Volume 0 is a term, used both officially and unofficially, to refer to certain releases related to the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. Despite the label implying as such, most of them do not actually precede the story of Volume 1 and are actually standalone material.
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Prototype[]
Main article: Fullmetal Alchemist: The Prototype
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Prototype is an early version of Chapter 1, which was drawn by Hiromu Arakawa in 2001 and published in the July issue of Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine in 2011 as a gift for fans to celebrate the one year anniversary of the end of the series.
Unlike the rest on this list, The Prototype has never been officially given a volume number, but is still sometimes referred to as "Volume 0" by fans anyway due to being the first piece of Fullmetal Alchemist manga created by Hiromu Arakawa.
The Journey Begins[]
Main article: The Journey Begins
The Journey Begins is a special bonus chapter which was given away to movie-goers of the first live action film. Due to being given the volume number of 0 and having no subtitle on the cover, it is sometimes referred to as 'Fullmetal Alchemist 0' or 'Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 0' in English.
Fullmetal Alchemist: 4-Panel Alchemania[]
Exclusive to the Chuang Yi edition of the manga, special first printings of Chuang Yi's Volume 12 included this small booklet as a bonus. Due to being included with Volume 12, it has no separate ISBN, but it was given the volume number of 0, making it the first official "Volume 0" ever released.
The first section of 4-Panel Alchemania is simply a collection of the various 4-Panel Omake, which were not included in Chuang Yi's manga releases. The second section includes all of the 4-Panel Omake which were exclusively made for the original Japanese DVDs of the 2003 anime, and is actually the first time these omake were released in English. The third section features all of the 'manga from the barnyard relay', which is described as follows: Why manga from the Barnyard Relay? Well, here in the Studio, Hiromu Arakawa Sensei has set a rule that anyone who uses the restroom (I.E: the assistants and even the sensei herself) has to draw in one panel of a 4-panel strip, to be continued by the next person and so on...y'know, just like a relay race! The fourth and final section (which is only 2 pages) is only referred to as "Bonus 4-Panel Sketches" in the table of contents, with no explanation for where the strips come from.
Its table of contents is as follows:
- Fullmetal '4-Panel' Alchemania
- Fullmetal Alchemist TV Series: DVD Bonus Manga
- Manga From the Barnyard Relay
- Bonus 4-Panel Sketches
Fullmetal Alchemist: Rough Collection[]
In Japan, a similar booklet was released titled Rough Sketch Collection (ラフ画集 Rafu Gashū) and was also given the volume number of 0. As with 4-Panel Alchemania, it has no ISBN
The western world wouldn't get anything similar until Viz released Fullmetal Alchemist: The Complete Four-Panel Comics, which came out significantly later, but unlike 4-Panel Alchemania, is much larger and also includes 4-Panel omake which which were made for Brotherhood. Unlike 4-Panel Alchemania and Rough Sketch Collection, this release was given no volume number.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Sketchpad[]
Similarly to 4-Panel Alchemania, Sketchpad is exclusive to the Chuang Yi edition of the manga, included with special first printings of Chuang Yi's Volume 14. Once again, it has no separate ISBN, but it was also given the volume number of 0 like 4-Panel Alchemania. In it are, according to its introduction page, all of the sketches drawn by Hiromu Arakawa while working on the manga. Each page also includes a comment from the author herself. It has no table of contents.