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

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

The cross-snaky symbol is a particular reference. I'm willing to tell you, on the grounds that if you recognize the symbology it's not exactly hidden, unless you don't want to know.

And yes, ouroboros.

Philosopher's Stone--uh, how much alchemy background do you want? ^_^

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I think the only non-spoilery thing I can say is that there is another military alchemist in Roy's group, but you may not have seen him do anything alchemical yet. Oh, and even though I always feel that I want more Hawkeye, she does continue to do cool things throughout the series.

[oyceter]

OOooo, I want to know the symbology! Any other alchemical links you have discovered would also be highly welcome! Ditto with Philosopher's Stone history -- all I knwo is the general turns-lead-into-gold thing.

[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).

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I'll dig up stuff for you later--I don't remember if I kept around my notes on the topic. Red was associated I think with quicksilver.

The snaky staff thing is a Staff of Aesculapius.

[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.

[seajules]

The Philosopher's Stone is the ultimate goal of alchemy. It's a substance believed to restore youth and vitality and forestall death (also to transmute base metals into gold by virtue of its "purifying" properties). Wikipedia has a decent write-up on it. It's usually referred to obliquely and illustrated symbolically. A lot of the tattoos and decorative touches in FMA are drawn from the symbolism that surrounds the Philosopher's Stone.

I've seen Ishbal/Ishval/Ishvar, but I believe the official translation is Ishbal, just like the official translation of Ed and Al's hometown is Resembool, but you'll see Rizenbul, Rizenpool, Resempoul, and other variations.

[oyceter]

Oh, go fig! Although with only one snake. Hrm. Doctor-healing-ness gone awry?

Am now officially obsessed with series.

[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 transliteration ;).

And thanks for the link!

[oyceter]

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

[seajules]

Well, at least we've finally got official versions to use. *G*

You're welcome.