Hiromu Arakawa

Biography

Hiromu Arakawa is a Japanese manga artist from Hokkaido who created Fullmetal Alchemist, serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 2001 to 2010. Growing up on a dairy farm, Arakawa has cited the physical labor of farm life as formative to her work ethic and her storytelling's focus on consequence and earned outcomes — the principle of equivalent exchange is, in part, a philosophical product of that upbringing. Fullmetal Alchemist is considered one of the greatest manga ever written, praised for its complete story arc, its thematic coherence, its ensemble characterization, and its ending — which is one of the few in long-running manga that most readers consider fully satisfying. The series spawned two anime adaptations, with the second (Brotherhood) following the manga closely and becoming one of the highest-rated anime of all time. Arakawa has since created Silver Spoon, another series drawing on agricultural themes, and The Heroic Legend of Arslan.