Fullmetal Alchemist

About

FullMetal Alchemist (sometimes abbreviated to FMA) is a Japanese Manga series created by Hiromu Arakawa, and later animated by Studio BONES. After it’s creation the series gained a large online fandom, both in Japan and in America, with the series going on to become one of the most successful anime and manga of all time.

History

Fullmetal Alchemist first started out as a manga series, written by Hiromu Arakawa, which serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine between August 2001 and June 2010. The series follows the adventures of Edward and Alphonse Elric who, after losing their bodies trying to resurrect their dead mother using the science of Alchemy, go in search of a Philosopher’s Stone, in order to restore their bodies. As well as the manga series, an anime series directed by Studio BONES also aired from October 4, 2003 to October 2, 2004, which followed an original story separate to the manga. The anime adaptation received mass critical acclaim, spawning a large fandom both in Japan and in America. As well as this, the dubbed version of the show is widely considered to be one of the few dubs which is superior to the original Japanese, as well as bringing popularity to the voice actor Vic Mignogna. A movie based on the original series was also created, titled FullMetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shambala, which followed on from the ending of the show. Due to the popularity of the original series, a second version also by Studio BONES aired from April 5, 2009 to July 4, 2010, which instead followed the story of the manga rather than the original show. This version also received a spin-off movie, titled Fullmetal Alchemist: Sacred Stars of Milos, which followed an original, unrelated story.

Online Relevance

The Fullmetal Alchemist series in has garnered a significant online following since it’s original creation. The series has a significant presence on sites such as Tumblr^[1], Reddit^[2], 4chan‘s /a/ (Anime and Manga) board^[3], Fanpop^[4], My Anime List^[5], FanFiction.net^[6] and DeviantART^[7]^[8]. There are numerous sites holding information of the series, such as the Fullmetal Alchemist wiki^[9], TV Tropes^[10] and Anime News Network^[11]^[12]. The Fullmetal Alchemist Facebook page also has over 78,000 likes^[13]. Despite this large fandom, however, the show’s spread in regards to user generated content could be seen as limited, due to the strict copyright holding by the anime content owner Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, as well as MBS.

Notable Sub-Memes

ニーサン/Pimping Ed/Ed Relaxing

ニーサン ( Meaning ‘nii-san’, also known as Pimping Ed or. Ed Relaxing) is an exploitable meme, featuring an image of Edward Elric, slouching on a bench with his arms spread out, with a relaxed posture. The meme gained popularity within the fandom, spawning many parodies.