I can’t believe I missed it! Two days ago marked the official 25th anniversary of the publication of Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, whose characters and story literally changed my life, made me obsessed with anime, and inspired my first cosplay ever! So I’m celebrating it today, having just found out about it.

Fullmetal Alchemist, called Hagane no Renkenjutsushi in Japanese (my students made sure to teach me the name!), centers on two young brothers whose mother dies of illness. The boys decide to use alchemy to bring the mother back from the dead, but it goes terribly wrong. Alphonse, the younger brother, loses his body, while Edward, the older brother, loses an arm and a leg. Alphonse is almost completely gone except Edward attaches Alphonse’s soul with an alchemic mark drawn from his own blood into a suit of armor, which Alphonse “inhabits” for the majority of the series. What drives the story is the quest for Edward and Alphonse to restore their bodies through the power of a Philosopher’s stone.

That is the simplest explanation I can give, but this story is complex, with hundreds of characters, multiple settings, and a multitude of events that make up a complicated but engaging plot.

Admittedly, I have not read the manga because the anime Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood tells the entire story of the manga. But someday, I plan on giving it my proper attention and reading it. According to ComicBook.com, there are 90 million copies of Fullmetal Alchemist in circulation, so I should have no problem getting my hands on it.

But friends, the version of my heart with always be the anime.

Fullmetal Alchemist has always been regarded as more than just the average shonen adventure. While action-packed and filled with well-designed and masterfully written characters, the series offered what many other anime of its time didn’t. Arakawa laced her most renowned work with themes of familial love and loyalty, harrowing tragedy and philosophical insight that made the story of the Elric brothers into a long-lasting memory.

—CBR

I have loved both the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist and 2009 Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood series, although 2009’s series followed the manga and felt far more satisfying to me than the original series. Probably because the ending was happy and resolved pretty much everything the manga’s storyline set up with its characters.

To the 2003 series’ strength, though, it was much darker, and several of the scenes had more emotional weight due to the slowed pace, stretching arcs out over multiple episodes as opposed to Brotherhood maybe giving it 1-2. The 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist had to come up with an original plotline because the manga hadn’t come close to finishing yet, and they chose to use alternate worlds/parallel universes tied to alchemy, which was intriguing, but overall left me disappointed when the storyline was wrapped with the film The Conqueror of Shamballa (2005).

When Brotherhood came around, I was completely blown away. It quickly became my favorite anime (it’s still my #1), and I decided to cosplay as Lust for my first costume adventure at Colossalcon in…2012, I think? Or 2013? Here’s how I did:

I threw myself into this cosplay. I commissioned the dress and gloves from a seamstress in China who has since taken down her business, but she made the dress out of velvet for me as I requested, and added invisible bra straps to the dress to keep it up. In hindsight, based on her work and the materials used, she undercharged me by a lot. I think I only paid $150 for this and it’s got to be worth like $400.

I bought real human hair extensions, bought the homunculus tattoos from Etsy, and found an old pair of Victorian-style boots lying around in the basement that still fit that ended up being perfect for this costume.

I also worked a ton on losing weight. I’m still obese in this picture, but it looks nice. My cosplay ended up being better than anything I expected. I got my picture taken a lot, and even posed for photos with men all over the convention (lol).

Probably the most memorable thing was meeting Vic Mignogna at the time. He voiced Edward Elric in both Fullmetal Alchemist and Brotherhood, and even though I have issues with him now (he turned out not to be a very good person IRL), I thought he gave a tremendous performance as Ed. Also, when it was my turn to meet him in line, he gave me a big ol’ kiss on the cheek and squeezed me in a super hard hug. I had a great time with him, even though I do not support him now (which really is a tragedy. I thought he was a really good guy when I met him, and knowing what I know now about him has tainted my ability to watch the Brotherhood dub again).

Because of the success of my Fullmetal Alchemist cosplay, it inspired me to continue to dress as interesting characters from anime for years at conventions (although it takes me a long time to make a costume). So I feel like, in a way, I have to thank FMA for that.

I’ve also written countless times on this blog that Fullmetal Alchemist served as a HUGE inspiration for my trilogy, The Darkening Gate. Alchemy is the major magic system in the story, and I’ve talked about how the character of Father siphoning off his seven deadly sins to become a more perfect being inspired Andresh sacrificing his desire to become a more perfect being. I play with gates, too.

All this is to say I’m incredibly grateful that Hiromu Arakawa sat at her desk or art studio or wherever and came up with the amazing designs and engrossing story that became Fullmetal Alchemist. (I also think it’s badass that a woman came up with this shonen story to begin with.) The plot and characters are some of the most memorable I’ve ever encountered, and I’m happy to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its creation.