In researching this volume, I interviewed veterans who had been at the front during World War II. I read countless books, examined film footage, and listened to many detailed and intense stories firsthand, but the one comment that affected me the most came from a former soldier who lowered his gaze to the tabletop and said, โI never watch war movies.
Hiromu ArakawaRoy: "Looks like it's starting to rain" Riza: "But..It's not raining..." Roy: "Yes it is. This is the rain.
Hiromu ArakawaSo that the new generation that will be born can enjoy happiness. To pay the cost we will have to shoulder corpses and cross a river of blood (Riza Hawkeye -- Fullmetal Alchemist)
Hiromu ArakawaTruth is stranger than fiction," as the old saying goes. When I watch a documentary, I can't help crying and then I think to myself, "Fiction can't compete with this." But when I mentioned this to a veteran manga artist friend of mine he said that "fiction brings salvation to characters in stories that would otherwise have no salvation at all." His words strengthened the conviction of my manga spirit.
Hiromu Arakawa