Whitewashing in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

[GameChanger]

I recently finished watching FMA brotherhood and there is something that really pissed me off a lot more than it probably should. I want to make one thing clear first. I loved FMA. It's the second anime I tried and liked it enough to finish it. There are a lot of good things you can say about it.

But there is one thing that really bothered me about the show. It's the depiction of Xerxes. It's very clear that the country of Amestris is based on Germany. Even the government is depicted as a fascist state similar to Nazi Germany. The citizens are all white with colored hair and/or eyes. That's perfectly fine. What pisses me off is how they depict the citizens of Xerxes. Now Xerxes is suppose to be this ancient and advanced civilization that is set in the desert. It is very clearly based on ancient Persia. The name Xerxes itself is borrowed from Achaemenid king Xerxes.

Now what pissed me off was the fact that literally all of Xerxes' citizens were portrayed as White, blonde, blue-golden-eyed people. They looked more homogenous than even the citizens of Amestris who often have dark hair and/or dark eyes. The Nazis believed that ancient Iranian and Indian civilizations were built by ancient "aryans". This was the pure master race that Hitler and Himmler thought Germans and Northern Europeans belonged too. This is the race that they believed was diluted by "lesser races" of mankind in modern day Iran and South Asia. This is obviously not true. It's a clearly bogus theory. Now brown people are rarely represented in western media or Japanese media. What the fuck were the creators of the show thinking when they designed the people of Xerxes? It literally feels like they were inspired influenced by how the Nazis viewed ancient persians/south asians.

 

[Joni]

Amestris isn't pure Germany though. Ishval is middle-Eastern inspired, Reole is shown as further darker skinned, an Drachma is basically Russia. It is only the core of Amestris which is the Aryan stereotype, but that part is specifically founded by 'Father' who comes from Xerxes and is aiming to eridicate everyone else. I also have the impression that Xerxes is supposed to be more the Greek inspiration considering how she wrote it.

 

[Sandfox]

They had blonde hair and golden eyes actually.

The Elric brothers are the same because they have Xerxes blood. The people of Xerxes more than likely look the way they to do look like the Elrics unless Arakawa somehow designed Xerxes first.

 

[GameChanger]

They had blonde hair and golden eyes actually.

The Elric brothers are the same because they have Xerxes blood. The people of Xerxes more than likely look the way they to do look like the Elrics unless Arakawa somehow designed Xerxes first.

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Yeah I completely forgot that they have golden eyes. But it still feels really weird that people of Xerxes are portrayed that way.

 

[BuddaMonk]

Yeah I completely forgot that they have golden eyes. But it still feels really weird that people of Xerxes are portrayed that way.

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how?

 

[Kthulhu]

Amestris isn't pure Germany though. Ishval is middle-Eastern inspired, Reole is shown as further darker skinned, an Drachma is basically Russia. It is only the core of Amestris which is the Aryan stereotype, but that part is specifically founded by 'Father' who comes from Xerxes and is aiming to eridicate everyone else. I also have the impression that Xerxes is supposed to be more the Greek inspiration considering how he wrote it.

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Just a slight aside, the FMA manga was created by a woman, Hiromu Arakawa.

 

[KujoJosuke]

This is a real stretch.

And accusing Arakawa of being a Nazi sympathizer is fucked.

 

[Joni]

Just a slight aside, the FMA manga was created by a woman, Hiromu Arakawa.

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Fixed, I should have remembered considering the funny inserts she wrote for the volumes.

 

[GameChanger]

Amestris isn't pure Germany though. Ishval is middle-Eastern inspired, Reole is shown as further darker skinned, an Drachma is basically Russia. It is only the core of Amestris which is the Aryan stereotype, but that part is specifically founded by 'Father' who comes from Xerxes and is aiming to eridicate everyone else. I also have the impression that Xerxes is supposed to be more the Greek inspiration considering how she wrote it.

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Xerxes is clearly inspired by ancient Persia.

 

[colorblindmode]

This feels like concern trolling and accusing someone of being a Nazi sympathizer.

 

[Kthulhu]

Fixed, I should have remembered considering the funny inserts she wrote for the volumes.

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To your credit she used to use a male pen name until she became more successful.

 

[Sandfox]

Yeah I completely forgot that they have golden eyes. But it still feels really weird that people of Xerxes are portrayed that way.

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The most likely answer is that their designs came after Ed, Al, and Hohenheim and Arakawa wanted the people of Xerxes to all have a similar trait.

 

[GameChanger]

This is a real stretch.

And accusing Arakawa of being a Nazi sympathizer is fucked.

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Oh no that's definitely not what I meant. Although my wording is bad and I see how y'all might get this impression. I just feel like the person who came up with the show/manga kind of messed up with the way they depicted the people of Xerxes. They could have easily portrayed the people of Xerxes as darker skinned.

 

[KillLaCam]

I dont think they thought that much into it, other than making them look like the main characters

 

[GameChanger]

The most likely answer is that their designs came after Ed, Al, and Hohenheim and Arakawa wanted the people of Xerxes to all have a similar trait.

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This is definitely the best explanation I could think off. But she could have still depicted the people of Xerxes as more diverse.

 

[Joni]

Xerxes is clearly inspired by ancient Persia.

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She however specifically used the Greek phonetic spelling for Xerxes.

 

[GameChanger]

She however specifically used the Greek phonetic spelling for Xerxes.

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I didn't know this. It still feels like it's based on ancient Persia.

 

[KujoJosuke]

Xerxes definitely feels more like a parallel to "vanished" civilizations like Atlantis, just using Persian/Greek influences.

 

[Joni]

I didn't know this. It still feels like it's based on ancient Persia.

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Sure, but based on how the Greeks saw it. Like how you could for instance read a lot of stuff about Native Americans, as written by the Colonial Americans. It is going to be flawed.

 

[Christian]

This might surprise you, but, historically, indicating that something like alchemy actually worked and that things like homunculi were running around also isn't entirely accurate.

 

[HustleBun]

I hear you on the people of Xerxes having golden eyes and golden hair I guess...

The entire series goes out of its way to critique fascism and the rise of Hitler. It's extremely on the nose. Thankfully most of the comments already covered this but just want to chime in and agree.

Unlike AoT which people have made arguments claiming the story supports wildly different political leanings, the FMA manga/ Brotherhood spells it out pretty plainly.

 

[GameChanger]

Xerxes definitely feels more like a parallel to "vanished" civilizations like Atlantis, just using Persian/Greek influences.

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I can actually see this. But Xerxes itself still looks like it's clearly based on some ancient middle eastern civilization.

 

[Joni]

This might surprise you, but, historically, indicating that something like alchemy actually worked and that things like homunculi were running around also isn't historically accurate.

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Ironically, alchemy being the central point shows why she started from Greek sources. The way she writes alchemy, is clearly based on how the Greeks saw it. There are other equivalents of alchemy, but the transmutation, the philosopher's stone, ... are elements from the ancient Greek alchemy.

 

[Dakkon]

And accusing Arakawa of being a Nazi sympathizer is fucked.

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I don't think he did, he just said maybe they were inspired by the ideology in the character designs.

Authors can be inspired by ideologies for their writing/world and not actually adhere to those beliefs...George Orwell didn't support fascism or the Soviet Union and Harper Lee didn't support racism, they just used those ideologies as the backbones of 1984/Animal Farm/Mockingbird, as a way to critique them heavily - the same thing FMAB does with nazism.

 

[GameChanger]

This might surprise you, but, historically, indicating that something like alchemy actually worked and that things like homunculi were running around also isn't entirely accurate.

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This is a really disingenuous argument.

 

[KujoJosuke]

Also not everything in FMA is a 1:1 with the real world. While there are parallels between Amestrian military/Germany and Isvhalans/Mid-eastern people, Arakawa has gone on record to say that the real inspiration there was Japanese treatment of the Indigenous Ainu tribe.

 

[Serif]

Amestris isn't pure Germany though. Ishval is middle-Eastern inspired, Reole is shown as further darker skinned, an Drachma is basically Russia.

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I also saw Xing as essentially the FMA world's China.

One could only dream about the goings-on of the other countries in this world, this map is really tickling at my imagination (it also makes the real-world parallels much more apparent)

 

[Deleted member 33533]

This definitely falls into the category of the author/artist Arakawa not thinking about implications and writing as she went. Ed and Al (and by extension Hohenheim) were probably conceived before Xerxes was and Arakawa wrote backwards. Saying she was inspired by Nazi ideology is definitely a huuuuge stretch but I also think people ITT saying there's no issue at all are rushing to dismiss there's any issue. It's far more likely that Arakawa didn't think of it because media has long made white people the default to the point that it's in our subconscious and we don't even think about it.

This is very similar to Final Fantasy XII where the Kingdom of Dalmasca is a desert nation with a bunch of Middle Eastern inspiration in its design yet its native population are very European influenced for the most part. When you have all these blonde white people living in a Persian-inspired setting, it feels like no thought was put into diversity and they just nabbed the cultural aesthetic cause they thought it was cool. Like imagine if this fictional civilization was based off the Songhai Empire but all the people still looked like Ed and Al? It would be white washing, right? Is it any different here?

I love FMA and FFXII for that matter but yeah, these are definitely things that stick out when you look with a critical eye. Even though surmising how Arakawa arrived at this point with the depiction probably being mostly accidental, I think it's certainly fine to critique how the final product looks. I think if you're gonna make a heavily Persian-inspired setting, the native people of that setting probably should be Persian expies as well. And FMA does this with other fictional nations. Xing, for example, has Asian-looking people. Xerxes ends up being inconsistent.

I can actually see this. But Xerxes itself still looks like it's clearly based on some ancient middle eastern civilization.

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You aren't wrong here. Especially because it's in a desert.

 

[Joni]

I also saw Xing as essentially the FMA world's China.

One could only dream about the goings-on of the other countries in this world, this map is really tickling at my imagination (it also makes the real-world parallels much more apparent)

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Indeed, everything Xing screams China. Even their more medical alchemy is based on the Chinese view of alchemy. There are some other parallels as well, Aerugo for instance is basically Italy,

It's far more likely that Arakawa didn't think of it because media has long made white people the default to the point that it's in our subconscious and we don't even think about it.

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On the other hand, there is also a need to remember that often, us Westerns put our own bias on certain designs. We see a lot of characters as white when they represent the Japanese.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

On the other hand, there is also a need to remember that often, us Westerns put our own bias on certain designs. We see a lot of characters as white when they represent the Japanese.

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In this case, where we actually have "Asian" characters and you can see the difference between them and the "European" ones, I don't think that particular phenomenon really matters. Even then, it's not any better if the Xerxians are supposed to be Japanese. You're still kind of just copy/pasting Persian culture and replacing the people.

 

[nDesh]

Unlike AoT which people have made arguments claiming the story supports wildly different political leanings, the FMA manga/ Brotherhood spells it out pretty plainly.

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???
AoT is extremely anti-fascism.

 

[Joni]

In this case, where we actually have "Asian" characters and you can see the difference between them and the "European" ones, I don't think that particular phenomenon really matters. Even then, it's not any better if the Xerxians are supposed to be Japanese. You're still kind of just copy/pasting Persian culture and replacing the people.

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We have Chinese characters with the Xing, we have people that clearly are meant to evocate European designs (the Elric family) but I wouldn't necessarily say the same for for instance the likes of Mustang and Hawkeye who could be just traditional Japanese designs.

 

[JuicyPlayer]

I didn't like how Brotherhood made Roses skin lighter. Prefer her darker look in the original.

 

[GameChanger]

This definitely falls into the category of the author/artist Arakawa not thinking about implications and writing as she went. Ed and Al (and by extension Hohenheim) were probably conceived before Xerxes was and Arakawa wrote backwards. Saying she was inspired by Nazi ideology is definitely a huuuuge stretch but I also think people ITT saying there's no issue at all are rushing to dismiss there's any issue. It's far more likely that Arakawa didn't think of it because media has long made white people the default to the point that it's in our subconscious and we don't even think about it.

This is very similar to Final Fantasy XII where the Kingdom of Dalmasca is a desert nation with a bunch of Middle Eastern inspiration in its design yet its native population are very European influenced for the most part. When you have all these blonde white people living in a Persian-inspired setting, it feels like no thought was put into diversity and they just nabbed the cultural aesthetic cause they thought it was cool. Like imagine if this fictional civilization was based off the Songhai Empire but all the people still looked like Ed and Al? It would be white washing, right? Is it any different here?

I love FMA and FFXII for that matter but yeah, these are definitely things that stick out when you look with a critical eye. Even though surmising how Arakawa arrived at this point with the depiction probably being mostly accidental, I think it's certainly fine to critique how the final product looks. I think if you're gonna make a heavily Persian-inspired setting, the native people of that setting probably should be Persian expies as well. And FMA does this with other fictional nations. Xing, for example, has Asian-looking people. Xerxes ends up being inconsistent.



You aren't wrong here. Especially because it's in a desert.

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Thank you! This is exactly what I am trying to say. You just put it in much better words than me.

 

[grand]

They had to make them gold hair & gold eyes because that's what the Elric's are. It's as simple as that.

Also, to make them Persians or darker skinned only to slaughter them all isn't the greatest look either.

The Xerxians are supposed to be an ancient civilization who got their comeuppance in a very greek fable sort of way

 

[Deleted member 33533]

We have Chinese characters with the Xing, we have people that clearly are meant to evocate European designs (the Elric family) but I wouldn't necessarily say the same for for instance the likes of Mustang and Hawkeye who could be just traditional Japanese designs.

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When looking at the greater context of how anime characters are drawn, I see your point. In any other anime, yeah, Mustang could just as easily be seen as Japanese but due to how Arakawa wrote her world, we are led to believe he's European. When talking about Fullmetal Alchemist, where Arakawa clearly went out of her way to make expies of different ethnicities/nations with the fictional countries, Xerxes does end up standing out as odd because it's people look European but the civilization is Persian.

 

[GameChanger]

???
AoT is extremely anti-fascism.

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And other things as well. Like anti-imperialism.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

They had to make them gold hair & gold eyes because that's what the Elric's are. It's as simple as that.

Also, to make them Persians or darker skinned only to slaughter them all isn't the greatest look either.

The Xerxians are supposed to be an ancient civilization who got their comeuppance in a very greek fable sort of way

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They did slaughter the Ishvalans though so, they did that anyway.

I also don't think that the Xerxians are supposed to be seen as people that got their comeuppance. The King of Xerxes certainly did but all the people who lived there were innocents who has no say in the matter. Many of them were killed just to make the transmutation circle work. It's very much framed as a tragedy.

I think instead of thinking "the Elrics had gold hair/eyes so they had to make the Xerxians that way", you should think that they didn't have to make the ancient civilization the Elrics descended from based on Persia. Make it European so it fits and problem solved.

 

[Tabaxi]

And other things as well. Like anti-imperialism.

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Hasn't the author gotten into trouble for defending/downplaying the atrocities of imperial Japan?

 

[GameChanger]

Hasn't the author gotten into trouble for defending/downplaying the atrocities of imperial Japan?

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I don't know. I have never heard of this.

 

[Kalentan]

Hasn't the author gotten into trouble for defending/downplaying the atrocities of imperial Japan?

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Wasn't that the GATE guy?

 

[Dark Knight]

I always super wanted to know Drachma's deal. It's like the only people we don't get an idea about besides the fact that they fuck with Briggs a lot.

 

[Charred Knight]

Hiromu Arakawa uses a combination of cultures to create the cultures in Fullmetal Alchemist. For example the Ishvalans are meant to be reminiscint of the Ainu and their need to be recognized, while their look is based on the Middle East, and their warrior priest is reminiscent of Shaolin monks. Xing is a combination of mostly China but has Japanese culture mixed in as well (Ninja). Amestris is a combination of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, with the uniform and ideology mainly Nazi inspired, while the portrayal of the military being in control and the actual war crimes were taken from Japan (in particular Unit 731)

Amestris is mainly a combination of Greek and Persian culture. In particular the portrayal of Slavery and the fate of Xerxes are all taken from Greece. Alchemy also started with Hellenistic Egypt

Persia didnt have mass Slavery while Athens alone had about 80,000

Slavery in Iran - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I always super wanted to know Drachma's deal. It's like the only people we don't get an idea about besides the fact that they fuck with Briggs a lot.

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I assume it would be pretty similar to Russia.

 

[Dark Knight]

I assume it would be pretty similar to Russia.

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Is there any evidence for this whatsoever, or are you just referring to the climate there?
When I first saw the series I don't think I ever thought it was supposed to be Russia-esque.

edit: looking at the wikia I guess I could see it lol

 

[Murasaki]

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've seen such a fucking OP fail.

 

[PunchyMalone]

I also saw Xing as essentially the FMA world's China.

One could only dream about the goings-on of the other countries in this world, this map is really tickling at my imagination (it also makes the real-world parallels much more apparent)

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I think comparing it to the real world is always in my head because of the original series ending. It's not cannon in Brotherhood but I still kept thinking about the comparisons and it still worked when they introduced Drachma and Xing.

 

[Zoe]

We have Chinese characters with the Xing, we have people that clearly are meant to evocate European designs (the Elric family) but I wouldn't necessarily say the same for for instance the likes of Mustang and Hawkeye who could be just traditional Japanese designs.

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Don't forget Izumi.

 

[Lunar Wolf]

When looking at the greater context of how anime characters are drawn, I see your point. In any other anime, yeah, Mustang could just as easily be seen as Japanese but due to how Arakawa wrote her world, we are led to believe he's European. When talking about Fullmetal Alchemist, where Arakawa clearly went out of her way to make expies of different ethnicities/nations with the fictional countries, Xerxes does end up standing out as odd because it's people look European but the civilization is Persian.

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IDK. We don't know Mustang's full heritage. Considering how in FMA, you can tell the other people's race by their actual designs, it's very likely that Mustang is in fact multi-racial since he looks much more like the Xing characters than he does like the people of Amestris.

Pale skin with black hair and black eyes tends to be a trait of the people of Xing.

But then that could also mean Izumi might also be a descendant of the people of Xing.

I mean Amestris does have a multi-racial element to it as it does have people of various skin tones like the people of Ishval, actually black people etc.

I've head-canon'd Mustang and Izumi as half-Asian at least.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

IDK. We don't know Mustang's full heritage. Considering how in FMA, you can tell the other people's race by their actual designs, it's very likely that Mustang is in fact multi-racial since he looks much more like the Xing characters than he does like the people of Amestris.

Pale skin with black hair and black eyes tends to be a trait of the people of Xing.

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Sure, that's certainly possible. And that kind of goes along with my point. Because Arakawa goes out of her way to make "European" people and "Asian" people, we can make such assessments of the character designs to the point that we can theorize that Mustang might have a different heritage.

That just makes it all the more inconsistent with how Xerxes is depicted.

 

[Steel]

Well, yeah. Problem is that 98% of anime has that problem. And half the 2% that don't have other problems with race.