Her self-portrait is usually that of a bespectacled cow, as she was born and raised in a dairy farm with three older sisters and a younger brother. Arakawa started out as Etou Hiroyuki's assistant writer for Mahoujin Guru Guru and a friend of Shakugan no Shana author Yashichiro Takahashi. Arakawa's career started with a work titled STRAY DOG, but she is best known for creating the Fullmetal Alchemist world and manga. The author is friends with Akira Segami.
Due to a lack of real publicity photos of Arakawa, a great sum of her fanbase has no idea what she really looks like, even to this day. There are some scarce pictures of the real Arakawa in the web, but they are very low in quality and are rarely used as reference. Many fans have mistaken photos of Romi Park, Edward Elric's seiyuu, as photos of Arakawa, because of the set-up in one particular image in which Romi Park poses as a mangaka. Romi Park is known for representing Arakawa in public appearances, in which Arakawa is not able to attend.
Awards:
• 1999: 9th 21st Century Enix Award for "Stray Dog"
• 2003: 49th Shogakukan Manga Award, Shōnen category for "Fullmetal Alchemist"
• 2011: 15th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, "New Artist Prize" category.
• 2011: 42nd Seiun Award, "Best Science Fiction Comic" category for "Fullmetal Alchemist"
• 2012: 5th Manga Taishō Award for "Silver Spoon"
• 2012: 58th Shogakukan Manga Award, Shōnen category for "Silver Spoon"
• 2013: 1st Contents Award of Japan Food Culture Grand Prize for "Silver Spoon"
• 2023: 1st Rakuten Kobo's E-Book Manga Award, "I Want to Read it Now! Featured Manga" category for "Yomi no Tsugai"
• 2023: 7th Tsutaya Comic Award for "Yomi no Tsugai"
