biting tongue

[dragonimp]

And it meant a lot to me that the series was written and drawn by a woman. I am sometimes bothered by the fact that so few of my artistic heroes are women, especially comic drawing women. I very much enjoy the work of many female cartoonists, but they all tend to be about my age or younger, so I consider them more peers than artistic heroes. Arakawa was not only older than I am, but damn prolific, and she’d written and drawn a series that had many of the things I craved to put in my own comics: action, adventure, magic, limbs getting lost, brotherly love (I actually really enjoy stories about male relationships, especially brother relationships. Readers of my old webcomic Demonology 101 will recognize that), and KICKASS LADIES. Oh man, the ladies of Fullmetal Alchemist. THE LADIES! Strong and tough and funny and sweet and NEVER VICTIMS and every inch equals to the men in their lives (Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye’s respectful and deeply loving relationship just makes my heart ache), the ladies of Fullmetal Alchemist were my wildest dreams come true. It didn’t matter to me that they weren’t the main characters of the manga, because they never played second fiddle. They were their own characters with their own lives, not written to stand around and “support” the male characters. While I do care about having main female characters in media, I’m perfectly fine with main male characters as long as there are female characters who are CHARACTERS, not props for the male character’s journey.

I don't disagree with most of what she's saying here, but I have to wonder if she missed the huge, massive scene of Riza/Roy codependence. The man I love is dead, so I will SIT HERE and WAIT TO BE KILLED is not "every inch equals to the men in their lives". About any of the other ladies I agree, though.

She's also going on about how great the last chapter is so I'm going to keep my mouth shut. Though I agree that it's very good that it has an ending, unlike stories that get dragged on and on forever until they're so thin it's pathetic.

Comments

[nochick-fics.livejournal.com]

I am continually disturbed by the number of people who think that Riza's 'devotion' to Roy is so amazingly romantic and sweet and wonderful. Um. The woman has stated that she will willfully kill herself if anything happens to Roy. How is that anything to be admired? I don't know, and I truly don't think I want to know.

I agree on other points, but that whole Roy/Riza comment just gave me a case of wtf.

[randomcheeses.livejournal.com]

Yeahhhh. I've always seen Roy and Riza as loving each other, but not being in love with each other.

[pandoraculpa.livejournal.com]

I'm rather with you, in regards to these opinions. Although, given some time and perspective, I doubt that Roy and Riza could function as a couple (which I commented on below B's comment). And I'd also like to add that Winry's kickass character was completely diluted by the end of the story- something that really aggravated me. I had always liked how she was just as strong as the Elrics, but somehow she became subsumed by the same stupid trope you see all too often in manga- the girl who meekly waits on her hero. I mean, by the final chapter she even had the stuttering and stammering and blushing down too. (Yeah, yeah- she was in love and confessing, whatever. That's still not the Winry we were introduced to.)

And I think my biggest problem with the ending was that it was *too* pat. Everybody gets happy endings, which is nice, but not very realistic. In fact, the thing I liked the best about it, was the Roy still had to climb to reach his goals. He was the only one really left working for his happy ending-- and let's face it, that's really more the way of life. (And I'll admit, it's simply my personal preference that I'd rather see the messy, loose-ended shortfalls than the happily-ever-afters, so long as it's real. And the final FMA chapter just didn't ring true like the rest of the story did.)

[zippitgood.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I was ok with them as a ship until that very scene then I started detesting the whole idea of it. And from what I've seen in fandom, neither of them are depicted as the strong people they are when they're in a relationship together.

Yeah...the ending left me with mixed feelings. Some aspects I liked and would've liked to know more about but then others I just didn't like.

[firstmoonie.livejournal.com]

Tough I can see where you are coming from(f!s and all),personally love doesn't make sense in the first place.Love is co-dependant and unhealthy, I fail to see the point. They're obviously each other's weakness and it's being used throughout the manga. How exactly did you expect her to react to his death? I'm putting myself in her place and I can't see how would she survive without him, shipping aside, his dreams? After Ishbal only thing that kept away from suicide is Roy's dream for country's sake and their own redemption.Also I'm sure if chapter 94 didn't happen, he'd perform human transformation without a second thought.
Love isn't equal nor support any idea(and this includes feminism time to time).I respect her a lot for the sacrifices she made and her power on Roy.Let's face it, without Riza Roy isn't a complete character.So I guess this makes Roy weak too?

Maybe I misread or missed parts, pardon me I can't use pc now but it's surprising that you didn't mention Lan Fan? And as for Izumi what if they used Sig against her how would she react? The most important thing in these characters is they're human and they all have emotinal weakness like us.Riza is the best sharpshooter in military, a very smart woman, the part completes Roy Mustang, someone who experienced a lonely and painful childhood but despite that kept on living, someone who took a part in a massacre, who burnt her back and tried to repair her damage afterwards.She experienced "much more" than any other ladies and you're saying she's weak just because she's in love? I, myself fell in love and I know other people who experienced that feeling so I guess I can tell; love makes you stupid.Yes, when you are in love you can sacrifice yourself for "that one".It's not surprising nor something person should be ashamed of.

I'm really sorry for my rambling and for my potential mistakes but it's very good to talk with other sides :')