Character Discussion - Edward Elric

[White Manju Bun]

The purpose of this thread is to provide a place to discuss all things Edward Elric related.

To keep the discussion enjoyable for all Fullmetal Alchemist fans, please follow the guidelines below and stay on-topic!

Note: Please don't use this for the specifics (i.e. episode, chapter, game, etc. discussion) there are other threads for that stuff.

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[monir]

Yay! A thread for the shrimp. While I haven't started watching this series yet, I have been a fan of his character when the old FMA was airing. He can be overbearing at times, as is with most male characters voiced by Paku Romi, but Ed's a character works because of that particular trait. Ed is cool. He also has shiny limbs.

[holyalexander]

all i could say about this kid is that he has issues about his height lol..
and he's really good both physical and alchemy.. im one of the fans..

[LelouchZer0]

I am also a fan of Edward Elric. Many do think that he is the younger brother because of his height, one of my friends did. Plus, can you really imagine Ed with a height similar to Al? Can that reduce his alchemy skills?

[Vicious108]

No, but milk probably would.

Anyways, am I correct in assuming these character discussion topics are meant for people following Brotherhood and thus manga spoilers are a no-no?

[monir]

Originally Posted by Endless Twilight

Anyways, am I correct in assuming these character discussion topics are meant for people following Brotherhood and thus manga spoilers are a no-no?

Read the opening post.

[Vicious108]

I did, but it didn't really specify which version's spoilers require spoiler tags... I guess all of them, eh. There will be a lot of tagging that way, but oh well.

[blewin]

The story won't hold without Edward! There won't be a FMA without him. All hail Edward.

[Ziziphus]

I just finished the original FMA anime last year and I've been a BIG fan of Ed ever since then!
Personally I highly doubt there's anyone who watched this series and didn't fall in love with his character

[Vicious108]

I certainly didn't after watching the original FMA anime, since in my view they completely butchered his character in the second half of the series, but yes after reading the manga I too couldn't help but fall in love with the midget. Looking forward to seeing a lot of his great moments in that one animated in Brotherhood.

[Ziziphus]

Well, I already loved him after the 1st series. But indeed after reading the manga I found him just...even more amazing!
"they completely butchered his character" - as for me I don't really think so, his character is darker due to different circumstances they put him in, but it fit him anyway.
But yeah, manga Ed is 10 times cooler, b/c manga story is 10 times cooler than 1st anime! that's what I thought

[monir]

Originally Posted by Endless Twilight

I did, but it didn't really specify which version's spoilers require spoiler tags... I guess all of them, eh. There will be a lot of tagging that way, but oh well.

Yeap. Pretty much anything beyond the story covered in the corresponding anime adaptation. That way, both the anime-viewers and the manga readers will be able to participate in such threads.

Ed is one of my few liked male-character voiced by Paku Romi. Usually I find the male characters voiced by her pretty annoying, so Ed's character has to be amazing since that's not the case here. My logic is impeccable.

[Kirarakim]

Okay I am ashamed I have not written anything in this thread yet because Ed is probably my favorite character. I say probably because although Ed was the first character I really fell in love with in the series I've come to really adore every character in the manga in some ways.

So anyways the following is for manga!Ed. I did like anime!Ed for the most part too (except maybe they made him a bit too angsty) but manga!Ed is who I really love. So this is what this post refers to

Anyways when it comes to teenage protagonists I do feel Ed is one of the best. Oddly enough I've seen some people complain that for a main character Ed doesn't do enough. But that is one thing I love about Arakawa's writing. That while Ed is central to the story, everything doesn't revolve around him necessarily. Ed as the main protagonist does tend to be in the right more often than not but he definitely isn't the character that swoops in and saves the day or solves everything. I guess part of the reason why I love Ed is because he is an awesome character but Arakawa makes sure that he doesn't outshine the other characters.

I also like that he is mature for his age (because of what he has been through) but still a child in many respects. He can be naive/idealistic and he can be immature when it comes to certain things (his height, girls: one in particular).

Another thing that is of course interesting is the dynamic between Ed & Al. Ed is the older brother but Al has to often look after Ed because Ed can be reckless at times. Ed is very smart but he can rush into things. Although in other more subtle ways you can still see that Ed is the older brother because he does emotionally support Al in a way (although Al is an emotionally strong character in his own right and part of Ed's growth is realizing this). I guess the thing I love most about Ed & Al's relationship (and a big difference from the anime) is how these two characters equally support each other.

So yeah I could probably say a lot more but I wanted to make this as general as possible without going into spoilers.


edit: Although I will say my favorite joke concerning Ed is not his height issue but his art skills, especially the way he makes things out of alchemy. Ed thinks his style is very cool but it's not necessarily the case for other people.

[Ziziphus]

I just remembered...
One of the main reasons I love Ed so much after watching the 1st anime was that he's very close to our real life. "Maybe, he could be someone among us", like that!
One great thing about the original anime is they made a link between "alchemy world' and 'our world'. Once passing through the gate alchemists can't do alchemy anymore, they live a normal life just like everyone. So after the end of 1st anime and the movie (well I myself loved the movie ), I kept dreaming of Ed being somewhere in our world, living as happily as he should. In fact, there's an OVA realizing my dream in which Ed had become a grandfather with cute grandchildren.
Not sure if anyone would understand that but my point is not many main characters can give me such a feeling. I may love them but never imagine them being in our life (Naruto for example - oh but he's not my favorite).
(I wanted to express my feelings more clearly but my lack of vocabulary didn't allow me to!)

[KaoruLia]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

edit: Although I will say my favorite joke concerning Ed is not his height issue but his art skills, especially the way he makes things out of alchemy. Ed thinks his style is very cool but it's not necessarily the case for other people.

LOL! I was thinking of the same thing too! Gotta love his idea of taste XD

Of course, my favourite running gag of him is getting pulverized by Winry everytime they meet.... The chainsaw scene was epic!

By the way... I liked both versions of Ed, manga and first anime. The anime had him as the woobie -- I always wanted to pick him up and hug him because he was just so sad all of the time! Even in the movie, where's he's supposed to be 19. But manga Ed had him snarky, sarcastic and slightly rebellious. Both versions are good, but I'll have to say I prefer manga Ed just by a little bit. Because he makes 'BADASS' creations through alchemy ;P

[anime"angel"]

I am a fan of Edward Elric.....

though he gets mad about his height, thats what i like about him, he's short!

[Shiroth]

I've been short in height all my life, so i personally know how Ed feels. Oh how the short jokes never stopped back in high school.

[Who]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

I've been short in height all my life, so i personally know how Ed feels. Oh how the short jokes never stopped back in high school.

You're not alone there bud. :]
Although I wouldn't consider 5'7" to be that short; there was a guy who was 5'5'', but the little bugger always added in his spiked hair so he always claimed he was taller. =/

Oh yeah, I'm going off-topic. What can I say? Everything that needs to be said has been said by everyone above.

[Vicious108]

Originally Posted by Who

You're not alone there bud. :]
Although I wouldn't consider 5'7" to be that short; there was a guy who was 5'5'', but the little bugger always added in his spiked hair so he always claimed he was taller. =/

Kinda like Ed's antenna then.

[libba]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

edit: Although I will say my favorite joke concerning Ed is not his height issue but his art skills, especially the way he makes things out of alchemy. Ed thinks his style is very cool but it's not necessarily the case for other people.

I think his style is very cool. That throne from the artbook was a masterpiece!