This is an entry in a larger series that I am working on called Blogging Brotherhood. To understand the premise of these entries, please read the intro here.
Episode Seven: Hidden Truths
The Elric brothers arrive at the Central library only to find out that the entire building has been burned down, erasing any trace of the information provided by Marcoh, until a young ex library employee is able to supply them with the text thanks to an exceptional memory. The boys work to decode Marcoh's notes and soon come to a monstrous realization regarding the creation of the Philosopher's Stone.I've come to the conclusion that part of the goal of Brotherhood was to streamline the plot so that it was both more concise and easier to follow. For whatever reason, it's much easier to keep track of what's going on and who everyone is than it was in the original. They're not spending too much time on characters that aren't that important to the plot or carrying us off into some mini-arc spanning two or three episodes. Everything is condensed. Based on the preview for the next episode, they're not even bothering to give Ed and Al a run-in with that serial killer before sticking him into the story as one of the sentient armor guards. This is a good choice, in my opinion, even though that particular episode did say some poignant things about people and human nature and pushed Ed to some serious limits (not to mention the actor voicing the killer did such a fantastic job).
While I initially thought the rushing through plot points was going to be a bit chaotic, I'm finding it to be a lot better in the long run. The original liked to spend several episodes leading to a moment or revelation, where as Brotherhood is like--BANG plot point introduced, here are the consequences. That isn't to say that the original's approach was bad, but for me the faster pace helps keep me on top of everything. I have a tendency to forget certain elements of TV shows because I guess I don't pay enough attention, so getting rid of any distractions from the story is helpful. Nothing so far feels like filler.
This episode introduces us once more to the delightful Sheska, the hardcore bookworm with an eidetic memory. I'll be honest and say that her place in the story does kind of feel a bit...convenient, especially her ability to recall every book she's ever read, but her character is so fun and adorable that in some ways I can look past it. And technically Al and Ed did have to decipher the codes that she copied down for them, so it's not like she's doing all the work.Still...an eidetic memory that impressive is hard to swallow.
One thing Brotherhood has lost in terms of character is the boys' relationship to Hughes. Ross and Brosh mention how close they are and how strange it is that such a high-ranking official would be on as cordial terms with the two boys as he is. I mentioned in a previous entry that they've apparently bypassed the whole "Ed and Al help deliver his wife's baby" arc, but I've seen images around the Internet that make me think they might be including that part of the story later on. They've already flopped a bunch of things around, so it's not like that would be an unusual change at this point. My issue is that it takes away a valuable amount of interaction between him and the boys and keeps his character out of the story. I wouldn't be so concerned if it wasn't for what happens to him further down the line, in which case having that emotional attachment is necessary for that event to make any impact, and you can't do that if he isn't in the story.
This is all, of course, guesswork on my part, since I have only a general idea of what's to come, but I liked Hughes a lot in the original enough that his absence is a bit disappointing.
Then again...I'm only on episode seven. Geez, it feels like I'm halfway through the story so far and I'm barely a fraction of the way done.
Anyway.
The little moments of humor in this episode are great. Some people may find the outrageous and goofy expressions anime is notorious for to be off-putting, but I freaking love 'em. Al's shocked/nervous expression is fantastic, even though he is just a suit of armor and technically shouldn't be able to change his face at all.
I love how they draw him with that...horn...thing on the top of his helmet sticking into the table and no one says anything about it.
Side note: Is it just me or is it a lot clearer that the main ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone is human lives? I felt like that was something it took forever to state outright in the original. Man, I'm getting to be really grateful for this new fast pace.
They're still keeping the minor plot point about Ed having something to say to Al and not getting to finish it in tact. I hope it's paid off a lot better here than in the original where they spend like, TWENTY EPISODES building up the suspense and it turns out that he only wanted to ask Al if he hated him. I'll concede that it was an emotional moment, but come on. Twenty episodes and that's all you've got? Lame. That's something that annoys me, and it happens in all forms of media. For all of the tension and suspense they build up with it, the pay off is rarely ever worth the wait.
Episode Eight: The Fifth Laboratory
Ed and Al are forced to fight two sentient armored guards who protect the suspicious Fifth Laboratory from trespassers.Ahhhh so they ARE still keeping the "Al is afraid he was never a human" subplot. Cool beans.
I have to say, one thing I didn't notice in the original that is evident here is how much everyone talks in these fights. Not the action overall, but the showdowns between the two different sentient armor guards. I swear, #44 runs his mouth more than he does his legs. I don't know how Ed was exhausted--maybe mentally, but physically? Nah.
Despite that, I like the way they tweaked the presentation of Barry The Chopper's history. The minimalistic red-on-black illustrations were neat, and I think they make an even greater impact than having Winry captured and almost killed by him. At least in some regards. The simplistic retelling lets the audience put their own fleshed out image in their head which, like every good horror movie knows, is ten times worse than anything they could put on the screen. It's a little unfortunate that #44 (and his brother) don't get as much time with Ed as they did before. Even though he said a lot, he never hit that point where he could compare the relationship he had with his brother to Ed and Al. That was a nice touch in FMA and here it's kind of shoved to the side in favor of blowing the building up and shuffling him and the other guy off of the screen.
The twistedness of the Homunculus is coming out in full force. I always got the impression that Lust was in this entire elaborate scheme only because she wanted to be human and had complete disinterest in the overall plan to get her to that point. Here, she's a damn psycho along with Envy and wrapped up in each aspect of the plan (whatever that is). Something about the voice work on both of them feels more polished, too. I like the scratchy voice that Envy has. It's obviously voiced by a woman, but from what I can gather it was designed to be androgynous. Not that it stopped me from assuming Envy was female because of the voice actor, but whatever. In the scheme of things I don't think its gender is all that important.
I'm also interested to see what they mean by Ed being "a valuable resource" and an important sacrifice. Given that I'm sure a large portion of their plan is similar to the one from FMA, I have a general idea, but they seem to be emphasizing his importance here far more than they did before. Not to mention that it's pretty obvious who the Homunculus' "father" is, so Ed's value might have something to do with that.
Oh, and Hughes' conversation with Mustang over the phone was both funny and interesting. I like how they get so much humor out of his obsession with his kid, but they also make it clear that Hughes it not an idiot--he knows what he's doing and both he and Roy have a strong enough relationship that he can be a goofball every now and then while still getting down to business.
Best line of the episode, though?
"Major Armstrong's gonna take his shirt off again and yell at us some more!"
I just. Like. What. That's so great.
Ross and Bosh were kind of bumbling in the original as well, but they were endearing characters and I like having them around.
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