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!