Just thought I'd clear something up

[crow-kun]

I’ve been reading a lot about how people keep saying (the only one I remember at the time is something said in article of Answerman on animenewsnetwork) that the treatment of the Ishvalans and the Ishval War are based/inspired by things about the Iraq war and that couldn't be farther from the truth. You see Arakawa used to live up in Hokkaido which is up north in Japan which is also where the Ainu people used to live and just like the people of Ishvala they were hunted down by the Japanese government and forced with the option of becoming citizens of the nation of Japan or be whipped out (fact by some degree). Though the Ishvalans weren’t given the option of becoming part of the nation of they were just meant to all be erased off the face of the earth.

Here is a nice little link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people)

[LostCause]

I was actually wondering about that myself, I thought it might be based on jipsies(sp?)
since it was set in 'europe'.
so, appreciate the info.

[Charred Knight]

The Ishvalans massacre is obviously not based off of the situation in Iraq because FMA was created in 2001, though the tatics of the Ishvalans guerrilla fighters where inspired by the middle east conflict with Palestine and Isreal. Just change the targets from innocent civilians to the Amestrian army.

Also its based off of the Holocausts

[Rydis]

if anything, I just learned it was ishvavla when ive been calling it ishbala. Was it changed it dub, or is it ishvala in the dub and my hearing just sucks?

[Charred Knight]

if anything, I just learned it was ishvavla when ive been calling it ishbala. Was it changed it dub, or is it ishvala in the dub and my hearing just sucks?

In the manga Arakawa has shown a map with Ishval on it, in Japan you can substitute a v with a b.

[crow-kun]

Also its based off of the Holocausts

Arakawa said so herself what are you talking about.

[Ninja337]

I believe Ishval symbolized a generic type of Arab country, like "Palestine", Egypt or the Ottoman Empire. I don't think he was making a statement on Iraq or the Arab-Israeli Conflict, since Amestris is supposed to run parralel to England during WWII (or so I would guess, that is where Ed transported after he passed to the other side), and before WWII, Zionism did not fully exist yet. Any of the Arab countries that existed during English or French occupation of the Arab world could be a logical paralel to Ishval, if you paralel Amestris to Enland. Egypt works, so does Palestine.

[crow-kun]

What you believe and what is fact are two separate things. However the Ishval religion is made of of a couple of existing religions.

[Talon]

What you believe and what is fact are two separate things. However the Ishval religion is made of of a couple of existing religions.
I'll bet you anything that if you went up to Arakawa herself and asked her if the Ishvalans were based only on what she witnessed in Hokkaido, she would blatantly deny it. Now lets stop trying to make people feel like idiots shall we? kthxbai ^_^

[Zero Interrupt]

Yeah, I always imagined them to be a combination of different oppressed peoples, like the Jews, the Roma, or any other downtrodden group throughout history. Looking at the culture and religion of the Ishbalans, to me they look closer to Romani than anything else, especially when you see the associations made in the movie.

[Aquastorm]

Since it's a parallel world, it Ishval might be what would be called "Their Jewish Race" and what is happening is that Hitler (or King Bradley for FMA-world) needed an excuse to start something to meet their goal.