A few reasons it can be fun to pay attention to small details in the FMA manga…
1. There’s a liquor brand, Stray Dog, that recurs throughout the series. You’ll see the logo in Liore…
…in Youswell (multiple times!)…
…in the apartment Falman keeps Barry… held by a man walking past Hawkeye outside her apartment door… it’s even in Mustang’s office (during the side story made for the live action’s release). It’s really everywhere.
Does the label appear in Brotherhood? You bet it does! Here it is in “The Oath in the Tunnel” at Madame Christmas’ bar!
2. You’ll notice posters in the background detailing Yoki’s shenanigans (way before you hear him recount his adventures in the north to Ed and company). Have a visual advertising “Yoki Circus” that you see in Central when Havoc goes to visit Falman and Barry.
3. Arakawa repeatedly draws the same front page for one edition of the Central Times paper (the issue which details Maria Ross’ “crime”) throughout multiple chapters.
The reason why this is cool is because it shows a photo of a factory on fire. Later, chapters later, when Roy’s in the hospital for Lust’s stab wounds, he mentions this fire to Doctor Knox.
It was this fire that led Mustang to believe he could expect Knox would be the one doing Ross’ autopsy. Because of the newspaper photo, we know when Roy got this information and decided he could use that in the escape plan: when Breda brought the paper with the headline of Ross’ conviction.
4. Speaking of news headings, there’s an important one we see during Ed and Al’s long childhood flashback (back when they’re preparing to do human transmutation). “The Conclusion of a Civil War.”
5. There’s some amusing signage here and there. Looks like Rush Valley has some issues with proper waste disposal.
There’s even a sign that’s a just drawing of a dog one place in Rush Valley. Aptly, there’s a dog near that sign.
6. We see English writing for names including Youswell, Xing, Aerugo, Creta, Drachma, Amestris, Ishval, Maria Ross, Maes Hughes, and Ling Yao in the background, so we know how Arakawa wanted the names spelled.
Not only that, but we can see other details like matching numbers between Ling’s prison bracelet and the tag on his confiscated sword. W1582.
Though… you DO have to lovingly laugh at the letter Hughes gets, sent from a certain “Glacier Joyous Coeaofijea;ogi”……
It’s as amusing as one FMA manga illustration of a newspaper that mentions… Britain.
7. We can read a LOT of the Latin, etc. text in alchemy-related designs. Riza’s tattoo, the different Gates of Truth, Alex’s gauntlets, you name it.
8. We see small background manifestations of Ishvalan cultural elements. Notice the intentional removal of footwear in this panel.
9. More sobering detail here, but… between Kimblee’s hand tattoos and one oft-drawn wooden crate… ever notice the six pointed star that recurs throughout Scar’s brother’s Ishvalan War flashbacks?
10. There’s dates in the Rockbell photo album! A memorable October ’11, of course, in which Ed holds up his new pocket watch…
…but also things like Pinako with her baby, meaning we can pin down when Yuriy Rockbell was born. That baby’s pretty little in May ’73. And does that top picture of May ’72 signify the year Pinako moved to that house in Resembool?
The photo of Pinako as a young woman with Hohenheim was taken in 1866.
11. Characters like Raven sneak in before they’re officially introduced and named. Here he is at the end of Chapter 44.
12. There’s a rich couple that appears multiple times throughout the story in Rush Valley and Central.
13. And there’s Mobuo Mobuta, too. If you haven’t heard of him before, he’s a man with a thin mustache and white suit who recurs throughout the background, in essentially a manga form of Where’s Waldo.
(And yes, he’s in the anime, too, have fun hunting).
Like… there’s some fun stuff in the details, even beyond the glorious artwork.
ALL THE INTENTIONAL DETAILS, YO!
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