In this post, I will discuss Roy Mustang’s character arc in the series. This post is all about the Roy presented in the 03 anime for the record. (Roy’s character is quite a bit different in Brotherhood. A little more heroic and a little less broken and a little more consumed by revenge.)
I think one of the more impressive things the FMA 03 did was get me to care about Lust while simultaneously making her an unrepentant killer.
So there’s this popular definition of calling filler episodes any episode which deviates from the manga. (In a manga-based anime.)
I can see why this might be useful, as sometimes episodes are created purely to fill space or kill time if they have an episode count to meet or are waiting for more manga chapters to be released. These episodes can generally just be skipped and the viewer won’t miss anything of importance.
It’s kind of irritating to use this term to attempt to describe something like the Fullmetal Alchemist anime however. It’s based on a manga, sure, but it’s not attempting to stay true to it. It’s telling its own story and didn’t instead try to waste time by throwing in loads of filler episodes.
It’s not canon to the manga but it’s own separate story and therefore its own separate canon. (Besides it was the manga that deviated from 03, the 03 story finished long before the manga did… I’m kidding.)
Anyway, I define filler as skippable content which basically means any episode you can entirely skip without missing out on anything. These are usually self-contained stories with a filler villain who is introduced and defeated inside of one episode and filler characters who never appear again. No actual progress in the series-wide plot is made in a filler episode.
So, what filler does the Fullmetal alchemist anime have?
Continue reading “Filler”Hey there. One of the more interesting things to come out of the FMA fandom is this fanmade visual novel called Bluebird’s illusion. It was made in October 2004. I’ve recently tried it out so why don’t I share?
It’s based on the FMA manga but was clearly heavily influenced by the anime as well with it’s cute artstyle and much of the music. The manga was of course far from finished at this point and perhaps what drew plenty of attention to this little fanproject was its speculations. (And the impressive art.)
So, the story takes place in a seemingly happy future where Ed has restored his brother’s body and now lives with Al in a lovely house in Central. He still works for the military and has just started a new job as the Fuhrer’s secretary. Mustang is also around, of course.
However all is not well… (Long post by the way).
Continue reading “Bluebird’s illusion. An Fma Fangame”Okay, I thought I’d do a post about Father’s in FMA 03 like I did with Mother’s in this post and…
Ha, Ha, Ha. Fathers are terrible in FMA, aren’t they? There’s like one bright spot. I will be speaking mainly about fathers in regards to the Elric brothers.
Regardless…
I’ll start with episode 1. We’re introduced to someone called Father Cornello. Of course, it’s a title to indicate that he’s a holy man rather than seriously meaning a paternal figure. If it is in any way an intentional theme (given he does want to present himself as a caring man who can take care of Liore) well soon enough his true nature as a fraud who’s really interested in power is revealed.
His falseness can be contrasted with Rose who is later given the title Holy Mother – she didn’t seek the title herself and her care for Liore and its people is genuine. Where Cornello makes great speeches full of lies, Rose is mute and yet honest in her intentions. But I digress.
Moving on, Ed and Al do not have a father. Their father abandoned them at a young age and all they remember of him is his absence. Likewise, both of Winry’s parent’s are dead and they grow up without any sort of father figure. I like the phrasing of the dub here. “I wouldn’t say I hate him, I don’t remember him enough.”
With the death of their mother this morphs into a firmer dislike from Edward (Alphonse still wants to know their absent father). Despite their father’s absence they take after him, learning alchemy from his books including the forbidden stuff. Their attitude can be contrasted with the Tringham brothers in episode 11-12 where their father is dead and they’re learning alchemy in honour of his memory and to be like him. It’s why they’re so motivated to save Xenotime such that they’re convinced to use insidious methods. Ed meanwhile hates to be compared to his absent father.
The one exception to the absent or terrible fathers is, of course, Maes Hughes who seems to genuinely care for the brothers. He helps them for no other reason than that he cares for them. He is great. He throws Edward a little birthday party, sits and talks with him at meals, gives him help and advice, sends Armstrong to tail them as protection. They have a great relationship.
In the above scene, Hughes decides to tell Ed that Scar was responsible for Nina’s death rather than deciding to keep the information from him. Even when Maria Ross suggests its too dangerous for the Elrics to continue searching for the stone, Hughes continues to enable them while giving them protection as he knows that otherwise the boys would just strike out on their own. Edward in turn opens up to Hughes, deciding to tell him about the homunculi behind Lab 5. Obviously, he is not just fatherly towards the Elrics but dotes on his own daughter and loves his wife. So of course the homunculi kill him.
Hughes great family can be contrasted with Shou Tucker and his daughter. Tucker welcomes the Elrics into his home and soon becomes sort of like a father to them, providing them support and a home while they prepare to join the military. He’s kind and offers them advice where he can, even recommending they stay away from the military. He seems to love his daughter Nina too. But just like with Father Cornello, it’s all a facade. Just as Cornello made chimeras that sounded like real people to maintain his illusion of power and respect, Tucker turns people into chimeras in order to keep hold of his life as a respected State Alchemist.
Tucker turns Nina into a monstrous chimera in some misguided attempt to retain his old lifestyle showing that at his core he is awful and selfish. Just like that, Ed and Al’s replacement home has been destroyed as thoroughly as their initial home. And it was a home for them. That’s partly why the reveal shakes them so much. Their worst fears confirmed in the worst possible way.
I guess they do still have Sig Curtis. I mean, they’ve been avoiding him and Izumi for years but when they are with him its okay. He’s nice and cares for the boys though he’s ultimately a pretty quiet person who tends to follow his wife, Izumi’s lead. Maybe he could be a good father but we never see any moments of the Elrics bonding and looking to him for advice unlike Hughes or Tucker. We never see him show any care towards Wrath in the series either. Mostly he’s just there for Izumi.
I haven’t mentioned Mustang, have I? That’s because he an absolutely terrible father figure as well. He does care for the Elrics but that’s really not enough. Upon seeing an unconscious crippled 11 year old Edward, he… recommends they join the military. Yeah. Become a child soldier and leave what’s left of your childhood behind.
His amazing ability to show he cares continues when he tells a crying Edward to just get over Nina’s horrific death and move on with his life. Upon learning about Liore he decides not to tell Edward in order to protect their innocence – this just ends up backfiring, He also keeps Ed in the dark about Hughes’ death. Edward ends up furious that these were kept secret from him. Seeing Ed is in a bad mood after his fight with Scar and he’s missing his arm while Al’s armour is wrecked, Roy decides to make fun of him in an effort to get a rise out of him. Truly it should come as no surprise that Edward does not trust Mustang. Ed is surprised to learn Roy cares at all when Mustang finally opens up in episode 43. Yeah, Mustang could be an alright friend to the Elrics – they do have a fun, teasing dynamic – but he makes a terrible father to the Elrics.
And finally, Hohenheim. He is absent for most of the story. When he finally does show up, he doesn’t offer any excuses for his behaviour, doesn’t really offer them anything at all. When Al is interested in getting to know him, he does spend a bit of time with him, only to leave once more in the middle of night.
Hohenheim is pretty aware of his failings and does attempt to do the right thing in confronting Dante. It goes badly. We do learn that he’s been equally terrible towards Envy, creating the homunculi and then abandoning him to Dante presumably because he saw Envy as a pale imitation of his long dead son.
At the end of the series, Ed is with Hohenheim and he’s forgiven him, it seems. He’s been pacified with the revelation that Hohenheim did love Trisha and is saddened by her death as well so Ed’s let go of some of his hate that was the result of blaming him for Trisha’s death. They’re an odd pair but Hohenheim is trying to at least give Ed the needed support in the new world. I doubt they’re truly close, it’s more that circumstances have pushed them together. Still we do see him giving Ed some advice and encouragement while letting him go seek out his own answers.
And that’s basically all the Fatherly figures in the series barring, like, the innkeeper from Yousewell who was an alright guy, I suppose. And there’s Pride who I guess is a bit of a fatherly figure to his soldiers. Very friendly and personable with that sort of Grandfatherly persona. Yet again, it’s all fake though. He has cultivated this image with a perfect-looking family but he won’t hesitate to strangle his son and start wars.
Er, maybe Armstrong could be read as fatherly? He is kind to the Elrics, taking care of them and worrying over them. I always struggle with Armstrong, I’ll be honest.
–
Yeah and that concludes this post. We’ve got absent fathers and people who pretend to be fatherly and people who fail at it. And we’ve got Hughes who is wonderful. And dead.
Roy is a more morally ambiguous character in 03 compared to his Brotherhood counterpart. We more explicitly see him blowing up children and he is of course responsible for killing Winry’s parents. His attitude towards the Elric brothers was a little colder and he just generally seemed more manipulative. He’s got his good moments too but it comes across more as attempting to be heroic in order to redeem himself rather than a naturally good, heroic person.
Riza’s not explored nearly as much in 03 as in Brotherhood where she gets much more backstory and is more central to the story. One thing that remains consistent is her devotion to Roy though. Her support is unwavering. Never seeing any of her backstory, we’re instead left to wonder at why she trusts him so much.
Because Roy is less obviously a good person, it makes Riza’s unwavering support of him more remarkable because it can be seen more as a character flaw. Her decision to defend his actions really shows how biased her feelings are:
-Refusing to condemn him for killing Winry’s parents even when Winry confronts her about it. Shielding Roy when she confronts him about it.
-Defending (admiring) his actions of using his flame alchemy at that protesting refugee camp to scare people into submitting to the military’s orders.
-Helping him to stage a coup in order to go and assassinate the Fuhrer.
It’s not a bad thing though, indeed she is very aware of all the things Roy has done and the two of them are virtually always together. My personal headcanon would be that Riza feels her own guilt for the deeds she committed in the past and sees Roy as her way of absolving that guilt. His goals are, of course, to change the way the State is run in order to prevent more pointless wars such as Ishval.
Riza’s great. It’s just, they’re not perfect people. She’s very much a loyal soldier who only ever offers any advice or criticism when the two of them are alone. I feel she will defend Roy to the end. It’s admirable but it’s also dangerous because he’s a clearly flawed person.
This is my favourite arc in the series. Ed really gets pushed to his limit here, in multiple ways. There’s a great deal happening but I want to focus on the encounter with the Slicer Brothers and their impact on him.
Okay, episode 20, Ed has a fight with a pair of brothers trapped in a suit of armour. He defeats them though its a close battle and his automail arm nearly breaks. He also sustains two pretty bad wounds in his shoulder and in his side. His vision grows hazy while fighting and he almost loses conciousness due to blood loss. It’s a brutal battle.
But it’s the after match that becomes really interesting. The Slicer brothers ask Ed to destroy them. Ed refuses, stating that he doesn’t want to kill them because he considers them to be human beings to their surprise. His words really have an impact on them.
Unfortunately his words are not enough They are gratified by his sentiments and genuinely begin to respect him, both for his ability to defeat them and for his kindness and respect for their own value as more than objects. But they’re also broken – Ed’s destroyed them such that they can’t even pretend to be human like Al can. And they don’t believe they could be accepted by society, not in their current form and not as the humans they were – murderers. The younger brother chooses death over being trapped in his form. It seems he only coped so long by convincing himself that he was no more than a weapon because he couldn’t live as a human. Therefore, Ed kind words are painful, because they taunt him with an unattainable idea of a better existence, a better life.
Ed is being presented with his worst fears here. That being a soul in a suit of armour is worse than death. That his efforts to help others may hurt them. That even if he didn’t intend for it, he feels partially responsible for their death. That there are no right answers sometimes. That there are no solutions to some things.
Immediately following this, Ed goes deeper into Lab 5 and is confronted with red stones, Enough red stones to create a Philosopher’s stone to save his brother. So shortly after seeing another younger brother kill himself rather than continue living in a suit of armour, Ed cannot help but be desperate to fix his brother. Al has expressed his misery at living as a suit of armour multiple times before and sometimes Ed tried to brush it off and encourage his brother with his promises. But now he cannot ignore it anymore. Here’s the moment where he can make good on his promises. Al cannot continue to live as a suit of armour. Ed assures himself that he won’t let Al go through what happened to the Slicer brothers.
When he looks into the red room, he imagines his brother human again. He’s been so harshly reminded of the promise he made and the consequences of failure.
This is exactly what’s on his mind when faced with a decision to sacrifice a group of people to make the stone. Lust is even threatening to destroy Al’s anchoring seal for extra motivation. (That the Homunculi’s own goal is sympathetic and relateable, to become human too, doesn’t help.) Refusing to act is giving up their quest,
When he realises he can’t do it, he quietly apologises to Al, feeling like his kindness and decency is a weakness. (In the next episode he even believes Al is angry at him for his decision.)
Greed’s death can indeed be considered essentially committing suicide by convincing Ed to kill him. This is basically confirmed by Martel in episode 39. She thinks that Greed wanted Ed to kill him, as that was better than being left with nothing.
The reason he insisted on challenging Ed was, I believe, so Ed could find the strength to kill. He could’ve revealed that Alphonse had already been freed but he let Ed think otherwise and didn’t correct his assumption on him killing Dante.
He wanted revenge on Dante and the Homunculi for what they did to him. Greed had accepted his life was over when he stepped into Dante’s house and he didn’t want to be trapped again. He couldn’t bear the idea of working for her either, what he most valued was his freedom. Challenging Ed and telling him the Homunculi’s weakness was the only thing he could do to give his death any meaning.
The Reflections OVA actually suggests that the reason he wanted to know how to replicate Al’s soul armour for himself was so he could still have immortality without needing to rely on Dante for red stones, allowing him to be free of her. All his actions could be framed in this light, allying himself with powerful alchemists and chimeras (and chimera alchemists) as well as his interest in getting Wrath on his side were to gather enough strength to be free from Dante’s control.That all failed with Envy winning Wrath over and his chimeras companions being killed.
This is a lovely and peaceful episode where Ed and Al go back to Risembool to get repaired before things heat up again when they leave for central. Though it’s a breather, there’s a surprisingly high amount of development in it. It’s got themes of home, family and memories in it.
At the start of the episode, Ed says he’s never been back because they have no home here anymore. They burned it down.
Winry and Pinako are friendly and welcoming throughout the episode, going out of their way to help them. Still, Winry gets angry and frustrated that the brothers can’t seem to get how much they care about them.
Edward is frustrated at his inability to move on from the past, with his watch declaring the date the burned their house down, a constant reminder of his motivations. Winry is frustrated at his approach, struggling to express that their time with them isn’t wasted like Ed believes, because she and Pinako still care about them and there’s more to their life than their tragedy. She starts crying about it, claiming that she’s crying because neither of them will and hates how they’re avoiding dealing with their feelings.
Al’s struggling with his memories and sense of self in this episode, being back in Risembool seems to be uncomfortable for him, especially given he is completely immobile. Ed nearly reveals his worries to him (about whether he blames Ed for everything) but loses his nerve. By avoiding dealing with this now, it’ll become the greater identity crisis later that isn’t resolved until Ed does open up to him. It’s great how Winry is able to see these issues even when she hasn’t seen them in so long. Avoiding coming back to Risembool is of course another symptom of their refusal to deal with their feelings.
During the episode Ed visit’s his mother’s grave, showing some acceptance over her death, reluctant (scared) as he is to visit initially. At the end, they visit the ruins of their house, and remember their past fondly. And in the past Trisha had lit a lantern to remind them to come home. In the present, WInry’s holding a lantern, waiting for them.
By the end, Ed says that he does consider this place home and he’ll come back soon. The visuals are beautiful and sunny, though Winry mentions Ed’s watch again, a reminder of unhappy memories and broken homes.
Sloth is the result of Ed and Al’s human transmutation to bring back their mother in FMA 03. Attempting it cost Ed his arm, leg and his brother.
Almost immediately after defeating Sloth in 03, Ed loses his brother:
(Envy kidnaps Al, taking him over to Dante).
He gets punched in the face with his own right arm. (Courtesy of Wrath, of course.)
And his automail leg stops working, so he can’t stand up on is own.
Just as it cost Ed a great deal to create Sloth, it costs him a lot to destroy Sloth too. Sometimes correcting a mistake costs as much as making the mistake in the first place.
But at least Izumi’s there. She’s not the mother Ed wanted, but she’s there all the same. She helps him to stand up and move forwards. (Except this episode, Goodbye, is the last time Ed ever sees her…
Zetalial 