A few weeks ago, I asked the Beneath the Tangles community to choose an anime for me to watch this summer out of a group that I’ve been meaning to watch or which I had begun, but hadn’t finished. There were a few popular choices, but none more than the classic series (and winner three years running of Anime March Madness), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I was hoping this was one of the choices, with the vote giving me some motivation to finally complete the show. I was at episode 41 at the time, and am now on 45—here are my thoughts on that episode:
What Went Down
- After Greed gets his homonculus handed to him in a fight with King Bradley, he reverts to Ling and runs into Ed, Darius, and Heinkel, who are searching for Al and Winry. After relaying information about the Promised Day to Ed, Ling capitulates to Greed, who rejects an offer from the fullmetal alchemist to team up, instead suggesting he and the others should follow him. To Greed’s surprise, Ed agrees to do so.
- Olivier kicks her brother’s butt in a battle to become the head of the Armstrong family, which she does only to avoid having her father, mother, and young sister from being taken hostage.
- Alphonse passes the message about the Promised Day to Izumi, who passes it forward, moving the message along a line of allies, ultimately reaching Roy Mustang.
Observations
- I like anime Olivier way more than manga Olivier. She’s so much fun.
- FMA is veryyy Games of Thrones-ish (I love comparing that series to anime btw)—one way in how characters journey and meet up and split and barely miss each other, as Ed does with Al. The two must wait a while longer before they meet up again—as painful for me as it is for them!
- Izumi is awesome. That is all.
- I really enjoyed seeing the message get passed down from character to character—a real smart way of bringing all these characters back into the show for a bit when they’re relegated to the sidelines due to the way the plot is progressing. Very smart.
- I forgot how crazy strong King Bradley is.
- The “Promised Day” sounds like it should be about a love confession, not the murder/transmutation of thousands of people.
Questions
- I still don’t really know Ling’s end game…it just seems so ridiculous that he made the choice he did. It still doesn’t compute to me. How could he think it’s worth it?
- Will Envy make a final appearance on the show? Will it be to help or harm our heroes?
I’ll update everyone from time to time as I move toward completion of the show. Please feel free to comment below but please, no spoilers!!
Husband. Dad. Occasionally Korean. Enjoys Star Wars, ASOIAF, and Meg Ryan movies. Tweets before proofreading. Ghibli. Oregairuuuuu. Jesus is King. Follow me on Twitter (@thetangles).
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8D!!! You’re watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood! Enjoy- My sister and her husband really love this anime. Also, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood falls into the category of “Anime that have a weird number of Christian themes and allusions, causing them to appear Christian without actually being so,” so that ought to be interesting for you.
FMAB is, in my opinion, one of the most “technically perfect” anime that’s ever been made. Which is to say that with a few exceptions, almost from beginning to end FMAB makes perfect sense and does exactly what it set out to do. It also intricately develops all of its characters and has an ending. And, see One Piece for this problem, I only watch shonen with clear endings. 😛
#bringrachelback
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