{"id":56586,"date":"2026-02-09T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56586"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:40:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:40:26","slug":"fullmetal-alchemist-mangaka-made-a-list-of-things-to-absolutely-avoid-in-the-2003-anime-adaptation-lead-scriptwriter-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/fullmetal-alchemist-mangaka-made-a-list-of-things-to-absolutely-avoid-in-the-2003-anime-adaptation-lead-scriptwriter-reveals\/","title":{"rendered":"Fullmetal Alchemist mangaka made a list of \u201cthings to absolutely avoid\u201d in the 2003 anime adaptation, lead scriptwriter reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The first anime adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa\u2019s<strong> Fullmetal Alchemist,<\/strong> produced by studio Bones in 2003, is somewhat infamous for making a huge departure from the narrative of the manga. While it\u2019s still highly regarded and beloved by many fans, discourse on \u201caccuracy to the original\u201d seems to be circulating online spaces even now, almost 22 years after the anime ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Addressing rumors that \u201cthe studio changed the story of their own accord,\u201d and that \u201cArakawa was furious about how the adaptation was handled,\u201d series fan and X user Tane (@mugichanka20022), wrote a lengthy <a href=\"https:\/\/note.com\/inukawaiine23221\/n\/ncbedb3f9cb99?sub_rt=share_pb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blog post<\/a> about the production of Bones\u2019 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist. The post compiles old interviews and information providing a bit more context on how much say Arakawa had in the anime\u2019s 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\u2019s official fanbook, where it\u2019s allegedly confirmed that Arakawa explicitly asked for the anime adaptation to have a different ending than the manga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u62dd\u8aad\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\u79c1\u306e\u65b9\u304b\u3089\u88dc\u8db3\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3001\u539f\u4f5c\u8005\u304b\u3089\u660e\u78ba\u306b\uff2e\uff27\u304c\u51fa\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3053\u3068\u306b\u300c\u932c\u91d1\u8853\u3067\u7a7a\u3092\u98db\u3070\u306a\u3044\u300d\u300c\u4e3b\u4eba\u516c\u3092\u30d0\u30a4\u30af\u306b\u4e57\u305b\u306a\u3044\u300d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3082\u306e\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\u811a\u672c\u4f1a\u8b70\u306b\u306f\u4e00\u5ea6\u3082\u6b20\u304b\u3055\u305a\u7de8\u96c6\u90e8\u3084\u30b9\u30af\u30a8\u30cb\u95a2\u4fc2\u8005\u304c\u540c\u5e2d\u3057\u3001\u5834\u5408\u306b\u3088\u3063\u3066\u306f\u539f\u4f5c\u8005\u306b\u305d\u306e\u5834\u3067\u554f\u3044\u5408\u308f\u305b\u3066\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3057\u305f<\/p>&mdash; \u6703\u5ddd\u3000\u6607 (@nishi_ogi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nishi_ogi\/status\/2020409151218987307?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 8, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019 team was given a list of rules that they weren\u2019t allowed to break in order to maintain the original work\u2019s worldview, and sometimes Square Enix and their editorial team would directly contact Arakawa for advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo add my own two cents, the original author gave us clear guidelines on what to avoid. For example, stuff like \u2018no flying with alchemy\u2019 or \u2018don\u2019t put the main characters on a motorcycle.\u2019 Square Enix and the manga\u2019s editorial team were present at every scriptwriters\u2019 meeting without exception, and on some occasions, they would even consult the original author on the spot,\u201d Aikawa detailed in his X post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20231004-22042\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20231004-22042\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Anime adaptations that earned the \u201cwrath\u201d of the original manga authors\u00a0<br><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fullmetal Alchemist&#8217;s 2003 anime adaptation writer sheds some light on the writing process behind the anime&#8217;s &#8220;original&#8221; story beats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":56587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73,17,66],"class_list":["post-56586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime","tag-japan-related-news","tag-non-gaming-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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