Blogging Brotherhood: Episodes 63-64

Episode Sixty-Three: The Other Side of the Gateway

"When the battle ends, the one known as Father meets his final fate beyond the Gateway. When the one known as Fullmetal enters the sacred space, he finds only the promise of a new beginning."

Good grief a lot of things happen in this episode, as I would hope to be the case since it's, you know, the ending.

First up is the "death" of Greed. As much as I did start to grow attached to his character, I had a pretty good sense that Greed was going to die or disappear or whatever it is that Homunculi technically do. Since they're more abstract concepts than real beings, I imagine he disintegrates and that's more or less the end of him.

I appreciated the growth that Ling gave Greed even in the short amount of time that we got to see them interact. Unlike everyone else, Ling was able to see through a lot of Greed's facade. He knew that what Greed wanted wasn't the world; it was something as simple as friends that cared about him. I mentioned in my last post that I wasn't sure how I felt about that being the case, since it seems awfully simplistic, and I still stand by that. I don't think it's plausible that all of his problems would be solved with the realization that he had what he wanted all along. By the same token, it's not like it came out of nowhere. Ling demonstrated to Greed on more than one occasion what it was like to unconditionally love and protect those close to him even if that meant putting his own life in danger. Which is what Greed does: he gives his life for the sake of Ling and, well, everyone else.

The image of Father pulling the essence of Greed out of his body and having him float away was really...strange. It isn't the strangest thing on this show by a long shot, but still. I found it to be more on the silly side than the demented or unsettling, which is what Brotherhood went for more often than not. He looks like a deflated balloon or some kind of whoopee cushion:

A slightly less patronizing design might have worked better.

Now. Father's death.

I do like the weird effect they give his voice once the Stone is destroyed and he's crumbling in front of everyone. It sounds like...I don't know how to word it, a robot if it had lung cancer? It's cool. There's a very pained and weak impression that it gives off. The image of those arms pulling him into a ball and disappearing was neat, too. I imagine it must be pretty freaky to have yourself pulled inward rather than just exploding into nothing, which is more the traditional route to take, so props to Arakawa & Co for taking less predictable approach.

As for what happens with him and The Truth, I have some issues. There are a lot of people who pitied this little dustball, the dwarf in the flask, but me? Nah. I'm not convinced that this creature was worth pitying. The problem I have with his conversation with The Truth is that he throws out all of these excuses, all of these reasons for why he decided to destroy an entire civilization; create beings that murdered dozens of people by their own hands; and almost succeed in obliterating another civilization...and it makes no sense to me. I'm not buying the notion that he did it to be free or to gain knowledge and achieve perfection. His character was far too arrogant and egotistical for that, both in perspective towards human lives and his lust for power. They try and garner sympathy for him by saying all he wanted was to be free and his pride was a byproduct of his desire. Really? I don't think so. He understands that freedom means being able to exist outside of his flask. How he then connects that to wiping out millions of people, viewing himself as greater than humans, and having godlike power, I have no idea. The way they structured Father's character throughout the show wasn't reflective of that base, human desire to be free. Not the way I see it, at least.

Of course, if I had to take a guess based on the opening scene, I'd say that he uses the excuse of freedom because of his origins: He came from Hohenheim. That's where things are interesting to me, because it's clear that Hohenheim registered emotionally what Father was saying as his body was sucked into The Truth. Hohenheim existed as a slave and that opening scene has the dwarf asking if he desired freedom from his bondage. Since the dwarf came from his blood, the conclusion you can draw from it is that the dwarf desired freedom because Hohenheim also desired freedom. And on some level, the things that the dwarf did were reflective of Hohenheim's own deep, dark desires as well.

I don't know. The show seems to want to associate power with freedom, and while I understand how those two things could potentially be linked...I'm not buying it 100%.

Although The Truth condemning the dwarf in the flask for his arrogance ties nicely into what happens with Ed and Al. This was the part of the conclusion that I was on board with. As I have mentioned time and time again, one of the recurring themes of this show is family and community. Nobody--not a single person--in this entire series does anything on their own. If they attempt to do so, they fail. Even the villain, who mocked the concept of community, creates his own makeshift family using his sins. Despite his desire to extract the weaknesses of humanity from within him, he isn't able to escape his very human roots and that need for support. Family and relationships are where humans shine. It's where they get their strength and their power beyond anything else. You can even see that in Mustang's conversation with Hughes when he tells him about his goal to become Fuhrer. He wants to create a pay-it-forward kind of society, where people protect those beneath them and in turn those people protect the ones beneath them. The small, insignificant act of a human can lead to greater, more substantial achievements when done in numbers.

Again, I would like to point out the size of this cast. And this isn't even everyone.

And Ed realizes it. He understands that people, while being incredibly weak and helpless, also possess an incredible amount of power when they work together. It's important to be humble and to recognize the strength that others give you. He doesn't need alchemy to be strong or complete; he already is with the family he's built around him over the course of the show. Once he sees that, he's more than willing to give alchemy up for the sake of his brother's body and life.

Truth's reaction to his decision is fantastic, too. It's so overjoyed that someone finally got it right that it doesn't even care that it's been outsmarted.

What's weird about this ending is that Avatar:The Last Airbender did something similar. Aang refused for the duration of the show to take any life, no matter whose it was (a lot like Ed and Al). When he faced the Fire Lord he--spoilers--took away his fire bending rather than his life. Here, Ed gives up his alchemy in order to gain back Al. In either case, both protagonists managed to avoid death by sacrificing something else. Not that ATLA operates on the concept of equivalent exchange, but it was still a cool connection.

And also kind of eerie when you realize that ATLA wrapped up about a year before Brotherhood even started airing in Japan (the manga ended a little later, in 2010).

Backing up a bit, though, the scene where Hohenheim offers up the Philosopher's Stone in his body to retrieve Al was moving. Edward refuses, but it's not so much because it's his father that wants to do it. Despite everything, Edward is still against using anyone but himself to restore Al's body, since the two of them were the ones responsible for their situation in the first place. He says as much to Hohenheim. Hohenheim's response to it, though, is heartbreaking, as he basically lays out one big apology for everything that he's done and put his sons through; how he loves both of them and as Al's father he wants to sacrifice himself for the sake of his child. Which, of course, prompts Ed to burst into tears and address him as "father" for the first--and only--time in the show. That was a great moment.

Hohenheim has a nice final scene as well. After everything he's been through, I was glad he got to live out the remainder of his, uh, hours sitting by Trisha's grave. It would've been better if there was some sort of scene that showed him reuniting with her in whatever constitutes this universe's afterlife, but I suppose that isn't necessary for the scene itself to work.

Episode Sixty-Four: Journey's End

"As one shared journey ends, many journeys begin. Those most touched by the conflict which surrounded the Philosopher’s Stone now go their separate ways. One thing is certain: they will meet again."

And so I've come, at last, to the end.

I'll save the gushing for a potential later post, but I will say for now that it has been an amazing journey for me. I'm glad I gave myself the experience and the writing practice, even if consistency wasn't something I nailed. Sixty-four episodes of a show is a lot to blog, believe it or not, and it's kind of a miracle that I didn't give up half-way or earlier.

As for the final episode...well...I may make a few people upset. This was far, far from a "bad" episode (and I don't think any of Brotherhood could really fall into the category of "bad"), but I do have some issues. Most of them are personal preference. All things considered, this final episode had a lot to accomplish in twenty-four minutes and they do manage to cover all the bases in that brief amount of time. Do I think they trip over certain aspects to do it? Yeah, I do.

I'm going to start off by addressing one of the most frequently debated elements of this ending: The restoration of Roy's eyesight. I was of the opinion that, based on the way everything else went in this show, Roy was going to be stuck without his eyesight for the rest of his life. No one else really caught a break in that department, save for Ed and Al, and even Ed had to let go of the chance to have two real legs again. The only way he bypassed that reality was through a Philosper's Stone, something that has consistently been condemned throughout the series as evil, no matter how any times the heroes are tempted to use it. The thought, then, is that Mustang is going against the entire point of the series by choosing to use the Philsopher's Stone for his own benefit.

There are a couple of reasons why I think this is not as inconsistent or nonsensical as people claim:

• Al does give in and use a Stone when he's facing Pride and Kimblee. Heinkel insists that the people inside the stone would want to take down Pride as much as Al did, so he justified the use in that regard. His action was done for the sake of the greater good.
• Mustang's decision to restore his eyesight was done for a similar reason as Al--for a greater goal. He's willing to devote his life to restoring the peace between Amestris and Ishval instead of claiming the eyesight back and giving no return on investment, so to speak.
• Mustang, unlike Al or Ed or Izumi, didn't willingly perform human transmutation. This goes back to the argument about why his eyes weren't taken out of his head and I believe a lot of the leniency has to do with the fact that Mustang was forced to do something he had no desire to do. Screwing him over for rest of his life--especially amidst the overwhelmingly positive resolution to everything else--for a decision he didn't make of his own volition looks a little, uh, shitty. 
• I think a lot of it has as much to do with Marcoh as it does Mustang. Marcoh asked Mustang to allow him to heal his eyesight as a favor. It was a way for him to make some kind of amends with Ishval, even if it was a flimsy way of doing it. I'm not so sure Mustang would have said yes unless Marcoh specifically asked him to do it for his sake.

Do I think it would have been better and more effective to leave him blind? I do. There was a lot more growth that Mustang could have experienced as he dealt with his blindness (though he was at least willing to accept his fate). Do I understand that there are other valid reasons why he gained it back? Yes, I do.

As far as Scar goes, I feel like they did a decent enough job wrapping up his end of the story. He makes the decision to help Amestris mend their relationship with Ishval not because he cares about Amestris, but because he believes it's what his brother would have wanted; it gives him a new purpose in life. That kind of story in and of itself would be enough for its own manga, so the snippet they give at the end was okay. Not the best, but not the worst.

We get a quick look at what happened to Pride as well. I wasn't sure what his status would be--if he was going to remain in that weird fetus stage or what--and they show him being raised by Mrs. Bradley as her son. He's still a Homunculus, so they're watching out for his behavior, but Mrs. Bradley seems convinced that raising him to be loving and kind and compassionate will prevent his inner darkness from surfacing. It brings up the whole nature vs. nurture argument which felt like it came out of left field because I don't think that particular theme popped up much in this show at all.

One of my favorite moments was when Ling confronted May about about the Philosopher's Stone and said he had won the race to find immortality. Setting aside the fact that I had all but forgotten that was still a thing, I thought it was sweet that he was so willing to protect and defend her clan. It fits his character and speaks to his growth at the same time. May's face when she realizes what he's done is hilarious, too:

I like how, even though they've spent the last several years of their lives running around fighting, researching, studying, and doing everything they can to get their bodies back, Al and Ed are still very much knowledge-seekers and the desire to use alchemy and science to help people is still bouncing off of whatever they do. They don't remain stagnant--they "keep moving forward," looking for proof of a new scientific theory, encouraging others to think big, and never forgetting what they went through and the people that have been lost along the way. Al takes time to visit Gracia and Elycia and makes a comment about Nina while having a conversation with them. They keep the memories of those who have died while continuing to look to the future. Ed and Al are not the kind of people to sit still, even when they have everything that they could want. They're thinkers, dreamers, and adventurers to their core. I'm glad the ending reflected that.

If I had one minor criticism with their characters, it's that Maxey Whitehead's voice sounds horribly out of place once Al is a little older. I realize that it wasn't practical to hire another actor to play him for one episode, but her voice is just not low enough to work for a sixteen year-old boy. It ends up being distracting.

On a positive note, the best scene in this episode, far and away, is when Ed and Al return to Resembool and greet Winry for the first time in months. I love that moment when Winry stops at the door, hears Al's voice, and then tepidly heads towards the front door, passing that picture of them as kids on the way. You can just imagine the thoughts that are going through her head. I do think it's kind of strange that she had to go through two doors in order to reach them, but that may have been so the buildup could be expanded. The music they play in the background is interesting: Its title is "Trisha's Lullaby," which seems like an odd choice for this particular moment, since it has nothing to do with Trisha at all. The piece shares a lot of similarities to "Lullaby of Resembool," namely the melody but with a chorus instead of instrumentals. Regardless of why they chose to use that one instead of the Resembool track, it's a beautiful accompaniment to an otherwise silent scene. When Winry sees them, starts crying, and then leaps into their arms is one of the best moments in the entire series.

Now here's where I might make some people upset. I have mentioned before, a long time ago at this point, that I loved the way they handled the romance between Edward and Winry in this series. It was never a focal point of the story, but it was a significant element, so I appreciated the way they gave it time to work itself out. For me, this last episode kind of...deflated all of my praise.

I'm not saying there had to a huge mess of fanfare for it. I was not expecting an elaborate speech from Ed or a gushing confession from Winry. However, I was expecting it to be addressed in some concrete form, and I don't think that ever happened. I don't mean their "ship status" was ambiguous; I mean that they glossed over it within the narrative, save for a few references from Ed and that final scene at the train station which, though the dialogue was cute and their intense level of awkwardness awfully realistic, felt flat. I couldn't tell if Ed was asking Winry to marry him or if it was just a declaration of love because their official "status" was never directly addressed.

Also, I'm not one of those people who lives for gooey romantic scenes at all, but a kiss would have been nice. Instead of hugging her at the train station, a goodbye kiss would have felt much more...complete. Even if it was a two-second peck. Something other than a hug would have sufficed. Because honestly, if I was in love with someone and they were heading off somewhere and wouldn't be around for a long time, I'd be a little miffed if all they did was hug me.

Just sayin.'

Although I totally called Al's romance with May like, twenty-one episodes back.

My last complaint has to do with the ending montage. Again, this is in large part personal preference, but I thought the use of photos to show where everyone is years later was...kind of a cop-out and a little lazy. I would have much preferred brief, silent clips of everyone doing all of those things in the photographs with the music playing in the background, ending with Ed & Company gathering together to take that final picture.

Oh, and WHO THOUGHT GIVING MUSTANG A MUSTACHE WAS A GOOD IDEA.

Ugh, just. No.

I'll close with a compliment: Edward's final speech was wonderful. It was kind of cheesy, I suppose, since it beats a rather elementary school lesson into your head, but GOSH DARNIT Vic says it with so much conviction that you can't help but love every word. I'm especially fond of the way they brought around the concept of "fullmetal" to mean strong in the heart, not just in the body. That was a nice touch.

Final Thoughts

One of the things I included in my About Me page was that my favorite television show of all time was Avatar: The Last Airbender. There are multiple reasons why I think show is a masterpiece of storytelling and animation (and not just on a kids' level), but one of the things I liked about it was that, despite it's age demographic, the show could appeal to anyone. You didn't have to be a twelve year-old boy to enjoy it. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is one of those shows that hits that same balance: It has a definite age bracket it's shooting for, but there's enough variety and universality that anyone can appreciate it. Brotherhood also comes the closest to matching the tone, themes, and premise of ATLA out of any show I've watched, which is probably one reason why it was so well-received in the States. This type of storytelling has a broad enough appeal that anyone can watch it, even those who stay away from anime with a ten-foot pole.

It isn't perfect. Like the original, there are places where the pace could have been better, characters better-realized, or plot holes that should have been addressed. The ending is hella satisfying but also kind of generic. Despite it's faults, though, this particular franchise addresses some heavy themes with a lot of skill and finesse, makes the characters relatable and sympathetic, and provides quality entertainment while making you think. Both the original series are moving, powerful, and lovingly crafted pieces of work that shouldn't be missed. 

And with that, I bid farewell to my Blogging Brotherhood series. It's been fun!

Blogging Brotherhood: Episodes 61 & 62

 

(Author's Note: So I'm apparently a massive idiot and didn't realize for the duration of this blogging series that "Homunculi" is, in fact, the proper plural for "Homunculus." My computer wasn't registering it as a word, so I decided to go with what the spell check options suggested, which was just "Homunculus." At this point, I shouldn't even bother, but I did go ahead and change it for these entries because it started to annoy me.)

Episode Sixty-One: He Who Would Swallow God 

"Millions of lifeless bodies litter the landscape of Amestris, and a being with the power to create suns is unleashed upon the world. Unless Hohenheim has something amazing up his sleeve, all is surely lost."

Buckle your seat-belts, kiddos, 'cause this entry is going to be long.

This episode decides to bypass the traditional opening in favor of an intro scene that's a flashback to Ed and Al as kids. We see that the sun and moon in this universe are viewed as male and female respectively, which is interesting, because according to the belief systems of a large amount of early cultures and religions the reverse was true: Sun deities were primarily feminine and moon deities masculine. In fact, it was more common to run into a sun goddess than it was a sun god, and those that were male often derived from a mother goddess. Hell, one of the major deities in Shinto (a religion widely practiced in Japan), Amaterasu, was a sun goddess. The one major exception to this pattern is (based on my 15-minute Google search) Greek mythology, where Apollo was the sun god and Artemis a goddess often connected to the moon.

So it's curious that Arakawa would opt for the historically less conventional anthropomorphic interpretation of the two. It reflects more of a Western mindset, as I don't think many people in North America or Europe would have been confused when Ed says that the sun is male and the moon is female. At least, I wasn't. I found it far more surprising that the reverse tended to be true, and part of that may be thanks to the onslaught of Greek/Roman mythology that we're exposed to during school. I have no clue how much they educate kids in Japan and other Eastern countries on it, but I can tell you that any high school graduate in America will know a lot more about Greek and Roman gods and goddesses than anything regarding Shintoism or Hinduism. There's also the fact that a large majority of early European traditions have the sun/male and moon/female dichotomy, which derived from Orphic and Gnostic philosophies.

What I found most interesting, though, is the idea that combining the two (like the eclipse is basically doing) produces the "perfect being." The merging of male and female is considered to be ideal and Ed suggests that it's supposed to be representative of God. I don't know about other religions, but I can say that Christianity follows that logic to a large extent. Man and woman are seen as part of God's overall being. They vary in their design and purpose, but they are both of equal value and importance because they hold all of the characteristics of God in two different ways. It's kind of like the duality of the lion and the lamb: God is equal parts lion and lamb, but the two are very much their own separate entity. God isn't masculine or feminine; we just choose to depict him as male since he came to the earth in the form of a man. Given that this story takes heavy influences from Christianity, this was a neat detail.

Then there's the concept of alchemy and power and how this world views God in general, which are all strongly rooted in Eastern philosophies and belief systems. Once Father has sucked in all of the power from the life force of the Amestrians, he basically says that he has become God. Except in this case, "God" isn't a deity or entity; it's energy. The energy that he collects from all of the Amestrians, what's left over from Xerxes, and powered by alchemy is what gives him his god-like status and abilities. If anything, the Philosopher's Stone is the god, as it's the manifestation of all that energy stored inside Father's body. Based on the previous episode, all of the energy from the people and the earth come together to form an organism that, on some level, could be considered a living being. Alchemy in Amestris is powered by tectonic energy in the ground while Xingese alkahestry comes from the energy of the earth or the "Dragon's pulse."

I guess you could throw a little bit of paganism in there if you want, with the ouroboros tattoos and transmutation circles.

On a less complex and theological note, Father's new "god-like" form is so shōnen it hurts:

Although to say he's the only blatantly shōnen element of this episode would be a serious understatement. For the most part, FMA sports a style unique enough that it doesn't often register as shōnen to viewers and is much easier to look at for those who have next to no experience in anime (and if any Western audiences saw Avatar: The Last Airbender, that show comes the closest to matching this type of style even though it was finished at least three years prior to Brotherhood's airing and still has a distinct Western identity). This episode, though, abandons that concept in several areas, most notably the fight scenes, which go from fluid and smooth to...well...this (skip to 4:08):

That isn't to say it looks bad. I happen to think it's impressive. It's just a deviation from the style the show's used up until this point and I imagine the reason for that is the emotional intensity of the scenes where it's applied. Both Scar and Bradley (and later during the final battle between Edward and Father) are at the end of their rope in this fight. Scar has to take Bradley out in order to activate the reverse transmutation circle and Bradley I'm sure is so done with all of the humans interfering with Father's plans and pissing him off.  It's also where Bradley, or Wrath, displays his traits the most openly: Everything he does here, including his yelling at Scar, is smothered in fierce anger and indignation.

Wrath continues his habit of ranting as he's fighting, but at least this time the things he says are in some form meaningful. He criticizes Scar and his use of alchemy; how it shows that he's turned his back on his God and done what he wanted to all along. He's trying to manipulate Scar's emotions and get him to fall back, landing a final blow with his statement that perhaps, while his people were being slaughtered right before his eyes, there was a time that Scar believed there was no god at all.

The irony of this, though, is that Scar does manage to kill him, and Scar is the one who spent the duration of the first season or two claiming he was acting on behalf of god. Scar, of all the characters, arguably has the greatest amount of wrath within himself. Even when he goes to activate the reverse transmutation circle, he says that he hasn't let go of his hatred and anger towards Amestris but is helping them anyway. I get the feeling that a lot of his decision is leaning on the fact that his brother was the one who discovered the issue with Amestris' alchemy, developed the reverse transmutation circle to fix it, and gave his brother his arms that were capable of reconstruction and deconstruction. Like his arms, Scar is a character who has both sides to him: He can destroy and he can create. It's up to him to decide which one he will let be the driving force in his life.

Wrath's final thoughts are some of the most thought-provoking. Of all the Homunculi, he's the one who's probably had to fight for his life the most. He fought to be Fuhrer, fought to maintain order in Amestris, and then fought to preserve his life in the end. He's the only Homunculus that can age and doesn't regenerate, making the task of staying alive infinitely harder for him as opposed to his "siblings" who are ageless and can heal themselves. His required perseverance and drive made him potentially view life as even more valuable, since he could very well lose it at any given moment. And perhaps, as much as he still seems bitter, his last words claiming that it was maybe a life worth dying for imply that he is filled with more than just wrath.

In regards to his wife, he says that she understood what it meant to be the wife of the Fuhrer. He picked for her reasons that are never specified, though Pride's conversation with Al several episodes back can offer a few possibilities. Whatever the reason, I suspect that she may have known or been aware on some level that her husband was not everything he claimed to be. If Bradley can be cool with Mustang, Al, Ed, and just about everyone else in the military knowing he's a Homunculus, I imagine his wife had at least an inkling that something was off and he wouldn't have made an attempt to hide it. 

This episode in general focuses a lot on the unraveling of the two remaining Homunculi, Pride being the other (minus Greed, who has his own end later on). Pride, in this case, is quite literally unraveling--the more he fights Edward, the more his skin begins to crumble and fall away. Like Wrath in his final moments, a lot of Pride's tell-tale characteristic of arrogance is stripped from him as his body deteriorates and he seeks to use Edward as a new body. Edward, meanwhile, gets into Pride's head by asking him why he serves a father who only uses him for his own gain. Pride tries to maintain his confidence by arguing that it shouldn't matter whether his father loves him or not; he's an immensely powerful Homunculus and is therefore better than any weak and lowly human.

And then we have by far the dumbest element of this episode, Kimblee's "return," and I'm not saying that because I still think Kimblee is a POS. This whole concept of him "haunting"--for lack of a better term--Pride is ridiculous. It looks dumb, sounds dumb, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Kimblee doesn't care about helping Edward, he just wants to mess with Pride by claiming that leaving his body for Edwards isn't indicative of pride--it's the opposite. The distraction gives Edward enough time to break free of Pride's grip on him and then...climb into...Pride's...body...and take out his Philosopher's Stone.

Oh yeah, that scene screams shōnen as well:

Pride's clear psychological damage is the most intriguing part of this entire showdown, especially the fact that one of the images that flashes in his "mind" is of Bradley and his wife. For someone who was so dedicated to Father, I think that image makes it clear who he considered to be his real family.

As a small note, Pride shrieks that Edward is "turning into a Philosopher's Stone" and "forcing himself inside me," which...kind of implies that Edward is psychologically raping him. And I find that disturbing. It's made worse by the fact that Pride's true form is...basically a fetus:

I can't possibly be the only person who noticed that.

As a final comment, we get to see the people of Xerxes take a stand against Father and use their life force from the Philosopher's Stones to strip him of his power taken from Amestris. Their voices were a little goofy, but charming nonetheless. It reminds the audience that, despite the fact that they don't have bodies, the people of Xerxes are still very much alive.

Episode Sixty-Two: A Fierce Counterattack

"A truly epic battle erupts when Edward, Mustang, Hawkeye, Greed, Izumi, and Armstrong attack the god-like Father. The odds are against the forces of good - until one brave boy makes a shocking sacrifice."

I have a confession to make: I laughed a lot more at this episode than I probably should have, and not at the parts that were meant to be funny (though I did laugh at those, too--most of them). 

There is a lot of screaming in this episode and a lot of fighting that is so completely over-the-top that I couldn't help but giggle at the intensity of it. I'm pretty sure that this is a standard trait of shōnen anime and manga, and after the chunks of it we've been getting in previous episodes, I have to give the show credit for at least being considerate enough to not throw it all in our face at once. Even so, I have to say that I think it takes away a lot of the emotion from this episode, in particular the last three or four minutes. This is one thing that the original has in its favor: It never resorted to these incredible amounts of bombastic energy that can, frankly, make everyone in the scene look completely insane. I get that what's happening is intense and serious and dramatic. You don't have to do this to Edward's face to convey it:

To me this almost felt like it was going to reach Dragonball Z levels of yelling and overdone action and while the charisma of that show is appealing to a large demographic of people, it's not something that I can swallow easily. I don't think FMA is that kind of show, in tone or overall content, and inserting that standard shōnen trait is distracting at best.

However I won't go so far as to say it obliterates my enjoyment of the climax. There are still plenty of solid moments--which I'll get to in a second--that keep it somewhat grounded and it will never not be awesome to watch Edward beat the absolute crap out of Father. 

Some highlights of it include:

• The fighting in regards to the alchemists. Izumi, Armstrong, and Mustang all pull their weight here and get a chance to showcase their abilities. The creature (dragon? dog? wolf?) in Mustang's fire was bad-ass, and he constructed that without having the luxury of seeing it. 
• Hawkeye screams "Kick his ass!" and it's beautiful.
• Greed's dumfounded expression when he sees Edward go to town on Father's face.
• Any hit that Edward lands on Father is so cathartic. 

Aside from that, we have the first chunk of this episode that deals with situating everyone for this climax: Olivier and Sig (for some reason) are kept behind as Olivier is wounded and can't fight. Everyone else--from Greed to Mustang to Lan-Fan and those in between--decide that they're going to help. I have to say, even though most of these characters end up side-lined for the showdown in general, it's nice that they were able to keep up with them at all. Our cast at this point is so big that I'm impressed they bothered to do it. Though I think keeping Olivier out of the fight is sort of a cop-out.

Mustang also makes a comment about how he's going to burn the Philosopher's Stone right out of Father, and I'm kind of thinking that he's had more than enough turns killing Homunculi. Let someone else shine, you attention whore.

Anyway.

I do like how a large amount of people, including Briggs soldiers and others on the side of the heroes, get in on the action. Everyone contributes to burning out Father's Philosopher's Stone, no matter how insignificant they may be. It reinforces the idea that nobody is accomplishing anything on their own; help comes in various different forms. And even though I want to complain that it's tedious watching a bunch of people shoot at an all-powerful being with rifles that feel like they aren't doing anything...I can't. Father IS being worn down. It works. Slowly but surely, it does work, and that's why Edward is able to take him on.

Then, of course, we have the sacrifice that Al makes in order to save Edward. If I remember correctly, this is almost the exact opposite of happens in the original series: In the 2003 version, Edward loses his life for the sake of protecting Alphonse. Here, Al trades his soul for one of his arms, the reverse of what Edward gave up in order to bond Al's soul to the armor. Al saves Edward's life and is reunited with his body at his Gate. It's a really great way to bring things around full-circle and to demonstrate that the brothers' love is intense and deep in both directions. Either one of them are willing to give whatever is necessary for the sake of the other. 

I also want to give my compliments to Maxey Whitehead's consistently phenomenal portrayal of Alphonse. This moment for his character is of particular note because her acting is just so fantastic. You can feel the desperation in Al's voice as he's pleading for Father to leave Edward alone, knowing full-well that there's nothing he can do to prevent his brother from being killed aside from the transmutation he ultimately opts to do. 

Props to May as well for going along with Alphonse's plan despite knowing what it will mean for him.

There's one more thing that I want to comment on, and that's Greed's realization that what he wanted all along was friends. It's one of those things that I can't decide whether or not I think it works--on the one hand they don't overdo the acting or dialogue so it doesn't come across as after-school-special in its delivery, but on the other the very concept of someone saying "I did all of these horrible things and went after everything under the sun but all I really wanted was friends" is too simplistic for me to believe. It's too easy of a conclusion to come to, especially considering the level of desire that Greed possessed and the origin of his character. If all Greed wanted was friends, then doesn't that mean all Father wanted was friends? Because somehow I don't think that's the case. He seemed pretty content with swallowing God and harboring unlimited power. I suppose you could make the argument that he did when you look at his background with Hohenheim; he did mock the notion of community and yet still decided to construct his Homunculi like a family.

Ugh. I don't know. I'm still on the fence about it.

General Thoughts 

As this show rounds itself out to completion, I find myself thinking back on not only the early parts of this endeavor, but my experience watching the original show as well. It occurred to me that I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience thus far, as long and as grueling as it could be (In total I've spent close to four straight months involving myself in this universe. Holy cow). I've had my heart pounded to oblivion and my soul rocked, but in the end I think FMA is working its way into the little spot in my heart where I hold things as life-long loves. Like Avatar: The Last Airbender. And ice cream.

With this next entry, I will finish off Brotherhood and complete my Fullmetal Alchemist experience. L'eggo!

Blogging Brotherhood: Episodes 59 & 60

Episode Fifty-Nine: Lost Light

"As the light of the sun vanishes, Mustang learns the loss which comes from seeing the other side of the Gateway - and five sacrifices gather in the dark presence of the Father."

You know, the first time I watched this, Mustang's decision not to do the human transmutation came as a shock. I was confused by it, thinking that choosing to leave his subordinate bleeding out on the floor of some sketchy underground tunnel went the exact opposite direction of his character in every way. It took a few more viewings to understand what was going on, though I think that's more my fault than anything the show did. Hawkeye was signaling Mustang that there was help--that he didn't need to use human transmutation because they had back up to get them out of the situation. I guess that means she could see everyone else hiding out in the ceiling of the tunnel, or did see them at some point.

I hate to beat this topic into the ground, but I feel like it's important to point out how completely focused Roy becomes when, thanks to the surprise attack from May and the chimeras, he's able to get free of the soldiers and run to Hawkeye. He throws flames in the face of the one guy who tries to stop him and then switches into tunnel-vision mode as he tries to keep Hawkeye conscious. In the process, he leaves his back completely vulnerable, despite the fact that there are a large collection of people fighting around the them. If it wasn't for that one chimera who kicked the solider coming to attack him out of the way, Roy's head would've been sliced off because he wasn't paying any attention to what was going on.

My point is that, when it comes to Hawkeye, Roy does really stupid things.

I tried to think of him acting in a similar fashion to his other subordinates, and the closest I could think of was in regards to Havoc. When he becomes paralyzed after their run-in with Lust, Mustang does go to a lot of lengths to try and help--he's even seen reading a book with information on the spinal chord. It's hard to compare the two situations, though, as Havoc's life isn't in jeopardy by being stuck in a wheelchair. Regardless, I don't think he reacts to any of his other subordinates in the same way he does here.

For heaven's sake, look at the way he holds her once May uses alkahestry to seal up her wound:

You see him holding Havoc or Breda like that? I don't think so.

I'm kind of surprised that it takes May a while to decide to abandon the Philosopher's Stone (or the red liquid form of it) she's chasing in order to help Hawkeye who is, you know, bleeding out pretty rapidly a few feet away from her. She's a got a bigger heart then that. She did stick with a mass-murderer for a large portion of the show. But there's also her loyalty to her clan, so I can see why she'd be torn.

This is also a super nitpick, but it annoyed me nonetheless: It's obvious that Hawkeye is bleeding all over herself and the floor, yet when she's healed and standing up a few shots later (and for the rest of the episode and climax), the only place there's blood is on her jacket where the sword wound was inflicted. She should be covered in blood, from the side of her jacket that was facing the ground to the hair that got stuck in it as well. Maybe the animators thought it would be too gross? I have no idea.

Bradley finds his way back into the action again, with a flashback showing how he got out of the water when he was shot from Greed/Ling's grip in the previous episode. There's something about his character here that comes across as far more threatening than even before when he killed Fu and Buccaneer. Part of it might be when they show him coming up out of the water into the underground tunnel and panting, that brief moment screams: "This guy is done." Where he made a few quips before, Bradley gets right to the point. He says a couple of things here of note: One, that he thought that if one of Mustang's underlings' lives was in danger he'd be willing to perform human transmutation and two, he hates it when he can't predict what humans will do.

The first statement brings me to question why on earth Mustang would choose to be so open about his dedication and loyalty to his team. I know there's a certain level of solemnity that can't exactly be avoided, but his devotion is obvious enough that Bradley makes sure to take advantage of it twice now: once when he split the team up (and made sure that Hawkeye was especially under watch by making her his manservant) and the other right before when Hawkeye's life was threatened. They are so clearly a crutch (or a "Living Emotional Crutch" as TV Tropes has dubbed it) that it's down-right shocking that there weren't any other causalities or issues over the span of the series.

As for the second statement, it's another one of the "This is Why I Hate Humans" speeches, but unlike the other Homunculus, Wrath is giving people much more credit here. He sees that there are some--even if it's a select few--that are capable of changing and growing and learning from their mistakes. Unlike the masses, they recognize when something isn't working and strive to change it. As a result, they become unpredictable. He miscalculated Mustang's ability to let go of his bond with his subordinate (although it's arguable how much he was really "letting go" as he knew that help was arriving) and wasn't able to manipulate him.

And then Mustang kind of shoots the whole scene in the foot with his statement about how he has people beside him that are willing to prevent him from going down the wrong path. There's nothing inherently wrong with the sentiment, but considering that his fight with Envy happened not too long ago, it feels ham-fisted. The audience gets it. You don't have to beat us over the head with the after-school-special-analysis.

For some reason, I found myself a bit uncomfortable during the forced human transmutation scene. Between stabbing Mustang's hands, using that doctor as the subject, and all of the screaming that Mustang does, it's...unpleasant. Roy has become something of a punching bag over the course of this show; they're certainly not afraid to put him through the ringer whether it's physical or psychological. Though I suppose the case could be made that Brotherhood is unmerciful towards all of its characters in a similar fashion; most of them just get less screen time.

There was apparently a lot of contention amongst fans about the fact that Roy loses his eyesight, although the outcry was more centered around the fact that his eyes aren't ripped from his face like Izumi's insides were from her stomach and Ed's limbs from his torso. The complaint was that they didn't want him to look "ugly" by tearing out his eyes. My thought is that, as I believe Arakawa explained, it's not like Roy willingly chose to perform human transmutation. If this "Truth" character knows everything, it would be aware of that. Not to mention that Roy looks absolutely freaking petrified to be where he is when it happens:

I also think that Mustang losing his eyes in a violent, graphic way would lead to more distractions than anything else. They'd have to find a way to stop the bleeding, calm him down, and that would leave him out of commission for the rest of the climax. And even if he did lose his actual eyes, would YOU want to look at someone who had two giant holes in their face? No. It would be unsettling. The way they did it still gets the point across, but not in a way that's distracting.

Besides, I'm of the opinion that Mustang would still be attractive even if he lost his eyes, as long as they gave him some sunglasses.

Ed makes a good point about the legitimacy of Mustang's sacrifice. If he didn't choose to perform human transmutation of his volition, what makes it okay for the Truth to take away his eye sight? It's like punishing someone for eating a gallon of ice cream after someone literally force-fed it to them. How is that justified? It could be a way of pointing out that, ultimately, the universe doesn't care how or why you do something; the only thing that matters is that you did it at all. Which...is one heck of a bleak perspective.

We also get the beginning of Scar's fight with Bradley. It's curious how Scar's the one to fight him, though it probably works the best thematically. After all, Bradley is the one responsible for the slaughtering of his people. At least this way Scar gets some kind of vengeance without looking like a monster. Taking down Bradley is a necessity; who better to do it than a victim of his greatest crime?

Although the back-and-forth close-up shots of their faces was cheesy, I will say that.

I loved that scene with Al and his body. It's so damn tragic that after all this time--all this hunting and searching and struggling--he finally comes face-to-face with his body and it's 100% useless because of its condition. The fact that Al recognizes this and chooses to return in his armored suit rather than fight with the dying body is representative of his character growth as well as his deeply rooted selfless personality. Al knows that the safety and security of those he loves is more important than his own gains.

Oh and a nice throwback to when Edward found Al's body almost thirty episodes ago and shouted that he would be coming back for him.

Episode Sixty: Eye of Heaven, Gateway of Earth

"The light is gone. Shadows swallow everything. As the planet quakes and the heavens tremble, the souls of heroes and villains alike vanish into darkness. The circle is complete."

Okay, I have to be honest: I was most definitely not thinking that this story was going to become so epic in its scale. Upon my first watching I thought the entire second half of this episode was ridiculous. Up until this point, the primary goal of Father seemed to be attaining more power and freedom from his flask, and by "power" I mean insofar as what he could gain using the souls on earth to control...well, the earth. Everything he's done has been on an earthly scale--as large as that can be--from the destruction of Xerxes and Ishval to the creation of Amestris. He was using humans as tools and treating them as much for his own gain, but I didn't think that translated to "I want to swallow God."

However. After re-watching it, I don't think this is as big of a blunder as I initially assumed. A large part of that is there's still a basic level of logic that goes into this entire scenario, as outrageous as the last two or so minutes are. The show has built up to this point for the most part: The creation of Amestris supplies the transmutation circle needed for Father's plan. He sticks the location of Central command literally at the center of the earth, where he uses it as the entry point for his alchemy. Ed, Al, Izumi, Hohenheim, and Mustang all function as sacrifices in that their portals supply a large amount of power that fuels Father's alchemy. He then uses that upgraded alchemy to take the souls of everyone in Amestris, which supplies him with enough power to open the portal of earth and see the Eye of God.

So there's logic that I can follow. It isn't perfect (why would he stick all of his sacrifices in the same location rather than putting them at various points in the transmutation circle like the labs were?), but it's sufficient enough that I can put away my complaining in large part.

I also think there's some truly fabulous imagery here, all of which includes the characters that we've come to know and love. It grounds the massive, universe-spanning scale of what's happening and harkens back to earlier events like the destruction of Xerxes. It isn't coming right the hell out of nowhere. Using the people that have carried the show in one way or another helps us to give a damn about what it is Father is doing. Even in his epic plan, the effects are still close to home.

The music is great, too. I haven't mentioned it much in the past, but the soundtrack to this series is phenomenal--look it up on YouTube if you ever get the chance. Here, there's a haunting and spooky chorus track that plays in the background as the life force is being sucked out of everyone in Amestris and it really makes the scene pop. I mean, it's bad enough that everyone we've grown to love is dying; the music ramps it up to eleven by creating an even darker mood.

As for the rest of the episode, there are a couple of other things to note.

It's quite admirable that May is willing to throw herself at Father for the sake of taking his stone, as dumb as that idea is. Alphonse makes a comment about her not fighting him alone--that they'll help her--but May tells him that she can take Father and asks Ed and Al to keep Pride out of her way. And...we see how well that turned out. She gets beat up pretty good, and if it wasn't for Alphonse and his awesome armor, she would've been killed. I'm not so much criticizing her stupid actions as I am pointing out that one of the central themes of this series is community and friendship. No one in this show accomplishes much of anything by themselves. Not the villain (who has seven Homunculus), not the heroes (Mustang's Team, Ed and Al, and everyone else in between who assists them in one way or another). Whenever they try to, they end up like May. So here it's played out on a smaller scale, but still noticeable.

It took me a couple of viewings to understand what exactly it was that forcing Mustang to perform the transmutation compromised for the Homunculus, and even now I'm not one hundred-percent sure I know. It's either that Pride's human shell begins to collapse or Ed and Al are able to use alchemy. The fact that I can't figure it out is either indicative of the show's falling ability to adequately explain things or my own brain is turning on me after sixty episodes of this mini-analysis. Could be either.

I like Ed's dialogue with Pride while they fight. Pride's own arrogance and hatred of Edward makes him slip up. Ed may compensate for his height by fighting everyone he can, but all of that practice lets him know exactly how a person of his stature would try to win--so he beats Pride at his own game.

The inclusion of the Ishvalans was cool, too. I find them to be a fascinating people. It's a bit of a shame that they get so much less screen time in this series compared to the original, but at least here they're playing a huge role in the diffusion of Father's transmutation circle: they're constructing reverse ones all around Amestris. The scene with the two guys in that one house is pretty telling, too, even though it's short. You can see the fear that Amestrians have of Ishvalans and the prejudice they face because of it. They have to throw their hands up and assure the woman that they're not there to hurt her before they can do anything.

And all they want to know is if her house is the one that they're looking at on a map, where they are supposed to be creating one of the reverse transmutation circles.

Speaking of Ishvalans, Scar makes a big leap in character and decides to use his left arm to reconstruct the earth around him when fighting Bradley--or, in other words, he uses regular alchemy instead of alkahestry. I'm not sure I buy this transformation, as it kind of goes against everything his character stands for, but it shut Bradley up for a few seconds so that makes me happy.

Yes, Bradley delivers a pretty damn stupid monologue right before he fights Scar and his dialogue during the battle isn't any better. It's so dramatic and pointless, his droning about fighting for his own life and how everything else is meaningless. "I guess you could say I've finally arrived." What does that even mean, Bradley? Who cares. Just shut up and punch each other, please.

That being said, the animation for the fight is as awesome as usual with some fantastic facial expressions and really fluid, fast movements.

And now that I spent that entire entry discussing the episode backwards, onto the next one!

General Thoughts

By the end of this episode, we've got quite a situation: Everyone in Amestris is dying, Father has decided he's going to try and swallow God, and everyone who isn't having their life forced sucked out is smothered in ambiguous darkness. And the extreme scope that this show covers has only started it's ascent.

Blogging Brotherhood: Episodes 57 & 58

 
Author's Note: Because I am a horribly weak person, I cracked and finished the last eight or so episodes of the series in one sitting (plus being in grad school I wanted to get this done as soon as possible). I attempted to outline my thoughts at the end of each episode, but that quickly fell off as I blew through the ending. With that in mind, from this post onwards they will be written with the knowledge of how the story ends. I'll try and keep everything as authentic to my initial thoughts as possible, but there is honestly so much stuff happening in these episodes that it's hard to get everything down.

Episode Fifty-Seven: Eternal Leave

The battle for a nation’s soul descends into chaos. Bradley unleashes death on those who dare engage him. Beneath Central, the one responsible for the Fuhrer’s creation unleashes something far, far worse.
 
Oh good god. This episode. After getting blindsided by the first two in this season, this one shows up and decides to take what's left of my fragile heart and rip it to pieces.

We start out with Olivier and Izumi bullying information out of that one bearded official who is, honestly, a big damn idiot for continuing to elaborate on the corrupt generals' plan. Does he not see their faces as he keeps trying to justify his actions? He's only pissing off Izumi and Olivier the more he talks, especially when he pulls out the whole "One is All, All is One" spiel.  Izumi smashing him with the shoe was great, though. Almost cathartic in some ways, I think.

Then they conveniently find a secret passage that's been left open in the aftermath of the attacks in the Fuhrer's office and follow it down. I'm assuming that was for Bradley's use, but I don't remember the show ever specifying that it was there in the first place. It could have, I'm not sure. It's hard to remember a lot of things at this point.

Olivier redeems herself a little more here, as well. She cares about her men a lot more than she lets on and isn't afraid to sacrifice herself for their sake and that of the mission. On the flip side, her men have enough loyalty and trust in her to obey her when she says to get out and leave her behind if they have to. I love how she interacts with Izumi, too. We don't get to see two grown women have a conversation much in this show, so it feels a bit refreshing. Not to mention that I fully believe Olivier has compassion underneath her icy exterior. When Izumi tells her about her experience with human transmutation, she doesn't criticize her or call her a fool or do anything that you'd expect. She listens and then says she saw something similar when she first met Edward.

It's great that they bring that whole scenario up again because it fills us in a little bit on her character as a whole. I got the impression that there was something going on in her head back when I first watched that episode, but I didn't think it was admiration for what he was doing. One of the wonderful things about Edward is his absolute devotion to the people he loves. It's what carries him through a lot of this story and motivates him on many occasions, such as when Olivier ordered him to give her information regarding Sloth. I think it said a lot, too, that this frigid and stoic general was moved by his steadfast refusal to answer her questions even when she had no idea why he was insisting on staying silent. She could see his desperation in his eyes and that clued her into the possibility of him not answering her for the sake of someone else. He wasn't a dog of the military and he wasn't acting like a soldier. He was acting as a person willing to throw away his own safety for the sake of another.

Switching over to Edward, Scar, Hawkeye, and Mustang, there's even more going on.

I have to admit, I liked watching these four dorks work as a team. Scar's palled around with so many different people at this point that he could probably be helpful with anyone. The four of them together is basically having the four most badass characters doing what they do best: fight.

As is typical, the show answered my earlier question about what the heck happened to the failed candidates for kingship as well as where they came from in the first place. Apparently they were abandoned babies that they took in and used as candidates, kind of like an orphanage if orphanages ran countries and brainwashed/psychologically ruined children. Once Bradley had been chosen as the new Fuhrer, that horrifying gold-toothed frog-man took the "leftovers" and used them more or less as his minions. They have deliberate and calculated actions as Scar points out (and are a genuine threat to all four of them), although whether or not those soldiers have minds of their own is unclear. They're drawn with pretty brain-dead features and they don't say anything, obeying the gold-toothed man on command.

The banter between Hawkeye and Mustang never ceases to disappoint:

Hawkeye: You keep leaving your back wide open, Sir.
Mustang: Well I've gotta give you something to do.

Mustang, stop. You are not that cool.

They reveal in this episode as well that the five laboratories were five "points" on the city-wide transmutation circle, which is activated by the gold-toothed man (GTM) while they're down in that...ambiguous underground location (seriously, where the hell are they, again?). He activates the circle and Izumi, Ed, and Al are transported...somewhere. We don't know where specifically.

The fighting between Bradley, Ling/Greed, and Fu is epic. So fast and awesome. Lots of cool tricks and moves on everyone's part. I love the creepy way Bradley's eyes turn red and everything slows down right before he lands a blow on Fu. There's a monster-like quality to it.

Ling and Greed are becoming more and more interchangeable; the line where one starts and the other begins is starting to blur. When Fu goes to launch himself as a human bomb against Bradley, Greed is right there with Ling when condemning him as a foolish old man. It says a lot that Fu and Lan Fan would be so willing to lay their lives down for him. Ling's ideas on leadership are as noble as they were back in season two, and Bradley comments on his refusal to let any of his people die again. You can see the direct juxtaposition between Bradley's corruption and Ling's selfless sacrifice.

We have another character to bite the bullet. At least Fu is given an honorable death by way of Buccaneer, who lands a lethal blow to Bradley, finally. I have to admit that it was a clever move on his part, especially since I was under the impression that he was too close to death to perform such an attack. Bradley gets a nice blow to his all-seeing eye courtesy of Ling/Greed, and I'm hoping that that means Bradley becomes a far easier combatant to face off with.

Episode Fifty-Eight: Sacrifices

"Mustang must make a difficult choice: will he break alchemy’s greatest taboo? Or will he watch the person dearest to him die? Meanwhile, it grows ever more difficult to discern where Ling ends and Greed begins."

These episodes have, for the most part, managed to keep the three or four different story threads that are weaving into the larger narrative pretty straight, but I will say that, starting probably back with Oliver and Alex, this is where the fights tend to drag themselves out. This episode is the finale for the Greed/Ling and Bradley fight which has been going on for...three episodes now? My issue is that, after a while, I start to get annoyed because these fights, in reality, aren't taking three episodes-worth of material to get to completion. They're spread out over several episodes because of all the other plotlines that need to be taken care of in the span of twenty-four minutes. I wouldn't say that this is a huge problem, but it's noticeable, especially when the rest of the series flew by the seat of its pants up until this point. The constant re-treading also makes the events of each episode start to blend together in my head.

Ling and Greed are getting more and more intertwined, even though Greed is the one that still occupies a larger level of control over the body they're sharing. I don't think Greed is telling people to stay out of the fight because he wants to do it himself; he wants to protect them and prevent them from getting hurt judging by his joint reaction with Ling to Fu's attack against Bradley. I like how this change has been gradual (as gradual as they can make it in the limited amount of screen time either character has had since Greed first took over) and does feel authentic. Greed is seeing value in Ling beyond his body and Ling appreciates Greed's power and can see through his outward desire to "have everything." If Greed truly just wanted to "rule the world," he wouldn't have bothered to carry out Buccaneer's request of defending the gate.

What I think is probably the most interesting element of this part of the episode, though, is the fact that Ling's servant does die and there's nothing he can do to save him. His desperation to find help and then the realization that, even with all of the power of a Philosopher's Stone inside him, he still isn't powerful enough to save someone, is heartbreaking. His statement of: "I finally gain immortality and I can't even save one of my subjects," is where his idealistic perception of ruling is shattered. You can't save everyone. Death in inevitable and irreversible, which then ties into two other facets of the show: Mustang's desire to protect everyone he loves at all costs and the Elric's initial belief that they can cheat death and resurrect their mother. The interpretation would be that it's foolish to believe  either of these things are possible.

(As a quick side note, what the heck was up with the guy who shot Ling in the head? Where did he come from? Why did he shoot him? And it's not like he played any significant role, either. He shoots Ling/Greed, grumbles about him being a monster, and then dies. Ling/Greed heals. Nothing happens. What was the point of including that scene?)

We can kind of see the juxtaposition of this idealism with Olivier who, after hearing about the death of Buccaneer, is clearly upset and devastated over the loss...but she isn't willing to let it render her useless. She recognizes the inevitability of death. She honors her men, but doesn't lament them. "Love for the dead is pointless. We fight to keep them alive, that is all," is what she's said before.

The next plot line jumps to Ed, Izumi, Hohenheim, and Alphonse, who have all been gathered to be "sacrifices" for the grander plan that Father has in mind. I have to admit that the...bizarre image of Hohenheim inside the newly christened version of Father is a little ridiculous. Hohenheim's limbs are sticking out in several directions, including his head, and Father looks like he eats a little too much cake or maybe has a few more beers than he should.

I have no idea how Father managed to wrangle Hohenheim into his body in such a fashion, but I don't think I honestly wanted to see it, anyway.

Aside from the freaky image of him swallowing a full-grown man, though, I don't find this design to be particularly intimidating. In fact, when I first saw it, I laughed. He looks like a a chubby dude in a body suit with eyes painted on it. There's nothing commanding about him in the slightest. I prefer the human "rubber bag" that he previously occupied to this...thing.

But I do love how Ed openly insults him and he doesn't even react.

This is also where I think the thematic differences of Brotherhood and the original FMA can be seen really well. In the original series, the focus was on the Elric brothers and their journey. They never escaped the spotlight of the show, regardless of how many other side stories were weaved into the larger narrative. Brotherhood doesn't take that same narrow approach; it's got a stable of characters that are all important to the plot that need as equal amount of attention to be paid to them as possible otherwise things won't make sense. With all of the juggling the writers have to do to make sure everything works out, this whole section of the story--arguably the most important--is pretty sidelined in a lot of these later episodes. The earlier scenes with Ling/Greed and Bradley take up a good third of the episode's running time and both Oliver's scene and this one are stuck sharing a second third.

Because we all know what happens in this particular episode that's the most memorable: Hawkeye.

I knew something was coming with her because if you pay attention to the title cards, they tend to highlight characters that are either going to play a major role in the plot of that episode or have something drastic happen to them. Based on what happens here (and all of the dozens of other moments where Roy steps in to save someone he cares about i.e. Gluttony's attack on Hawkeye and Fuery), I was anticipating the GTM to have one of his minions fix a sword at her throat and give Roy the ultimatum of "Perform human transmutation or we will kill her."

I was not expecting them to actually slit her throat right there.

And poor Roy--you can see how much he's struggling to make up his mind about whether or not to give in to what the GTM wants him to do. He's never going to escape having Hughes as a leverage point with his enemies, which sucks, because it's not like he can control the fact that his best friend died. For a brief moment I thought he was going to let Hawkeye die...but of course that can't happen. He gave orders for none of his men to die, remember? I knew that was going to come back into play.

However, this whole scene makes me question Mustang's dependence and loyalty to Hawkeye (and vice versa). Earlier, I made the comment that their relationship seems to be leaning more in the direction of romantic attraction than purely platonic affection. At that point in the story, it was still a little ambiguous, and even now there are people who believe that their relationship is strictly a professional one. I'm not going to question anyone's interpretation--the way you see something is your perspective and that's fine. But frankly, I don't understand how you can't see any romantic attraction between the two of them.

I may end up writing more on this later because Hawkeye's character is a bit of a conundrum in general, but this little tidbit here regarding her use of the pronoun "あなた" or "anata" in the Japanese version/manga should be enough to make you pause. I've seen varying sources of information and lots of people bicker over it (native Japanese speakers and non-native alike), but the general consensus seems to be that the word should a) probably just be avoided if you can b) never be used when addressing someone of higher rank than you and c) has a connotation of familiarity because  wives frequently use it to address their husbands. One of the ways you can translate it is as "honey" or "dear" or some other term of endearment.

I'm just saying. We lose that in the English version, but I'm not convinced that Arakawa was trying to be ambiguous with their feelings, especially considering that Roy returns the informality even though he was addressed in what would have been considered an extremely rude and presumptuous fashion by someone who is, socially and professionally, his subordinate.

My point in all of this is that the two of them exhibit what could be considered, under ordinary circumstances, an unhealthy attachment and dependency on each other. Riza is the one that gets thrown under the bus for this a lot, but Roy is just as guilty. And while I'm not going to sit here and comment on that larger issue (because that is a whole new post in and of itself), I will say that, for me, the only convincing explanation for that type of co-dependency--in this context--is romantic love.

Also, a shout-out to Travis Willingham's spectacular acting here. Mustang tends to have some clunky lines every now and then (probably in part due to translation and animation limitations), but everything said in this scene is delivered with natural, emotional conviction.

They do finally address the notion of Roy being a sacrifice, which was mentioned way back in like, episode 17 or 18 and then...disappeared. The gold-toothed guy realizes that they're short a candidate and it's a damn convenient coincidence that Mustang is there. It's implied that he had always been one of their candidates and that the GTM would have had to go get him from the radio station where he thought he was hiding out had he not, you know, popped in for a visit. There was also the issue of whether or not someone had to open the portal in order to be considered a sacrifice, which is clarified here, though it's done in a stilted, awkward way in light of the fact that Mustang's candidacy was ambiguous for twenty-something episodes even without the caveat of him not ever having opened the Gate. As a result, the GTM's explanation almost sounds meta in its delivery--like the men he's referring to are the writers who forgot that they were lacking their fifth sacrifice. It's a little giggle-worthy but also makes me scratch my head.

We're left with Mustang appearing to agree to do the human transmutation as Hawkeye lays dying a few feet away. Talk about a cliff-hanger.

General Thoughts

As much as I did enjoy these episodes, I have to admit that things are beginning to verge on the side of complicated and weird. I'm finding more plot holes than I did in the earlier episodes and the dragging out of the fights is getting on my nerves.