Fans of the 2003 Full metal alchemist series may not be aware of a little-known OVA, which reveals the fate of Edward and Alphonse Elric after a hundred years. The odd 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 after the debut of the first Full metal alchemist movie, Conqueror of Shambhala. “Kids” follows three children who look suspiciously identical to Ed, Al and Winnie as they travel through a modern city. They meet Full metal alchemist-themed Gachapon machines, as well as a billboard advertising these Conqueror of Shambhala Movie.
They pass 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. When the kids reach their destination, that’s when things get really weird.
Edward Elric lived to be 100 years old
The children enter an apartment where you can see newspaper clippings on the wall, as well as a photo of what appears to be an adult Edward Elric shaking hands with a black man who appears to be a politician; The clippings suggest that Ed was in the United States of America at some point. The kids greet the tenant of the apartment as their “great-grandfather” and wish him a happy birthday from their old 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 little 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 Full metal alchemist is in some way based on Edward’s true story.
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It also confirms that Edward has children, or else it would be impossible for him to have great-grandchildren. The presence of the young girl who believes to be Winnie is especially disturbing, because Winnie did not travel to the other world with Ed, and thus he could not be the mother of his children. However, Ed still has his Automail arm which appears to be in good working order – is it possible that Ed found an alternate version of Winry, or that perhaps the original Winnie somehow found a way to join the brothers in our world?
The “real world” keeps getting mixed up in the OVA
The OVA continues what is perhaps the most controversial element of the 2003 series, and one that takes it in a vastly different direction than the manga: the introduction of the “real” world. In the last episodes of the 2003 fullmetal alchemist, Ed discovers that the other side of the Gate of Truth holds another world, one that closely resembles our actual history at the time. The series ended with Ed exchanging his life for Als, and he was forced to live on the other side of the gate, in our world, as a result.
Ed was eventually joined by Al in the 2005 movie Conqueror of ShambhalaAnd they meet opposites of many characters, some of them are real historical figures, like filmmaker Fritz Lang, who turns out to be an opponent of the Fuhrer King Bradley. Al even gets to meet his own counterpart, making things even weirder than they already were. However, no opponent to Winry was introduced, which raised many questions in the OVA about who the mother of Ed’s children must have been.
Although Ed may be trapped in our world at the end of the series, it was still the distant past, the First World War era, which gave it some space of reality. The OVA moves the clock forward to 2005, strangely placing Ed in the modern real world, one so close to ours that even the Full metal alchemist Anime exists. The suggestion that Ed is alive and out there somewhere is extremely strange, even given the ending of the series and the content of the movie.
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Obviously, this stupid little OVA is probably not intended to be canon, or taken literally. Still, the idea of ​​the Full metal alchemist Anime based on a true story is insane, and the OVA deserves to be seen by fans of the hit franchise, whether they decide to take it to heart or not. did Full metal alchemistDoes Edward Elric really live to be 100 years old in the real world? That’s up to each fan to decide.