler wouldn`t it?

So fingers crossed that the ends are different.

The endings will most definitely be different. On the most basic level, Arakawa-sensei believes in equivalent exchange, but the anime creators ultimately insist that it doesn't exist, so that in itself suggests that they will turn out very differently.

EDIT: To clarify, I'm not saying that that's the only difference between the two, but that the ideas being channeled into them are on opposite sides of the spectrum, so yeah.

BONES also seems to translate it as Fuhrer.



Yes, the good ol' Fuhrer King Bradrey!

Anyway, in the anime, Equivalent Exchange exists. When talking about Alchemy, that is. Many people take Hohenheim's statements too literally. He was talking in the sense of Karma. Like how a parent gains nothing, nor pays a price, to love his child.

Yeah, but Arakawa-sensei believes that Equivalent Exchange applies to everything in the world.

Actually she believes that it should, not that it does.

There's a difference between "should apply" and "does apply".

Exactly. Equivalent Exchange is proven to be false in that sense, in the anime. It's unknown whether it will happen in the manga or not, but Hohenheim's statement about a parent's love ot their child makes sense.

Nope, not Bones' "fault", the official language is English most definitely.


Examples? Here:

- Right at the beginning, in the first page of Lior (chapter 1, page 4 or so) there's a sign in which you can read "Post"

- Look at the name of the citites, they're explicitly called: "East city" "Central" "Dublith", "Rush Valley"... The name of the sins: They're also explicitly called "Lust", "Greed", "Gluttony", "Pride", etc.

- The paper where the detention of Maria Ross is published (Vol 9) is clearly in English (or rather, Engrish )

- When Father asks Greed if he wants to join them again (Vol 8) he says NO!, instead of NEIN!

Etc.

Not that I'm "defending" the anime, mind you, I'm (almost) always on the manga side, and this is no exception.
It's just that you cannot say that Amestris is Germany, neither in the anime nor the manga. I'd say it's rather a generic mixture of "European countries at the beginning of the XXth century" + Automail.

A note: The fact that the "Daisoutou" was called President wouldn't necessarily imply a Democracy, there are/were many dictatorships or pseudodemocracies where the leader is/was officially called President.

Oh, BTW, almost forgot the "Hi, I'm new!" stuff... I'm more a lurker than poster myself, but I hope I'll enter the discussions and so on. Nice to meet ya! and thousands of thousands of (etc) of thanks go to you people at ZOMG, for allowing us to keep up to date with this series.

welcome to the discussion. I totally agree with you in the fact that its England, but you cant neglect the fact that Ed appears in london at the end of the anime. there for when he crossed over, that place was equal to that of londo. you know what i mean? like when you travel through time or deminsions you usually end up in the same coordinates on the other side, kinda like mirrors am i rambling or do you all know what i mean?

Argh! Amestris is neither England nor Germany nor France nor Poland nor Russia nor Spain nor any European country.

Amestris is an original creation based on taking the cultures of the European countries and mixing them together. The brothers are named in French fashion, their father German, Roy is more American and so many more. The references to Britain are just joke stuff put in. Arakawa herself said that she travels all over Europe just to get the inspiration for the manga.

And STOP talking about that stupid anime in the manga section!

actually.. roy and the other military are named after various vehicles and weapons used by america and a few other countries... thanks for playing....

Uhh, that's not what I meant. I meant that BONES said that the setting was in Britain and in Amestris at two different points in the anime. There were many other inconsistencies that BONES created throughout the anime, but I won't discuss them here as this is the manga section.

I wasn't saying that either the anime or manga were in some "real world" country. I was saying that BONES had said that it took place in Britain... I think. This thread is about at least a week or two old, I can't remember exactly what it was about or what I said and I don't have the time to review it right now. >.> I'll get back to you on that!

and to add to that i was trying to say that its not in England or britain or anything like that, but in a place equivilant to them. in another diminsion.

Personally I never thought the FMA world in the manga was supposed to be an alternative world to our world like it was in the anime. I know there are many things that resemble Europe in the manga but I think that is just part of Arakwa's creativity to make the world more interesting. If you think about it fantasy world's usually take place in a more medieval setting. Putting FMA in a more 18th century European type setting makes it unique. So I don't think the manga FMA world has anything to do with England or Germany.

I think I am going to make a post in the anime thread about Ed ending up in Germany and not London in the end since I guess I shouldn't discuss it here.

When Ed takes a train and they end up at Dr. Marcoh's, you can see Lust reading a paper that says something about Britain, I believe. >_<

Of course, using the Manga version faithfully would have meant not animating it until the manga was actually written .... When they started the animation project, there were only 2 volumes out, and many later scenes were based on what Arakawa-sensai told them she was planning to write, according to the interview with the director in a recent Newtype USA. (Can't say what issue, my dear daughter took it back to her dorm after spring break.)

MommaG

@BellatrixAngelofKyo - Actually, Fullmetal vs. Flame is in the manga as a Gaiden in volume 3.

^ and just to note, Ed vs. Roy was episode 13

Thanks, Changan! It was hilarious! still lol that was awesome.

Thanks Kyo_Umerio, I will enjoy!! Sorry about the episode screw up...

lol its no big deal... i know how it is, especially when i'm tired