Contemporary Urban Fantasy: Fullmetal Alchemist (Full Series, 8 Points)

 The official prompt for this week is to discuss how the work you read has a different approach to fantasy conventions.

So I guess starting off, I never necessarily thought of Fullmetal Alchemist as fantasy because of all of the sci-fi elements it holds, but rethinking it in true definition and comparing it to what fantasy is at a base level, it makes so much sense. In this article I found, it claims these to be the “5 Essential Elements Every Fantasy Novel Needs,” those being: a magic system, a well-developed setting, a cast of complex characters, a central conflict, and a power system/system of government. FMA’s magic system is translated through the idea of alchemy and using the power of science and the periodic table of elements to justify how that magic is used. The most important principle in the series that our main characters and the world followed is introduced at the very beginning when Ed broke that very principle, the law of equivalent exchange. “Equivalent Exchange is the principle that limits alchemy's infinite potential. It's a simple concept: something cannot be created from nothing, and so in order to obtain something, something else of equal value must be lost” so this is how they ground this power.

The setting takes place in a central city named Amestris that acts under the secretly corrupt Führer, who is the general of their army and in a way president of the city. The military basically rules this country and surrounding areas which is why they had conflict with the Ishvalans. Outside of this country is Xing which acts as a foreign country in this world. Amestrians are known for militarizing alchemists and trying to design super-soldiers to fit their needs as a society that runs on showing their power as a country, in this way, they are supposed to represent Nazi Germany. The Ishvalans are a religious ethnic group who saw alchemy as a sin against their God who they believed to have been the creator of all things. Because of this conflict of interest between the Amestrians and Ishvalans, war broke out and because of the power difference, the alchemists enslaved and massacred them, in this way, the Ishvalans represent the Jewish people. The Xing had their own way of alchemy which was called Alkahestry and used spiritualism rather than science to engage in that power and represented China.

The world-building Hiromu Arakawa is built on historical events and her explanation of how magic works in a world that kinda reflects reality grounds the idea a bit more so maybe that’s why I didn’t initially see the series as fantastical.