"Real" Alchemy vs. Anime Alchemy

As a quick introduction, I just want to comment that many storylines borrow and reference material outside their own stories. Not only does it give a general direction for the writer and therefore make it easier to write, but it also allow the reader to summon his or her own knowledge of a subject into trying to understand the world the characters live in.

This “outside resource” can be anything from the iconic green aliens with large heads and eyes to Japanese ninja. Both have a rich set of associations that surround them which an author can draw upon, ignore, or, for an interesting twist, include but in reverse.

An almost limitless supply of unique and original stories can be created by combining and tampering with these various outside sources. This blog will only be focusing on this aspect of the story lines in anime/manga, but many books, plays, and movies use them as well.

As an artist and (sort of) writer myself, I want to increase my library of iconic associations and knowledge as much as I can so that I can use some of them in my work.

Alchemy in Fullmetal Alchemist and Buso Renkin

Plenty of stories use elements of alchemy. It's history is well-known: beginning with alchemists in Egypt, alchemy was an effort to both convert cheap metals like lead into precious ones like gold and to create a substance that would give one eternal life. Famous as it is, plenty of animes use elements of alchemy, but for sake of space I'll only discuss two here, both of which use alchemy as their central focus.

The first I'm going to mention, probably the more famous of the two, is Fullmetal Alchemist. In it, the alchemy is portrayed as more of a science, both logical and perfectly understandable, than something fantastic or magical. This idea is furthered by the rational law all alchemists follow known as “equivalent exchange.”

Though alchemists can fix things that appear to have been broken beyond repair or “transmute” materials into different shapes, an alchemist cannot make something from nothing. This is all based on a philosophic principle of “In order for something to be gained, something of equal value must be lost.”

The other anime I'm going to talk about is Buso Renkin (by the same author as the more well-known Rurouni Kenshin). “Buso Renkin,” literally meaning “arms alchemy” or “weapons alchemy” in Japanese, also uses the background of alchemy, but in a considerably different way.

Unlike in Fullmetal Alchemist, the main characters of Buso Renkin are, for the most part, not alchemists themselves, but fighters who are given alchemic weapons that have various powers.

True Homunculi and their Anime Counterparts

Both anime have beings called 'homunculi' (“homunculus” being the singular form). Surprisingly though, the term 'homunculus' is not used exclusively in relation to alchemy. Latin for “little human” it refers to either the representation of a human (as in diagrams used to show how the systems of the body work) or a human fetus.

From what I've read, I think the idea of a homunculus is often associated with alchemy because the term was first coined by the alchemist Paracelsus. He claimed to have created a small artificial human using various materials such as bones, skin, sperm, and the hair of whatever animal the creator wished the small human to be mixed with.

In both animes, homunculi are the enemies which the main characters must fight against (but are of normal sizes). In Fullmetal Alchemist, the homunculi are monstrosities resulting from alchemists' attempts to bring their loved ones back to life. This resembles somewhat Paracelsus' vision in that the alchemists are indeed trying to create 'new life' of a sort.

The homunculi of Buso Renkin, on the other hand, are more the creation of something new. As opposed to the weapons of the alchemist warriors, a homunculus is the result of an alchemist's attempt to tamper with life.

A 'humunculus core' (which, interestingly, resembles a mechanized fetus) is inserted into a human and that person is transformed. If the core is implanted with animal or plant DNA, the person will be turned into a monster with a different mind than the original host (much like Paracelsus' instructions for creating a homunculus crossed with some kind of animal).

However, if the core is given human DNA instead, alchemists can change themselves into homunculi, while keeping their human minds in tact. Homunculi are more powerful and live much longer than humans, but since it is still possible to kill one, some of the alchemists wound up pursuing other means of achieving immortality.

Philosopher's Stones

Supposedly the object alchemists wished to create in order to gain the 'elixir of life' which would grant immortality, the idea of the philosopher's stone is an important part of alchemy's history. It proceeds that the stone plays a key role in both alchemy anime.

This original vision of the stone coincides well with the Fullmetal Alchemist version. The main characters search ceaselessly for the stone, but, while the main character's only want the stone in order to strengthen their alchemic powers (another ability historically the stone was thought to possess) in order to gain back what they lost, others seek it to extend their lives.

In terms of the overall story, the stone is often described as being an object that grants the user the power to overcome the laws of equivalent exchange.

The Buso Renkin philosopher's “stone” does take some aspects of the original stone, but differs from it more that the Fullmetal Alchemist version. In Buso Renkin, the “stone” is really a more powerful version of a normal alchemic weapon the warriors use.

A black metal object (as opposed to the glittering, blood red globules of Fullmetal Alchemist), it increases the user's physical power, rather than their powers of alchemy.

The “stone” doesn't seem to lengthen one's life either, at least not in the usual sense. Rather, it is used as a replacement heart for someone who is already dead in order to bring that person back to life.



Questions and comments are welcome. Feel free to correct me if I made any errors or to mention any other anime/manga that bring in forms of alchemy.