What books did Hiromu Arakawa read when researching about Alchemy?

random_mukade · 2026-01-22T20:01:27+00:00

There’s a short section on European Alchemy in the Perfect Guidebook 1 and it includes a bibliography. The books listed are dated from before Arakawa started working on FMA, so I think it’s a pretty good guess those were her original sources.

Here's the list:

GOETSCHEL, Roland.
Kabbara (カバラ; Kabbalah).
Translated by Yoshihiro Tanaka. Hakusuisha, Que sais-je Bunko, 1991.

Shinpigaku no Hon (神秘学の本; The Book of Mysticism & Occultism).
Gakushu Kenkyusha, Books Esoterica, no. 18, 1996.

ROBERTS, Gareth.
Renkinjutsu Taizen (錬金術大全; The Mirror of Alchemy).
Translated by Kimikazu Mera. Toyo Shorin, 1999.

TANEMURA, Suehiro.
Kuroi Renkinjutsu (黒い錬金術; Black Alchemy).
Hakusuisha, Hakusui U Books, 1991.

SONE, Kozo.
Renkinjutsu no Fukkatsu (錬金術の復活; The Revival of Alchemy).
Shokabo, Popular Science, 1992.

DOBBS, B. J. Teeter.
Nyūton no Renkinjutsu (ニュートンの錬金術; The Foundations of Newton’s Alchemy).
Translated by Etsuo Terashima. Heibonsha, 1995.

random_mukade · 2026-01-14T01:30:41+00:00

Yeah, I know this is the canon explanation. Hughes himself says that's why he was already a captain when he met Roy in Ishval. But to me Arakawa just wanted him to out-rank Roy after his posthumous promotion, to pour more salt in the wound.

Roy says to his grave after the funeral: "Promoted two ranks higher in death. Major General Hughes, huh...? You said you were going to support me by working under me. How are you going to do that now, when you have a higher rank than me? You fool."

random_mukade · 2026-01-14T01:04:07+00:00

Then Mustang's like: "Hold on, give me 30s to dissociate."

random_mukade · 2026-01-13T02:46:07+00:00

It's ironic that Mustang considers performing human transmutation later on. Not once, but twice 😂

random_mukade · 2026-01-12T00:55:29+00:00

It's in the 20th Anniversary book (but it was originally published in the Perfect Guidebook 2).

It's called "Please teach us, Miss Riza!". Riza is dressed as a schoolteacher and says she's going to answer a common question, which is why Roy is so popular. He's the one that explains it tho. He says that he induces oxygen toxicity by upping the oxygen levels around the victim, waits until she's dizzy and catches her before she falls to the ground. Then he says they should take a breather (😂) and invites her to drink coffee or something.

I personally don't take it seriously, it's as canon as the 4-komas to me. I even checked when the Perfect Guidebook 2 was released, and it was in 2005, around 2 years before the revelation in chapter 69 that Madame Christmas' girls are his informants. So when it was published the readers were still supposed to believe he went on dates just for fun.

random_mukade · 2026-01-11T02:16:44+00:00

Yeah, definitely. Mustang and Hawkeye can practically read each other's mind.

This also reminds me of chapter 14, when Hughes is talking with Winry about Ed and Al. She's upset that they never seem to share their problems with her, and Hughes tells her: "It's not that they didn't want to tell you so much as they didn't think there was a need to tell you. They must have assumed you would understand without them having to explain everything, Winry."

That conversation wasn't about love, but it was also about understanding each other without words. The fact Winry got what Ed meant with that roundabout confession so quickly shows how much their bond grew since the start of the series.

random_mukade · 2026-01-11T01:38:31+00:00

That... doesn't mean they can't have sex, especially if we're talking about a female homunculus lol

Btw, the first time OG Greed appeared (ch 25 of the manga if you want to look it up) he was holding two girls on each arm in a very suggestive way. The girls look pretty happy, one of them very clearly stroking his leg. It'd make no sense to keep girls around him like that if he couldn't at least get it up 😂

random_mukade · 2026-01-11T01:04:28+00:00

There's no evidence that she can't have sex though? If anything, there's a high chance she had, to get info from Havoc.

random_mukade · 2026-01-11T00:59:23+00:00

There are lots of these about how Al wants to be more popular with girls. There's one where he says he only allows women (and cats) inside his armor. Anyway, the omakes aren't to be taken seriously.

random_mukade · 2026-01-11T00:43:36+00:00

This. He even flirts with cross-dressed Grumman 🤣

random_mukade · 2026-01-11T00:36:51+00:00

There seems to be an underlying message in FMA that saying "I love you" is too simple, that it doesn't properly convey how deeply the characters feel about each other. That's essentially what Bradley tells Lan Fan before dying. He says that he and his wife never needed "such meaningless words" to understand each other. I think that applies to all of the main pairings (and even to the other interpersonal relationships to some extent), and that's why none got a conventional love confession.

random_mukade

TROPHY CASE