How Fullmetal Alchemist Uses Eyes

Major spoilers for the FMA manga and FMA: Brotherhood*

Eyes are literally everywhere in FMA. From the gigantic eye that means the Gate of Truth is open, to the multitude of creepy red eyes Pride possesses, eyes feature prominently in the show’s visuals and themes. There is an incredible amount you can say about the use of eyes in the series. But for now, I’m going to look at how Hiromu Arakawa uses eyes to convey humanity or a lack thereof.

As a rule, the eyes are the most expressive part of a character in FMA. They do most of the work when telling the reader/viewer about the character’s emotional state.

Ed’s gold eyes are very expressive and usually clear to the viewer. As the main character we’re introduced to the story through his perspective, so we naturally need to feel a sense of empathy for him. We can easily understand and connect to Ed’s thoughts and feelings through those piercing gold eyes. He’s a passionate guy with a can-do attitude!

Al on the other, hand, doesn’t have this. Alphonse’s “eyes” are naturally more limited in their emotional range. The eye holes in Al’s armor eyes glow white with a red tinge to tell us his soul is in…