FMA and Restorative Justice
One thing I’ve been obessed with thinking about is how the concept of “equivalent exchange” pertains to Roy and Riza’s character arcs.
Riza mentions how her and Roy are working towards dismanteling the power structure of the Amestrian government and reconfiguring it into a democracy, part of which includes her and Roy facing punishment for the war crimes that comittted in Ishval. This new government, because it is a “just” government, will see them as murders. And what’s not included but implied is that Riza believes she and Roy deserve the death sentence for their crimes. We even see this implication mulitple times in Riza’s arc- when Lust shows up and Riza cries to Alphonse to leave her because she believes in a world without Roy, she deserves death. In “Beyond the Inferno” she echos this sentiment.
Part of me believes that this is not just simply because of their bond. Yes, Riza doesn’t want to live without Roy. But she also doesn’t see her life as one that is worth living (at least for the most part), and her main objective, the main reason she hasn’t ended things, is because she justice to be sereved to her and Roy.
I’ve seen and heard people argue that Roy and Riza do deserve the death penatly for their crimes. But is that really what Hiromu Arakawa is trying to tell us? The story starts with equivalent exchange, but does it end with equivalent exchange?
No, it doesn’t. Alphonse mentions the new concept that him and Ed are trying to impliment- the “equivalent plus one” type of exchange. And really, what value would Roy and Riza’s deaths add? It would be equivalent exhange, but it wouldn’t be the “equivalent plus one” type of exchange.
The truth is that Roy and Riza have expressed the desire to recostruct Ishval, which is what the series ends with them doing. While they have comitted atrocities, while they have killed, if they die, there is nothing they can put back into the world. There is no more good they can do, and their world is in desperate need of the good that each of them provide.
Even when Roy is injured after his fight with Lust, even when Riza says she’ll end her life without him, Roy never wants to see that happen to Riza. He chides her and enforces the belief that Riza can’t ever give into that sort of despair. The sort of despair that maintains the philosphy of “dying for someone”. Because what narrative does Arakawa really push? She pushes the narrative that living for someone is more powerful of the two.
And that’s exactly I think she tries to push with Roy and Riza. Dying for their crimes is less powerful than living for the people they killed. Restorative justice enforces this concept. It provides emphasis on accountability- punishment can only go so far when it comes to healing. True healing comes from empathy, community building efforts, supporting the victims, and cultural competence. And I really believe that’s what Roy and Riza ultimately end up doing.
