Transcription
"Fullmetal Alchemist" is a work that is easy to get into. I believe that no matter what your level of understanding is, you have the ability to find your own interpretation within this work. This is a work with a very low barrier to entry. As a popular entertainment anime, it has perfectly fulfilled its responsibility as a medium. However, I believe that in this video, I still want to talk about something that hasn't been mentioned much, but is very important to the foundation of the entire story. In fact, if you understand this part, you can understand the entire story. In the 2009 anime "Brotherhood," we can say that the early plot has been building the personalities of the Elric brothers. When they first appeared, they were very determined to restore their bodies, but the real world taught them humility again and again. If we observe the character arcs of the Elric brothers, they were repeatedly beaten to the lowest point in their lives through hardships. The first time was when their father, Von Hohenheim, left home, and to please their mother, they began to learn alchemy. There are very clear lines in the anime expressing, "At first, we just wanted to see our mother's smile." But as their skills improved, they began to believe in the omnipotence of alchemy, and finally, after their mother's death, they made the biggest mistake: human transmutation. If the first setback the real world gave the Elric brothers was their father's departure, then the second setback was their mother's death. On that night, they returned to the night their father left, and their response to the world was to try to increase their sense of control over the world through alchemy. But unfortunately, human transmutation failed. Edward lost his right arm and left leg, and Alphonse lost his entire body. They spent the following lives in extreme despair until the day Master Hughes visited their home. Master Hughes told Edward that although the possibility of restoring their bodies was slim, if they didn't try anything, there would definitely be no result. He provoked Edward in this way, making him regain his spirit. Thus, the two brothers began to set their goal as restoring their bodies and relearned alchemy. At this time, although the Elric brothers were awakened by setbacks, their hearts were still very arrogant. For example, his attack on the Führer during the State Alchemist exam fully demonstrated the character's recklessness and impulsiveness. The Führer's response was also a gentle counterattack to Edward. This smiling uncle, with immense power hidden within his body, was still teaching Edward that reality is not that simple.
And so we come to the timeline of the first episode of the TV series. At that time, Edward was already searching for the Philosopher's Stone. The plot begins with the two brothers traveling across the country. There are many hidden foreshadowings and subplots, but for Edward's character development, there are a total of two episodes that are most important. These two episodes laid the foundation for Edward's soul. The first episode is the one with Nina and the chimera, and the second episode is the one where he delivers a baby in the city of automail for Mrs. Shartra. Because the chimera episode is too dark, it caused many people's childhood trauma, making this episode far less famous in terms of popular culture significance compared to the episode of delivering a baby for Mrs. Shartra in the city of automail. However, in reality, both episodes are equally important. Both episodes serve to remind Edward of the limitations of alchemy. The chimera gave Edward the evil of alchemy and his own powerlessness. Shou Tucker represented the arrogance and extreme evil of alchemy. For his own selfish desires, he tried to play God, resulting in a twisted tragedy. Edward was powerless to do anything about it and could not save Nina. But in the later episode, the one in the city of automail where he delivered the baby, he was given, although also his own powerlessness, it praised the beauty of life. There is a very famous line in the play: "Life, which alchemists have spent hundreds of years trying to create, mothers can do it without using alchemy at all. Humans are truly amazing." In this episode, two alchemists who have seen the Gate of Truth can only wait outside the door during the delivery. Yuny Nobel, an ordinary person in their eyes, relies on his medical background to assist the mother in childbirth. His own superpowers are completely useless in the face of the great birth of a human. He can only wait outside like an ordinary person. "If there is a god, I hope to pray to you." This is an original line from the play. During the delivery, the background music used by the production team is also the classic orchestral score by Chika Meina, "The Fullmetal Alchemist." This song is usually used in the play to depict epic tragedies and great adventures, such as the Fifth Laboratory, the Ishvalan annihilation, or the final great battle, where this song has been used many times. But this song is only used to depict a simple childbirth. What the production team wants to express here is that a mother's childbirth carries the same weight as the grand adventure that follows. Unlike Shou Tucker, Yuny Nobel and Mrs. Shartra represent the humility and sacredness of natural life. Childbirth and delivery are natural processes without any supernatural intervention, but they have achieved what alchemists have dreamed of: human transmutation, which is the nurturing of life. In this episode, Edward is also powerless, but he is moved and healed by the outcome. Nina, who said, "Big brother, play with me," and the childbirth episode, "Humans are truly amazing." In both episodes, Edward is powerless, but he is like the two sides of a playing card, allowing Edward to see the evil of humanity, but also praising the beauty of life. If a work only describes evil, the conclusion we draw will be depressing, negative, and even lead to aesthetic fatigue. But if we only depict the beauty of life, the result will seem naive. Hiromu Arakawa strikes the right balance. "Fullmetal Alchemist" is not as childish as a shonen manga, nor is it overly decadent and depressing like some works. Hiromu Arakawa chooses a realistic, positive value system. She has shaped Edward into a character who is full of reverence for life itself, a romantic who persists in his own way after understanding darkness. This is the soul of the character Edward Elric, and the main reason why "Fullmetal Alchemist" is so brilliant. A person who does not love life cannot write a plot that spends a lot of time depicting the protagonist touching a pregnant woman's belly and then laying the foundation for the protagonist's soul within it. Because the philosophy of "Fullmetal Alchemist" is that it loves life. It praises the beauty of life. It is not a decadent, pessimistic, and arrogant self-destructive value system. It possesses a tenacious, classical humanism that embraces human existence itself. "Walk out with this foot of yours and be a decent person." This main theme runs through all the characters in the entire work, whether it's the followers of Father Cornello, the thief Pennya, the Elric brothers, or even Greed's subordinates. Every character in the anime has that kind of tenacious will to survive, a life force struggling in the mud. You will find that if you ignore this reverence and humility for life itself, it is actually very difficult to understand why Edward would eventually choose to give up his Gate of Truth and simply treat it as ordinary heroic self-sacrifice and sentimentality. But in reality, it is precisely because Edward, in the early stages, deeply experienced through the chimera and childbirth stories that alchemy is not omnipotent, and that human love and life itself are the true miracles. That is why he could, at the end of the story, give up his Gate of Truth without hesitation to bring back Alphonse's body. If they had not had these early setbacks that taught them humility, they would not have been able to say at the end, "Even without alchemy, I still have everyone's love." Essentially, "Fullmetal Alchemist" is the story of a group of people who thought they had grasped the truth, but through reality, they gradually discovered their own insignificance and chose to move forward with humility.
Father is the epitome of utilitarianism. For him, everything is a calculation. Even precious human lives are just some livestock he keeps. In pursuit of so-called perfection and truth, he even forcibly stripped away his Seven Deadly Sins, his humanity and his emotions. In his cold calculations, individual human will is completely meaningless, just energy batteries that can be quantified and compressed into Philosopher's Stones. This arrogant philosophy that obliterates individual sovereignty and treats countless lives as collective fuel actually predetermined that he would never touch the true truth. Father built the entire country into a giant transmutation circle. Every bloodshed, every war, the Ishvalan annihilation, were just parts of his calculations. For him, the souls of hundreds of thousands of people were not lives, but high-energy batteries. He completely obliterated individual sovereignty and the uniqueness of life, reducing living people to expendable fuel. This is the purest malice he can achieve after losing reverence for life. The Philosopher's Stone is the concrete manifestation of utilitarianism. The Elric brothers initially pursued the Philosopher's Stone, but after discovering the truth about the stone on their journey, they repeatedly faced the temptation of the Philosopher's Stone, yet they still firmly refused to use the Philosopher's Stone to restore their bodies. This choice is precisely a core betrayal of Father's utilitarianism. Because they realized that every life is independent and irreplaceable, and absolutely cannot be treated as a cold chip in an alchemy formula. If the Elric brothers had used the Philosopher's Stone, it would have been equivalent to acknowledging the utilitarian logic that life can be quantified and sacrificed for profit. Their repeated rejection of the Philosopher's Stone in the plot is Edward practicing the lessons he learned from the Nina incident and the childbirth incident. "I will absolutely not use other people's lives as a price to fill my own regrets." This act is precisely the highest respect for individual will shown after his arrogance turned into humility.
What did Edward Elric finally exchange for his brother? He didn't use more advanced alchemy, nor did he sacrifice anything else. He chose to give up his Gate of Truth. What does the Gate of Truth represent? It is his privilege as a genius alchemist, and his pride. And in the end, Truth asked him, "Are you willing to become an ordinary person?" Edward smiled and replied, "I was just a small human who couldn't even save a normal child." This part deeply moved me. "Fullmetal Alchemist" is ostensibly a fantasy adventure in search of truth, pursuing the Philosopher's Stone and alchemy. But its core spirit is a judgment of extreme utilitarianism. It tells the audience that when you think you have grasped the truth and can arbitrarily calculate and measure the value of life, you have actually become an arrogant monster. True strength is to accept your own powerlessness and still choose to live humbly and firmly with your mortal body. And this determination to survive is precisely the last line of the work: a heart like steel, unbroken by setbacks.
Winry's refutation of equivalent exchange in the final episode of the anime is precisely the greatest romance of this work. Love and sacrifice cannot be quantified. When Winry said, "Don't say half of me, I can give you all of me," she completely shattered the cold calculations of alchemy. When utilitarianism can only achieve a one-to-one precise calculation, human love and sacrifice can create infinity beyond the formula. This statement itself is the most thorough yet gentlest negation of Father's cold logic. Hiromu Arakawa, as the author of the manga, also handles the values of this work with gentleness, depth, and subtlety. She does not resort to preaching or dropping seemingly profound but actually hollow lines to appear deep. Personally, I believe that the 2009 anime is a much better work than the 2003 version. Not only in terms of visual presentation and style, but also in the logic of the work itself, which is reasonable from beginning to end. The characters never betrayed their beliefs. As a mass medium, as an anime, "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" has done the best it can. It can be called a masterpiece.
Okay, in the last video, many viewers supported me with Super Chat donations. So I want to make an update here to give you a clearer picture of the channel's current situation and what your donations have achieved. I have recently readjusted our channel membership structure, adding a physical letter mailing service for the Scholar tier and above. Let me briefly explain. Thank you for supporting me with this feminist series. In fact, this feminist series, this content, is not popular. I don't mean unpopular with viewers, but unpopular with the commercial market. I think over the past decade, you must have seen many similar examples, especially in the gaming industry. What the past ten years have been like, I believe you are all aware. As an operator producing this content, it is not a wise business decision. A few years ago, I was invited to collaborate with a major game developer. At that time, everything was agreed upon and ready. But later, the game's release was disappointing, especially with the excessive inclusion of politically correct feminist plots. I really couldn't reconcile my conscience to recommend that work. So, at that time, knowing that it would affect my future cooperation with this company, I turned down the collaboration. For the past six years, I haven't heard any news from that company. I believe I must be on their blacklist. I'm not saying all this to express that I'm noble; I truly am not. I want to express that your subscriptions actually represent trust. Over the years, I have not let you down. I feel I have lived up to your expectations. Since 2017, I started this channel very early. In the early days, I received many invitations for sponsorships and advertisements. In those years, popular NFTs, virtual currencies, gambling, and some inappropriate sponsors, there were many attempts. But I am happy that I have lived up to your expectations. This time, we have moved from the feminist series to "Fullmetal Alchemist." This is content that I genuinely want to create. I am confident that this content can help many people. If you feel that you have been helped, I invite you to join my channel membership or subscribe to Patreon. I encourage you to join the Scholar tier and above. But I want you to note that I am not operating in a crowdfunding model for commercial market shareholders. This is because I believe that in recent years, you have seen many game companies, after going public and raising funds, do such garbage work in order to meet quarterly KPIs and shareholders. So here I want to appeal: I am not selling this product, I am not selling channel memberships as a product. This is not a purchase. I hope to operate a sponsorship relationship between creators and patrons, like in the Renaissance. "Ghost in the Shell," "Mobile Fighter G Gundam," "Kamen Rider," or the feminist series – these series are not content produced to meet KPIs, but creations from the heart. So I hope to try running this model. And precisely because we are running this traditional relationship between creators and patrons, I hope to offer you the same tradition. My experience writing scripts over the past decade has taught me one thing: turning my thoughts into concrete written words is the best way to refine my ideas. In such a chaotic era filled with algorithms, our best way to resist is through physical letters, refining our thoughts and communicating with others. This is the most romantic rebellion against contemporary times. I will set up a mailbox in the next two weeks, and I welcome you to send me physical letters. I cannot guarantee that I will reply to every letter, but I guarantee that I will read every letter. What you write to me doesn't have to be complex theories or grand narratives. It can be your ordinary questions about the world, your emotions and insights about life, or the problems you encounter, or even boring daily life. I welcome you to write. The key is not how exquisite your letter is or how messy your handwriting is. What I hope to achieve is whether you have seriously and sincerely faced yourself when writing the letter. With that said, I look forward to your joining and your letters. See you in the next video.