142. Destined to Fight the Destiny (Special)

Attention, there are SPOILERS for the following series in this post:
Full Metal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師)
20th Century Boys (20世紀少年)

I have recently finished reading all 108 chapters of Full Metal Alchemist, and finally satiated my hunger to know just what the heck is going on. FMA has long been one of the series that I hear much about but never actually get to delve into the details. Now that I've read it all, I feel I have the right to disassemble it and summarize.

I liked the ending, because there was a real sense of "end" in that Von Hohenheim and the homunculi are dead, and Al is restored back to his normal body. Edward kept a metal leg, perhaps to serve as a reminder of all the turmoil that they've gone through during their quest to restore order. The idea of "equivalent exchange" has been stressed so much in the series that by the end, the readers wonder what is left that Edward can give to get what he wants. Instead, the access to alchemy itself becomes a tradeable entity and used to save Al. Yay!

The fact that access to alchemy can be used to serve the same purpose as offering body parts is a bit confusing to me, since every person in FMA can potentially perform alchemy. Following that logic, it would be as if people who can ride a bicycle can donate their ability to ride to patients who need transplants. It does not make sense. Sure, alchemy is revered in the FMA manga, but its objectification is dumb.

What gave the Elric brothers their "magic" is their father, who just happened to be IMMORTAL and a LIVING CONTAINER OF SOULS -- the biggest surprises in the manga. The brothers are unknowingly involved in the turmoil before the "motivation" of their mother's death. Even if they do not enter the world of alchemy, the homunculi will find their father and them in order to force them to open the extra-planar gate. In other words, it was their destiny to fight.

Similarly, in 20th Century Boys, Kenji and his friends are gradually involved with defying the cult of "Friend" and the elimination of human society. They discover that "Friend" is not just some stranger, but one of their classmates from elementary school. "Friend"'s prophecies are based on a sketchbook that they all made in their childhood. The plan to destroy the world, therefore, has been put into motion many years before any of them reacted. But since they know the sketchbook best, they are best equipped to fight against "Friend". It was their destiny.

There are parallel characters, symbols and motifs between Full Metal Alchemist and 20th Century Boys. The character Ocho is like Scar or Lin, a rogue who endures torture and hardships to overcome. The character Yoshitsune is comparable to Dr. Marcoh, who has a meek personality but strong will to "restore". The "Truth" in FMA is comparable to both what happened at the school science laboratory and the Bloody New Year's Eve incident in 20th Century Boys, where knowing the secret will guarantee persecution and potential death. In both stories, the antagonists have a grand scheme where a mass atrocity would occur. The protagonists must stand up and defend the Earth.

What is different about the two is that in 20th Century Boys, Kenji and his crew did not have to become involved in "Friend"'s scheme as early as they did; they chose to do it. In Full Metal Alchemist, the Elric brothers begin the story having suffered the loss of their mother and the failure of alchemy, and thus are involved in the grand scheme without choice. Lucky for them, their mission to save themselves coincided with the goal of the evil scheme, so that they are able to interfere. But what would happen if their personal quest was unrelated to the evil scheme?

The way I see it, 20th Century Boys offers more insight into true struggles against corruption and conspiracy in that the protagonist has a choice to enter the conversation as early as possible. In stories like these, before the start of the story, the villains have already started to act: The homunculi have been alive for centuries before Edward and Al's birth; "Friend" had already established his cult. If the buds of the villains were nipped before their conception, the protagonists will not even need to become involved in the stories.

So my point is that the protagonists in these "destined to fight the destiny" stories contain villains and heroes born from the same big bang. Before their existence and their schemes and resistances, regular people have a chance to stop the evil at a premature state so that the actors of the drama would not come to be. If the situation reaches a point where a grand scheme is put into motion and individual heroes arise, then the situation is already very dire.

We often wish for less villains in the world, but without villains, there would be no need for heroes. Maybe the world is better without them.

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Written by micr0q. Copyright 2011. Full Metal Alchemist belongs to Studio Bones and Hiromu Arakawa; 20th Century Boys belongs to Naoki Urasawa. No copyright infringement intended.