Yesterday I saw a list that was about anime characters who should have been together. Well, it was a video list, but that’s not the thing here. I clicked on this video out of curiosity and that’s what happened.
When I watched the list, I was wondering is it possible to see my favorite Roy and Riza in this list. After the 2-nd place, I didn’t think they’ll be on this list for sure, but then it happened.
At the end of the video the first place was taken by my favorite ship ROYAI! I didn’t believe at first. I didn’t think there would be so many people not just to like them, but to want them to be together.
But after all of this, I started asking myself this: “If the fans really want Roy and Riza to be together that badly, does that mean the fans have some doubts about RoyAi been canon?”
This may sound like a simple question, but it’s actually an interesting topic, at least for me.
First of all, what could make a fan feeling unsure about the word “canon” in one ship? Maybe if the ship is not the traditional love story. We are used to believe that if there are obviously shared feelings, that means these characters would definitely be a couple. But let’s not live in fantasies. The love is something pretty complicated to deal with. The traditional image of a couple is not the big picture.
In my last post I said how FMA is an anime, that destroys a lot of stereotypes about how the things “should” be. The love is not an exception here. The relationship between the Flame Alchemist and the Hawk’s eye is pretty difficult to be explained.
Let’s start with the beginning of their relationship. The years when Roy studied flame alchemy. We don’t have almost any information about this period, but we can assume, that the young Roy and Riza were at least friends. Maybe there were some signs of love back then, but I don’t think master Hawkeye would allow such a thing to happen.
After the master’s death, we have this precious scene of Roy and Riza talking to each other and I think it was obvious that they had feelings for each other for maybe years.
Then we have the Ishvalan war of extermination. This war gave them a lot of burden. They did kill a lot of people and that affected them very deeply. All of the pain and regrets, all of their sins gave them a reason. A reason to not just continue living, but to change their country and to work together for this goal.
Mustang and Hawkeye started to work together after a few months after the end of the war, I assume. Ever since then, he is claiming the military ranks, she’s making sure he’ll succeed.
I’m not mentioning a certain moments, cause we’ve all seen them and we know their meanings. We all know that they do love each other deeply enough. But why is hard for sometimes to consider them as canon?
I think the reason for this is in the way they’re both treating their goal. At most of the time, the Colonel and the Lieutenant are keeping their relationship professional in front of eveyone. That’s cause of the frat laws in the military, but I think there might be and another reason. Both Roy and Riza see their mission for rebuilding Amestris as their duty not just to all of the amestrians and Ishvalans, but to the two of them as well. They are ready to trow away their own happiness for this. They are even insisting of been treated as a war criminals after Amestris became democratic. As Edward said to Riza, that’s like committing suicide, but that doesn’t stop the king and the queen from throwing everything for the sake of their country.
The path Roy and Riza chose is not a simple one. In the military is hard to find someone you can trust enough, so those two are having each other to rely on. If one of them dies, the other one would not be able to continue what they’ve started. That made them closer, but most importantly, they need each other. Not that much in the romantic way, but to pay back for what they’ve done.
One of the things about Mustang and Hawkeye’s relationship is that it’s created with a lot of principles, duties, selflessness and respect. It’s like a perfect combination of sadness and regrets, mixed with a lot of hope for the brighter future, put into a deep connection between two amazing characters. No matter how many other writers or mangakas would try to create that kind of relationship, there’s no way they’ll do anything like Arakawa’s work.
I think that the reason some people are not sure if RoyAi is canon is cause this ship didn’t have his “happily ever after” and maybe they would never have it, even that they deserve it. There’s actually no need for them to be married and have kids, so we can know they love each other and those feelings are shared. We just need to know, that they are still by each others side and for me that’s completely enough to know THEY ARE CANON.
Thank you for reading my post and have a nice day people.