Fans of the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist series may be unaware of a little known OVA, which reveals the fate of Edward and Alphonse Elric after a hundred years. The bizarre OVA acts as an epilogue to the series, suggesting that Ed and Al lived to see movies made about themselves.
The OVA, entitled “Kids,” was released in 2005 following the debut of the first Fullmetal Alchemist movie, Conqueror of Shambala. “Kids” follows three children who look suspiciously identical to Ed, Al, and Winry as they journey through a modern day city. They encounter Fullmetal Alchemist-themed Gachapon machines, as well as a billboard advertising the Conqueror of Shamballa movie.
They walk past kids who resemble Roy Mustang’s soldiers, and eventually stop at a police box to ask for directions from a cop who strongly resembles Maes Hughes. As the kids reach their destination, that’s when things get really strange.
Edward Elric Lived to Be 100 Years Old
The kids enter an apartment, where newspaper clippings are seen on the wall, as well as a photo of what appears to be a grown Edward Elric shaking hands with a black man who appears to be a politician; the clippings suggest Ed was in the United States of America at some point. The kids greet the apartment’s tenant as their “great-great-grandfather” and wish him a happy birthday from their great-great-uncle Al. Text appears on the screen which, when translated, says something to the effect of “The year is 2005, and Edward Elric will be 100 years old. Somewhere in the world…”
The OVA’s runtime is only a bit over 3 minutes, so that’s all that’s revealed, but if taken literally, the OVA has some wild implications. In the original 2003 anime, Edward discovers that Alchemy in Amestris is tied to another reality, one that happens to align with our history. The implication of this OVA seems to be that the world without Alchemy that Edward ends up in is literally our world, and that the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist is in some way based on Edward’s true story.
It also confirms that Edward had children, or else it would be impossible for him to have great-great-grandchildren. The presence of the young girl who resembles Winry is especially confusing, since Winry didn’t travel to the other world with Ed, and thus couldn’t have been the mother of his children. However, Ed still has his automail arm which seems to be in good working order–is it possible that Ed found an alternate version of Winry, or that perhaps the original Winry somehow found a way to join the brothers in our world?
The “Real World” Continues to Confuse in the OVA
The OVA carries on what was perhaps the most controversial element of the 2003 series, and one which took it in a vastly different direction than the manga: the introduction of the “real” world. In the final episodes of the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed discovers that the other side of the Gate of Truth holds another world, one which very much resembles our real history at the time. The series ended with Ed exchanging his life for Al’s, and being forced to live on the other side of the gate, in our world, as a result.
Ed is eventually joined by Al in the 2005 movie Conqueror of Shamballa, and they meet counterparts of many characters, some of whom are actual historical figures, like filmmaker Fritz Lang, who turns out to be a counterpart to Fuehrer King Bradley. Al even gets to meet his own counterpart, making things even weirder than they already were. No counterpart to Winry was introduced, however, raising a lot of questions in this OVA as to who the mother of Ed’s children must have been.
While Ed may have been trapped in our world at the end of the series, it was still the distant past, the World War I era, which gave it some space from reality. This OVA moves the clock forward to 2005, bizarrely putting Ed into the modern day real world, one so close to ours that even the Fullmetal Alchemist anime exists. The suggestion that Ed is alive and out there somewhere comes across as extremely bizarre, even given the ending of the series and the content of the movie.
Of course, this silly little OVA is likely not intended to be canon, or taken literally. Still, the idea of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime being based on a true story is a crazy one, and the OVA deserves to be seen by fans of the hit franchise, whether they decide to take it to heart or not. Did Fullmetal Alchemist‘s Edward Elric really live to be 100 years old in the real world? That’s up to each fan to decide.
Fullmetal Alchemist
- Created by
- Hiromu Arakawa
- Character(s)
- Edward Elric , Alphonse Elric , Roy Mustang , Winry Rockbell , Maes Hughes , Riza Hawkeye , Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist) , Ling Yao , Lan Fan , May Chang , King Bradley , Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist) , Envy (Fullmetal Alchemist) , Greed (Fullmetal Alchemist)
- Video Game(s)
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Stray Rondo , Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir , Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy , Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel
