Mozzy's Moxies

Philosopher's Stones, Alchemy, Homunculi, Oh My: A Look at the Magic of Fullmetal Alchemist

Hello humans, aliens, and everything in between. Welcome to a new series of mine called Mozzy’s Moxies, where I talk about the magical substance that is books (as well as other media), specifically ones that interest me. I am the one creating this series, after all. However, if you lovely folks want a book or any other form of media to be reviewed that you love/hate/want to shove down the toilet, please let me know! I will gladly take recommendations for any kind of media and will most likely check it out! Please and thank you!! Also, spoilers ahead, so... be warned. Definitely check out this book series if it seems interesting though! I 100'000% recommend. "Stay tuned, tonight at 7pm we will include a trauma count, ranting, a q&a..." -SinsationalDoom on this article. Sin’s right folks, you better stay tuned!

*Ahem* Moving on, today’s spotlight is going to be focusing on the amazing series Fullmetal Alchemist

by Hiromu Arakawa. Fullmetal Alchemist’s first installment was published in the magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan’s August 2001 issue on July 12, 2001. Weird how they don’t know months, right? Fullmetal Alchemist was originally a manga series, then on October 4th, 2003, an anime adaptation premiered on MBS, TBS, and Animax. What are those, you may ask? Well, to be honest I have no clue. I’m just laying out the facts for you before we get into my ranting. After that, on April 5th, 2009, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ran on… also MBS and TBS!

Since I’ve never watched either of those anime, and I’ve only read the manga, take everything I say with a grain of salt. However, one would think the original manga would be more factual than the anime. Fun fact: This was the first manga I ever read and I blame my brother for now being obsessed with manga and anime because he was the one who introduced me to

Fullmetal Alchemist.

So now you know what we’re going to be talking about today. You know that it’s a manga series, you know that it got adapted into an anime; you know all of these things. Now, you may be asking yourself a couple of questions, and I’ll be sure to answer them right now!

Q: So what even is manga anyway???

A: Why are you even here? Hmph whatever; I’ll be magnanimous today and explain for you. Manga is a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels. But don’t let that fool you! They can be all age ratings. Some range from magical fairy adventures for little kids to ones that are very explicit and extremely violent, so be sure to check the back for the rating. By the way, manga is read from right to left, so that means that the front cover is actually the back cover and the back cover is actually the front cover. You also have to read the text boxes right to left too. This is because traditional Japanese is read from the top right to the bottom left!

Q: Is it true that Ra’s is trapped in Eldis’s basement and you have to write articles so that they can see the sun and get meals?

A: Uh… *sweats profusely* No… Why would you even say that?! *voice crack* Moving on…

Q: What’s Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) about?

A: The blurb of FMA's "Volume 1" reads: “In an alchemical ritual gone wrong, Edward Elric lost his arm and his leg, and his brother Alphonse became nothing but a soul in a suit of armor. Equipped with mechanical 'auto-mail' limbs, Edward becomes a state alchemist, seeking the one thing that can restore his and his brother’s bodies...the legendary Philosopher’s Stone.” But I’ll explain as well. Basically, after the alchemical ritual, the whole main story (the main goal) is to get their original bodies back. So they’re trying to find the Philosopher’s Stone to get that right? And they just travel all over the place and get sidetracked by evil villains and pulled into a plot that has spanned back hundreds of years… ooh spooky.

Q: Why are you writing about this?

A: Because I can and I want to and I like the story. HA.

Q: Is it true that you’re an itty bitty bebe??

A: …*sweats* Uh, it looks like this interview is over! Thanks for tuning in and please read the rest of the article!

So, Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA). Fullmetal Alchemist is very weird; that’s really the only thing I can say to describe it. I’m not even really going into the plot and that by itself is insane. But back on track; FMA is weird and, for one, alchemy. In the books there is a definition of alchemy that I will use here, since I think it gets the point across very well. “Alchemy, It is the scientific technique of understanding the structure of matter, decomposing it, and then reconstructing it. If performed skillfully, it is even possible to create gold out of lead. However, as it is a science, there are some natural principles in place. Only one thing can be created from something else of a certain mass. This is the Principle of Equivalent Exchange.” So, alchemy is a science, but it’s something magical too. Alchemy is the mixture of science and magic, and that in itself is a miracle. This quote references something called the Principle of Equivalent Exchange.

The Principle of Equivalent Exchange states that something cannot be created from nothing; meaning that, for something to be created or gained, something of equal value must be lost. This principle additionally has two laws: Conservation of Mass and Natural Providence. Conservation of Mass says that the object used to create another object must be of the same mass. Natural Providence says that objects composed of a particular material or element can only be transmuted into elements of similar composition. Example: Stone objects transmuted into other stone objects, but not objects primarily composed of water.

That’s all the science we’ll be doing as of now, sorry for the thinking and suffering you’ve had to endure, but that’s the basics of the laws of alchemy for FMA. Most of the time, the only way you can do alchemy is with a transmutation circle; however, there are some notable exceptions to this, such as Roy Mustang’s gloves that he wears that have runes on both of the palms and when he claps his hands together he can light a spark for a fire. So basically you either need a transmutation circle or some flow, like a circle inked into your skin, two things put together that both have transmutation circles, things like that. This is because alchemy is a circle, it’s a continuous path of deconstruction and reconstruction, and they balance each other out, which is why alchemy works and why it has to work this way. But that’s just so strange. Why do most people have to draw a transmutation circle to do this? That takes so long, it’s inefficient. How on earth does their military force have that many people that can use alchemy that are still alive?? It's just... There has to have been some people that have been too slow to draw it and died because of that. I guess that helps balance out the fact that alchemy is extremely powerful and dangerous...?? Anyways...

So the blurb talks about a forbidden alchemical ritual the Elric brothers did, so let me explain that because it’s just so weird and creepy. The Elric brothers attempted the forbidden ritual of attempting to raise the dead. This is forbidden by law and simply impossible by nature. They attempt this when they are 10 and 11, I believe. Ed closes his eyes when a flash of

light hits, and when he opens them his brother is gone; instead, there is a grotesque creature in the transmutation circle. He passes out, and he sees this figure, named Truth. Truth is basically their god in this, all knowing, just a white outline, ominous and creepy. He has to bargain with his arm and his leg to get his brother’s soul back, and then he seals his brother’s soul in a suit of armor that he found nearby. After this happens, Ed discovers that he can just clap his hands together and perform alchemy.

But what of the equal exchange law? It’s just so baffling. And then years later, when the story actually takes place, Al goes through some things, don’t wanna spoil too much, but he remembers seeing Truth too, and suddenly he can clap his hands together and use alchemy. HOW? He is a suit of armor; how can a suit of armor have equivalent exchange when you only clap your hands together?? Anyways, you’re probably tired of me talking about alchemy…

Okay! Now let’s talk about…*DRUMROLL*

HOMUNCULI!!

More specifically, the homunculi in the FMA world. If you don’t know what homunculi are, here’s a primer from the FMA wiki:

“A homunculus, Latin for 'Little Human,' Japanese for 'Artificial Human,' refers to the medieval legendary concept of an artificially created human, presumably brought into existence by certain means of alchemy.”

References to homunculi have been found throughout history spanning back at least to 16th century fiction; it has “historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human.” While that quote was from Wikipedia (the untrustworthy source *gasp*), it is very accurate. The idea of homunculi is very creepy; a human made artificially that has super strength, speed, attack, AND regeneration abilities. Added to that, in FMA, eight of them are trying to kill you and destroy the world. That would be… terrifying. As well as that, they each have their own special powers.

Let me expand more on the FMA homunculi. These homunculi had a being called “Father.” Father is a clone of one of the characters and is also a homunculus, so he has a Philosopher’s Stone at his center, which is what is keeping him alive. Father created each of the seven homunculi in the series, which are modeled after the Seven Deadly Sins, by injecting a Philosopher’s Stone- which was broken off of his Philosopher’s Stone- into the body of a living being. This is why he’s called Father. Confused yet? Me too. Like I said before, this world is so odd that even us fine, quibbling individuals may have trouble understanding at first.

So anyways, the seven homunculi are Pride, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Greed, and Sloth. As you can guess, all of these characters have those characteristics (except for Lust, but we’ll get into that soon). For example, Envy is extremely jealous of humans and how they can form connections. This jealousy is why Envy hates humans so much. All of the homunculi's "special attacks" also tie in with their sins as well. Another extra detail is that they all are defeated in ways that tie in with their characteristics.

An example of a special attack that ties in with a sin is Greed’s Ultimate Shield. This is similar to a greedy person clutching their valuables. The most notable defeat, in my opinion, was Pride's. Pride was defeated and spared by Ed, whose main trait (rather ironically) is his ego. Pride was stripped of his power, reduced to an even weaker form of the creatures he considered inferior - a newborn baby. As I mentioned earlier, all of the homunculi’s sins match up with them... but Lust is a special case. This is because the "lust" in Lust more refers to being an object of lust for others. It also more refers to "bloodlust", as Lust enjoys torturing and hurting her enemies, among other things. Lust is very cunning and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants, no questions.

Getting a theme here? Everything ties into everything else and it ends up creating a much bigger picture, which really leaves a wow effect. ...Moving on, there’s this really annoying character that I just... Just keep reading to find out!!

Okay, can we talk... can we TALK about Shou Tucker?! Shou Tucker was a scientist that grew famous because of his ability to create chimeras so well. You wanna know which chimera got him famous? He fused his wife with a dog. And none of the other chimeras he was making without humans were doing well, so he was losing his fame. So then, he fused his daughter with a dog. Whenever we were first introduced to him, he seemed kind, unassuming, he loved his daughter, he loved his dog. And he killed them. THAT man is a sociopath. This is just one of the instances where FMA gets unreasonably dark; like what is up with that?

Speaking of which, let’s just run a tally of trauma Ed got. Dad left, 1. Mom died, 2. Ed and Al try to resurrect their mom, 3. Al’s body is gone, 4. Ed’s arm and leg gone, 5. What was the thing they even resurrected, 6. Meeting Truth, 7. Dog of the military, 8. Oh, and by the way, this was all when he was around 11-12 years old. How is he still functioning?! Anyways…

Oh! There’s something I forgot to talk about. The Philosopher’s Stone. I’ve talked a little bit about homunculi, and how they’re powered by something called a Philosopher’s Stone. But what even is a Philosopher’s Stone to FMA? And how is it made? In FMA, the Philosopher’s Stone is a powerful transmutation amplifier. So you know how I explained the first Law of Equivalent Exchange? Well, the stone gives the illusion that somebody is

able to override that law; it appears as if they are creating more than was there in the first place, making it impossible. However, that is an illusion. The powers of the stone itself aren’t unlimited, but it only *seems* to allow an alchemist to bypass Equivalent Exchange, but only as long as the stone retains its power. So basically it’s all powerful and makes you seem like a god... until it doesn’t.

On that topic, we don’t exactly know how a Philosopher’s Stone is created, but it’s known that human souls of people who died can be trapped and condensed into the stone if you have certain transmutation circles. Another really dark thing is that a Philosopher’s Stone could range from having one human life, to having hundreds, a few million, or maybe more; it really depends on how powerful you want it to be, how long you want it to last, how violent you’re willing to be. The stone also gets weaker every time it’s used because its power comes from souls, and the souls get consumed in the transmutations. The stone can take on many forms such as a viscous liquid or a lumpy rock. A Philosopher’s Stone is always a bloodlike red color, and typically the smaller it is, the weaker it is; probably because this means there are less souls condensed into it. What’s so weird to me is that typically whenever you consume a philosopher’s stone in some way, like by eating it like Kimblee did, you would become possessed with one of the seven deadly sins, or turned into a homunculus. So why didn’t Kimblee? We could keep on theorizing and theorizing forever, but it is indeed strange...

Anyways, I think I’ve been ranting about FMA long enough, so let’s wrap it up. There are a lot of parts of FMA that I absolutely adored; the plot was just so good and the plot twists… whew. You really couldn’t see those coming, and then you look back and you realize. It all. Makes. Sense. Amazing. I would probably give the manga series 4.5/5 stars, it’s just so good. I recommend reading the manga because the anime is widely different from the manga, and changes some really important plot points. Thank you everybody for taking a look at FMA with me, I really enjoyed it! Hope you enjoyed it and please please please check the manga out!! …Or else…. Carthago delenda est… uhmm anyways…

-Zelda, Out!