Who Is General Hakuro In ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’? Your Guide To The ‘FMA’ Character You Probably Can’t Remember

Netflix’s dedication to becoming a prominent player in the world of anime just hit a substantial milestone this week with the premiere of the live action Fullmetal Alchemist movie. Directed by Fumihiko Sori and based on the original manga by Hiromu Arakawa, the movie puts a cool CGI twist on this story about alchemy, pain, and two dedicated brothers.

Anime is known for having obsessive fans, but Fullmetal Alchemist is a force in and of itself. The manga was originally released in 2001. In less than 20 years, the property has had a 27-volume arc, two drastically different anime adaptations, two animated feature-length movies, seven video games that have been released in Japan, and now one live-action movie. People love Fullmetal Alchemist, commonly called FMA, a lot. However, there’s a moment in this new adaptation that may have thrown even the most dedicated fans for a loop. Who exactly is General Hakuro, and why did he get such a large role in the Netflix adaptation?

Who is General Hakuro in the manga and anime?

Fullmetal Alchemist was made into an anime in 2003 and again in 2009. The 2003 version, called Fullmetal Alchemist, was being made while the manga was still being released, so the last half of the story differs greatly from the original manga. The 2009 anime, known as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, more closely follows Arakawa’s manga. There’s a very good reason why viewers likely don’t remember Hakuro, known as Halcrow in the 2003 anime — he played a very tiny part of a huge story.

Hakuro / Halcrow has the biggest arc in the 2003 anime. He was first rescued by Ed and Al on a train as part of an elaborate plan to get Halcrow to lower the age restriction to become a State Alchemist. Because of this scheme, Ed was able to take the State Alchemy Exam and become a member of the military. Later in the series, Ed and Al save the town of Reole from a manipulative church leader named Cornello. After the Elric brothers leave, Halcrow takes control of the city, but instead of letting the people of Reole run their own town, he causes civil unrest. The town eventually falls into a war-like state, which causes one of the Elric brothers’ friends, Rose, to be tortured, raped, and impregnated. He later tries to take control of the government from Führer Bradley, but fails. The last time the series shows him is when Halcrow is assigned to track down the runaway Elric brothers. It’s a testament to just how much happens in FMA that he is still considered a relatively minor character.

Hakuro has even less of a role in the manga and 2009 anime. Largely framed as Colonel Mustang’s manipulative and resentful rival, this version of Hakuro also experienced the train hijacking plot with the Elrics. However, he only really appears again to yell at Mustang for not finding Scar, the alchemist serial killer, fast enough and to later tell Führer Bradley about Mustang’s attempted coup.

Who is General Hakuro in the live action movie?

The movie’s version of Hakuro (Fumiyo Kohinata) is a mix between the deceptively smiling Führer Bradley and the manga’s version of the character. After seeming to assist and help Ed (Ryôsuke Yamada), Al (Atom Mizuishi), and Roy (Dean Fujioka), he appears toward the end of the movie to manipulate Shou Tucker (Yô Ôizumi) into explaining how to make an army of fake humans he can control.

In the manga and 2009 anime, this move was made by an even lesser known military officer, but the results were the same. All versions lead to an epic fight and a military officer being eaten by their creations.

Why was the character changed for the movie?

It likely just has to do with timing. Every episode of Fullmetal Alchemist feels like a fully fleshed out adventure that’s important to the larger story, and the shortest anime adaptation is 51 episodes long. It’s a dense plot. However, the film’s version of events seems to take a bit from both the 2003 anime and the original story. Shou Tucker, the warped alchemist who fused together his own daughter and dog to pass an exam, only reappears to explain the origin of the Philosopher’s Stone to Ed in the 2003 anime. In the movie, Ed and Tucker have a heated exchange before Tucker tries to kill Ed and is murdered by Lust. The anime version of events is way more disturbing as it tends to be. Desperate to turn his daughter back into a human, this version of Tucker accidentally turns himself into a chimera in the process. Instead of trying to kill Ed, he tries to trick him into making a Philosopher’s Stone by sacrificing dozens of people’s lives.

In the manga and the 2009 version, most of the same notes of the Prison 5 arc still stand, but Tucker isn’t involved in creating the Mannequin Soldiers. Likewise, the manga and 2009 anime versions of the story are way more complicated than the live-action movie. Originally these soldiers were resurrected to fight an uprising going on in the city. Fullmetal Alchemist is a dense franchise.

This is speculation, but Hakuro’s role was likely expanded so the movie could cut out a lot of the civil war plot lines and gloss over Tucker’s story. Still, seeing that Tucker chimera in live action would have been super creepy.

Who is the actor playing General Hakuro?

That would be Fumiyo Kohinata. The Japanese actor has been in such films as Outrage, Beyond Outrage, and Audition.

Stream Fullmetal Alchemist (2017) on Netflix