BH rewatch episode 30

Episode 30: The Ishvalan war of Extermination

This episode is… kinda boring honestly? It’s important to the character’s backstory but it’s, I don’t know, full of really cheesy lines? So much talking about how terrible everything is that I’m wishing there was less talking and more just showing stuff without commentary. (And warning I feel like my overanalysing nature is worse than usual in this episode rewatch.)

It probably doesn’t help that I’ve seen 03 countless times and much of the Ishval backstory happens there so all this war stuff is just really familiar and so it’s not really shocking. Kimblee of all people is actually the highlight.

So the episode opens with Roy talking to his teacher, trying to convince him to pass on his alchemy research to him. Roy is wearing a uniform and has just become a soldier but believes that this is his chance to help people while his Master thinks him a fool and doesn’t wish his secret knowledge to be abused and used for evil. Oh he’s also dying.

Well my conclusion is that they’re both idiots. Flame alchemy is one of the most destructive kinds of alchemy there is. Useful for nothing except burning stuff and Roy will go on to use it to burn people alive. What did they think they would use it for? Maybe if you’re creative it’d be good for cooking or something but Roy has literally just joined the military and seems to believe he needs flame alchemy to succeed. How did he expect it to help!? Showing him as an idealistic soldier wanting to make a positive difference would make so much more sense if he used anything but flame alchemy. Or if he was presented as more ambitious and believes flame alchemy is power and so only gets a greater feeling for morality from the Ishval war, thanks to character development.

Oh well. So episode proper starts with Ed visiting Hawkeye to return her gun. He talks to her about how he feels he was too weak to use it and expresses his fears of how Winry might’ve shot Scar were it not for him and did he make the wrong choice? Riza’s nice to him, suggesting its just some variant of survivor’s guilt, and explains how she’s in no position to judge, having become the sort of person who’s stained by her past actions and can pull the trigger far too easily but that doesn’t make Ed’s choices wrong at all. Then Ed asks about Ishval and Riza tells him about it.

Elsewhere we’ve got Scar demanding Marcoh tell him about Ishval as well.

We see that the war is terrible, lasting seven years until the Fuhrer decided to create a policy, 3066, to exterminate the Ishvalans. And so State alchemists were sent in to exterminate the people. Riza expresses how war can be chaotic but as a sniper she could see exactly who she was aiming at and with every shot she would end a life.

Marcoh reveals that Ishvalans were being used as ingredients to create a Philosopher’s stone. He was part of the operation, in fact. This stone was given to Kimblee so he could be even more destructive, allowing him to wipe out the Ishvalans in mass numbers. Scar recognises the description as the one who killed his brother. Scar is absolutely disgusted by all he’s learning from Marcoh naturally.

We see Roy at his teacher Berthold Hawkeye’s grave with Riza. They’re not familiar with each other yet but seeing Roy’s noble ambitions about how he wants to do good, she agrees to share her father’s research on flame alchemy with him. And Riza also decides to become a soldier herself.

In Ishval, we get some Roy and Hughes interaction as Hughes explains how Gracia is the reason he can continue moving forward and Roy ponders his own reasons. They note that they have the eyes of a killer now and think everything they’re doing is terrible, that it wasn’t what they stood for.

Roy sees Riza and is saddened to see her here as well, that the lovely girl he knew now has the eyes of a killer as well.

Kimblee appears and he just blows to pieces their attempts at trying to be above their actions. They’re still here and they’re still killing, what does it matter that they hate it? With Riza, he suggests she must feel some sort of pride every time she makes a successful shot and as it flashes back to her unflinchingly making a kill, you know he has a point. He reminds them to not turn their eyes away from their actions but to look unflinchingly into the faces of their foes and to never forget them, because they will never forget them. These words are echoed by Riza later on to Ed, so it’s clear she’s taken these words to heart. It’s pretty powerful.

And it’s such a brief scene of them interacting with Kimblee but I love it. Kimblee’s just like them in this moment, following orders given by a higher officer, what does it matter if he enjoys his work and they don’t? The results still the same. And why are they here, anyway?

They became soldiers, surely they should have expected war. Is it because its a civil war, rather than defending the borders against Drachmans or Cretans? What did Roy expect to achieve with his fire alchemy? They can condemn the State all the like but they’re a part of it.

I love to hear Kimblee questioning them on this and you can respect his viewpoint because he doesn’t pretend, he’s very honest about the kind of person he is. (I do question them giving a Philosopher’s stone to someone as chaotic as Kimblee though.)

Anyway, so we jump to the Fuhrer and the part where he’s ordered the extermination policy to go ahead. Some interesting characterisation of him with how he rejects the Ishvalans idea of a god given how many have already been slaughtered by the military and says how you can only trust in your own power. When the Ishvalan leader offers himself as a sacrifice to end the war, Bradley rejects it, stating that one life is now worth thousands and insists on exterminating the ishvalans.

This is pretty remarkable as far as characterisation goes but I feel it’s heavyhanded for a leader. I’m biased but I sort of appreciated how Bradley in 03 constantly had this demeanor of being harmless and friendly, keeping all this ugliness to secret plotting and backrooms, he wouldn’t be so openly villainous. (I think BH!Bradley is a far more interesting Homunculus than 03!Bradley, but I do appreciate how effective 03!Bradley was as a seemingly good leader.)

Anyway, Riza concludes her story with explaining how the military is corrupt and the bad parts need to be removed and the whole system needs to be reformed, which is what Mustang intends to do by attaining power. She also states that all the so-called heroes of the Ishvalan war should be tried as war criminals for their actions. Quite a statement as that condemns likeable characters like Riza and Roy. Edward is upset by this even as Riza seems very calm about the whole thing.

We get one more flashback to after the war where Roy shares his ambitions with Riza and asks her to work with him and watch his back. He adds that it means she has the power to shoot him if she so chooses. Roy states that he trusts her with this power, that if he ever strays from his path, he expects her to shoot him rather than let him go down the dark path.

Hmm… it’s interesting. You know, I’ve seen Roy’s character in 03 criticised for showing him almost killing himself as it’s out of character for Roy. I sort of agree that’s it’s a little too melodramatic and angsty, and you need to accept that 03!Roy and BH!Roy are different characters. BH!Roy certainly doesn’t believe in throwing one’s life away. But this statement is interesting in how it shows that maybe they’re not so different? The moment 03!Roy contemplates suicide is after he’s done a terrible thing in killing a pair of innocent doctors and maybe he genuinely believes he’s fallen too far from the right path and it’d be better if he were dead. He eventually decides to continue living in the best attempt to make up for some of his evil actions. This statement in Brotherhood mostly foreshadows him becoming consumed with revenge in his torture of Envy and he believes Riza will be a better judge of his own morality than him. But still, he’s very clear that he expects Riza to kill him if she thinks he deserves it. I find the parallel interesting anyway.

Sorry… just musing. (Warning for further digressions in this paragraph) Speaking of 03, I think it generally did a better job at showing the devastation and the horror and the trauma as a result of the Ishval war. With more focus on the Ishvalans side, and more moments of extreme weakness from the ‘heroes’. I also find it sort of strange how noble Roy seems to be even before the Ishval war. In 03 we never see any flashbacks from before the war and I think I like that? We can imagine that Roy was perhaps a man like Archer but the war broke him and led to him becoming a person with some trauma but also with higher ideals,. Yes, I know there’s nothing to support this reading in canon but still I wish the Roy before the war seemed more different from the Roy after the war.

Sorry, I’m being too harsh on this poor episode, I know. I should be putting on some Royai shipping glasses or something but I sadly cannot. There’s just too much talking about what’s happening and insufficient explaining about the characters actual motives for me. I understand that they feel bad about it but I want to understand why they choose to participate. How far they’re going. I know they joined the military but why?

I’m probably forgetting some details or misunderstanding something. Maybe I’m just overreading or getting fixated on the wrong stuff. All things considered, this was a pretty alright episode and did explain the events well and I did like how we get much of it through Riza’s perspective and I love the bits where Riza explains being a sniper and the parts with Kimblee. Bradley’s stuff was decent as is the brief bits with Marcoh. Ed talking about his own worries as actually a little boring for me – weird when Ed should be my favourite.

I’ll just end this part here. You know, I think writing about it actually helped me to appreciate it more though. Using its the reverse where I like an episode okay but find plenty of issues when I start to think about it in depth.

FMA 03 Official art

Hey, I’ve been collecting all the official art I could find online and saving it to my computer. I figured it’d be good I’d share some of it here. Enjoy!

(This is for 03 stuff – for Brotherhood official art check here.)

I’ve compiled a bunch of art together here. Enjoy. I don’t own any of it myself nor do I have a good list of sources. If you spot any errors or if you have any improvements, please feel free to tell me. I’m always looking for more to add to this!

Many pieces of official art are produced in sets, which will sometimes be obvious. I’ve grouped them together where I can. I don’t know everything that goes together though and so I just categorised them in other ways. Yes, some of these categories will be quite artificial. I’ve left my own comments throughout. Hopefully it is pleasing to browse and easy to find what you’re looking for.

The art is also varied in quality as for some of it I could only find them in low quality. Additionally, some of the art has words over it in cases where I couldn’t find a good clean version. Please click on the images to view them properly.

Some pieces of official art have been used in a variety of ways and may come in different backgrounds. I’ve tried not to have multiple versions of the same piece however.

(There is >600 images on this page so it may take time to load properly.)

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Al during Lab 5 arc

The Lab 5 arc in FMA 03 really served to make Al feel really inhuman. I’ve talked about Lab 5 from Ed’s perspective before but it’s a completely different experience for Al. (And somehow just as bad.)

He and his brother have to immediately split up because Al can’t fit inside the vents with his huge armour while Ed can. So he’s forced to wait outside until he gets attacked by another soulbound suit of armour. Except this one is the serial killer that so terrified Ed a few years ago. Definitely the opposite of the kind of person Al is.

Barry the Chopper immediately starts interrogating Al with stuff he’d rather not think about – his general existence and whether his love for his brother is real or artificial. Al worries and becomes distracted but puts it out of his mind for the time being as Scar appears and a way into the Lab is opened.

All is going fine at first, Alphonse gets Scar to open up a bit about himself and his past. But then, the Homunculi appear.

Lust is all too happy to confirm that she in inhuman and Gluttony attacks Alphonse. He eats all four of Al’s limbs, rendering him completely immobile. Al has entirely lost the ability to move at all and he already can’t really feel things. He’s completely helpless and must feel like an object, very far from human.

Indeed the homunculi continue to treat him like an object, dragging him around and Lust even sits on top of him. He can only watch as Ed gets beaten up by Envy. And they barely acknowledge anything he says. Al is far from quiet for the remainder of this arc but rarely does anyone pay his words the slightest heed. Not only can Al not move, but he can’t even be heard.

In fact, the only stuff that does get said to him is about how the world is cruel. Also, in one respect and the Homunculi aren’t so different – they both want to be human. It’s another comparison that Al must absolutely hate – probably just as bad as the similarity between him and Barry the Chopper. Meanwhile he’s being used as a bargaining chip to convince his Ed to make the stone.

Ed is particularly bad about speaking to Al in this scene. He is so consumed with his own moral dilemma that he is neglecting to respond to Al at all. You’ve got Al screaming for Ed to stop, not to do anything and Ed shows no reaction to any of Al’s words. Al is at the centre of his thoughts, but he’s thinking of his promise, of Al being human again.

Ed doesn’t go through with it and Scar appears to save them, and then the Military arrives. Ed’s rendered unconscious and they’re both carried out. Al is still all broken up and can do nothing but wait for Ed to wake up before they talk. Although they’ve got out, Al still can’t move at all and all he can do is think. When Ed finally does wake up, neither of them are really talking and Winry has to be called over to fix Ed’s arm.

When Al wants to get away for a bit, he literally has to call Broche and ask him to move him outside. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that all Al has been doing is stewing over his thoughts and when he’s finally repaired, the first thing he wants to do is to get away after probably multiple of days of being stuck in this completely helpless form.

He lashes out at his brother when Ed grabs his arm to try and stop him.

He hadn’t intended to hurt his already injured brother and once again is horrified at his own strength. His next words are instead: “stay back.” Al feels like he is hurting Ed by being close to him and runs away. They do resolve things but first Al has to question his own state of self, asking Scar if he seems human, for instance.

There’s this one line where Al claims he doesn’t care about Ed, but I think that couldn’t be further from the truth. Truly, Al seems to be struggling to justify his own existence and is seeking validation. He cares enough about Ed that he seems to think that distancing himself might be better. In regards to believing his memories are fake, I feel like it’s a thought that gives him particular horror so he can’t help but dwell on it. But his lack of own self-worth is the real dilemma here and once that continues to be relevant. Later on, Scar will sacrifice himself fro Al’s sake and Al will start wondering whether he’s just cheating death and that he doesn’t deserve to have people repeatedly dying for him. A lot of that is also evident in this arc as well.

BH rewatch episode 29

Table of Contents

Before I tackle this episode, I figured I’d briefly mention the changed openings. It was different last episode too but I forgot to talk about it. Golden Time Lover is popular but I don’t like it nearly so much as Hologram, which it replaces. In fact I’d say it’s my least favourite of the Brotherhood openings. They’re all very good of course, so ranking them is hard. Mine would be something like. Favourite is OP5: Rain, followed by OP1: Again followed by OP2: Hologram, followed by OP4: Period, and then OP3: Golden Time Lover.

New ED’s nice and I’ll definitely be getting used to it as I’m being subjected to Post-credit scenes now. Why they start half way through the series is anybody’s guess. Lot of Winry fanservice in it. Anyway, on to the next episode!

Episode 29: Struggle of the Fool

Huh this is actually another one of those aftermath episodes, which caught me off guard a bit as I felt like the end of the last one was still sort of thick with action. Like, last episode ended with Ed trying to fight/talk to Greedling while Envy restrains them and Scar also just blew up the sewer corridor to escape.

This episode starts with no sign of Greedling as Ed and Al follow Envy, now back to his regular form, into an elevator and they ride an elevator together. (One that can clearly take a lot of weight as Envy is supposed to be really heavy). I don’t really mind I guess, but I feel like last episode cut off at a weird moment and it seemed like Greedling was going to be central to the next episode when he’s barely in it.

Oh well. Them just casually riding the elevator with Envy is kind of funny honestly. Gosh, Envy’s character is so different form his 03 self but somehow both are great in their own way. They now learn that Father’s lair is directly beneath the military HQ.

Envy instructs Ed to have a shower so we can enjoy Ed with his hair down. Ah it’s so pretty… Then standard shenanigans with Ed being naked and I admit that I was mostly trying to get a glimpse of Ed’s feet to see if he was still wearing only one shoe. What sort of fangirl am I? Oh right, the obsessed with irrelevant details kind. The answer, by the way, is that the show wants to frustrate me.

What kind of shoes are these black circles, show? Everyone else’s looks normal. (Okay so whoever supplied them with his outfit remembered to get shoes as well, that’s all.)

Huh, Ed’s calling Mei’s panda a cat now but I swear the first time he saw it, he correctly called it a panda. It’s established that Mei’s alright and inside Al’s armour anyway. Envy runs in on a naked Ed and is apparently embarrassed? It cuts away so maybe it was Ed reacting in horror? Envy doesn’t seem the type to care honestly but he’s hard to read especially when I’m often getting confused between 03 and BH Envy’s personality.

Right, so they meet with the Fuhrer along with Mustang who is honestly pretty generous. He doesn’t care what they do so long as they don’t interfere in Father’s plan and doesn’t really put any further watch on them even as he tells them that they’re very important. He just threatens Winry and Edward immediately complies after initially threatening to resign. (Roy’s team is already being threatened as well.)

Roy meets with Riza and seems to have suspected she might have run away though she of course stayed loyal. She says something about only needing to be told once. They tell Armstrong about Wrath. Roy muses on how he felt at his most human when fighting Lust, a real monster.

Oh, Armstrong reveals how he couldn’t take Ishval and fled. He regrets not fighting against it. I swear we don’t meet anyone who actually fought against the Ishval massacre though. All the other characters seem to have actively participated in it. His 03 counterpart participated and seems to feel great turmoil for it in that series so I’d say running from the conflict might have been the bravest action anyone took. It’s a form of protest in its own way even if it’s not truly effective. That he stays a part of the military at all is significant, though he’s probably pressured by his family.

Mei is taken to Doctor Knox to rest. Lan Fan is also there, recovering. She is intending to get automail though Al warns her that she’s still recovering. Eh, automail seems like the kind of thing that’d be easier to apply with a fresh wound anyway.

Ed calls Winry and we get our EdWin moment, with Winry claiming its rare for him to call and how happy she is that he’s calling and looking out for her. This reminds me of that moment where Ed asked for her opinion on their quest and she was flattered that he thought to ask her opinion at all. I swear the shipping moments are when the show’s at its least subtle.

GreedLing appears, reminding Ed that he is not Ling and Ed doesn’t try to push the issue at all for now. It’s just a casual, hello, give this to Lan Fan, bye. But last episode Ed was so determined to fight for Ling! Why is he so casual now? Nevermind that the existence of the message means Ling is definitely still in there and no one remarks on it.

I don’t know why he bothered to keep it secret anyway when the message merely said, that he has the stone while Al tells Lan Fan all about what happened.

Oh, Mei and Lan Fan are instant enemies because they’re from different clans. I know it’s meant to be a humorous moment but gosh they’re threatening to kill each other. It’s very dramatic. Where does Mei get all those daggers by the way? She seems to have hundreds of the things.

Wrath and Greed meet up and Wrath mentions that conversation he had with Ling about true leadership and how naive he was and how he must be disillusioned from being combined with a monster like Greed. Ling briefly breaks free to protest.

Ed confirms that his alchemy is working again and that other alchemists were stopped by Father’s power as well. He reasons that Mei and Scar’s power must be different and he resolves to find out why, which will start up another arc.

Speaking of Scar, he’s able to explore quite freely, I’m surprised neither Envy or Greed were sent after him. He finds Marcoh and Marcoh reveals that he was responsible for much of the destruction wrought in Ishval and begs Scar to end his life as he reveals that he fears another terrible plot is being brewed by those behind the military.

You know I wonder if any of this was inspired by FMA 03 at all? Marcoh bowing his head, freely accepting the justice from Scar reminds me very much of 03 episode 14-15 where Marcoh is very clear about his guilt and he even explains some of the Ishval war and the next episode of BH is also about Ishval, framed as Scar demanding to know about it form Marcoh. It’s hard to know – but I believe this part of the manga was released quite a while after 03 had finished airing so it’s possible it drew some inspiration as much as things go a different way. This series is emphasising Scar’s anger a lot more, I feel, where 03 Scar was different somehow. Like he was also willing to kill but he took no pleasure in it and considered it his mission from both his brother and his faith more generally. Where this Scar is more consumed with his rage which drives a lot of his action. The resolution with Marcoh will happen differently in this series but this episode ends here anyway.

So all in all, another breather with some entertaining bits but nothing too striking. It was an alright episode I guess. A lot of stuff is getting established that will lead into the next arc and some wrapping up of the last arc.

Not sure what the episode title is really referring to. It’s pretty vague. Greedling maybe? Doesn’t have too much to do with Episode 21: Advance of the Fool from what I can see though the title is formatted the same from way.

03 Ed’s character development

Hello, this post is a bit of me attempting to explain the progression of Ed’s character in 03 and how it shifts slowly over time.

Early on we see Ed (and Al) having adventures, getting into trouble and then solving problems. The Ed we meet here is really confident and happy with lots of big arrogant smiles. He takes great joy in outsmarting people or defeating people with his awesome alchemy skills. He gets moody at times – he doesn’t like being part of the military – but he is proud to be the alchemist for the people.

The first glance at him after the timeskip when he’s 15 has him talking to a taxi-driver about his lovely reputation and he’s visibly happy and gloating. (The wind gets taken out of him with a remark about his height though.) Now, he is sensitive to people’s suffering and wants to help others when he can – stuff like Nina still weighs on him and his past is extremely tragic but he prefers to blame the world and get angry and frustrated at the unfairness of it all. But mostly, he’s doing his own thing and thinks he’s awesome. (See Liore, Yousewell and the fullmetal versus flame episode.)

Al’s a little more humble and caring about others while Ed is less interested in other people’s problems, he’s not exactly cruel but he’s very-much self-interested – he generally wants to help only when he begins to care about them or if it’s really about proving himself. (In episode 10, the Phantom Thief, his problem with Clara wasn’t that she was a thief, it was because she was a thief using alchemy. He’s particularly opposed to the misuse of alchemy and actually helps her when he thinks she’s trying to help the town. Then when she’s tricked him, Ed wants to defeat her because she got the better of him and he hates that.)

Over the series, this arrogant attitude gets deconstructed. It starts with Marcoh, when Ed tracks him down and doesn’t care too much about his story about his Ishval and how the Stones he made were misused. He just wants the stone for his own goals – restoring him and Al – and doesn’t really care too much about the wider world. Then Marcoh gets taken by the military and Ed suddenly feels bad because he realises his actions caused this and he steps in to defend Marcoh from Scar. Complete with a flashback to Nina. (Separate post on this here)

So next, Ed finds out that the Philosopher’s stone is made from human lives and he starts to give up because pursuing their own goals would mean hurting others. It’s another huge challenge to his worldview. (Here’s a separate post I made on it.)

Then he enters Lab 5 and he finds out the homunculi have been behind things and that they’ve been secretly manipulating him and his brother all this time, leaving a trail to the stone to lure them in. Now Ed can no longer pretend that it’s their own quest independent of anything else. They’ve been controlled all this time and didn’t know it. Tucker is still alive. Barry the chopper is still alive. Ed hates being tricked and outsmarted and he’s really shaken by it all. All his achievements suddenly seem like nothing. (More of my thoughts on Lab 5)

Meanwhile, you’ve got Al interacting with Scar. Originally Scar is just a bad guy to Ed and now they’re learning more about Scar and his sympathetic motivations and it’s not so black and white. In contrast, many of the early villains tended to be framed as generically evil.

So Ed finds he’s more connected to the world than he’d like to be. He can’t just be selfishly pursuing his own goals with no care for his effect on the world. He learns about how the homunculi were created with Izumi and then he meets Greed. Greed’s just a bad guy to Ed. Then Ed kills him and Greed reveals he let Al go, that he’s been manipulated all his life and that he’s not such a bad guy. It’s not so simple as Greed or Wrath being evil just because they’re homunculi, like the ones they met in Lab 5. And now Ed has to deal with the fact that he’s taken a life, previously a line he swore not to cross, and he has to try and move on.

Early episodes had Ed really happy and proud with him being the hero defeating the bad guy and saving the day. (Nina, his great failure, and Barry the chopper are sort of exceptions but even then the bad guys were so clearly evil and he could at least take some sort of satisfaction from defeating them. Until lab 5…) These episodes show the opposite, Ed feels terrible for what he’s accomplished. There is no satisfaction here.

So the next couple episodes have some more of his assumptions challenged. His interactions with Ishvalans in episode 36 reveal that he’s been affected by propaganda more than he’d like and he confronts a bit of his own internalised racism (even if the show doesn’t really delve into the subject.) Ed is starting to rethink his assumptions and his worldview. He makes this nice statement about how you can’t always trust what you’ve been told and you have to come to your own truths about the world. It’s a lesson Ed’s beginning to take to heart. Soon after this, Martel informs him how the Ishval war wasn’t a single inciting incident based on different worldviews but an active insidious campaign by the military from the beginning purely to start a war. What he’s been told before has been more lies and military propaganda which he’d never questioned.

Then the truth about Liore is revealed and Ed is now confronted with the fact that his actions didn’t help like he thought. He couldn’t solve their problems. All he did was cause worse problems even though it wasn’t his intention. All he can do is collapse in horror at the graves, realising that he was never the clever hero defeating the bad guy. His actions really had huge devastating consequences outside himself.

And while in Liore, he confronts another mistake he’s made. He faces Sloth, who he’d been in denial about for ages, even when he should’ve known. Now he accepts that she’s his creation and his responsibility and he can no longer run from her. So after this, he prepares, going to Risembool to get her weakness.

Lust has been his enemy for a long time and she’s done some terrible things. Yet she offers to work with him against his enemies. She wants his help and I like her line about how if he gives her what she wants and makes her human then they wouldn’t be enemies anymore. It’s like, these characters are more complex than mere bad guys and helping her would be the best move even though she’s never shown any remorse for the things she’s done. There’s no point to antagonising her now. (I’m probably not explaining it that well but I find this scene really powerful.) Meanwhile, Sloth is intent on being their enemy to the end and it’s necessary to go as far as killing her.

Ed’s fight to defeat her is every bit as clever and awesome as any of his earlier schemes and he’s aiming for the ending he got. (Whereas he was shocked by his own actions against Greed.) But there’s no happiness in victory here. Only bitter sadness. He’s beginning to understand the homunculi and that they’re not monsters – they’re tragedies.

At this point they have the Philosopher’s stone and Ed could be trying to get his and his brother’s body back. I think it might well have been possible. Early Ed probably would have tried to do just that. But now Ed’s not thinking of his own goals, he’s thinking of the greater world outside of his own dreams. His conversation with Mustang in Episode 48, Goodbye, discusses this. Mustang’s throwing away his dream of becoming Fuhrer to defeat the corrupt Military while Ed goes after the Homunculi’s master who’s been pulling all the strings and starting wars. War is not a far-off thing that doesn’t concern him as he believed in early episodes.

So we don’t see much of his cocky smile anymore. Ed learns he’s not as clever as he thinks he is and that his enemies aren’t as simple as he once thought and that the world affects him and he affects the world, whether he likes it or not. That’s some of his character development throughout the series.

We may not get so many big grins but we do still get some nice smiles from him at times. He’s grows more thoughtful about the world and more caring about others. He’s calmer and less arrogant and better at forgiving others for their mistakes, (like he’s able to forgive his father for all the terrible stuff he’s done upon seeing how he’s trying to be better). He’s still restless, and very attached to Al and can’t let go of his principle of equivalency entirely and this leads to his final sacrifice and then continuing researching relentlessly in the new world – he doesn’t become a perfect person or anything but he does grow immensely becoming kinder and more selfless. I absolutely adore his character growth.

Ed’s my favourite character in FMA and I absolutely love his character journey in 03. I hope this helps to explain why.

My feelings on BH Hohenheim

This is my response to an ask I got asking me to compare Bh Hohenheim with 03 Hohenheim. It’s a fairly brief reply.

BH Hohenheim really grates on me for some reason, I just can’t stand his character. It’s hard to explain why. Maybe its because I feel like I’m expected to sympathise with him but I just don’t really. Maybe because it’s how he basically solves the plot? Seriously, he spent the last 10 years spreading souls around so that when Father pulled off his plan, Hohenheim could just undo it with a self-activating array. (So it would have gone off even if he died.) That means by the start of canon, Father’s plan is probably already doomed. I’ve talked about it before I think, but I’m not all that fond of Brotherhood’s ending and Hohenheim being the one who solves everything is part of it.

Some people absolutely adore Hohenheim and find him very sympathetic and have explained why but I just can’t feel it. This is my opinion, if I was attempting to be more objective then I couldn’t call him bad. But I personally just don’t much like him. Perhaps its because I’m so fond of Ed and feel that his reasons for feeling angry or disinterested in a relationship with him are justified and I’m not so fond of how its painted as immature stubborness. (I can forgive a character for making mistakes though!) That’s also a biased perspective and I’m sure if I could look at it from Hohenheim’s point of view instead I’d be more reasonable. But, Ed’s my favourite and I like viewing FMA from his perspective and focusing on his character. I did really like Hohenheim’s backstory as a young slave though! That was really interesting and nice.

Bh rewatch episode 28

I’m skipping episode 27 because nothing can convince me to watch interlude party a second time. It’s 80% recap and the rest is just Hohenheim sitting by a fire and remembering Trisha at a creepily young age.

Episode 28: Father

This is the episode which serves to introduce our main villain, who’s been in the shadows until now. It’s pretty interesting. Plus, finally, Greedling! (Though I think we explore him better next episode). The worst thing, as usual, is the accursed comic relief.

There’s not even all that much of it but it just grated every single time since this is such a focused and intense episode. The entirety of it takes place in Father’s lair and the characters are surrounded by homunculi the entire time and it’s otherwise got a good atmosphere.

Like, Ed, Envy and Ling burst out of Gluttony’s stomach in a rather brutal and gory way. Al sees Ed and we get our first look at him showing that he’s alright. Ling too.

Then we get this animation shift of Ed and Al into cartoons as Al grabs and hugs his brother, proclaiming about how he’s alright. Why could you have just had Al pick up and hug Ed? It’d have been a nice, heartwarming moment. Then you have Father interrupt it, giving him a feeling of coldness. You didn’t need to swap animation style in an over the top way. All it does is break my immersion and draw me out of the scene before it resumes its seriousness with Father.

Later, we’ll get more of Mei and she always brings far too much of this comedy with her. Now I guess her betrayal at seeing how Ed is nothing like she has imagined has been set-up – but it’s the most obvious subversion of her crush possible. It even transfers to Al next episode. It’s just not that good and Ed is literally being crushed by Envy (held down at least) so is it really the time to be making jokes at his expense? (So many jokes are picking on Ed when he’s not even doing anything!)

This should be a tense scene and would have been a great time to show off Mei’s more serious side- like there’s this brief moment where she looks at Scar in fear and concern as he expresses rage at the homunculi for Ishval. Finally she’s seeing his dark side. It’s never touched on again (though maybe I’m forgetting some later Scar-Mei interactions). Also she transmutes massive amounts of rock, flipping Envy in his massive form over but instead of the proper awesome moment it’s framed in a joking way as she’s angry because she feels tricked by Ed.

That’s my only real complaint. I mean I guess I don’t like how quickly Ed, Al and Ling view Father as an evil villain. His introduction shows him being strangely friendly with Ed and Al by healing their injuries and being curious about Hohenheim. It’s oddly pleasant and I wish it took them longer to decide there’s something off about him. Not that it doesn’t make sense that they’d work it out.

To do this, just have Ling not voice his distrust out loud until it’s too late as he’s already been turned into Greed. Then have it dawn on Ed later that this person doesn’t respect humans at all. I don’t know, I’d just have liked to explore Father’s character a little more with its alien logic before the heroes all start seeing him as a monster. His detached and harsh logic could be really interesting but it’s not delved into enough for me.

That’s not a real complaint by the way, just some stuff I’d like to have been explored more. I actually do like this episode.

We get the formation of Greedling, which is awesome. Greed is such a good character and the only downside is that he’s forced to share his body with such a grating character that is for some inexplicable reason a fan favourite?

Either way, I liked Ling in this episode. We see an interesting side to him, how he will do something absurdly foolish in letting himself be turned into a Homunculus. It shows the lengths he’s willing to go in a different and more dangerous light.

I like how Greed casually tells Ed that Ling didn’t put up a fight and Ed frantically denies this, thinking that Ling must have fought. Last episode (ignoring interlude party) you had Ed starting to give up and let himself get swallowed by Envy while Ling screamed at him to keep fighting. This episode we get the reverse.

The Greed stuff is all really interesting but it’s getting overshadowed by the battle with Scar and Mei. More on it next episode, I think. Al asks for Scar’s help against the homunculi and Scar wonders at how they can ask him to be allies when he is responsible for the Rockbells’ deaths. Al basically says they don’t have much choice. (It almost reminds me of the Al-Scar stuff in 03 but not nearly so explored of course.)

So Alkahestry can transmute stuff like alchemy can and it’s really powerful. It’s also not affected by Father’s power. Later it can match Father’s energy blasts and it can be used from a distance and it can also heal. Is there any ways it is inferior to alchemy?

Now Ed and Al both know that the villains aren’t going to kill them. The fact that this is a thing and they know it is starting to get tiresome. It’s so obvious that Ed and Al are extremely troublesome but the villains are so ineffective at doing anything to stop them.

So… that’s some of my thoughts. Usually I try making these be basically summaries but I kind of just listed stuff in a random order this time.

I actually did very much enjoy this episode, it’s got plenty of excitement and I love the homunculi. If this post feels like it’s heavy with complaints it’s more that they took a long time to describe, this doesn’t show how they’re mild annoyances at best.

Scar and Nina

In FMA 03, Scar’s introduced in the same episode as the Nina incident. Interestingly, he’s very unsure about what he’s doing and is looking for a purpose. He’s sitting alone in an alleyway, brooding, when the Nina chimera comes up to him.

His philosopher’s arm identifies her as a human chimera. He’s still confused about why he’s getting such information, questioning what it all means. Seeing what pain she’s in, he decides to destroy the creature, in a sort of mercy kill.

Seeing such an atrocity created by an alchemist actually inspires Scar to start his crusade against State Alchemists, giving him a new purpose. Later exploration of his story show he’s already experienced the cruelty of alchemists in the form of Kimblee and other State alchemists sent to Ishval (plus his brother’s own obsession with alchemy towards the end was incredibly alarming) but it’s this act in a completely different setting that actually inspires him to act against alchemists as a whole.

I think it’s an interesting early introduction to his character, as it makes his motivation a little more nuanced than mere revenge (which also gets explored). It’ll be several episodes (and a few years storywise because the timeskips.) before we’re properly introduced to him but it’s nice to see some of how his story starts.

Kimblee and Archer’s dynamic – FMA 03

Kimblee and Archer have a surprisingly really interesting dynamic. It’s strange how these characters just worked, you know?

Okay, so you’ve got Kimblee who was freed from Lab 5 by Greed and is now part of his gang. He seems happy enough to help out, fairly content with his freedom and such. When Greed hears about Wrath being captured by the military, Kimblee volunteers to help break in to the Southern HQ.

He does so, merrily blowing up soldiers to break in but things go strangely between Izumi, the Elric brothers, Armstrong, other military soldiers and Envy disguised as the Fuhrer. That’s where Archer first sees Kimblee. They aren’t able to grab Wrath but they do successfully escape until Archer calls over to Kimblee to ask about him. Archer offers to make Kimblee a State Alchemist again in return for helping him.

This shows Archer to be rather cunning. He’s more than the average loyal soldier as he’s devious and knows how to make connections. They could have been natural enemies – one man cold, power-hungry and loyal to the military; the other independent, chaotic, not believing in anything. But Archer judged Kimblee correctly and they adopt a mutually beneficial partnership.

So, Kimblee decides to betray Greed. He was always prepared to, having secretly gathered the remains of Greed’s skull – his weakness in Lab 5 – just in case. They’ve been together for quite a while at this point and Kimblee does’t make use of it until he agrees to an alliance with Archer though.

Greed meets his demise, (as does all his chimeras save Martel) due in part to Kimblee’s betrayal. In return for Kimblee’s help, Archer uses his position to get him reinstated into the military. And they have fun with it too.

Archer and Kimblee very much enjoy telling Mustang and other officers how Kimblee had been “wrongly imprisoned for crimes he did not commit and subjected to illegal experiments in Lab 5 before he heroically escaped and helped to shed further light on Lab 5.” Their story is delightfully false and this seriously angers Mustang but he’s not able to do anything about it. It’s a good example of the Military’s corruption.

And their alliance continues as Archer pursues his goals in Liore. He wants a victorious campaign in order to rise in the ranks and sends Kimblee in to cause terror in order to provoke the citizens into attacking to justify their aggressive tactics. This does not go well for either of them. Kimblee dies and Archer is gravely wounded to be turned into a machine for the military.

(Yeah the ‘Terminarcher’ annoys me too. He’s honestly far more intimidating as just a regular person who uses the system to his advantage. That said his screentime is brief and I enjoy seeing Riza so easily defeat him.)

A comparison between 03 and BH Alphonse

Hey, I got an ask requesting my thoughts on the similarities and differences between Alphonse in the two anime adaptations. Here’s my response:

Alphonse isn’t all that different in each series, as I believe the manga gives a good look at his personality in early chapters so it’s not radically different like your Lusts and Kimblees etc. He’s still the more polite younger brother who’s nice and loves cats and is great at alchemy.

The biggest difference for me is how I feel 03 Alphonse can be a lot more emotional and extreme with his reactions. Like 03!Ed, he’s very good at feeling guilty. He blames himself for the human transmutation, insisting on shouldering as much as the blame as Ed and becomes very enraged at the existence of Wrath who has his brothers missing limbs. He also wants to give Sloth a chance because she’s their creation and he feels responsible for her. (Ed takes being responsible for her in the opposite direction.) Becoming the Philosopher’s stone near the end of the series gives him this survivor’s complex as he thinks of all the people who have sacrificed themselves for his sake. He thinks of Ed in the human transmutation, Scar in Liore and Martel (he probably feels quite guilty for failing to save her after trying so hard to.)

His identity crisis from Lab 5 is given greater focus, showing how he struggles with the question of his own humanity – a big theme in 03 – and shows how he’s driven by his emotions a lot more than reason. He can be quite irrational and often lashes out at his brother. That said, I feel he values his brother’s life more than his own; he struggles with the value of his own existence. (And Ed values Al more than his own life because they’re both self-sacrificing idiots.) He also willing to extend trust to almost anyone, leading to his friendship with Scar even after Scar try to kill him and his brother.

BH Alphonse, I think has many of these traits to some degree but they’re not developed in nearly the same way. Al also feels that no one should die for him to get his body back and will mournfully note all that everyone has given for his sake. But it’s more that he doesn’t believe anyone should die for him because human life is valuable and he and his brother want to complete their quest without sacrificing a life. (03 Ed and Al were not nearly so optimistic.) I get less of a sense that he doesn’t value his own existence and more that he believes there is a better way. At the end where he sacrifices himself for Ed, he doesn’t seem even slightly uncertain that Ed will save him so it’s harder to see it as the heroic sacrifice that it is if Al does not feel like he’s giving up his life.

BH Al is also the voice of reason compared to his reckless older brother where 03 would turn the dynamic on its head quite frequently. In BH, Alphonse is the sensible one where Ed is the hothead. There’s no character like 03!Wrath to bring out the darker side to him. He’s in many respects the gallant hero that Mei was looking for as he’s brave, resourceful, respectful and kind.

I’ve been doing a little rewatch of BH and Al’s frequently present and doing stuff but I find I hardly ever actually mention him. I frequently have nothing to comment about him, neither good or bad. He’s just there. 03 Alphonse meanwhile is so much more emotional and so often challenged by the often pretty terrible people he’s always interacting with.

I feel that BH Al is an unambiguous hero who always knows to do the right thing where 03 Al is an extremely caring individual who tries his best for others but sometimes fails and sometimes handles situations badly and whose feelings of guilt can sometimes lead him to lashing out.

Sorry if I don’t sound so fond of BH. I’ve only watched it 1 and a half times and don’t like it nearly so much so I might be getting BH Al’s character a little wrong.