Trivia
This is only part of the Fullmetal Alchemist trivia on the site. See the episode guide for trivia on individual episodes.
Opening speech
In the opening to each episode where Al talks about the laws of alchemy, a number of alchemy texts and suchforth can be seen. Of the ones that aren't blurred out, at least some of them (and likely all) are from actual alchemy texts or the like.
Thumbnail, click for full image
Although the top-left book is half cut off, the full title is Prospero's Island: The Secret Alchemy at the Heart of The Tempest, a modern-day book about the Shakespearean play The Tempest. The second book along is The Mirror of Alchemy, a thirteenth century manuscript by one Roger Bacon. Next along is a book whose title might be "Word of alchemy", but everything above the letter 'd' is off-screen and it's impossible to judge the height of the book.
The title of the green book on the bottom-left ends in the word 'magic' but is otherwise off-screen. The book below it might be titled "The Golden Dawn", this is a reference to a Victorian alchemy group named the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The stack of papers begins with an excerpt from Ripley's Recapitulation of the Twelve Gates from a sixteenth century alchemy manuscript named The Compound of Alchymy; this text also appears elsewhere in the series and in the title of this website. Finally, the purple jar in the top right is labelled calcium, and the brown one below it, while blurred and difficult to read, appears to read aqueous ammonia.
Ed's outfit changes
Saber from FullmetalAlchemist.info (warning: link contains some spoilers) alerted me to the fact that Edward's outfit changes as he gets older. He has four different outfits during the series; details of which will be added here as they appear in the series.
Age 11
When Ed leaves home, his outfit has a zipper.
Age 15
In the first episode, Edward's outfit is similar to his zipper one, except that
it doesn't have a zipper. Maybe he tried to alchemize something too big and it took his
zipper in equivalent trade?
Age 15, again
Except for the first episode, 15 year old Ed's shirt has a metal bar across the
front, while he wears a black vest underneath. The vest is interesting since it means
you can see part of the metal arm joint when he removes his overshirt.
Ed's last outfit
Edward seems to get a new jacket in the middle of episode 44. This jacket also
appears in the series' fourth ending sequence, which begins each episode from number
42 onward in the DVD release.
Opening/ending themes
Fullmetal Alchemist uses the same opening/ending sequence for the entire series while it airs on Cartoon Network, but when the series aired in Japan it used a total of four different opening sequences and four different ending sequences. Cartoon Network viewers are unlucky in this case, because the OP/EDS are all of excellent quality and help to portray the changes of the characters and the show in general, which itself is all about alchemy, the science of change. However, you'll be able to see them all on the American release of the DVDs, as the creators intended. Here's a little more detail about them.
Episode 1 OP - no opening
Episode 1 had no opening sequence. The show began directly with the
excellent introduction to the first episode.
Episode 1 ED - "Melissa" by P. Graffiti
Part of the impact from the first episode comes from the fact that Ed's automail - his
mechanical arm and leg - aren't revealed until the end of the episode. Until then, the
viewer is left to his imagination as to how Ed managed to bring his brother back to life
and restore his own limbs, and might have assumed that Ed, four years on, has finally
perfected jintai rensei - human transmutation. This ending meshes well with the
end of the episode, which goes a long way to set the tone of the series.
Interestingly, an older Winry appears in this ending, but she doesn't appear in the series at that age for quite a few episodes.
Episode 2-13 OP - "Melissa" by P. Graffiti
In an interesting twist, the second episode opens with the ending sequence to the first.
Melissa is usually referred to as the first opening sequence (OP)
rather than as the first ending (ED), and its lack of appearance as episode 1's opening
is likely because it would spoil the surprise of Ed's 'auto-mail'.
If you look closely at the scene with the blue transmutation circle, you'll notice a door in the background, implying that the circle is drawn on the floor of a room. That's because the circle is the same one Edward draws at the very start of the first episode. The text around parts of the circle is taken from Ripley's Recapitulation of the Twelve Gates, part of a sixteeth century manuscript entitled The Compound of Alchymy. This text also appears elsewhere in the series, as well as in the title image of this website. (Thanks to Saber for pointing out the source of the text.)
Episode 2-13 ED - "Kesenai Tsumi" by Nana Kitade
Unlike some series which simply cut to the ending sequence at the episode's conclusion,
Fullmetal Alchemist tends to fade its ending sequences in gradually.
Kesenai Tsumi is one of the show's EDs which does this, playing the first eight seconds
or so of the ED's music before cutting to the visuals. As a result, viewers in Japan
never saw the graphics of those first eight seconds, during which images of ten of the
show's major characters flash onto the screen.
The name of the theme song "Kesenai Tsumi" means "Unerasable Sin", likely a reference to the brothers' actions at the start of the first episode.
Episode 14-25 OP - "Ready Steady Go" by L'Arc~en~Ciel
Ready Steady Go is the opening theme that runs when the show airs on Cartoon Network.
It's considered by many fans to be the best of the four opening sequences. Perhaps the
reason for this is that it contains many of the show's most popular characters,
such as Maes Hughes, Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang.
Episode 14-24 ED - "Tobira no Mukou e" by YeLLOW Generation
This is another of the endings which tends to fade in rather than appear suddenly.
It features 'photographs' of Ed, Al and Winry as children, as well as two contrasting
scenes of Winry wrapped up warm in a blanket while Ed and Al are standing
outdoors in the city while it's snowing. A good ending, but why's Ed got green hair?
Episode 25 ED - no ending
Episode 26-41 OP - "Undo" by Cool Joke
The third OP for Fullmetal Alchemist, Undo opens with footage of Ed and Al playing
as children and goes on to contrast it with scenes of their older selves fighting
against two deadly snakes in a swamp and the chimeras in the ruins of a city.
Episode 26-41 ED - "Motherland" by Crystal Kay
This, the third ending sequence to the series, is referred to as "the Winry ending".
It's all about Winry and her dog - Winry plays with her dog, Winry goes for a walk
with her dog, Winry hugs her dog. If you're a Winry fan, you'll be wishing you were
her dog - if not, you'll be wishing you were Ed so you don't have to be around her
all the time.
A few things to note here. Firstly, the photographs Winry's viewing at the start are taken from the 'photographs' in the the second ending sequence, "Tobira no Mukou e". Secondly, the text visible in the background in parts is a synopsis of the series padded out with the aforementioned excerpt from The Twelve Gates, while in other places there are what appear to be song lyrics in the background.
Episode 42-51 OP - "Rewrite" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation
An excellent opening sequence, and unfortunately for fans, the last one of of the series.
It opens on a descent via an old-fashioned elevator into the ruins of an underground
city. It pans through slow scenes of characters who all look somewhat subdued -
I'd be sad too, it's the last ten episodes of the series - followed by a
rather neat fight scene that includes Edward leaping off a waterfall.
Episode 42-50 ED - "I Will" by Sowelu
Another nice ending sequence, and for many Edward Elric fans, a welcome change from the
Winry ending. This one differs from the rest with the text at the top and bottom of the
screen which runs throughout.