Fullmetal Alchemist, ep. 15-16

[oyceter]

Wah! I just got used to the opening song, and now they've changed the sequence! Well, actually I think they changed it in ep. 14, but I wasn't paying enough attention. I very much like how this episode is picking up from ep. 14 and how everything feels much more flow-y now, yay. Hopefully this means less one-offs, even though I can see how the one-offs are thematically relevant. Also, Hawkeye continues to be extremely cool, what with kicking Roy and actually being practical about humidity levels and no sparkage. Joy!

And poor Al! I mean, I felt bad about Ed's arm, but when they hurt Al, I think I actually yelled out loud, "No, you can't hurt Al!" He's just too nice to hurt. And watching giant metal armor go into embarrassed chibi form is just too cute for words.

Dude, I so want more background on the whole Ishbal (Ishval? that's how the katakana reads to me) massacre, and I love how even though Our Heroes are working for the military, that's not good and it's also not evil. It is simply very morally ambiguous. Is Roy the only alchemist out of the Roy-Hawkeye-Havoc group of military people?

Also, I completely didn't connect the Rockbell thing to Winry's parents, mostly because I'm forgetting everyone's names. But duuude. Very cool. I adore backstory. And was that Roy?? I can't tell because anime doesn't have completely distinctive faces, and I can't tell because I've never seen Roy that traumatized before and it's hard to compare. But if Roy killed Winry's parents... wow, the plot thickens. Also, it is strange to think of a non-manipulative, frightened Roy Mustang.

And what the heck is a Philosopher's Stone? Why is Scar's arm somehow connected? How was he scarred? Why could he absorb the quasi-Philosopher's-Stone droplet? What does he have to do with the Ishval Massacre?

Crackpot theories of mine:
- Scar somehow got his tattoo during the Ishval massacre through a freak alchemical accident and is using it to get revenge
- I want to stick Al and Ed's dad at Ishval too, just because everything right now seems to be centering around it.
- the Sin gang somehow gave Scar the tattoo, as they have weird ouburous tattooes.
- Somehow all the tattoos (including the cross-snakey symbol on Ed's coat) are related
- I am completely off my rocker and confused (most likely). But that is ok, because I want to be pleasantly horrified by the series. It seems to be very good at doing that to me.

Btw, spoil me and die horribly ;).

The episode after this was so unremarkable that I can't remember much of it, except poor Al amongst the sheep. That was funny. I hug Al because he is so cute.

Comments

[oyceter]

Hee, gotcha!

I figure not telling me the cool things that are coming up is driving you crazy ;). Either that, or the deep desire to debunk my random theories. I say this only because I remember having to bite down on my hand a few times when Yoon was watching Buffy and Angel to avoid yelling "OMG the cool things to come!"

I adore Hawkeye. I think I must have a thing for practical women in the military ala Lt. Noin from Gundam Wing (GWing was the first anime I ever watched, so I imprinted heavily).

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I am pretty sure that was indeed Roy with the Rockbells in Ishbal, but you are tempting me to re-watch those episodes to see.

I adore Hawkeye too. So... you haven't met any other women in the military yet, have you? There's one other who has a smallish but significant role (a lot of characters in this show have roles whose significance is much larger than their actual screen time) and whom I really really like. Also, have you met another military guy from Roy's group, a really big muscley guy with a humungous moustache?

As for your theories, all I can say is this: pretty much everything does indeed turn out to be connected to pretty much everything else, but there may be a great many degrees of separation and indirect causes. I hope that wasn't too spoilery.

[oyceter]

Nope, not spoilery at all! I am just dying of curiosity now.

I've just met one more woman in the military (Ross), who I like so far, and Major Armstrong of the giant muscles and the funny curl on his head.

Waiiiiiiiiiiiii want to finish whole series but must go to bed. Woe.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Ross is the woman I was thinking of. She plays a significant role in several episodes to come.

[oyceter]

Yay! So far I like her... she projects a good deal of competency.