Will this rain ever stop?

Deserted Island from Hiromu Arakawa (also known as the "Royai is Canon!" comic 😂😂😂). Comic obtained by Robi/kachouhuugetsu.

This is a bookmark from the 20th Anniversary exhibition.

For more translations, go to bit.ly/PeartatoDraws.

I hope ya’ll didn’t think me publishing a zine meant i was out of bad shitposts cause this well goes down to the earth’s core

Team Greed Masterpost

Bonus:

And you know, that “King Bradley” name is a strong contender for most ridiculous in-your-face naming but that’s not actually the worst of Bradley’s name. What’s worse is that he’s “Fuhrer President King Bradley”, because he’s literally got three titles in his name that all mean “Ruler” literally three of them but even that is not the worst part about Fuhrer President King Bradley’s name.

You see the worst part about this name is that he goes by “Fuhrer”. You know, the German word for “Leader”, pronounced “fyur-ur”, same as “Furor”.

You know, Furor

Or,

you know,

in other words

Ok so maybe you already know but I rewatched FMAB this year, and once more I realized that it is and it will always be one of my favorite shows of all time. And I can’t begin to explain how much Arakawa’s creation means to me. Like I really can’t, but I’ll try

It’s filled by amazing, diverse and complex and lovable characters, and I love each one of them (yes Kimblee, you too); it has an excelent and well-carried plot, it made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me feel intrigued and all sort of things. But in the end, the thing that clicked for me was its core message, one that speaks about connection. The people we meet along the way and the true reason of our existence on this world, the things that really matter

I think that when Ed and Al burned their house, that October the 3rd, they were beginning a journey that, ironically, would lead them back to where they started: home, family, friends. Connection. 

Like Josh Ritter says in one of my favorite songs: “Only a full house’s gonna make a home“

I think of that song and that line in particular when I think of FMA

I tried to portrait that connection in this piece, I hope that gets through~

Happy October 3rd, everyone 😊💖

-

Pet owners be like this

———

Such good bois

Riza keeps this photo on her desk Roy made the tiny uniform with alchemy

There are a lot of shonen shows that fall under the category of “protagonist joins some organization, travels around the world on missions, is working toward some general Ultimate Goal™ that falls in and out of focus.” And this format makes writing a lengthy shonen story easier because it allows the main characters to be passive in moving from one arc to another. The characters get sent on their missions by third parties, and the author can write as many non-sequitur mission arcs as they want, or until the Jump money runs out.

Naruto gets assigned one ninja mission, then the next, then the next, filler, non-filler, filler, non-filler. Kentaro Monjiro Tanjiro gets assigned new demons to target and kill by the master of the demon slayer organization, one arc ends, a new order comes down, the next arc begins. Deku is literally in school his teachers just tell him what’s next. And sure, sometimes the main characters are the instigators. Sometimes Naruto goes after Sasuke of his own will. Sometimes Deku goes after Sasuke Bakugou of his own will too. But those are the exceptions, rather than the rule.

And again, I get it. It’s strategic to keep a series running indefinitely. You can stitch together as many unrelated arcs as you want. And it’s probably a necessary crutch to have when forced to produce manga at the rate these publications need to.

But then there’s FMA

Which, mind you, set itself up in the exact same manner. Ed joins the Goddamn Alchemist Military. That’s absolutely the FMA universe version of the Ninja Alliance/Pro Heroes/Demon Slayers. All of FMA’s arcs could have been the military telling Ed “this is your new mission go do this” while Ed and All just stumble through 200 chapters, following mission orders, vaguely acting with the ultimate goal of regaining their original bodies.

FMA doesn’t do that. FMA doesn’t take the easy route. Hiromu Arakawa pointed to Ed and said “see this fucking 15 year old gremlin? He’s gonna go instigate everything that happens to him, and he’s gonna like it.” The military tried asking Ed a favor once and Ed hated it so much that instead of following orders he fucked off down a mineshaft.

DOWN A FUCKING MINESHAFT. 

Leore? Ed and Al went there on their own. Robbery on the Train? They just happened to be on the same train. Shou Tucker? Mustang introduced them as a favor for Ed handling the train incident (Brotherhood says it repayment for Leore since they cut the Train Robbery, shame). Dublith and Greed? they were there to see Izumi. Central? There to see Hughes, then saw too much, got dragged to Xerxes, stopped by home to do some grave robbing, decided to catch a homunculus for the lulz, got eaten and went to hell, met god, came back. Briggs? They decided alkehestry was their best lead so they followed Mei to Briggs. Leore again, cuz Al wanted to. Resembool, cuz Edward needed to hide after fucking off down a mineshaft. Slums of the Kanama region. Central again. Hell 2.0. God 2.0. Central. God again but the first one. Xing. Resembool.

Every SINGLE place these two chaotic hell-mongers go, every SINGLE mission they take up is a self-motivated, self-imposed, self-actuated logical follow-up to however the previous arc ended, to the point that the lines between the “arcs” begin to blur and transition into a brilliantly woven narrative of cause and effect. Where the instigators are never “mission-assigners said so” and instead are always the characters themselves spinning strategy, forming covert alliances and plans, making use of gathered knowledge to be their own driving force of actions, sieges, subterfuges, and the occasional overthrowing of the government from an Ice Cream Truck.

For starters, she’s pretty much the one defining thing that Wrath makes a big deal out of. He has no qualms admitting that his life was planned out for him from the very beginning - except for his wife - always with that key exception pointed out. 

Mustang expressing his disgust for Bradley’s identity and fabricated human life? Bradley makes certain Mustang knows that he chose his wife. Riza discovering Selim’s identity? Bradley once again feels the need to tell her that his wife is his own. Even Lanfan, when asking why he has no final words, not even for his wife - Bradley insists that there’s nothing more his wife needs to hear from him. She understands.

Now, Mrs. Bradley did not know King was a homunculus, or that he was raised for the destruction of their country, or any of the nefarious plotting Father had in store. I fully believe she was kept in the dark about that all. But I do think she knew what sort of man her husband was, inside and out. The kind of man he was away from the public eye, when he didn’t need to be so composed, when he needn’t hide his wrathful tendencies. 

And I think she was the lone human who really knew how savage he was.

Which leads me to picture many-a-night of King returning home late, mad as hell, and knowing he can vent to his wife.  Bradley, angrily hanging up his coat, stomping around and pulling off his socks: “Bunch of mouth-breathing imbeciles leading our country I swear. Mindless brainless spineless slabs of wasted meat and oxygen. I’d just as soon unleash the guard dogs on them and then have the dogs take their place. At least the dogs follow orders!”

Mrs. Bradley, in bed and reading by the lamp on her nightstand, casually turning the page: “Oh now wouldn’t that be a sight to see. Would the dogs be given uniforms?”

“The dogs could be ass-naked at the Generals’ table and still they’d look more respectable than Crimmins and his pig-head. Undermining my authority, getting my name tangled in the Creta tariff affair. Now it’s my headache to deal with. If I could just tie him to a spit and slow-roast him over the fire place in my office, I would. I mean who the f– who on earth would think–”

“Selim’s already asleep, Dear. He can’t hear you.” 

“Thank you–who the FUCK would think it’s acceptable to use MY SEAL on official documents without consulting me?! I swear the only thing holding me back from– oh where is my night cap?”

“Top drawer.”

“Ah, so it is. Oh it’s softer than it was last night.”

“I made sure it got washed with the fabric softener you like.”

“You’re truly the best. It’s so plush. Give it a feel, Dear.”

“Oh you tell me that every night. I promise I know how soft it is.” Another page turn. “You were saying something?” 

There are a lot of shonen shows that fall under the category of “protagonist joins some organization, travels around the world on missions, is working toward some general Ultimate Goal™ that falls in and out of focus.” And this format makes writing a lengthy shonen story easier because it allows the main characters to be passive in moving from one arc to another. The characters get sent on their missions by third parties, and the author can write as many non-sequitur mission arcs as they want, or until the Jump money runs out.

Naruto gets assigned one ninja mission, then the next, then the next, filler, non-filler, filler, non-filler. Kentaro Monjiro Tanjiro gets assigned new demons to target and kill by the master of the demon slayer organization, one arc ends, a new order comes down, the next arc begins. Deku is literally in school his teachers just tell him what’s next. And sure, sometimes the main characters are the instigators. Sometimes Naruto goes after Sasuke of his own will. Sometimes Deku goes after Sasuke Bakugou of his own will too. But those are the exceptions, rather than the rule.

And again, I get it. It’s strategic to keep a series running indefinitely. You can stitch together as many unrelated arcs as you want. And it’s probably a necessary crutch to have when forced to produce manga at the rate these publications need to.

But then there’s FMA

Which, mind you, set itself up in the exact same manner. Ed joins the Goddamn Alchemist Military. That’s absolutely the FMA universe version of the Ninja Alliance/Pro Heroes/Demon Slayers. All of FMA’s arcs could have been the military telling Ed “this is your new mission go do this” while Ed and All just stumble through 200 chapters, following mission orders, vaguely acting with the ultimate goal of regaining their original bodies.

FMA doesn’t do that. FMA doesn’t take the easy route. Hiromu Arakawa pointed to Ed and said “see this fucking 15 year old gremlin? He’s gonna go instigate everything that happens to him, and he’s gonna like it.” The military tried asking Ed a favor once and Ed hated it so much that instead of following orders he fucked off down a mineshaft.

DOWN A FUCKING MINESHAFT. 

Leore? Ed and Al went there on their own. Robbery on the Train? They just happened to be on the same train. Shou Tucker? Mustang introduced them as a favor for Ed handling the train incident (Brotherhood says it repayment for Leore since they cut the Train Robbery, shame). Dublith and Greed? they were there to see Izumi. Central? There to see Hughes, then saw too much, got dragged to Xerxes, stopped by home to do some grave robbing, decided to catch a homunculus for the lulz, got eaten and went to hell, met god, came back. Briggs? They decided alkehestry was their best lead so they followed Mei to Briggs. Leore again, cuz Al wanted to. Resembool, cuz Edward needed to hide after fucking off down a mineshaft. Slums of the Kanama region. Central again. Hell 2.0. God 2.0. Central. God again but the first one. Xing. Resembool.

Every SINGLE place these two chaotic hell-mongers go, every SINGLE mission they take up is a self-motivated, self-imposed, self-actuated logical follow-up to however the previous arc ended, to the point that the lines between the “arcs” begin to blur and transition into a brilliantly woven narrative of cause and effect. Where the instigators are never “mission-assigners said so” and instead are always the characters themselves spinning strategy, forming covert alliances and plans, making use of gathered knowledge to be their own driving force of actions, sieges, subterfuges, and the occasional overthrowing of the government from an Ice Cream Truck.

Arakawa realized the burgeoning youth of the early 2000s wasnt interested in another plucky spry optimistic young shonen protag. Instead she gave us a short ugly egotistical asshole smarter-than-you atheist with so much money and power that people could no longer best him in arguments by telling him “dude shut up ur literally like 12″ 

Five pages in we’re told Edward’s famous and rich and powerful. Five more pages and he’s calling some girl stupid for thinking God exists. Five more pages and he’s proven right. Five more and he’s kicked an evil priest’s teeth in. And no one can tell his mom on him.

Sleep, sugar, let your dreams flood in