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In multiple fanarts and fanfic websites of Full Metal Alchemist, I have seen mentions of the "503 day". Here's an example:

Edward & Winry 503

I did read and watch Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and I do not remember any mention of such a date. It does not match with the date Ed engraved into his State Alchemist Pocket Watch either.

What does the "503 day" refer to?

Glorfindel
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Ikaros
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  • 503 is [Service unavailable](https://httpstatuses.com/503), as most of us have seen in almost any website time to time. – h22 Sep 18 '17 at 19:56
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    @h22 I don't think this have any sense in this particular context, thought – Ikaros Sep 19 '17 at 07:22
  • This is exactly that I think about when I see the number. I have never seen this number in any other context, and this is one of the two most common error codes, other being 404 (not found). While lots of them defined, others are rare (200 is Ok). But I agree might be just by chance. – h22 Sep 19 '17 at 08:10

1 Answers1

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503 day is supposed to be the 3rd of May (5/03), which is the Edward x Winry day, or Edwin day in short.

There are two reasons for this coming into existence.

First, there's a jeans brand called Edwin and one of their logos contains the number 503.

enter image description here

Second, when Winry goes to Central City she's in room 503 of the hotel.

Gorzius
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    Out of curiosity, do you know where/when did this date start becoming a thing? – Ikaros Sep 18 '17 at 13:18
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    @Ikaros I haven't found who and when used it first. But as I was reading around people were saying the author liked this brand of jeans and he put the room number into the series as something like a "confirmation". I know Winry was staying in Central City around chapter 45 I think, meaning this "day 503" thing is quite old. The oldest submission I found with this tag on deviantart is from is 2005. – Gorzius Sep 18 '17 at 15:33