Fullmetal Alchemist:

Brotherhood and Human Dignity

By Gökçe Köksal and Yağızalp Güney

Fullmetal Alchemist is an anime series written by Hiromu Arakawa that was released between 2009-2010. It takes place in the fictional country of Amestris and follows two alchemist brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric. The basis of alchemy is deconstruction and reconstruction, and it is bound by the rule of equivalent exchange which demands the sacrifice of something to create another thing of equal value. In the beginning of their journey the brothers are firm believers of absolute scientism. They start understanding the flaws of this philosophy as they realize human life is a priceless and cannot be reduced to a commodity. The main ideological conflict in the story is derived from the alchemic and scientific perception of truth and reality, being pitted against the humanitarian view of humanity. The idea of science being the supreme way of perceiving the world is countered by the idea that like religion, science is an institution that is created by humans, truth is not about discovery, it is a perception created by humanity and like everything humans have created it may potentially to be flawed. Humanity is flawed and gaining absolute power and knowledge in the pursuit of becoming gods undermines the purpose of the human spirit. Humanity is not perfect because it has an end goal, humanity is great because humans are within a constant cycle of deconstruction and reconstruction just like the alchemy. The potential for growth is what makes us advance to new horizons. The brothers fail at creating life because of the simple fact that human life is priceless and cannot be placed on either side of the equivalence exchange. Alchemy is unable to create life, but the brothers witness a life being created when they see a baby being delivered in Rush Valley. That episode is called the “Rush Valley Miracle” because the brothers understand that the existence of human life in the vast infinity of the universe is a miracle.

The main antagonist, Father on the other hand represents the polar opposition of these ideas as he is a homunculus (an artificial human) who chooses to purge his seven deadly sins from himself in order to become superior to humans, not understanding that being able to overcome those vices is what makes character growth possible in the first place. Father’s version of progress comes at the cost of human lives as he chooses to sacrifice human souls to obtain many philosopher stones discarding these people’s individuals’ integrity. Father gains power through bloodshed and carnage while viewing scientific truth and knowledge above human life while the brothers throughout the journey learn that scientific knowledge and power is worth sacrificing for the earthly bond of brotherhood. The main message this tale desperately wants to convey is that sacrifices are necessary for growth and progress, but human life should never be a price to be paid. The Father and his homunculi fail to recognize that the humanity within them is an inevitability and alchemy is not about the pursuit of power. Instead, as Alphonse and Edward would put it, it is about understanding the unseen cycle of the universe. To preserve human dignity, sacrifices are necessary but human dignity itself should never be sacrificed to obtain the truth.