REVIEW: Fullmetal Alchemist: A New Beginning Feels Like Returning to the Start

a blonde boy pats a blond girl on the head while grinning, the blond girl is winking and behind them is a large suit of armor

Fullmetal Alchemist: A New Beginning gives us a peek at Winry’s apprenticeship in Rush Valley. Although a mostly enjoyable read for a book aimed at younger readers, A New Beginning is a missed opportunity rather than a fulfilling inclusion in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist. While a nice taste of her time there, the translation of this light novel from 2007 in 2021 feels datedm with awkward gender references and a story that leaves Winry two-dimensional.

Fullmetal Alchemist: A New Beginning

Makoto Inoue (author), Hiromu Arakawa (Original Concept), Jan Mitsuko Cash (Translator), Asumi Shibata (Translator)
VIZ Media
October 12, 2021

A colorized image of Edward, Winry, and Alphonse from fullmetal alchemist. Two blonde light skinned children one with their eyes closed and the other winking. Behind them is a large suit of armor. Fullmetal Alchemist goes up the spine of the book
Fullmetal Alchemist: A New Beginning cover

Winry is one of my favorite characters in Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA). The childhood friend of main characters Edward and Alphonse, she’s a lot of fun but doesn’t appear in the original manga as often as I’d like. So the idea of a light novel, which is the term for a manga-inspired novel aimed at a younger audience, with Winry as the main character intrigued me.

Set during Winry’s apprenticeship as an automail engineer in Rush Valley, I was excited to get to read more about her. Apart from that, the setting itself, Rush Valley, is fascinating. It’s the place where people from all over Amestris come to get prostheses. What’s really cool about this setting and the book is that it discusses dis/ability in an obvious way.

Other folks have written about the portrayal of disability in the world of FMA and as a non-disabled person I appreciate that Rush Valley is not just a place where amputees come to get fixed. Specifically, Makoto Inoue, the author, draws attention to the fact that not everyone in Rush Valley is looking for automail. Although automail is the most advanced kind of limb substitute, some people just want prostheses that function and fit their bodies.

Furthermore, when Winry fits her clients with automail, or assesses existing prostheses, she does so with care. She looks at the intricacies of the automail and how they fit their person. Additionally, an important point of conflict within the book is a tension between the existing craftsmen and new businessmen looking to take advantage of those seeking prostheses. I thought this combination was really cool to see in a book aimed at a younger audience.

However as I read more, a number of uncomfortable moments gave me a weird feeling. So I did a little searching, and found out that this book was initially published in 2007, which is a rather long time ago. Although I understand the delay — translating books takes a lot of time — reading this book in 2021 makes me feel like I’m reading something old.

While the discussions of disability were good, this taste of Winry’s life overall feels lackluster, primarily because the book gives her very little personality. Although she’s good at automail engineering, Winry’s personal motivations in this book focus on improving her skills to build Edward’s automail. On top of that, there are other parts that have not aged well.

For example, the descriptions of Atelier Garfiel are, at times, very uncomfortable. There are a lot of descriptions and comments about how he’s “more effeminate than Winry expected” that are unnecessary. While I tried to give the book the benefit of the doubt that Winry may not have much experience with gender diverse people, the single illustration depicts him comically rather than respectfully.

Furthermore, the tell-not-show nature of the writing doesn’t help this. Light novels are for younger audiences so that style didn’t bother me. However, the descriptive style led to other moments where Atelier Garfiel was awkwardly on display. For example, Winry contrasts Garfiel’s willingness to get dirty and work hard with his feminine traits. This is ironic because Winry doesn’t reflect on how the same could be said for her.

On top of that, sometimes the book reads like describing a comic. This made for a bizarre experience where I ended up imagining the comic that this story wanted to be, rather than the story directly.

The book also includes a short and sweet story about Alphonse and Edward. They come up with an elaborate plan to get Scar’s attention by doing good deeds that goes moderately awry. It’s a fun story but Edward’s behaviors, which were the clearest example of describing a comic, come across as extremely inappropriate in a novel.

A sleep-deprived Edward beats up some bad guys in a hotel hallway in so much detail that I imagined it as panels in the comic. I could see chibi-angry Edward tossing people around for calling him short. However, this scene felt uncomfortable because his good side as described in the story does not outweigh the violence and destruction Edward leaves in his wake. As a further awkward note, Winry never appears despite being mentioned in the story. Ironic considering the rest of the book is about her.

In some ways, the book delivers. It’s a standalone story that gives Winry an adventure on her own away from the Elric brothers. It celebrates her hard work and amazing skills and dedication to her craft. However, the book doesn’t necessarily give Winry any more detail.

She works hard, makes mistakes, and over-compensates for them because she’s a 15-year-old-girl. But beyond that I don’t know much about her. She has no hobbies beyond automail and besides a few hammer-like hints that she’s got a crush on Edward, I have no idea what she cares for beyond her craft.

And because of that, her story isn’t satisfying as an adult reader. It feels too little too late and a missed opportunity to develop her character. However, for a younger audience who isn’t as aware of the trope of the under characterized love interest in shounen it may be just enough to inspire them to do their best and keep going despite hardships.

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Paulina Przystupa

Paulina Przystupa

Paulina (aka @punuckish) is a Filipine-Polish archaeologist and anthropology graduate student who grew up in the Pacific Northwest and loves comics and pop culture. Her academic work focuses on how buildings and landscapes aid or impede the learning of culture by children. In general, she is an over-educated fan of things; primarily comics, comics-related properties, cartoons, science-fiction, and fantasy. This means she takes what she knows and uses it to critique what she loves. Recently, she has brought such discussions to the public by organizing and moderating panels at comic cons centered on anthropology/culture related topics.

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