1. MR. GARFIEL. The character in very problematic since he’s basically a walking stereotype of gay men common in manga- v. muscular yet effeminate even with the traditional suspenders deal those characters seem to have, his sexuality is entirely played for humor and is treated by male characters as gross- especially in the manga where he offers to “entertain” Ed and Al and they run away, or one of the customers complains that “Mr. Garfiel looks at me weird” “you should be grateful to be looked at like that by a sexy guy like me1!!"

He has no character depth or arc and of course he’s single. His character is entirely there to be the "funny, kinda weird but ultimately harmless gay man all the dudes are uncomfortable around haha!” It’s a gross stereotype, it’s tired, and it needs to stop.

The only good factor is Winry seems to really like and respect him, calling him her idol in the guidebook and everything, Paninya and Ling are okay with him too (which also sort of feeds into a stereotype tho, he’s their “gay friend”, and he pretty much acts as Winry’s “sassy gay friend” when she talks to him about Ed in the manga) and he’s portrayed as good at his job. One omake also basically plays his sexuality as a joke, implying it basically makes him a woman (which okay if he was supposed to be trans that’d be legit, but no, clearly the joke is he ISN’T a woman but acts like he is liking guys and being effiminate and all hahaha so funnny)

Of course, it could have been worse, he could have been represented as a sexual predator or as mentally disturbed (like the crossdressing/effiminate characters in 2003 were) UNFORTUNATELY the Brotherhood omakes decide to DO JUST THAT, portraying him as a sexual predator who is stalking Kimblee FOR LAUGHS. This is solely a Brotherhood omakes problem, not the manga, but it is fucking unacceptable.

so yeah, Mr. Garfiel is problematic I want to write a fanfic sometime that actually giving him backstory and arc and shit, so many fma projects ugh.

2. The sexual harassment of Rebecca- as mentioned previously, I liked that it was called out as such in the manga, it was made clear Rebecca was not okay with it and Grumman was a shady dude in general, she was able to talk about what happened to her and rail against it (unlike rose in 2003 oops). But it really could have stood to be explored more and completely punished in story even in the manga, especially since the panel where he did slap her butt was presented very lightly. Brotherhood just completely glossed over it and removed rebecca’s comment complaining about it, which is very Not Okay.

3. FMA is p. heteronormative in general even disregarding how Garfiel is handled, gayness is never directly discussed and all the major characters are implied to be straight with heavily implied or canon opposite sex love interests- no acknowledgement of trans individuals either. I try to fix this in my heart by reading lesbians and pansexuality into everything, but it’s problem in the text.

4. I do think Ed could have stood to be called out on the fact he equated what happened to the Ishvalans with what happened to Resembool and Winry- that was not cool, it made sense for his character to say it, but he needed to be called out like he was on so many other things.

Also Brotherhood waaay simplified the line about “Different cultures clash, but when we talk to each other as individuals” i think it’s possible to talk as equals in the manga to being near colorblind rhetoric and the dub made it basically the douchiest line possible

5. As far as the other stuff regarding race goes, I acknowledge that some people see some of the messages as being very uncomfortable and pushing forward “this is how a good minority should act” and that’s a valid reading and I respect it. I personally used to have more problems with it after it was pointed out, but reading missturdles and other’s meta, I really found that it made sense to me and their interp was based on sound facts too, so I agree with THAT reading, and since that interpretation is made by people who are really thoughtful AND have the authority on the situation i do not, i see it as just as valid as the other reading. But any person of color’s reading always has more authority than my view on this issue, and I will respect that. I will not, however, respect other white people trying to attack me about racism to further their own agenda against me regarding a fucking anime.

Also the fact that Arakawa shares ancestry with the Ainu, an oppressed minority in Japan, and is clearly very passionate about that part of her heritage and is openly tries to spread awareness, and has said the Ishvalan commentary is on that, SHE actually has more place to talk about this than me and any of the majority ppl who criticize her, and I’m not gonna challenge something based on her own ancestors struggles, my 50-shades-of-white ass has no place.

6. Ed could have been called out on how he talked to Rose a bit more, though I do think it’s important that Winry straight up said “he should not have talked to a depressed person that way” i luv you winry okay i’ll stop.

7. This isn’t so much problematic as “could use improvement” but as much as I LOVED the lady relationships we were given and felt they were positive and progressive and major, there could have stood to be more screentime for them, making them as prominent as Ed and Ling or whatever. Could have also used some sisters to go with all the bros.

8. I acknowledge that with the general trend in fiction, it’s a bit tiring that a lot of the ladies were really tied to the men in their lives. However, they still had agency and character arcs not solely about men (or even majorly about men) and other priorities, all the men had significant women in their lives too, and i feel there was a lot of subversion going on, so while it is open to criticism, it’s complex issue that people often get wrong imo and reduce to “she likes a dude and he’s important to her therefore she’s not feminist and has no agency!!!”

annnd those are the major points i can think of. Probably there’s a couple more, but. FMA is definitely not perf and i’ve discussed this multiple times, as much as i love it. Theee end.