The first anime adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, produced by studio Bones in 2003, is somewhat infamous for making a huge departure from the narrative of the manga. While it’s still highly regarded and beloved by many fans, discourse on “accuracy to the original” seems to be circulating online spaces even now, almost 22 years after the anime ended.
Addressing rumors that “the studio changed the story of their own accord,” and that “Arakawa was furious about how the adaptation was handled,” series fan and X user Tane (@mugichanka20022), wrote a lengthy blog post about the production of Bones’ 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist. The post compiles old interviews and information providing a bit more context on how much say Arakawa had in the anime’s direction, and debunks the theory about there being a clear conflict between her and the anime production team. For example, they cite an article in Volume 4 of the anime’s official fanbook, where it’s allegedly confirmed that Arakawa explicitly asked for the anime adaptation to have a different ending than the manga.
In response to the post, Sho Aikawa, an industry veteran who worked as the main scriptwriter for the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist, shed some light on the writing process behind the anime, explaining that it was conducted under close guidance of Square Enix, who were the original manga publishers. Apparently, the writers’ team was given a list of rules that they weren’t allowed to break in order to maintain the original work’s worldview, and sometimes Square Enix and their editorial team would directly contact Arakawa for advice.
“To add my own two cents, the original author gave us clear guidelines on what to avoid. For example, stuff like ‘no flying with alchemy’ or ‘don’t put the main characters on a motorcycle.’ Square Enix and the manga’s editorial team were present at every scriptwriters’ meeting without exception, and on some occasions, they would even consult the original author on the spot,” Aikawa detailed in his X post.
The Fullmetal Alchemist manga started its serialization in Monthly Shonen Gangan in August 2001, while the anime started airing in 2003, meaning that the manga was still very early in the story when the anime got picked up for production. That being said, because the anime would eventually outpace the source material in terms of story (and it would be a bit redundant to reveal major plot points before the original does), studio Bones had to opt for completely recontextualizing it. But as the aforementioned blog post and the anime’s lead scriptwriter explained, the story was reimagined under the supervision of both the publishers and editors at Square Enix, and sometimes even the mangaka herself.
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