One of the details that gets lost in the transition of manga-to-anime for Fullmetal Alchemist, is the overt presence of foreign language. For example, the Xingese characters actually regularly speak Xingese amongst each other. While they aren’t the only example of foreign language being spoken, they are the most prominent.
In the anime, every character no matter what race or what country they are from, speaks the same language as a translation convention. The only real hints that there are other languages present are very minor, like the fact that Ling wrote his message to Lan Fan completely in Kanji and that no one outside of them could read it.
However, the manga has an interesting convention to denote that foreign language is being spoken, by giving every foreign language speech bubbles that are horizontal instead of vertical. This is lost slightly even when the manga gets translated because in Japanese, the vertical speech bubbles also have vertically typeset dialogue which help better distinguish the languages. Nonetheless, the speech bubble shapes are very distinct.
When Ling talks to Ed, his speech bubbles are all vertical
As are Lan Fan’s
But look at Fu’s thought bubbles here and compare them to Paninya and Al’s vertical bubbles. They’re horizontal! Fu is shown to be thinking in his native tongue!
Conversations that we heard all in one language in the anime, were supposed to be in Xingese.
Like Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu on the roof.
And Ling speaking with Mei at the end of the final battle.
Its just one of those really neat details Arakawa uses that makes FMA’s world just a bit richer in the manga than what we see in the anime version of the series.
I like how in the manga, Ed is the one that decides that he should do something for Hughes when they return. But I think in both anime adaptations, it’s Winry who reminds him of that instead. I like both takes. Winry reminding Ed shows that he needs to show appreciation more. But I like this version, probably more, because he realizes that on his own. Idk in the anime, he looks like a jerk, but here he says that ‘super dad’s bit and kinda amends it with ‘I’ll do something nice for him’ like Ed isn’t that bad of a guy, you know?
This was a moment that never made it to the anime that I thought was special, when Al immediately volunteers to become a State Alchemist as soon as he sees it’s isolating his brother.
Okay there are couple nonspoilery things this episode cut from the corresponding chapter of the manga that are GREAT WINRY MOMENTS I ADORE so I’m just gonna post em.
I’m really sad they cut out this exchange because I really love this line in the last panel.
I love that Al takes the time to apologize, and I love Winry’s response. It’s just so beautiful and so Winry. Winry values what she has over what she’s lost. She’ll do anything to keep the people she loves safe, and she’s moving forward regardless of the pain she carries in the past. She can’t fix the past, so she does what’s best to help people in the here and now.
again I love Winry so much she is such a bamf
I love how she uses the way men will underestimate her against them. I love that she uses their expectations to manipulate them, pretending to be all fragile and overcome with tender tears to get what she wants and then cackling to herself at their stupidity. They think she’s some delicate hostage that they can use to manipulate Ed and Al, and she uses that to manipulate THEM and get her own back. Fearlessly. SUBVERTING THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE PATRIARCHY. And Ed continues to just help her with this plan and back her up, sweatdropping at how easily she can play everyone. He knows better than to tell her to stop, he knows she has this right and knows what she’s doing.
“After a horrific alchemy experiment goes wrong in the Elric household, brothers Edward and Alphonse are left in a catastrophic new reality. Ignoring the alchemical principle banning human transmutation, the boys attempted to bring their recently deceased mother back to life. Instead, they suffered brutal personal loss: Alphonse’s body disintegrated while Edward lost a leg and then sacrificed an arm to keep Alphonse’s soul in the physical realm by binding it to a hulking suit of armor.
The brothers are rescued by their neighbor Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter Winry. Known as a bio-mechanical engineering prodigy, Winry creates prosthetic limbs for Edward by utilizing “automail,” a tough, versatile metal used in robots and combat armor. After years of training, the Elric brothers set off on a quest to restore their bodies by locating the Philosopher’s Stone—a powerful gem that allows an alchemist to defy the traditional laws of Equivalent Exchange.“
I watched a few anime eps but then switched to the manga, I recently finished volume 9 (that twist in the 7th/8th volume, oof)
