Hiromu Arakawa
Paperback | Pages: 192 pages Rating: 4.6 | 7277 Users | 186 Reviews
Describe About Books Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 15 (Fullmetal Alchemist #15)
| Title | : | Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 15 (Fullmetal Alchemist #15) |
| Author | : | Hiromu Arakawa |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 192 pages |
| Published | : | December 18th 2007 by VIZ Media LLC (first published November 22nd 2006) |
| Categories | : | Sequential Art. Manga. Fantasy. Graphic Novels. Comics. Fiction |
Commentary In Pursuance Of Books Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 15 (Fullmetal Alchemist #15)
This volume in particular focuses on some of my favorite themes from the series, so let me talk about it in full here, though I'll likely reference parts that were not from this volume or are from the anime.The Amestrian military is full of favorite characters (certainly mine). Roy is dorky and a great leader; Riza is quiet and responsible; Maes is obnoxious and sweet; Alex is self-confident and innocent. They're lovely people that are very well-developed prior to this volume. The Ishvalan Civil War is referenced often but since the Elrics are too young to have fully understood what happened, we don't get a great explanation either. Until now.
In order to form a Crest of Blood in the East, the government declared war on the Ishvalan people as terrorists. Enough Ishvalans fought back that the citizens of Amestris began to believe what they were fed. So what started as a series of "skirmishes" became the Ishvalan War of Extermination.
The Ishvalans were peaceful people led by strong belief in a religion of non-aggression. Though Amestrians were lied to by their government, enough truth was left in to make it believable. Government-sanctioned genocide has happened in our own world and may happen again. The many-faceted reality of Fullmetal Alchemist can teach wariness of the media and of powerful organizations.
Fresh and eager for glory, new recruits--some who hadn't properly finished training--were sent out to the field to kill any and all Ishvalans in their own homeland. The genocide ended when the Crest was ready and the state alchemists were sent in.
Few of the Amestrian soldiers were doing their jobs gladly. Most of them were terrified and horrified and everything that rightfully comes with killing innocents. What's fascinating is why they continued to do it. Groupthink is a phenomenon that comes when individuals in a group don't want to act against the majority for fear of being ostracized or getting in trouble. When Alex had his mental breakdown early in the Extermination Campaign, he was quickly sent home to prevent disruption of the ranks. Whether consciously or not, he obeyed without making a scene because the overwhelming obedience around him prevented him from wanting to break through. Alex is not a bad man; he's a very kind-hearted, good man. Yet the influence of groupthink was so powerful he didn't stand against it.
Remember the Milgram experiment? Subjects were supposed to "teach" people who were in on it by giving them "electric shocks." Many of the subjects didn't want to do it the higher the voltage and the more distress the "learner" appeared to be in, but each time they seemed ready to rebel, the administrator encouraged them to keep going. A lot of the subjects managed to turn the "shock" to a near-lethal level because they shifted the responsibility of the act onto the administrator that let them continue.
The exact thinking applies to the Ishvalan war. Thousands of good, kind people murdered innocent people in the bloodiest ways because their superior officers--puppets of the Homunculi--were the ones giving the orders. After all, the soldiers were just the grunts, right? They were only doing what they were trained to do--obey. Maes Hughes came close to seeing through what was happening, but the shock that would come after made him shake it off and continue in purposeful blindness. He said in the OVA Yet Another Man's Battlefield that he would rather do his job without seeing than accept what was happening.
Now here's where Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye become even greater characters. They both expressed great distress at their own actions. Roy, I believe, mentions how he joined the military to make the country safer and better, but how is slaughtering an entire race safe or good? He came very close to rebelling, but Maes talked him through it and he continued to do his "job" as a soldier. But once the war was over, he and Riza fully acknowledged that, no matter the influence of their superiors or fellow soldiers, they were completely in control of themselves. They were given orders, but they acted of their own free will.
This acceptance affected their mental and physical health for years and possibly worse than it did the soldiers that followed orders without thinking. In the 2003 version of the show (admittedly very against canon), Roy was suicidal after the war. Both show signs of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
They took responsibility for the evil they committed, even years later. Once they were sent back to Amestris, Roy and Riza denied themselves happiness because it would interfere with making reparations for their actions. Anything that could be a distraction from reforming the government, keeping the public safe, and healing the wounds from the war was rejected (unhealthily, but that's another topic). Ultimately, they knew what they did, they knew there was no way to fix it, but they worked to prevent it from happening again and kept moving.
The series also doesn't shy away from the reality of collateral damage. From Alex weeping over the body of a murdered Ishvalan child to the old friend of Roy's and Maes' trying to kill them and being killed by Maes. The war robbed Scar of his sanity for almost a decade. It took Winry's parents from her permanently. Many Ishvalan characters are shown to have severe burn marks or other disfigurements. The survivors became displaced refugees.
This whole thing is only a subplot of the series, but it's full of some of the most important themes in any fiction. And it's all found in an action/adventure comic series for fifteen-year-old boys.
Specify Books To Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 15 (Fullmetal Alchemist #15)
| Original Title: | 鋼の錬金術師 15 |
| ISBN: | 1421513803 (ISBN13: 9781421513805) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Fullmetal Alchemist #15 |
Rating About Books Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 15 (Fullmetal Alchemist #15)
Ratings: 4.6 From 7277 Users | 186 ReviewsCritique About Books Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 15 (Fullmetal Alchemist #15)
This volume was just unbelievable. So brutal. The war, the violence, the god that never shows up to save its faithful followers, the despair, and the pain of the alchemists as they were being used as weapons to murder innocent people. Unbelievable but depressingly realistic at times. One of the most intense volumes so far.Enjoyable volume, but a lot of flashback and so parts of it were confusing to me. There were characters in this one that I forgot from their minor appearances in earlier volumes, and new characters that I don't recognize at all (which I personally find confusing in a flashback). It was good to see Hughes again, though.
I gave this volume 4 stars, unlike the rest. It was focusing on the past, war times. And that made it a little bit uninteresting.http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3VZ7l6i-kWg...The look on their face makes me sad(.
In volume 15 we get one big, huge, volume long flashback. But, dont worry, every moment is worth it. We hear about what the war in Ishbala was like for Mustang and his men and we get to see Hughes again! We also get some Mustang/Hawkeye back story. The scenes depicting the war were brutally realistic and heart breaking. The gravity of the war and its affect on both sides and in every rank was dealt with in a very serious and realistic manner. The parallels between this war and World War II were
AHH more backstory. This one was really emotional I swear to god I nearly cried when we saw Maes Hughes. Getting all the information about the Ishbalan war was really great. It was also super cool to see some other State Alchemists in the flashbacks because they were cool as shit. Keen to continue and see if any of them pop up again.
This in my opinion is one of the best volume in the series. It reveals the past stories of all the characters involved in Ishval civil war. How it changed young idealist soldiers view of war-field. The politics involved, the power struggle, the greed of fame, the lust for destruction - all the corruption of the Alchemists stripped bare. Fighting the demon within, self pity and anguish of blood stained hands, the weight of all the curse from the innocent victims, the goal to change the country
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