Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

HENTAIBEN

The Nesta
May 13, 2007
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Yeah, Sloth is pretty lame. I think they show him thawed out in the preview for the next episode though, so we might see him do something - anything. I doubt it though, I think his part was to dig this big transmutation circle and that was about it.

I've been under the impression that lady Armstrong isn't an Alchemist for a while now, I guess it's possible she just hasn't used her abilities, but I think there are quite a few ranking officers in the military who aren't Alchemist - at least that's the impression that I get. Actually I think most of her men aren't Alchemist either, again they could just be hiding their powers, but I compare them to something like Mustang's Team - well except for the fact that Mustang is actually a pretty powerful Alchemist. I guess we'll see.

I'm pretty sure we're supposed to know who this Doctor is, seeing as how they did the dramatic close up on him. You might be right about him, but I certainly can't remember. I guess we'll just have to see if that goes anywhere.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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I'm too lazy to go back and look for it, but before he raised his head, I knew what he was going to look like -- and so when he did raise it and I saw it and saw that I was right, I was all, "What the fuck? :\ How the hell did I know that!?" Thought about it for a few minutes after the episode ended and concluded I must have seen him in that scene where King Bradley is transformed into Wrath. I mean, that's the only other time we've seen creepy doctors, plus those were the only doctors we've ever had any reason to believe were affiliated with the Homonculi. Marcoh obviously is a good guy (who did bad things and regrets it) and the same thing goes for the other guy with the marital problems who helped Ran Fan get better.

I'm with you: I'd rather just wait and see them confirm who the hell he is in the near future. lol

Technically Sloth hasn't finished yet, right? I mean, when he chose to surface inside of the base, there still was rock in front of him. I guess it's possible he's like 2 meters away from being finished :p , but an incomplete circle is an incomplete circle, isn't it? So I was thinking to myself that unless somebody finishes the circle, all of that work is for nothing. Whether that someone is going to be Sloth or not, who knows.

Likewise, it seems like a big plot hole to me in the sense that, if I were to smudge up somebody's chalked transmutation circle, it wouldn't work anymore: and therefore I'd expect the exact same results were I to dig inappropriate connecting tunnels in the Underground, so as to transform the transmutation circle into a bunch of childish scribbles that don't accomplish anything. Seriously! Why even bother to go to the surface? Once they realized they were standing in an almost-finished transmutation circle, the first thing they should have done would have been to transmute the nearby walls to (a) fill up former open spaces and (b) create open spaces where formerly there had been none, thereby making the circle all effed up.

But it's a kids' comicbook so I'll roll with it. :p ;)
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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Episode 36 was kind of slow. Not too bad, really, but it opened up several questions without providing much in the way of answers.

The pre-opening credits scene was excellent. I would never have suspected that Hohenheim's hidden face in the famous family photograph would have been of him weeping. I have no idea whose names he listed off at the beginning nor why they'd be inside of him, but I suppose we'll find out after we leave Briggs and return to Xerxes.

Armstrong's surprise stab and the events which immediately followed were amazing. LOL @ Raven. LOL @ Armstrong's quip with the words he'd cruelly spoken only minutes earlier (about the weak feeding the strong). What a terrible way to go, though. >_<

Do you think the Homoncular shadows in the tunnel belong to Sloth? (Sort of like how Gluttony had two "modes", kind of?) Or do you think it's someone else altogether? Pride? Envy? None of the classic seven? Hmm. My guess is that it has something to do with Sloth, but I don't see how it fits either with his FMA personality or with the classic vice/sin. Those tendrils were pretty damn fast. o_o;

Hooray for Kimblee development ................................. oh wait, we didn't get any. :| We almost did. Kinda. Sorta. At least the man got a few more lines this episode. ^^;

I was happy to see that the writer addressed my plot hole concern (about Sloth not having finished the job) by putting him back in the hole. But my other criticism from last post still stands: I don't see why the Elric Brothers don't simply transmute random tunnels down there to fuck with the transmutation circle.

Hey, look! Roy Mustang! Long time, no see! But once again, we didn't get much out of him.

Finally: Scar and Loki/Yoki/I forget his name :p catch up with the others. Maybe now we'll get to see (a) Scar being bad-ass again and (b) some faster plot developments with the East+West alchemy backstory.

Theory about the Chosen Ones: so, we know that they can't simply be candidates for becoming Homonculi, because if that were true, then they wouldn't have said that Li wasn't a candidate. So here's my thinking ...

I'm betting that Father wants to perform the same experiment on these "chosen ones" which the Chief Alchemist performed on Hohenheim centuries ago back in Xerxes. The one which gave rise to Father. In other words, Father is attempting to recreate himself. For what purpose, I have no clue, but that's my guess. So basically, if he captures Edward and succeeds (just suppose), then Edward would become just like his dad -- super-powerful, immortal, etc -- but the downside would be that there'd be an "Edward" doppelganger which is just like Father. Ditto for Mustang, Kimblee, Marcoh, and any of the others which we've been told were possible candidates.

I don't know if this theory can be right, though, because it doesn't seem logical that Father would want to create another Father-like being and risk that it wants to compete with him for the title of World Conqueror. He'd be better off making Homonculi like he's been doing these last 500-odd years: super-powerful underlings which are still clearly his underlings and are in no position to usurp him.
 

HENTAIBEN

The Nesta
May 13, 2007
472
0
Really liked this episode, for pretty much the same reasons you were talking about. That pre-opening bit was great, as it showed us that Hohenheim really does care about his family, so much so that he wanted to give up immortality to age with his wife and children. When I saw him crying in the photograph I thought that was a pretty powerful moment. No idea about the names he was calling out though.

Also loved the part where Armstrong finally takes action. I knew something was going to go down when Raven was putting his hand on her shoulder and getting all up on her. That was a pretty fucked up way to die though.

As for the shadows in the tunnel, I was thinking it looked like Envy. But now that you brought it up, I'm thinking it might be Pride. Here's why: 1) Raven mentions Pride in this episode to Sloth. 2) The next episode is called "The First Homunculus". Now obviously I don't know who the first Homunculus was, but I'm just guessing here that it might be Pride. I guess it's not much of a theory, but yeah...

As for the Chosen Ones, I have no idea. I always figured they were just some sort of catalyst for this giant transmutation that they plan on doing. Never really gave it much thought other than that. I guess your theory could be on the right track, but it seems you've already debunked it by pointing out that it wouldn't make much sense for Father to make another perfect life form or whatever.

And not that you said anything about this, but as far as Raven talking about becoming an immortal, and having this immortal army. I think that's just a bunch of bullshit Wrath was probably feeding the military in order to keep the power hungry officers in line. I don't really think these supporters are going to be given anything. That might be obvious, but I just thought I'd bring it up.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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Agreed. If Father had both the desire and the ability to make an army of homonculi instead of a modest seven, he would have done it ages ago. The fact that he hasn't means at least one of the two (desire or ability) is lacking: and either is enough of a nail in the coffin for Raven's dreams.

I knew who Pride was, so I decided to go ahead and look up to see if your theory was right or not.
[hide]It was.[/hide]

Yeah, still trying to figure out the whole "human pillars" / "Chosen Ones" / "chosen sacrifices" / whatever the subtitler wants to call them that week ;p . If they're required for the transmutation circle to go off, that seems sort of pointless, and it also means that there's relatively little need to apprehend them (e.g. to force Marcoh to be a prisoner and threaten him "if you don't do as we say, we'll destroy the village you came to love"). So long as they stay in the country, things should be fine. And if they have to be at specific geographic locations, then (again) it doesn't make sense: only this time it doesn't make sense because we've seen no proof that the homonculi are trying to apprehend and imprison human pillars and keep them in specific spots. To date, most of the human pillars have been permitted mobility (the Elric brothers, Mustang, more recently Kimblee).

Thought I had when I went back and rewatched Episode 36's intro: remember the scene way back when where Hohenheim tells Edward to dig up Trisha's grave? And Ed finds black hair? And Hohenheim says, "See? You transmuted the wrong corpse." (Or some such.) I'm wondering if that's going to come back into play any time soon. It would be nice to know if the boys' experiment failed solely because they didn't have the correct ingredients, i.e. if human resurrection is (quote unquote) that easily possible; and that if so why it is that alchemists don't do it. It's obvious why Hohenheim would refuse to resurrect Trisha -- for the same reason he doesn't want to be immortal himself, he wouldn't want to bring her back from the dead either. But as for others in the series ... it's just a big hole.

If the boys' experiment was bound to fail anyway (i.e. for some other reason or reasons in addition to the fact that they transmuted the wrong corpse), I'd still want to know the details.

And besides: hair isn't normally found post-cremation, and the boys would have had to have been retarded to have not recognized their own mother's decrepit corpse (and casket), so I'm thinking that she was probably cremated (so that all they had to work with was ash), and they had the wrong ash. Either that, or she didn't really die (MAJOR DEUS EX MACHINA PLOT DEVICE! ¬_¬) and the boys were deliberately fed a fake urn with somebody else's ashes for God knows what reason.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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The best part of Episode 37 for me is probably the "kawaii" simplified cartoon-drawing of Hawkeye and Black Hayate saying Ed likes Winry. God Hawkeye is hot. I've been away from the PC for most of the last four days so I've no idea what (if anything) of C77 is already out, but I'm hoping for the best. (Hawkeye from FMA, Kanako from Nyan-koi, and Cecily or Aria from the Sacred Blacksmith.)

I don't understand why there would be any need whatsoever for Wrath to pretend to adopt Pride. Why, why, why? If the explanation is, "To shed doubt on Pride's true identity once people discover Wrath's," this is ad hoc in the extreme. What if Pride's identity had been discovered first? And wouldn't the discovery of one or the other of the homonculi's identities, once made, draw even more attention and scrutiny towards all others directly tied to him? It just seems unnecessary practically and inappropriate tactically. :\

Pride also seems too powerful and too well-made to be the first.

The fact that he seems to have the least love of (or display of affection towards) Father is also somewhat peculiar. Not because the first homonculus couldn't be the least Father-worshipping of the bunch (for indeed he surely could!), but because Selim Bradley very obviously pretends to honor (if not genuinely honors) King Bradley; and he genuinely does revere Edward Elric. Why would a homonculus named Pride (i.e. one who is so proud he ought to suffer from something of a Narcissistic complex) have any degree of reverence for mere Edward? And why Edward and not Father!? This, specifically, is what I don't understand. Either Selim should be just as Father-slobbering as the others or else he should be completely self-absorbed.

Hooray for cool Kimblee development. Hooray for cool plot advancement. Hooray for cool Edward and Alphonse development. Minimal in the first and third sentence examples, but still present all the same. The plot advancement is very welcome -- we've suffered enough character development for a long time, me doth protest. :p

Thoughts on whether Kimblee was purely manipulating Winry in the car or whether he was at least partially sincere about his regret about the Rockbells? (I think he was sincere -- but only insofar as their deaths were on his record, and he seems to be rather intent on having an exceptional record with no loose ends.)

Thoughts on Kimblee's chat with Edward about Kimblee's allegiance with the homonculi despite his (quite frankly) honest and semi-cooperation with Young Master Elric? Very, very interesting to see Edward lie to Kimblee about taking the assignment -- and very, very, even MORE interesting (I'm predicting) to see that Kimblee is only too aware of the boy's deceit and couldn't care less -- because he wouldn't want the little runt taking all the fun out of his job anyway!! Kimblee lives for manslaughter. There's no WAY he'd let Edward perform the Briggs massacre. No effing way. Both men are lying, and at least one is aware that the other is lying. Maybe both are. A really effing cool faceoff. It's a lot like the film Casino Royale. :D

Back to the honesty point, though: it took me aback but in a good way to see just how honest Kimblee was about certain things with Ed. I mean, Ed can't know for certain that what he's hearing is the sincere truth, but we as the audience know, and that's what matters to me, to us, in appreciating this scene. Once again, it shows that Kimblee is not a psycho devoid of rational thought -- he is quite calculating. Nor is Kimblee an outright evil traitor -- evil he may be, but not for the crime of treason. His is not even an opportunistic allegiance with the Homonculi. He purely wants to see the Homonculi's best pitted against himself and humanity's best -- and he's cold enough to not care if that means humanity's extinction, including the end of his own life, so long as it happens as the result of the Homonculi being the superior lifeforms. He's less "psycho unabomber" at this point and more "science laboratory madman." He's like the archvillain who says, "Hey, I'm happy to be human, but I want to arm the homonculi with the fucking A-bomb, because I want to see if I'm man enough to beat them even at those odds." Reckless. Evilly so. Sociopathically dismissive of the value of other human beings' lives and desires. But rational, understandable. So, so much better than Original FMA Anime Kimblee! @_@
 

HENTAIBEN

The Nesta
May 13, 2007
472
0
Glad to see you're all aboard the Hawkeye train. I thought she was the hottest FMA character for the longest time, until I fell in love with Lust this season. Still like her a lot though.

Also, did you like The Sacred Blacksmith? I thought it was pretty cool, excellent animation. Too bad it ended so shortly though.

I dunno about Wrath pretending to adopt Pride. Never gave it too much thought. I was satisfied by thinking it made for a neat twist. But then again, I don't think about a lot of things too deeply. Good point about him being a little too perfect for a first model though. Unless he has some major flaw we don't know about.

As far as Selim's personality. It could all be an act. People think he's an innocent child who just really loves his "Father" (Wrath, not the actual Father). Seems like a pretty convincing act. Same could be said about his admiration of Ed. Then again, maybe there is something there. Maybe he has some fascination with Ed. Maybe Pride sees something in him. Who knows? Not me.

I was a bit put off by Kimblee having such twisted reasons for supporting the homunculus. I don't know why. Maybe I was just starting to think Kimblee might actually be a good guy. And then I was suddenly reminded he is in fact still very evil. Not sure.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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Nah, he's a villain, alright. I'm just enthusiastic about him because he's not the original anime "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! EXPLOSIONS!" psycho-villain who is boring as all get-out.

I didn't care for the Sacred Blacksmith too much. I was through Episode 6 contemplating dropping it when I heard that gg had dropped the project anyway (further down the road from where I was), and it didn't break my heart any. Cecily's boobplate (ref. to her bizarrely designed breastplate) isn't all that erotic as it makes her boobs look a little smaller and super-spread-apart than they really are (or I like to think they really are ;p). Aria is definitely the most beautiful character for me, but she's a friggin' sword. :\ The show is fantastic for lolikons since the cute little elf girl is so friggin' cute and a good character all around, but as I'm not a lolikon, she's basically a wasted slot for me ("slot" referring to the fact that this is a harem anime). I dunno. The story was kind of dull and slow, honestly. It might have been good. It probably would have been a popular JRPG, quite frankly. I just don't know that it was able to cut it as a stand-alone television show.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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Just watched 39 and 40 back-to-back. Was putting the finishing touches on my comments about 40 when my hand knocked my mouse into an edge and made it go Back by one page in Firefox. Son of a !@#$%. ^^;

Suffice to say, I found 39 okay (first two-thirds boring and already predicted but final third good) and I found 40 to be excellent.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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Oh, I forgot to mention this (even in the original post), but THANK GOD we finally have a good-or-better opening and ending. I'd rank the new opening as "great" and the new ending as "good," personally, but hell: that they're at least both good is fantastic. FUCK YOU, ED#3! Don't let the door hit you too hard on the way out! :p

I've listened to this anonymously-uploaded 128kbps rip of Chemistry's "PERIOD" (the new opening) at least four times now, going on five.
 

HENTAIBEN

The Nesta
May 13, 2007
472
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Woah, I just took an ambiem, so forgive me for the following post.

Torn on the new OP END. New Opening seems okay, not sure if I really love it yet, but that could change with a few more listens. New ending is pretty great, helluva lot better than ending 03. Need to listen to it more to decide if I like it more than end 1 2.

Episode 40 was amazingly good. If not a little rushed. We get to see a ton of stuff, and finally know what happened between Hohenheim and Father. Just wish we could've gotten more into that stuff, but still cool.

Sure there are plenty of new questions that I can't think of right now.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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41 was a solid episode right up until the end. When I reached ~17:36, I moved my mouse to see how much time was left and was delighted to see that, in an unusual break from tradition, the episode was far from over despite the development of a major cliffhanger. Unfortunately, the resolution to said cliffhanger left me feeling disappointed.

I'm not a fan of the "sacrifice part of my life to accomplish my goals" plot device, and I'm even less so a fan of it when it's carried out by the protagonist. It always feels like an authorial copout to me. I mean, the guy ultimately dies when he's supposed to die. It's meaningless to point out, "Well, if he hadn't've used up part of his lifeline, he'd still be alive right now," because the way these characters die (barring in stories like Death Note) is something which always fits right in with the plot. Whether it's a knife to the gut in a dark alley, a sword to the chest in an epic fight, or falling to one's doom from atop a cliff, the character's death happens "when it's supposed to happen" as far as the reader/viewer is concerned.

And thus, the use of one's lifeforce to achieve one's goals is only a hair better than a flat-out deus ex machina plot device.

And despite my feelings above, it still gets to me (in a bad way). I still can't shake the fear and loathing and resentment I have for these sorts of self-sacrificial contracts. Especially when the hero does it. It always, invariably pisses me off. I can't tolerate the idea of the hero shortening his lifespan. It has always, always bothered me. Quite frankly, it was one of the final nails in the coffin (for me) for Naruto Shippuuden, it would have ruined Harry Potter for me had it occurred any earlier in the franchise (and had I cared more than I did by the end of Book 7), and likewise it leaves me with a very sour taste in my mouth for FMA.

Overall? A- for this episode. It was really good barring Ed's contractual blah.

I especially loved (surprise ;p) Kimblee's demonstration once again of astute mental prowess. He's not some dorky Mr. Know-it-All like Inui (from The Prince of Tennis) or Billy (from Power Rangers). He's not portrayed as some super-duper-IQ dude like Shikamaru (from Naruto). He's just sharp, that's all. Very sharp. It's really refreshing to have a quote-unquote "serial killer" like Kimblee. You can tell he has a bloodlust, and yet (so far) he's not attempted to kill one single person (onscreen) since he left prison with the exception of Scar (ages) and Edward (Ep.41). He could have easily blown apart the tower Miles & Co. were in, judging from the fact that he destroyed Scar's comrades in Ishbal from roughly the same distance, and yet he didn't. He didn't even blow up the Fullmetal Alchemist -- not in broad daylight, at least. He's a very cool, calculating murderer. He's not stupid. He won't kill people outside of the time and place which most benefits him, i.e. which will allow him to continue to satiate his bloodlust for as long as possible.
 

HENTAIBEN

The Nesta
May 13, 2007
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Finally watched 41. Good episode. I didn't like that whole sacrifice thing either, but it was still a pretty cool moment. Liked the fight between Ed and Kimblee, short as it was.

Episode 42 looks to be pretty cool, though it's probably already out by now. lol.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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Just watched 42. Pretty good. (Not great, but above or about average for the series thus far.) It deals mostly with three story arcs:
(1) deciphering Scar's brother's manuscript,
(2) Van Hohenheim's preparations for war with Father, and
(3) the finishing touches for the nationwide transmutation circle.

None of which is finalized, fyi, I'm just saying in as non-spoilerish a way as I can that these are the story arcs the episode deals with.

Personally, I liked #2 on that list best. Suffice to say, Van Hohenheim identifies one of Pride's major weaknesses. (I don't know that it's a weakness we could see our heroes taking advantage of, but it's still an interesting limitation.) He also explains (via conversation with Pride) the whole idea behind Father's homonculi:
[hide]Father is attempting, it would seem, to become a perfect being. "God," if you will. In his efforts to do this, he rids himself of the seven deadly sins which plague mankind -- Lust, Greed, Sloth, Gluttony, Wrath, Envy, and Pride -- by removing these aspects from himself and embodying them within his "children," his homonculi.

This is just my speculation, to a certain extent. All that is actually said is something to the effect of, "Oh, I see, so Pride was the first [sin] he chose to rid himself of." In other words, the reason Pride is the first homonculus (of Father's making) is because Father considers Pride to be the most deadly of all the seven sins. "Pride goeth before a fall" / "Pride comes before the fall," I suppose.

This shines a nice bit of light on why Envy is also one of the oldest homonculi. Naturally, Father wanted to distance himself from the vice of envy. He didn't want to envy Van Hohenheim who had certain things which he, Father, did not.

Kind of odd to imagine Father being plagued by emotions like Gluttony and Lust, especially since (pre-Xerxes destruction) he had that conversation with Van Hohenheim in which he seemed to pretty honestly relate that his only wish, without wanting to sound too greedy, would be to be released from the confines of his flask. (And honestly, I don't think that's a greedy desire at all, do you?) Nonetheless, if we're going off of the old Christian idea that all mortal men are plagued by these seven sins, then I guess Father too must deal with all seven of them as well.

This is also really neat because:
(1) it confirms for us that Father is nowhere near to being a deity (polytheistic) / the deity (monotheistic) of their world.
(2a) it strongly suggests that Father may have inherited these vices from the mortal man, Slave No.23, when the two of them were deconstructed and then reconstructed inside the abyss.
(2b) alternatively, it strongly suggests that the homonculi within the Void may have much more in common with mortal men than we had previously thought. Far from being celestial beings, perhaps they are failed human souls? human souls that died but weren't reincarnated (yet)? an experiment in soulmaking which predates the making of men? Who knows.[/hide]

I was happy to get some explanation on this point, though, because I've been wanting it for a very long time. (Like, since the original series. lol)


P.S. Don't watch the sneak peek for next week's episode. When the credits end, there's a short scene with Wrath and Envy receiving a phone call. By all means, go ahead and watch that. But the moment it ends, and the sneak peek music starts up, close the video. Just some friendly advice if you want next week's episode to be a big surprise instead of being an anticlimactic half-hour.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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Episode 43 was very good. It has enough action, I hope, to please the action fans, but it shines most brilliantly in its advancement of the plot and the characters' development.

As something of an aside, I wanted to see how far into the manga we were at this point, so I went to Wikipedia. Looks like two things:
(1) There are 24 books out so far, and episode 43 deals heavily with what Wiki mentions in Book No.20.
(2) Of the as-yet unpublished chapters that will appear in Book No.25, most of them have names which seem to suggest that the series may be approaching its conclusion.

So something of a good news bad news situation. The good news being, "Hooray, hopefully the anime won't catch up with the manga prematurely!" The bad news being, "Aw man! :( You mean it's almost over?"
 

HENTAIBEN

The Nesta
May 13, 2007
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Finally got around to watching 42, and then 43. Really like the parts with Hohenheim in 42, and 43 was pretty awesome. Way to go Marcoh. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised they kept Envy around, who knows when he could start trouble again.

I was thinking the anime would stop at episode 52, kind of like the last series. But, it would be cool if they kept it going and finished up the series. A conclusion is better than just leaving it hanging, or coming up with another "for anime" ending.

Totally in love with the new Opening and Ending now. Ending might be the best one yet, and the openings continue to impress me. Also the opening's scenes are really cool. And I like how the ending kicks off right away, for example - end of episode 43, shit gets real, ending bust in. Nice.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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Real shit gets real real with the end of Episode 44. The show is definitely starting to redeem itself. I'm going to watch it again. :) Very good episode.
 

HENTAIBEN

The Nesta
May 13, 2007
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Yep, looks like there's going to be an awesome battle in the next episode. I also liked the scenes with Hohenheim and Al. It's nice that he was finally able to share his story with at least one of his sons, even though we already knew it. But yes, the Greed parts really made the episode.
 

Sakunyuusha

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Jan 27, 2008
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I liked all three story arcs in this episode very very much. Even the least entertaining of the three (Ed's) was still very entertaining. That's the sign of a good episode. Three different story arcs and none of them is a waste of your time.

I'll be interested to see how the homonculus fight plays out. The whole "ultimate shield / ultimate sword" duality concept is interesting but presents a huge hurdle for Lin's character. We understand that the best sword can pierce anything but that the best shield can withstand anything and that these mutually exclusive extremes produce a stalemate when they clash. So it made sense (in a way) that Greed #1's shield wasn't able to totally withstand Wrath's swords but neither were Wrath's swords capable of killing Greed. In the end, Wrath plugged Greed full of four swords to *try* and immobilize him, took him to Father, and Father ended up destroying the ultimate shield by immersing it in fucking lava. (Yow~ch.) How, then, is the Ultimate Shield supposed to defeat the Ultimate Sword? You can't very well "guard him to death," and Father's not going to melt Wrath the way he melted Greed #1. (If anything, he'd just as soon melt Greed #2, too, for the same crime as before: insubordination!) So ... hmm. :\ I wonder if it'll wind up being like what we saw Marcoh do with Envy: perhaps Lin will find a way to sever the link between the stone and the body it's attached to, which will then open the Fuhrer up to easily-delivered mortal wounds. (Thing is, one has to wonder if the Fuhrer's true personality is different from Wrath's. Do we really know that he isn't in the same exact situation as Lin is? Mightn't the Fuhrer still be a really nice guy inside but it's this Wrath fellow who's in charge of his body 99% of the time?) I dunno. I suspect the Fuhrer is intended to be seen as corrupted through-and-through (despite his innocent origins in that hellhole of a medical laboratory) and so, if he does lose the fight, I suppose he'll just die outright and we'll all supposed to be like "Yay~, he's dead!"

On the other hand, if Lin dies (which I'm doubting, but you never know), then it will *really* beg the question of how Wrath's going to be taken down. The Wrath/Gluttony duo was frightening, but mostly 'cause of Wrath. The Wrath/Pride combo is just fucking insane. It would really help the heroes out a ton if Greed #2 can manage to take down Wrath. Pride's gonna be tough as is.

Where is Lust!? ;_; At this point, I'm beginning to suspect that we won't see any more homonculi getting made. If the series wraps up around episode 52, and we're already through Episode 44, it can mean only one thing: Father's downfall will be the climactic finisher. He's not going to escape to a neighboring nation. He's not going to be making more homonculi any time soon. Seems like the ones who are still around will be picked off one by one. Although ...

*spoiler*
[hide]I accidentally saw (from last week when I mentioned looking at Wiki just to see where we were relative to the manga) that, at least in the manga, May is fooled by Envy into heading back to Central, so she does. That's all I know, but I'm going to assume given this knowledge and given the visuals in the OP sequence that Envy probably does get his powers back -- and since Marcoh fucking vaporized his original stone (yeah! Go Marcoh!), it has to mean that Father is willing and able to part with more of himself to create new stones for his children. And if he can execute that sort of turn-around that quickly, then I guess maybe it *can* mean that we could see more homonculi either returning [Lust, Gluttony] or else being helped out post-defeat [Wrath, Pride, Sloth, assuming all three are going to lose to our heroes].[/hide]