āThe Shonen Protagonist joins The Organizationā is such a cheap and easy hack for framing a narrative because the author never has to come up with a reason why the protagonist gets involved in each arc. Itās just that The Organization has a new Mission for the protagonist every time and the protagonist gets to say, āRighteo, thanks plot for telling me what to go do.ā
Which makes Fullmetal Alchemist so much funnier because Edward Elric very very much does join The Organization. Heās in fact quite famous for joining The Organization. Where The Organization is a hostile fascist dictatorship with immense military power which is good at both giving orders and punishing defectors.
And yet over the course of the series Edward is so allergic to ever being told what to do that he in fact never ever goes on an Organization-Ordered Mission. And the exactly one time The Organization DID try to tell him what to do Edward hated it so much he fucked off and impaled himself at the bottom of a mineshaft about it.
