Lunar Month > Anime > Fullmetal Alchemist > Differences in Adaptations
The stories of the manga and anime separate soon after the encounter with the homuculus Greed during the episodes 32-35, and weave vastly different tales. Father does not exist in the anime. His counterpart is a woman called Dante, a former lover of Hohenheim. Centuries ago, the two were masterful alchemists and perfected methods for making the Philosopher's Stone and a form of immortality in which they use others' bodies until they age. Hohenheim eventually fell in love with another and left Dante, taking with him the perfected Philosopher's Stone formula. Although Dante is still able to jump from body to body to cheat death over the centuries, she is able to spend less and less time in each body as it decays faster with each jump, and each jump causes the stone she possesses to lose its power over time. She uses the Homunculi to spur Edward and Alphonse, along with other Alchemists as desperate as they are, into creating another complete Philosopher's Stone for her.
Having heard of Scar's creation of the Philosopher's Stone, Edward saves the people from Lior from being sacrificed during the the creation of the stone, which is infused into Alphonse's metal body, making him the main focus of Dante's efforts ultimately leading to his being kidnapped. During the fights against the homunculi, Edward is killed by Envy, Alphonse uses the power of the Philosopher's Stone to heal Edward's body and to reattach his soul. After being revived, Edward risks his own life to bring back his brother in exchange. As a result, Edward ends up on the other side of the gate of alchemy, which turns out to be the Earth, while Alphonse recovers his original body. Determined to return with Alphonse, Edward becomes involved in rocketry research in the country of Transylvania, with the intention to use that technology to try and get back to his home world.
