FMA Creator's New Manga Protagonist Is Way More Reckless Than Ed

Yomi no Tsugai throws its hero Yuru into the deep end, and his powers run out of control, showing how he differs from Fullmetal Alchemist's Ed.

Warning: contains spoilers for Yomi no Tsugai chapter 2!

The second chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa's new manga series Yomi no Tsugai has just been released, and it proves that her latest hero may not think things through quite as thoroughly as Edward Elric.

Yomi no Tsugai began serialization in December 2021, and its first chapter set up a world that was very different than that of Fullmetal Alchemist. A pair of twins, Yuru and Asa, were born hours apart in a small village, such that one was born at night and the other in the day. As a result, the sister Asa was kept imprisoned in the center of the village, as the villagers believed she would bring a curse upon them. Of course, everything changed wildly when the story's big twist occurred: helicopters and other modern technology arrive, led by another Asa, and begin slaughtering the villagers. The event triggers some latent ability within Yuru, and he manifests two creatures known as Tsugai that will obey his bidding, offering the chance to fight back against the invaders.

This new chapter confirms that the village was deliberately isolated from the outside world, shunning modern technology, although how long that's been the case is still unclear. There's also no answer as to why, but some villagers - such as Yuru's grandmother Yamaha - don't seem too surprised by this turn of events. Yuru's Tsugai emerged from a pair of guardian lion statues, and he recognizes them as "Sayuu," gods of the village. But, since he considers them gods, he doesn't feel it's right to give orders and just lets them run wild. Fortunately, that's enough to repel the attack, but that doesn't change the fact that Yuru has no idea what these beings are capable of.

Right now, the Tsugai seem most comparable to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure-style Stands in that they are unique, assigned to a particular person, and can't be seen by "normal" people. Mastering an ability like this usually takes time, and unlike most Stands, the Tsugai have personalities of their own, so giving them free rein is a risky move before getting to know that personality. While Yuru's tactics are successful, he's currently allowing the Tsugai to run the show, showing that as a hero, he has a huge amount of growing to do before he's using his powers responsibly.

The mysteries in Yomi no Tsugai are continuing to pile up, and with Yuru now in the outside world by chapter's end, the stage is set for the series' story to really begin. While it still has some familiar feeling to it, Yomi no Tsugai is already setting itself apart from Fullmetal Alchemist with the flaws of its protagonist, especially since it places its starring siblings on opposing sides instead of working together like Ed and Al.