The Art Of Fullmetal Alchemist [Hardcover]

Hiromu Arakawa (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Fullmetal Alchemist | Publication Date: November 1, 2005

Translated faithfully from the Japanese edition, this coffee table book contains all the FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST color artwork by manga artist Hiromu Arakawa from 2001 to 2003. The Art of Fullmetal Alchemist contains over 90 pages of gorgeous painted illustrations, including all the title pages as printed in color in the Japanese magazine Shonen Gangan; Japanese tankobon (graphic novel) and promotional artwork, with source listings; portraits of the main characters; and character designs from the PS2 game Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel. Includes a special two-page message from Hiromu Arakawa.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 90 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421501589
• ISBN-13: 978-1421501581
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #406,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Hokkaido (northern Japan), Hiromu Arakawa first attracted national attention in 1999 with her award-winning manga STRAY DOG. Her series FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST debuted in 2001 in Square Enix's monthly manga anthology Shonen Gangan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it, November 19, 2005

By 

Heejae "FullMetal Alchemist" (Central, Amestria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art Of Fullmetal Alchemist (Hardcover)

i "Watched" this book and Well i gotta say that it was really great. Hiromu Arakawa adds little comments for every picture and it has great artwork. The backgrounds are a little disappointing, but she does really well on the characters in color. And she PAINTS them! THe colors are extrememly bright and vivid.
Hiromu Arakawa is getting better at the characters every year. She's advanced a lot. It's for the manga, not the anime, so if you prefer anime over the manga you may want to get an anime artbook...

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For fans of the manga, January 22, 2006

By 

Hagaren Otaku - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art Of Fullmetal Alchemist (Hardcover)

Anime fans are out of luck on this one. This is all Hiromu Arakawa's work on the manga. I really like her drawings, and how well she paints and draws always amazes me (Reason for the 5 stars rating).
It focuses on the characters from the manga, though a couple pages are dedicated to the "Fullmetal Alchemist: The Broken Angel" sketches of Armony and the sub-characters.
Basically, if you're a big fan of the manga, good buy, and even more so now that Amazon sells them for around $14.00 or so. But if you're a big fan of the anime, you need one of those TV Fanbooks they sell in Japan. Of course, even if you're more of an anime fan, you could always pick this up and get addicted to Hiromu Arakawa's work...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Artbook, November 15, 2005

By 

tami "pinkboxcutter" (chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art Of Fullmetal Alchemist (Hardcover)

It may be confusing as to what exactly the Fullmetal Alchemist artbook contains. It's not the artbook for the anime, but the manga. Therefore, the book is mostly a compilation of the manga artist's traditional works. Hiromu Arakawa has mastered a medium that is rarely used by anime artists; acrylic paint. This makes her pieces stand out against what is typically seen in the anime world, but at the same time they are as polished, beautiful, and dynamic as any other anime artbook images I've seen. What the other reviewer said is true, it's mostly character art-but that's the focus of most artbooks of manga illustrators. If you want the components of the anime, backgrounds, a detail of Ed's watch, etc, you should look to fanbooks. If you've never read the manga before, you should know that Arakawa's characters in print look a little different than thier animated counterparts, so you might enjoy the original take on them here. (They're still easily recognizable and Arakawa makes thier personality come out in her paintings.) There are also a small number of images from the FMA game.