Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist manga

From the beginning, Arakawa has visualized Fullmetal Alchemist as complex work that will require a lot of effort on her part. Shortly after research started, she stumbled upon Philosopher's Stone - a subject she had only the most basic idea about.

Fascinated by it and at the same time wanting to see if it could prove to be an interesting piece of the puzzle for the manga in the making, she delved deeper into the subject.

A person directly related is Nicholas Flamel, a French scribe immortalized by the legend that started forming after his death. According to it, in his researches he discovered the Philosopher's Stone, a substance that can achieve the grand goal of alchemy - turning ordinary metals into gold.

Modern research into his life has not only disproven that he did such thing, but it clearly suggests that Flamel was not involved in alchemy in any way! The myth was repeated endless amount of times for centuries before we came to that conclusion, so it imprinted itself into the popular culture. To this day, Flamel and his Philosopher's Stone are central points in alchemy references.

Digging deeper into the subject, Hiromu became interested in alchemy. She quickly got bored by the proto-chemistry part of it, but was absorbed by the philosophical divagations that sit at its core. At the end of a the day, she decided to play a philosopher herself and for her not-yet-specified alternate reality she created the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Nothing can be created without first giving something worth as much in return.

Satisfied with the idea, the artist decided to make both Philosopher's Stone and alchemy central themes in her other future project. With time, the concepts grew on her so much that she decided to include them into her upcoming work.

On top of educating herself, Arakawa also did a lot of field work to find interesting topics which could serve as plot points. She made private interviews with ex-criminals, former military men and refugees. Those conversations were eye-openers for Hiromu as to how troubling the lives of people can be. Some of those stories she heard have been modified and inserted into the manga.

Having always been fascinated by history, it is no surprise that historic setting was chosen as the story background. Instead of focusing on single mood, Arakawa decided to mix many different ones. Medieval elements (like Alphonse's look) are mixed with industrial revolution themes. Streets often look like London during the Victorian Era, other times like Paris, while large squares sometimes even go back to classical era.

All that gives a very unique combination. What's immediately surprising after getting familiar with the series is that it all actually makes sense, even though theoretically so many things put in one box should at best contribute to a headache.

When it comes to drawing, Hiroyuki Eto and Suihō Tagawa served as her main inspirations. Work together with Eto helped her develop specific techniques, and Tagawa's classic Norakuro she grew up with and tried to imitate his style a lot. She describes her own style as mixture of these two influences.

Finally, the name. Since the alchemy sits at the core of the story, Arakawa concluded that it needs to be included in the title as well, hence Fullmetal Alchemist. The original Japanese title is actually Alchemist of Steel.

When researching topics for Fullmetal Alchemist, Arakawa was also looking up for interesting names and surnames for her characters. Both current popular culture and history were taken into consideration.

Edward's name is inspired by Edward Scissorhands, a touching half-comedy starring Johnny Depp. The director Tim Burton has a distinctly grotesque style that has absolutely nothing to do with Hiromu's mangas, so the influence is in name only.

Alphonse got his name after Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa, an aristocrat father of Henri, famous post-impressionist painter who is one of the artists most tied to Paris history due to his paintings that so well encapsulate the spirit of that city in the late XIXth century. So in reality, it probably is a tribute to Henri.

Finally, their surname. Most fantasy fans know it well from popular Elric of Melniboné novels. Physically weak, but possessing amazing sorcery skills, Elric nevertheless needed his body to reign as the emperor - a title which was his by law. With help comes the Stormbringer, a legendary sword that gives him all that and more.

Michael Moorcock's books depicting Elric's adventures are widely regarded as top fantasy works that can proudly sit on a bookshelf next to J.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and Orson Scott Card. They were also hugely influential, having inspired everything from He-Man to Warcraft and Witcher computer game series.

This time, not only the name was borrowed. Just like the original Elric, the Elric brothers both have blonde hair. Just like him, they are skilled magicians. A key event in Elric of Melniboné's life is obtaining Stormbringer - a conscious demon sword that feeds off the lives of those it kills.

Elric has a problematic relationship with the sword - he despises it for what it is, but cannot achieve his high goals without it. And running an empire obliges. Therefore, he "makes a deal" with the sword - he gets something which he desires out of it, but pays a hefty price in exchange.

In other words, the sword behaves according to Arakawa's Law of Equivalent Exchange.

The names of other characters are inspired by model names of military aircrafts, mostly from the World War II era.

First Fullmetal Alchemist chapter came out on July 12, 2001. At the time, Enix were confident in Hiromu's abilities, but she still needed to be more popular for anything beyond a one-shot to gain traction.

That's why originally FMA was supposed to be yet another one-shot. After first chapter sold in more than 150,000 copies, Enix realized that they might have a winner on their hands. Company representatives contacted Arakawa and asked if she thinks it is possible to convert it into a serialized publication. She agreed and soon got to work.

That 150,000 was just a starting point. More and more people were finding out about the talented newcomer on the scene, and when the first episode of anime was released, the number was ten times that! Today, first 13 volumes sold ten 13 million copies. One million per volume!

Fullmetal Alchemist mangas were popular outside Japan, but it's the anime adaptations that introduced the Western world to the franchise, which in turn increased manga sales further. In 2005, FMA was the best-selling graphic novel in the United States.

Global manga sales currently sit somewhere in the 65 million area. It continues to be most popular in Japan, with more than 70% of that amount sold there, but Japanese culture is the second most popular one after worldwide, so the manga widely regarded as the best modern work in the genre will always continue selling, even now that the series is finished.