The Fullmetal Alchemist manga and anime series feature an extensive cast of fictional characters created by Hiromu Arakawa. The story is set in a fictional universe within the 20th century in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques. Although they essentially start off the same, the 2003 anime series begins to differ greatly from the manga midway through its run; to the point where by its final act it is narratively a completely different story from the original manga series. However, the second anime, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, faithfully follows the entirety of events from the manga.
The story follows the adventure of the titular character, Edward Elric, also known as the "Fullmetal Alchemist", who is frequently accompanied by his brother Alphonse. While trying to revive their mother, the brothers lost parts of their bodies, with Alphonse's soul being contained in a suit of armor, and Edward replacing his right arm and left leg with two sets of automail, a type of advanced prosthetic limb. Advised by Roy Mustang, an alchemist from the State Military, Edward becomes a State Alchemist, and starts traveling with Alphonse through the country of Amestris in order to find a way to recover their bodies. In their search, they hear of the Philosopher's Stone, a powerful alchemy artifact that the brothers can use to recover their bodies.
When creating the series, Arakawa took her inspiration from several experiences in her childhood, including her parents' jobs and the manga she used to read. She also interviewed real war veterans for inspiration of her characters. Several types of merchandising have also been released based on the characters from the series. Reviewers from manga, anime, and other media have also commented on the characters. Most of them have praised their development in the story as well as Arakawa's artwork.
Creation and conception
The author Hiromu Arakawa integrated several social problems into the story after talking to people who had suffered and lived through them, such as refugees, war veterans and former yakuza, or simply by watching news concerning those issues. Several plot elements expand on these themes, such as Pinako Rockbell caring for the Elric brothers after the death of their mother, and the brothers helping people all over the country to gain an understanding of the meaning of family. Many characters of the series differ from the manga to the first anime, the homunculi being the most notable, which was because Arakawa wanted the first anime to have a different ending from the manga, to avoid repeating the same events in both series.
Arakawa said that she became attracted by the idea of using alchemy in the manga after reading about the philosopher's stone. She liked it so much that she started reading books of alchemy, which she found very complicated because some books contradicted others.
In the making of the characters' designs, Arakawa has commented that the manga authors Suihō Tagawa and Hiroyuki Eto are her main inspirations, and she also mentions her artwork is a mix of both of them. When drawing the series' characters, Alex Louis Armstrong and the little animals are the easiest for her to draw. Due to the fact she likes dogs, Arakawa added several of them in the story. She also adds various muscles to most of the characters fearing that otherwise they may look much too thin to the point they could look unhealthy. Despite being requested several times by fans to show the characters' birthdates, Arakawa has claimed that she never thought of them.
In the two animated adaptations of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, the characters have been voiced by famous voice actors such as Romi Park and Rie Kugimiya who portray Edward and Alphonse, respectively, in Japanese. In the second adaptation, most of the Japanese voice actors were replaced with the exception of a few, including Park and Kugimiya who reprised their roles. On the other hand, most of the English voice actors from the first anime reprised their roles for Brotherhood with the exception of a few such as Aaron Dismuke (Alphonse) and Dameon Clarke (Scar) who are replaced by Maxey Whitehead and J. Michael Tatum, respectively.