BH rewatch episode 24

Episode 24: Inside the Belly

Envy has decided to once again grace the series with his presence. We see quite a bit of the Homunculi in this episode actually. Which is very nice. And more Ling who is sadly not yet a Homunculus. He does get eaten by one though! Yeah, a lot of stuff to like.

So we open with Envy. Yay! He’s talking to Marcoh who they’ve just been keeping prisoner so they can turn him into a Homunculus. Marcoh has realised they plan to use the entire country as a transmutation circle and Envy laughs and tells him he’s on the right lines.

Ah, no one can pull of Evil like Envy. He brags about how pathetic and emotional humans are and threatens to kill all the people in Marcoh’s village if he doesn’t work with them. (What they need is for him to perform a human transmutation though. He can’t do that while imprisoned. And I believe they’ve had him captured since around episode 7? Not that they’ve shown him since then. Threatening him to perform it can work of course but they’re being pretty lazy about carrying these threats out.)

Envy is specifically calling humans pathetic for the emotions they have, how they care about others. He is sure that Marcoh will agree because even though it may be illogical to save one village at the expense of the whole country, humans act based on their feelings which the homunculi manipulate. Envy has an interesting and pretty skewed perspective here.

Then we get some Wrath and an early showing of Pride. It’s just pride’s voice Wrath is hearing (through his shadows though this isn’t revealed yet.) Pride notes how Wrath is looking strangely pleased even though they’re having a setback with the humans having won some small victories in outwitting Wrath and Gluttony. Wrath seems pleased with the challenge and notes that he is aging and that these young humans could mean good new ideas for the future. Pride warns him not to talk like, to focus on their goal. He says he won’t mention anything to their Father though. The scene gives us a lingering look at a spider eating a butterfly, foreshadowing the way Pride works in the shadows, spinning his webs.

In the episode proper we get back to our Gluttony fight. He wants to kill Mustang and is being pretty reckless about destroying whatever he can. Ed and Ling mention trying to capture him again but Mustang has decided its too risky and goes to blow him up with fire. And Gluttony just eats the fire.

Yeah, that’s when they all decide to run.

Mustang’s injury from Lust is giving him pain again and he can’t fight. Ed creates a Mustang decoy to help him get away and this tricks Gluttony.

While he’s distracted, Riza convinces Mustang to get in a car so they can get away, along with Lan fan and the doctor. Ed, Al and Ling all decide that they want to stay and fight. Here’s one of these moments that just scream Parental!RoyEd with Mustang worrying over the bos pointing out that they’re just children and shouldn’t be fighting. Roy in general is characterised as quite noble and caring (pretty different from the manipulative bastard who is terrible at showing he cares – yeah I mean 03!Roy.)

The three of them convince them that it’s their fight too though and Roy reluctantly accepts. (Oh he’s been called useless a few times here.) Before they go though, Riza hands Ed a gun and there’s a brief flashback to him taking the gun from Winry’s hands. He accepts the weapon reluctantly – suggesting his hands are meant for destruction and violence.

Envy is back and showing off a pretty neat transformation power – he can shift into a dog. Oh and he can sit in a tree without breaking it – isn’t he supposed to be really heavy? I don’t remember that ever actually mattering.

Envy is super friendly, telling them he’s not here to fight, just to pick up Gluttony. ‘Course they don’t want to kill the Elrics but Ling on the other hand can totally die.

Well they begin fighting and Ling fights Envy while Ed and Al attack Gluttony. I’m not sure if they have much of an objective now unless they think they can defeat Envy and Gluttony? Well they probably would’ve attacked Ling either way.

Speaking of, while Ling is fighting Envy, we hear Selim reading a letter to Bradley while that family has dinner. It sounds like the kind of letter a kid might write about how his father is a great leader who defends the country but still has time for his family. I’m not really sure what to read into it as it’s unambiguously about the Fuhrer so it seems like Pride is just playing the part of innocent child. The leader stuff could be a reference to Wrath and Ling’s discussion about true leadership a couple episodes ago and the show is trying to hint that Ling is a true leader who cares with those cuts between his fight and the letter reading.

I rather hope that’s not it. Ling’s fine! I didn’t like how he was introduced into the series of course, but my issue is more that Ling’s still young and I’d rather the show was suggesting he has great potential, not suggest its something he naturally possesses already. Hmm, I guess the show could mean that. My issues with Ling’s character are becoming a little complicated to describe. How about this? Any flaws Ling has are being played for comic relief and are not to be taken seriously. Meanwhile his claims about being a good, noble leader have been consistently supported by his two very faithful followers. He’s been consistently bothering the Elrics and without facing any negative consequences. In fact, he and Ed have basically become friends.

Eh, I’m probably trying to read into this a little too much. I might try watching the scene again apart from the rewatch. I should try and articulate my issues with Ling in a separate post maybe. Err that’d be sort of critical though and I don’t want to make lots of posts complaining about brotherhood. (This rewatch is sort of that already, I know. Sorry I can’t help it!)

But I digress. Ling’s fight with Envy is entertaining. I try not to rewatch moments too much but it was totally worth rewinding part of the sequence. Envy has one arm turned into a snake wrapped around Ling’s neck. The other has morphed into a blade. Ling drops his sword, kicks dirt into Envy’s face and grabs the non-bladed part of the bladed arm and uses it to cut off Envy’s snake arm. Then he sort of rips off the blade which was vulnerable where it transitioned into skin. This sequence is all incredibly smooth and fast. I had to rewatch to see how it happened.

Ah, Envy. He seems to have even more powers than his 03!Counterpart. Turning into animals, turning arm into a snake complete with a fanged head while the other arm is a shiny metal blade and of course his monstrous true form. 03!Envy’s abilities did include strength and turning his arm into a sharpened spike but that’s about it (that’s the extent we see at least). It’s amazing how incompetent Envy is, therefore. He seems to never have any idea how to use his powers well. More abilities but he’s lacking 03!Envy’s grace.

This isn’t a complaint by the way. It’s totally in character for Envy to be theoretically overpowered so he’s lacking any actual skill and technique to back his abilities up meaning he’s often outmatched. He usually has to resort to cheap tricks like transforming into an opponent’s loved one to win.

He does this here, naturally. Ling hesitates against Lan Fan and Envy laughs about how emotional humans are, like he did with Marcoh at the beginning.

Against Gluttony, Ed and Al have the advantage as Gluttony can’t kill them. It’s because of their plot armour as they’re both Sacrifices. Which they are well aware of. But finally Gluttony has the chance to swallow Ling!

Ed gets in the way, so Envy tries to pull Ed out and all three of them get eaten! As does Al’s arm, as he’d also tried to grab Ed.

We cut to Mustang who is speaking with General Raven. He wants to trust the man so he’s making connections and ‘jokes’ that the Fuhrer might be a Homunculus. That’s when it’s revealed that the Homunculus conspiracy is plaguing the military itself. It seems many higher ups, including Raven, are also aware of Bradley and are working with him anyway. Mustang utters this nice line (this won’t be accurate – it’s from memory): “When he said the enemy was close, what he meant was that we are the enemy.”) Fuhrer Bradley appears too, asking Mustang if it matters that he is a Homunculus.

We get a look at Al panicking as Gluttony sadly tells him he can’t uneat anything as his stomach closes. Then there’s a look at Ed waking up inside Gluttony’s stomach. He can only wonder where he is. That’s how the episode ends.

–

So, nice episode. Envy is great in it. Some nice action. Cool ideas. My little digression about Ling isn’t anything to do with this episode really -it’s purely Ling in general up to this point. Pride’s scenes are a little weird and I think that’s because they’re trying to make the reveal more dramatic when it comes around. You’d think ‘inside the belly’ is referring to getting swallowed by Gluttony but I think that’s a misdirection. It’s really a reference to how Mustang is trapped in a military which is made up of enemies. The military itself is the beast.

Next Episode

The Gate

The Gate in FMA 03 is really cool in a creepy way.

It’s very large, dark and menacing. Absolutely terrifying to any character who encounters it.

Plus there’s all the weird creatures inside it. Greedy, laughing faces that seem very eager to take.

It’s literally based on the Gates of Hell from Dante’s inferno. Here’s a picture of the sculpture ‘The Gates of Hell’ by Auguste Rodin.

The kneeling figure at the top is the Thinker, Dante Aligheri.

Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

My friend prettywitchiusaka added a nice extra comment which I had to include:

You pretty much just nailed what I love about The Gate in 03; it’s a literal force of nature. It doesn’t care how you got there or what you want, because it can’t be reasoned or bargained with.
It has no will, has no concept of good or evil, it just takes.
Which is very fitting for a show who’s major theme is that life isn’t always fair.
prettywitchisusaka

And my response: Indeed the Gate is completely otherworldly. It really gives you the sense that no mortal should go near this alien thing and yet fools seek out it’s unearthly secrets only to find misfortune in their folly.

There’s no Truth and fairness inside this gate, just a homunculus and a lot of forbidden knowledge. (And another world on the other side).

My rules for defining Canon

Hey, this is just a post I wrote about defining what Canon is. Why? I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to ramble.

So when you’re talking about a specific fandom based around some sort of fictional story it is useful to keep in mind what is actually canon and what is not.

Canon means anything in the source material, anything official as opposed to fan-created stuff. Err, I wish it were that simple but not all official stuff will be counted as canon. And in certain fandoms you get multiple writers and their ideas can conflict and it can be a little confusing.

(I believe the term of Canon was originally used relating to Christianity as the Church had to decide which books were part of the Canon bible. Various books in the bible were written by different sources and it was all written millennia ago so it’s hard to decide on when certain things were actually produced and how useful or reliable they are. Deciding what counted as Bible Canon was quite a complex task, I’m sure. I’m just going to focus on fictional universes for this post though.)

So, how do you decide on what is canon? My approach is to find the stuff that is most canon first and go on from there. I’m going to use Harry Potter as an example as it’s a fairly straightforward one.

– The seven Harry Potter Books are all canon. They’re all written by J.K Rowling and they tell a complete story.

– Also canon but a level down from them would be some of the other stuff Rowling has written set in the Harry Potter Universe. These provide some extra world building.

– These are: Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, Quidditch through the ages, and the Tales of Beedle the Bard (the fairytales are meant to be fictional in the Harry Potter universe so what’s canon is that these are examples of wizard fairytales not events that actually occurred in-universe.)

– The next level down is the Fantastic Beasts movies. They’re consistent with events in the Harry Potter novels but taking place in the past and set in the US.

What about the Harry Potter movies? Their storyline is a retelling of the books so I would rate them as based on canon but not really a source of canon themselves where the books are my top-level canon.

– So another level down and you get stuff like Pottermore if you want to use it as canon. It’s a site where the information comes from Rowling and provides extra detail about the Harry Potter world. If you want, you can also consider other stuff Rowling has said about the Harry Potter world to be canon. That’s up to the person though. It’s not nearly as good a source for canon as the Harry Potter books.

– There’s also the play the Cursed Child which was not written by Rowling herself. It’s set in the future and if you want to consider it canon you can. We’re firmly in a grey area of canon-ness.

What if one bit of information contradicts another? My method is that the main books are top-level canon. If other canon sources contradict the books then the books would take precedence. And if the books contradict themselves? Latest one published takes precedence. So Deathly Hallows then Half-blood prince etc. Reason for this is because facts established early on may be unreliable. The first book had comments about werewolves living in the forest. Book 3 would establish that Werewolves only turn on a full moon. Obviously book 3 rules take precedence and the stuff in book 1 is just early weirdness before the world had been more fleshed out.

With most fandoms, you can generally follow the same rules to establish canon. Main work is canon. Latest stuff in main work is canon over earlier stuff. Any supplementary official stuff can be considered canon if it doesn’t contradict main canon.

How about stories with multiple reboots and different plotlines (like comic books)? In that case, it is not a single canon story but multiple stories each with their own separate canon. Every version of the characters/plot can be considered correct in their own canon. (However, if a work is meant to be consistent with another then it’s part of the same canon.)

I’ll use Fullmetal Alchemist as an example here as I’m very familiar with it. There’s a manga and two anime adaptations. The first, the 2003 adaptation deliberately diverges from the manga storyline so it’s in its own separate canon that is not consistent with the manga but is internally consistent (mostly, all works develop plot holes). It’s sequel movie, Conqueror of Shamballa, is part of its canon as well, (though it can be considered supplementary material.)

The second anime adaptation, Brotherhood, is a retelling of the manga as it largely follows its plotline and characterisation (with some minor changes that are inevitable when adapting.) In that case, the Manga is still canon. (Though if you prefer the changes Brotherhood makes, you can consider it ‘your canon’ with the manga fleshing it out with extra detail). The movie Sacred Star of Milos is also made to be consistent with Manga canon (though it’s also supplementary). There was also some Light Novels created to fit into Fullmetal alchemist canon which the manga writer, Arakawa, didn’t write, consider them canon if you want (some will not).

How about extra omakes and OVAs? Some of these are explicitly non-canon joke chapters. If they’re canon-consistent then you can consider them canon if you want, again on a lesser level to main canon. FMA also gives you the live-action adaptation. It’s another interpretation of manga canon with quite a few differences. You can consider it to be its own separate Live-action canon if you want, I guess?

–

So where do fan-theories and ‘headcanon’s fit in? They’re firmly not canon. They may be canon-consistent but they are not actually canon unless acknowledged as canon by an official source. You can consider your ideas canon in your own mind, for the purposes of your interpretation of canon if you want, of course (hence the term headcanon).

So, what you consider canon can quickly become open to interpretation. It’s totally cool to do so. Other people may have different ideas and these aren’t actually wrong either. People do get canon facts wrong too of course and you can correct them (politely). If someone’s making an AU (alternate universe) story then they’re not trying to follow canon instead exploring fun alternative possibilities. Fanfiction isn’t canon of course, and it’s not trying to be.

A lot of stuff may not have answer in canon and you’ll get some consensus in a fandom for it – it’s still not canon but it’s probably canon-consistent and you may like it enough to put it into your own interpretation. Sometimes canon is really stupid and dismissing it may be sensible.

BH rewatch episode 23

Table of Contents

Episode 23: Girl on the Battlefield

What was this episode? So much happened. I’m not sure if I can even have an opinion on anything as something else happens before I can digest what was happening. I’m exaggerating slightly – I have lots of opinions

So Alphonse is chasing after Scar. Edward is still in the alley with Winry, comforting her, and he gives her his red jacket. He doesn’t stick around long though as he needs to go and help his brother. Winry sits there feeling useless, that all she can do is wait. Edward orders some of the soldiers to take care of her as he runs off.

Meanwhile, Ling is running away from Wrath with Lan Fan still over one shoulder. Yeah, he got out of the room somehow. I swear last episode he was practically cornered but whatever. Wrath gives chase.

As Wrath is chasing them, he hears that Scar is still out and about and orders Gluttony to deal with him. Why does he even think Gluttony can deal with Scar? Scar can just blow him up every time he gets close, which he has to given his only weapon is his face and he’s not very smart.

I am also wondering where Envy is. Last time we saw him, he was still just hanging around Central. He should really be helping out too. With his powers, he’d theoretically be able to be quite discreet in watching over the Elrics.

Anyway, Lan Fan tells Ling not to be noble, that a leader needs to be there for his people and they need him alive. He doesn’t want to abandon her though. Lan Fan is looking at her severely injured arm and realising she’s useless to him, injured like this and she’s only weighing him down. We see her lifting her good arm to make a strike but we don’t see what she does before the scene shifts.

Al is still fighting Scar, saying he’ll make him pay for Nina and the Rockbells, Ed soon joins him. Oh, Scar notes Al is in a metal body and wonders at how he can use Alchemy when it put him in that form. Al points at that the alchemy saved his life and he’s thankful to Edward for it. Now they’re in a much more open space.

Then Gluttony appears and Ed and AL identify him as a homunculus and so the three of them all start working to fight Gluttony. It seems its Scar’s first time hearing that term though he has fought Gluttony before. Honestly that Gluttony even manages to bash his face into Scar is impressive. The homunculus is hopelessly outmatched.

Then, Ling appears from the Sewers and he’s taken his yellow shirt off to show off his muscles and cuts Gluttony in half with his sword. He asks Edward to make some restraints and Ed creates some metal coils. Ling quickly ties Gluttony’s regenerating body with them. He does it so tightly that Gluttony’s body is stuck constantly trying to expand but can’t because of the coils and so he’s completely trapped.

Riza appears in a car then, and shoots Scar in the leg. She’s in a paper-thin disguise of glasses and her hair down. It’s to trick the watching soldiers as she takes Ling and the trapped Gluttony away.

So Ed and Al have cornered the wounded Scar and intend to… capture him I assume? But then Mei appears, kicking Alphonse back. She calls Edward short – apparently unaware that she is a complete midget herself. She’s meant to be like 13 or something, right? Anyway, she makes three Alkahestry circles, causing a reaction from a distance to cause some explosions covering the area in smoke. Ed is very interested by this as he recognises it’s not normal alchemy. Mei then escapes with Scar.

Mei doesn’t seem to be aware that Scar is a killer. She has no idea why a group of amestrian soldiers and Ed and Al were attacking him and she never asks! She just heals his injury. I hate that she’s just ignorant here. It’s so much more interesting if she knows and decides to help him anyway. Or at least have her be curious but show Scar trying to hide the truth or something. But, no, it’s just never addressed. (Also how many daggers does she have? She just used 15 of the things and 10 of them are definitely lost to her. Where does she keep them? Mei’s ridiculously powerful (throwing those 10 daggers perfectly) which I’m fine with but her being so out of the loop and how little information we get about how her power works is a little more annoying.)

Oh, Al has her panda. There’s a brief comedy scene of him holding on to him in spite of Ed’s protests about stray animals. The panda has this gag of a pyramid of hierarchy of Al on the top. I’m not sure why Ed was on the bottom with Yoki – more jokes at Ed’s expense?

Okay so Lan Fan cut off her arm and attached it to a dog as a decoy while she and Ling escaped into the sewers. Wrath is fooled by this. When he follows bleeding arm and discovers this, his response is basically. “well-played”. This is a nice trick but I really think we should have been shown a bit more of it. Wrath was following them reasonably closely. He’s very quick while Ling was carting around Lan Fan on his shoulder. I would have liked to see them attaching the arm to the dog and then hiding in the sewers. Otherwise too much is happening offscreen. Like, when Mustang was fighting Lust, he cauterised his wound, walked through the empty laboratory and drew his array in his own blood all off-screen. (And got Havoc’s broken lighter working.)

Honestly, I’m not sure this is really feasible. I’m not sure I can believe that Ling really got away from Wrath long enough to pull off this bluff.

Oh well. So Lan Fan is wrapped in Ling’s jacket in a pretty dire state. Ling is in a car with Riza and convinces her to go and get Lan Fan. They take her to Doctor Knox’s place – Mustang got him to reluctantly agree as per usual. Wrath notices Riza and recognises her despite her ‘disguise’ and decides its bets he deal with Mustang.

So we cut to Winry, who is waiting in the military and she’s talking with Wrath – well Fuhrer Bradley anyway. Ed comes in to see her and Bradley gives him a subtle warning that he should take care of her.

Winry gets a phone call from Rush valley and all her customers are begging for her to come back. (She was only there from Episode 11-15 and there’s dozens of automail shops and she’s only 16. Why on Earth are they trying to make her skills so ridiculous? This is way too extreme.) Just as she was having tough feelings about being stuck always waiting.

So she heads out on a train and they say goodbye to her as she leaves for Rush Valley. Ed tells her that she’s not going to cry again until it’s tears of joy when they’ve got their bodies back. She agrees. As they leave, Winry realises she has feelings for Ed.

Ling gets introduced to Mustang who thanks him for all his help. Ling, Lan Fan, Ed, Al, Mustang and Riza are all in this safe house together as Lan Fan wakes up. Ed apologises for her getting hurt but Ling says that it was his plan and Lan Fan was willing to make the sacrifice, doing what he could not.

Ling informs them that Bradley is a Homunculus. Aww, it seemed like they had been getting closer to deducing that on their own. It makes sense that he’d tell them, of course. (And foreshadowing that he feels different from the others). Great job Bradley, showing off your Homunculus status. Still can’t believe they got away.

Lan Fan explicitly draws attention to how her distraction plan was based off her and Ed’s fight. Aww, I thought it would be cleverly not mentioned. But they had to say it. (I’m just disappointed because I was feeling clever for noticing the parallel.) Lan Fan notes again that she is useless and Ed recommends automail.

Mustang wants to use Gluttony’s Philosopher’s stone to cure Havoc’s injury. Ling protests, saying how Lan Fan just got injured for it and he deserves the stone. Ed cuts in, pointing out how he needs the stone to fix his brother’s body as they’ve been searching for it for so long. It an interesting dilemma. Ed should be pretty urgent to fix Al knowing that his soul is being rejected but on the other hand Ling’s got a duty to his people and he is chiefly responsible for this capture (though it was only possible with Ed and Al luring the homunculi out).

But the argument is quickly cut short as Gluttony reacts to the mention of Mustang, who killed Lust, and with extra determination breaks out of his bonds. Nice to see he cares so much about Lust. His stomach opens up to show the giant gateway inside with the eye inside. It’s eating power takes out what looks like an entire wall and a car.

—————-

And finally, finally the episode is over. Wow, they stuffed in a lot. Can you believe it’s only normal length? Course, everything was very brief as a result. Sometimes the pace is too much. I guess I like it but more time could certainly have been spent on some events. I’m mostly thinking about Ling and Lan Fan. Their storyline is way too rushed here.

You know I’d like a reason to like Ling but how can I if you’re going to rush through the part where he is horrified as he ties his best friend’s bloody arm (which she cut off for him) to a dog while she is practically bleeding to death next to him and he’s in a hurry. That’d be just the sort of scene to make me sympathise with him. His guilt, mixed with a sense of duty and the dark side of Lan Fan’s loyalty. Instead we get him telling her not to do it and then a cut to him jumping out of the sewers with his shirt off and cutting Gluttony in half. Yeah, I get it, he’s ‘badass’ and a loyal friend. But his most interesting scene was offscreen! Instead we’re messing around with setting up Ed/Winry.

I’d also have appreciated lengthening the Philosopher’s stone argument. It’s interesting to see Edward, Ling and Mustang all in an argument where they all have compelling reasons. It’d be great too as it’d make the moment where Ling offered the Stone to Edward at the end of the series more meaningful.

But it’s not a bad episode or anything. A lot happened and it was good, I just wish more time was spent on some of these events not that any of them were bad. But they don’t have the full impact if there’s not a chance to dwell on them a bit.

Next Episode

BH rewatch episode 22

Table of Contents

Episode 22: Backs in the Distance.

In this episode, we get some of Scar’s backstory revealed plus some great character exploration. This whole episode is pretty striking. Though gosh is the title super-boring. What it means is that Winry is remembering people leaving her (she sees their retreating backs) and never seeing them again (because they died).

Unfortunately, its first couple scenes are a little annoying. It opens with a recap because the last episode ended in the middle of the fight. It quickly picks up with the Wrath and Gluttony versus Ling and Lan Fan battle. Ugh, this battle.

Like, Lan Fan sustains an attack on her arm in order to take the chance to cut Wrath’s sword in half with a kunai. She’s hurt so Ling jumps in to save her. Despite her legs not taking any injuries from what I could tell, Ling finds in necessary to hold her over one of his shoulders. (Okay she did fall from a height but she’s still concious and the only bleeding spot is her arm. Ling immediately jumps down to her without any trouble.)

Yeah. Ling is fighting Wrath and Gluttony with Lan Fan over one shoulder and he’s fending them off. Lan Fan should really be a superior fighter as we’ve never even seen Ling fight before and she’s his bodyguard. Wrath is meanwhile one of the toughest in the show but Ling is successfully jumping around and holding him off! While carrying Lan Fan.

Ling even has the chance to lecture Wrath about what it means to be a true leader – it means taking care of your subjects according to Ling and so Wrath is no true leader compared to him. Ouch. Don’t pretend to be responsible now Ling, all we’ve seen of you ’til now is you running around and losing your bodyguards whenever you feel like it. And it was your idea to go and fight the Homunculi. You volunteered your friends. Lan Fan was just following your orders and that’s why she’s in trouble. What you’re doing isn’t noble and true, it’s closer to basic decency. (It is nice that he doesn’t drop Lan Fan and leave her for dead in order to escape, yes. It doesn’t demonstrate good leadership qualities though. I might as well say Lan Fan is showing good leadership qualities by risking her life for you.)

Sadly, Wrath doesn’t know him well enough to call him out. He merely says there’s no such thing as true leaders (and have I mentioned that Wrath hasn’t done anything in this scene that shows him to be a bad leader? He’s fighting himself, not sending his minions to die for him or something. I know he doesn’t value human’s lives but he’s not exactly done anything in this episode to justify such an accusation from a random guy whose life he’s never affected.)

Oh well, Ling nearly escapes when Lan Fan sets off a flash bomb but doesn’t because Wrath had one eye covered. And we switch scenes and this fight will continue into a third episode…

Next we get Winry and she’s thinking about her parents and Hughes, thinking of their backs as they left her for the last time. Then she remembers watching Ed walk away as she hears he’s gotten into a fight. (Oh and she also has a talk with Gracia by Hughes’ grave.) Fine stuff, but we ended in the middle of action last time, it’s kind of odd to have a slow scene from a different character. It makes the pacing weird as action is generally fast-paced and even a long fight shouldn’t really last more than minutes.

Oh well, finally we’re on to the good stuff. We have Ed and Al fighting Scar. Al, seeing his brother is getting tired from dragging on the fighting decides to engage Scar in conversation instead and he’s okay with that. So the three of them just stand around talking for basically the rest of the episode.

Al confronts Scar on his revenge and about Nina and the Elrics seem to realise that Scar’s actions against Nina weren’t wholly evil as they could do nothing for her but let her get dragged to a lab. It’s a real moral dilemma. So, then Ed confronts Scar about Winry’s parents.

We get a long flashback showing his brother studying alchemy and certain Ishvalans wanting to use alchemy to kill, like the state alchemists are doing so. This convinces Scar that alchemy is an evil art and that learning it is going to lead to more evil.

His brother seems unaware of his feelings and gives his alchemy notebook to Scar. Then Kimblee attacks and his brother sacrifices himself for Scar, giving him his right arm (of destruction). Scar awakens half-delirious in a makeshift hospital and is extremely confused and in pain. He focusses on Winry’s parents – he sees their Amestrian features and thinks they are the enemy. He kills them.

All this makes a great scene. I have a minor issue with showing all Amestrians as blue-eyed. The only characters we even know are the armstrongs and the Rockbells. (I don’t even think Kimblee has blue eyes). Also, it’s kind of ridiculous how Scar can take out like four guys at one point while unarmed. He doesn’t even have a knife while they have guns! (Okay, it’s kind of funny.)

So Winry has wandered into the alley they’re all fighting (standing around talking) in which is kind of convenient but anyway. She overhears Ed and basically collapses to the floor in shock and anger. There’s a gun on the floor which she goes to grab, ignoring Ed’s protests. She points it at Scar. She actually says she wants him to bring her parents back, (which is a little much given that she has probably come to terms with their deaths somewhat in the last few years.)

He says it is right for her to shoot him because of the cycle of revenge. (Does everyone really believe that Winry would become revenge obsessed if she shoots him? Or that people would want revenge if she killed Scar? The revenge stuff is kind of preachy.)

As she hesitates, Scar approaches her, apparently intending to kill her and Ed jumps in to protect her. Scar gets a brief flashback, reminded of his brother protecting him. Scar decides to cut his losses and runs away.

Ed comforts Winry in one of the best scenes. He tells her that she shouldn’t wield a gun because her hands are meant for healing, meant to give life rather than take it. Her inability to shoot is not weakness but her strength. Ed hold her hand with his metal arm, implying that his hands are ones made for destruction.

It’s just nice to see Ed holding her and comforting her even as Winry is crying, obviously wrecked by the memory of her parents.

…

Wow this post turned out longer than expected. I really liked this episode and thought that there wouldn’t be too much to say. (Explaining that I like something is usually incredibly short.) If this seems like a lot of really minor stuff, it is. It just took a lot of words to say. Like, I mention that they’re just standing around, it’s kind of silly but that’s all. It’s not in any way a problem. It’s funny if anything.

Plot Contrivances in Brotherhood

So, one thing that’s becoming very obvious in my Brotherhood rewatch is that Brotherhood has an awful lot of convenient coincidences to drive the plot forward.

Many say that Brotherhood’s plot is excellent because it’s a tight story that leads into its end very well and has basically no plot holes. I generally agree. It’s very good for a serial story. However, it does have a lot of plot contrivances.

What I mean by contrivances is convenient coincidences that happen to be important to driving the plot forward. These can take on a few different forms but the most common one in Brotherhood is characters conveniently running into each other.

This is basically the opposite of where the characters are driving the plot forward through their own actions. Sometimes characters find the plot. Other times the plot finds the character through what would appear to be sheer luck.

Doctor Marcoh randomly walking through the train station while Ed and Armstrong are on their way to Risembool

How about an example? In FMA 03, the Elric brothers are seeking out the Philosopher’s stone. In their searching, Edward meets an alchemist who uses her skills for thievery and after dealing with her she offers a useful tip – rumours of a Philosopher’s stone in a town called Xenotime. They go there and meet a pair of brothers who have been experimenting but haven’t managed to successfully make a real stone. They did see a minor miracle from a doctor though and offer them the name Marcoh. Edward goes to Central and convinces Mustang to reveal his location to the brothers and then the two of them go and track him down.

In Brotherhood, the two are travelling on a train and Armstrong randomly notices him at a train station and points him out to them.

One story had them looking for him, the other had him appear to them at random. It feels very convenient. Now it’s not a problem to have coincidences sometimes and I don’t think Brotherhood needed to have Marcoh be someone the brothers needed to seek out (though I wouldn’t be against it). Sometimes, you need things to help drive the plot forward. 03 is hardly immune to plenty of contrived coincidences.

That said, Brotherhood’s reliance on them has started to grate on me.

Ling’s meeting with the Brothers was a huge coincidence. Literally they find him collapsed in a random street in Rush Valley. Why is he even in Rush valley? (When it’s in the South and he came from the North-East through the Xerxes ruins presumably with the intention of going to Central as that where he is heading.)
Sheska just happened to have memorised the book they needed to read. (Yes, it’s in 03 too. It’s bad there as well.)
Mei just happens upon Scar and Yoki. She is conveniently ignorant of the fact that he is a serial killer. I seriously dislike how she remains ignorant of his actions for so long – rather than choosing to stay with him in spite of what’s done.
Ling randomly gets arrested and then just as easily breaks out with Maria and Barry the Chopper – perhaps contrived isn’t the word for this one but Ling is so lucky he justs faces no consequences for anything that happens to him.
Ed just happens upon Maria Ross while she’s breaking out with Barry the Chopper. He is then just in time to see the burned corpse.
Riza gets attacked by Gluttony in episode 18. Somehow, Mustang gets there in time to save her even though Gluttony is not the type for a fight to be anywhere near drawn-out. He was explicitly on the phone to her sitting at his desk when she’s attacked! She was attacked out on the streets.
Barry the chopper randomly decides to help out the heroes even though they forbid him from killing (His whole reason for existence with the whole “I kill therefore I am!” thing.)
Ed goes to the Xerxes ruins and randomly happens upon a group of Ishvalans there. They just randomly start talking about the Rockbells and tell Ed that Scar killed them. Then they disappear after this random encounter, having imparted this information.
Winry just happens on Ed confronting Scar in an alley about her parent’s deaths.
Ling somehow having the time to tie Lan Fan’s severed arm to a dog and escape into the sewers while being chased by Bradley. How was he able to run away while carrying her? Bradley literally confronted him in a room at the end of the previous episode. (elaborated more on that here)
Mei and Scar happening to see Alphonse and Gluttony walking into Father’s lair so they could follow them.

That’s what’s come to light so far in my rewatch. I haven’t gotten past season 2 yet so there is bound to be plenty more. Or maybe it gets better? I can only hope.

I mention these not to say 03 doesn’t also have some seriously annoying plot contrivances and plot holes. I wouldn’t complain about these at all – it’s practically nitpicking – if people didn’t claim that Brotherhood’s plot was a masterpiece.

Envy – my thoughts on his final scene

Envy is now a character I really like in FMA. The first time watching the show though, he didn’t really make that big an impression because he honestly feels like a pretty minor character. (Everyone does apart from Ed, Al, Roy, Lust and Scar and maybe Wrath and Izumi).

In the lab 5 arc, Lust is very clearly in charge and Envy’s contribution didn’t stick out much to me. While he was behind Hughes’ murder, Sloth’s role as the one he specifically interrogated and then seemingly arranged for him to die when it was clear he knew too much stuck out more to me than Envy. So yeah, Envy was just another homunculus essentially.

But then one scene came along to change my mind.

Envy’s final scene.

Before this scene, Envy was essentially a thug who enjoyed causing pain and misery. Dangerous and clever, I guess, but nothing too interesting.

Then this scene put him into a whole different light. He’s in front of the gate and Edward tells him that Hohenheim is somewhere on the other side. Without hesitating, he marches straight through the gate. Nothing else matters to him.

Envy is someone nursing a grudge and lives for revenge. He’s basically walking to his death here and yet he does it with a smile. This isn’t some pitiful end, one which a villain like him probably deserves. It’s an end he chooses purely for his own reasons.

Even wrapped up in those creature’s clutches, he seems utterly confident that this is the right course of action. The only time his smile fades in the scene is to order those creatures to do what he wants. Ed warned him against this action but despite how foolish it was, there is no trace of regret – Envy is committed.

The gate closes before a watching Edward.

He’s watched Envy’s end in silence. But one last glimpse of his face shows him starting to cry. Soon enough, he will wake up in a new body and wonder why he’s crying. Is it for the brother he’s just lost? Or perhaps, for the brother he never knew?

Needless to say, I love this scene. It made me view Envy in a whole different way. His hatred stemming from his abandonment issues. His hatred of Edward in particular. His enjoyment in destroying happy families like the Hughes. And Envy is so old -400 years old- meaning he’s had this terrible bitterness growing inside him all that time.

Envy is still a terrible person but you start to see why he is like that. Dante’s been manipulating him for so long but she’s also the closest thing he has to a family. The other homunculi are also like family to him because they’ve also been abandoned by their creators. Is it any wonder he would get along so well with Sloth, created and abandoned by the Elrics when she didn’t come out right? Or Wrath, damned before he had a chance to live?

Edward’s state in this scene is also interesting as he’s so very calm, in stark contrast to Envy’s rage. Envy’s the one who just killed him but he doesn’t show any anger. He just lets Envy walk to his own doom with a softly spoken warning.

Envy is very different to Edward ultimately but Envy is perhaps what Edward could have been. If he hadn’t had his loving brother and had let himself become consumed with hate, he might have recklessly thrown his life away too.

(Okay the dragon form is still really random.) I don’t really like CoS much, and one of the many reasons is that I really like the idea of this scene as Envy’s final scene. I prefer never knwoing what became of him.

Hey, quick little post.

I’m not sure if I’ll go much further in the Brotherhood rewatches. The problem is that the show kinda doesn’t really interest and grip me. It’s probably ’cause I consider the 2003 series to be the true version of the story. By true version, I mean mostly in terms of characterisation. I’m interested in Ed’s character in 03 and so much less interested in viewing BH Ed’s arc. It’s not just an alternate plotline, it’s alternate characters who look like familiar characters but aren’t. And then there’s the number of contrivances…

Oh and my newfound hatred of Ling and Hohenheim certainly isn’t helping.

A headcanon regarding Scar’s attack on the Elrics

When Scar attacks Ed and Al in FMA 03 initially he’s on a mission to kill all state alchemists because of how the military used these ‘human weapons’ to massacre the Ishvalans. Of course, Ed was just a child during the war in Ishval so it seems really cruel for Scar to attack him for it. (Even if Ed did willingly join the military which has not reversed its policy with regards to Ishvalans.)

But looking at the episodes again, I’m liking the idea that Scar wasn’t truly after them until they got in his way and even then he’s reluctant.

Okay, Ed and Al travel to this village in the East to track down Dr Marcoh. But the Iron Blood Alchemist, Basque Grand follows them there (to arrest Marcoh)..

Scar is there to hunt down Basque Grand, a man who was very definitely involved in Ishval and indeed seemed to have been promoted to Brigadier General partially due to his success in the campaign. He is still very influential in the military and generally a very dangerous person. Killing him no doubt sent a message – which is his aim.

Then Scar turns his attention towards Marcoh who was also very involved in Ishval, having supplied the military with the destructive Red Stones. Another valid target, who’s right in front of him so of course Scar makes a move on Marcoh – not Edward who is also present.

Edward involves himself, getting in Scar’s way by attempting to defend Marcoh. Only then does Scar turn his attention to Edward. Similarly, he’s perfectly willing to ignore Al until Al gets in his way by shielding Ed who is still shielding Marcoh.

Finally, when Ed is cornered, with his arm broken, Scar approaches to kill him but he’s surprisingly slow about. First, he offers Ed a moment to pray and he then has a conversation with Ed about equivalent exchange and then holds his arm over Ed head for quite a few seconds (with Al yelling in the background) without activating it until Marcoh intervenes.

Sure, this can be the show being dramatic but I think it’s that Scar was very reluctant to attack the brothers and all his words were as much about trying to convince himself to destroy them.

After this, Scar does hunt them down specifically but I think that might be because he’s aware that they’re after the Philosopher’s stone. Scar knows how dangerous the stone is and will be aware that they’re getting close to it. His quest to kill them at this point is likely specifically to prevent the creation of the stone.That’s how I see it anyway.

When Ed chooses not to create a stone after all, Scar saves him and Al, blowing up the room to thoroughly ruin the Homunculi’s plans. It’s clear he is changing his mind about the brothers, (no doubt helped by Al’s friendliness).

Analysis of FMA 03 episode 23

Hey, I haven’t looked in depth at an FMA 03 episode in a while. So, in this post I’ll be talking about Episode 23, Fullmetal Heart – or Heart of Steel if you prefer. (In Japanese, a more literal translation of Edward’s title would be something like ‘Steel Alchemist’ apparently).

This episode is a gem. (It’s comedy moments even work.) It takes place immediately after the Lab 5 incident and deals with the aftermath. If I had to pick some sort of theme for this episode, it’d be something like Consequences and Responsibility and Opening Up. It’s also sort of a breather after the rather dark and intense Lab 5 arc.

The first shots capture this episode well. Ed wakes up, safe in a hospital. Then he freaks out as he remembers Al. Then he is relieved when he notices Al is with him. Then his face falls as he looks at Al’s condition.

Al’s in a pretty bad state, all of his metal limbs were eaten by Gluttony and he’s completely immobile. And, if anything his emotional state is even worse. Al’s present for much of this episode and yet he hardly says anything, mostly he’s inside his own head and brooding.

Ed’s pretty battered himself and he has to call Winry to request she come and fix his arm. Plus he’s stuck in his hospital bed for practically the entire episode, evidently drained by his experience. While I’ve always associated the episode name with Al’s feelings, I feel that Ed’s feelings actually get the most focus throughout this episode.

Maria and Denny ask about Lab 5 and Ed’s instinct is to brush them off. Really, brush the entire incident off and dismiss the consequences. He’s already casually talking about doing better next time. Maria Ross is not amused.

She slaps him on the face, telling him to take things seriously, that they were seriously injured and that they put themselves at risk. It’s a hard hit to shock him into listening. Maria risked her own life getting them out of Lab 5 and has been very diligent in her job to protect them. She asks Edward to try and start trusting adults (because she cares about them).

Edward gets a similar challenge from Hughes not much later. He’s been looking at all the damage from Lab 5 and now goes to see Ed and Al for some answers. Meanwhile, he’s hiding what’s happening from Roy, choosing not to inform him anything when Roy calls.

At first, Ed’s reluctant to say anything. Hughes waits patiently for him to choose to speak and open up to him. There’s quite a bit of silence as Ed decides whether he wants to trust Hughes with the information. But eventually, he shares the information about the Homunculi – that they’re after the stone and wanted him to make it.

Hughes thanks him for all the info and promises to look into it while the brothers recover and just take care of themselves. Ed’s shared the burden of that information so now he can focus on his own personal problems essentially. Ed gives a fake smile at that, looking over to Al.

He hasn’t addressed it yet, but it’s obvious that Al’s not being himself. He’s only given one-word responses any time someone (Ed) directly addresses him and otherwise has been silent. Ed’s not sure what’s wrong but it’s clear that something is bothering Al.

Now, Winry arrives and she’s feeling a little guilty herself. She wasn’t careful enough with her maintenance (probably because she built the arm in three days) and forgot an important component and it got Ed into trouble. It’s treated mostly light-hearted but Winry’s clearly upset with herself and it ties into that theme of consequences nicely. That said, Winry’s presence is good for Ed.

He’s happy to see her and immediately tries to cheer her up when she’s upset and worried for him. She soon realises that things are tense between Ed and Al and immediately asks what’s wrong. She’s upset that they don’t open up, feeling that they’re keeping her at arms length.

Hughes finds her and offers some comfort. He explains that they do respect her and that they’re not good at opening up because they don’t want to burden anyone else with their problems. It’s a good summary of this episode’s them. Ed and Al sitting in silence with their misconceptions rather than talking is an excellent example of their difficulties in communicating even with each other.

Hughes tells her that they do care for her and trust her. If she’s patient with them and is there for them then they’ll open up when it’s important. (And it’s really nice that he just invited her to his beloved daughter’s birthday party. Hughes is awesome. Yes, it’s here to make you sadder in a couple episodes.)

So, Winry returns to Ed and she doesn’t push him. Instead she give him a cake from Gracia and they start talking fondly of childhood memories. Al asks to leave the room so he can brood alone and as Winry works on Ed’s arm, he opens up to her about what’s bothering him.

He reveals that he’s scared that Al blames him for not making the stone. (And by extension for Al being stuck in the armoured body at all.) Winry consoles him, that Al wouldn’t want him to take another’s life. She suggests that Ed just offers an apology to him and try to mend things rather than letting things stay this tense.

Ed seems nervous and conflicted but agrees and offering an apology is the very next thing Ed does.

(It’s also the first time Ed actually stands up this episode.)

Well, in response, Al also opens up. Hooray! Except, it’s that he thinks he’s a fake and that Ed doesn’t really love him. (Is this what happens when he broods in silence for too long?)

So, Al demands some answers from Ed and he’s struggling on what to say again. Al’s also ignoring Winry and is irrational and angry. While Ed is scared to confess what’s truly, truly been bothering him for years (whether Al blames him for the human transmuation and being stuck in unfeeling armour), he’s trying to show through his actions that he cares.

For his trouble, he gets hit in the face (the second time this episode!) and Al runs away. Eh, well some things can’t be brushed off quickly. Al needs time to deal with his feelings and Ed will properly reveal his worries next episode.

So, yeah, a whole lot of consequences from Lab 5 and lots of opening up from Edward. 03 seems so good when you put Ed at the centre of of everything. I love the way he’s explored here and seeing the various interactions between him and Winry, Maria, Hughes and his brother. It’s also his birthday which means he’s growing up (emotionally maturing, I mean).