Origin
Creation
Lan Fan (?????, Ranfan) is a supporting character of the Fullmetal Alchemist series that was created by Hiromu Arakawa. The series first began serialization in Enix’s (later known as Square Enix after 2003) Monthly Shonen Gangan on August 2001. She would later appear in the Stranger from Xing Arc that began Volume 8.
Her first appearance was in Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 8 CH. 32 “Emissary From the East“, which was originally published on Jul. 22, 2004.
The name Lan Fan means cold rice in Cantonese/Chinese.
Character Evolution
Major Story Arcs
Stranger from Xing Arc
Powers & Abilities
Martial Arts
Lan Fan is a trained fighter in martial-arts. This training has been passed down through her family, as protectors of Prince Ling Yao.
Presence Sense
As part of Lan Fan’s combat training, she has also been taught how to sense the life presence of those around her. With this ability, she has a greater advantage in fighting an opponent in darkness. This can also be used to sense the presence of the Homunculs, who have a darker feel. She can even identify Envy in the shape of other people or animals.
Weapons & Equipment
Kunai
The kunai is a special form of a throwing knife that has an extended handle built off of the blade. This allows it to be held for hand-to-hand combat.
Explosives
Lan Fan uses an assortment of handmade bombs that she uses to fight.
Automail
After Lan Fan sacrificed her own damaged arm to escape King Bradley’s pursuit, she went to find an automail engineer to create a new arm for her. The creator of her automail arm is unkown, but it was created with incredibly offensive abilities. Unique to her arm is a hidden blade inside the forearm section that ejects out from the elbow section.
Other Media
Anime
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009)
The Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood animated series is the second anime adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s original manga. However, the series was only known in Japan as simply Fullmetal Alchemist (? ?????, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi). The “Brotherhood” subtitle was only added on for the Western audience to better differentiate it from the first 2003 series. FMA: Brotherhood was designed from its inception to be the true animated adaption of Arakawa’s work. It was even set to end only a month after the final chapter of the manga was originally released in June 2010. It’s produced by BONES and first began airing in April 5, 2009.
Lan Fan’s first anime appearance was in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 15 “The Envoy From the East“, which aired on July 12, 2009. Her character in the Japanese series is voiced by Nana Mizuki, and the U.S. dub produced by FUNimation is done by Trina Nishimura.