Fullmetal Alchemist, ep. 27-42
Mon, Oct. 23rd, 2006 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterSpoil me and die. Usually I am less up-in-arms about spoilers, but since this show is so tightly plotted and has such great cliffhangers and OMGWTF moments, I will very vehemently yell and spew venom at anyone who spoils me.
Giant spoilers up till 42, not split up by episode!
I am so, so traumatized by this show. In a good way. But still traumatized.
Where to even begin?
Last year, I stopped right after Hughes died (oh Hughes). Of course, by the time I watched it again on Saturday, I had completely forgotten what Hughes had found out. And then Izumi showed up for approximately three seconds, and I stopped watching for a year.
Izumi is awesome. I've been rooting for non-sweet and non-traditional female characters for a while, so it was good to see some outside of the military. I may be twelve, but I nearly fell off the couch every time she yelled at Ed and Al and they turned into their little embarrassed chibi forms. And then I sniffled as she beat them up for attempting human transmutation, and again as she finally knelt down to hug them.
Also, I never thought that they would actually explain why Ed can do alchemy without drawing a circle. I had always sort of figured it was one of those Speshul Things that all shounen heroes have, but no! There is an explanation! And it is indeed not speshul, but creepy as hell.
I am very glad I was watching with Rachel when it got to the revelation of the Gate and the nasty little black things with purple eyes, and really freaking creepy child of DOOM. I cannot believe that Ed drew transmutation circles over both his arms and his heart while trying to get Al back, and the image of the little black things tugging at his arm really creeps me out. Ditto with the mention of the toll, and hundreds of purple eyes looking at him from beyond the gate.
Even more so with the realization that Wrath has Ed's arm and leg. *shivers* Ew, so gross!
And then, there's the great parallel with Ed and Al trying to bring back their mother when we find out that Izumi has created Wrath by attempting to resurrect her stillborn child. The image of the deformed baby being offered to the gate is also really scary, as is one of Wrath's memories being Izumi's figure as the gate closes, the twisted form of what was the Elric's mother, and finally, Ed's face.
And oh, the episode when Izumi tells her husband that she cannot bear to lose any more children, thinking about Wrath and her baby and Ed and Al... and then calmly walking in and beating up all the alchemists without even batting an eye.
There was a pretty big gap between realizing the homunculi were born when alchemists attempted human transmutation and realizing that Sloth, the youngest, must then be the one that Ed and Al created. Man. This show really pulls no punches.
I keep wondering who or what created Greed, given that he's about 140 years old.
The sequence in which Ed kills Greed is great, especially the very gross shrivelling up of the body and Ed's grief.
I love that through this entire thing, Sheska has been doggedly looking into Hughes' death and his research. And I love that she and Winry team up to finally get to the truth of the matter, and that Maria Ross ends up helping them a bit as well. I really hope this isn't the last we see of them. I am all for female teams!
I also loved the Winry-Hawkeye interactions, particularly Hawkeye's very calm explanation of why she was following and protecting Roy. And oh, she totally chickened out of telling Ed and Al about Hughes. I cannot believe that they STILL don't know.
The entire Laila and Dante thing rocked, and I wonder if Dante attempted human transmutation as well. I think it's confirmed later that she did, but I don't know which of the homunculi it turned out to be. Also, it's rather ironic and sad that her entire line of alchemists (well, Dante, Izumi and the Elric brothers) ended up creating homunculi, if that's the case. I love that we were introduced to Laila in some filler-esque episode, and she's turned out to be a major player.
I am even more excited that the story went all the way back to Liore, that it's becoming another Ishbal. When I first started watching, I had sort of figured that the action-y first episodes set in Liore were to draw the viewer in before getting into character backstory and etc., but no, it's actually relevant to the plot! And it feels like things will begin and end there as well. Bonus points for the reappearance of Rose (though the speedlines were pretty dumb).
There's just so much that I am loving right now! And I haven't even gotten to Lust's backstory, or her strange relationship with Scar, or Scar giving his brother's arm to Al (oh Al), and finally, the Philosopher's Stone being made.
I still can't quite believe that the series ended up going there; people have been questing for it for so long that it seemed like anything would be a let down. But it's not, and all those soldiers in Liore (including Archer, ptui) died for it, as did Scar (at least, I'm pretty sure he's dead), and there's poor Al, who has somehow become the thing. Things need to stop happening inside of Al; that whole Marta thing was really nasty.
Am dying to watch the last ten episodes. Must write up something on colonization and race in the series next, but this entry is getting entirely too long to do it now.
Giant spoilers up till 42, not split up by episode!
I am so, so traumatized by this show. In a good way. But still traumatized.
Where to even begin?
Last year, I stopped right after Hughes died (oh Hughes). Of course, by the time I watched it again on Saturday, I had completely forgotten what Hughes had found out. And then Izumi showed up for approximately three seconds, and I stopped watching for a year.
Izumi is awesome. I've been rooting for non-sweet and non-traditional female characters for a while, so it was good to see some outside of the military. I may be twelve, but I nearly fell off the couch every time she yelled at Ed and Al and they turned into their little embarrassed chibi forms. And then I sniffled as she beat them up for attempting human transmutation, and again as she finally knelt down to hug them.
Also, I never thought that they would actually explain why Ed can do alchemy without drawing a circle. I had always sort of figured it was one of those Speshul Things that all shounen heroes have, but no! There is an explanation! And it is indeed not speshul, but creepy as hell.
I am very glad I was watching with Rachel when it got to the revelation of the Gate and the nasty little black things with purple eyes, and really freaking creepy child of DOOM. I cannot believe that Ed drew transmutation circles over both his arms and his heart while trying to get Al back, and the image of the little black things tugging at his arm really creeps me out. Ditto with the mention of the toll, and hundreds of purple eyes looking at him from beyond the gate.
Even more so with the realization that Wrath has Ed's arm and leg. *shivers* Ew, so gross!
And then, there's the great parallel with Ed and Al trying to bring back their mother when we find out that Izumi has created Wrath by attempting to resurrect her stillborn child. The image of the deformed baby being offered to the gate is also really scary, as is one of Wrath's memories being Izumi's figure as the gate closes, the twisted form of what was the Elric's mother, and finally, Ed's face.
And oh, the episode when Izumi tells her husband that she cannot bear to lose any more children, thinking about Wrath and her baby and Ed and Al... and then calmly walking in and beating up all the alchemists without even batting an eye.
There was a pretty big gap between realizing the homunculi were born when alchemists attempted human transmutation and realizing that Sloth, the youngest, must then be the one that Ed and Al created. Man. This show really pulls no punches.
I keep wondering who or what created Greed, given that he's about 140 years old.
The sequence in which Ed kills Greed is great, especially the very gross shrivelling up of the body and Ed's grief.
I love that through this entire thing, Sheska has been doggedly looking into Hughes' death and his research. And I love that she and Winry team up to finally get to the truth of the matter, and that Maria Ross ends up helping them a bit as well. I really hope this isn't the last we see of them. I am all for female teams!
I also loved the Winry-Hawkeye interactions, particularly Hawkeye's very calm explanation of why she was following and protecting Roy. And oh, she totally chickened out of telling Ed and Al about Hughes. I cannot believe that they STILL don't know.
The entire Laila and Dante thing rocked, and I wonder if Dante attempted human transmutation as well. I think it's confirmed later that she did, but I don't know which of the homunculi it turned out to be. Also, it's rather ironic and sad that her entire line of alchemists (well, Dante, Izumi and the Elric brothers) ended up creating homunculi, if that's the case. I love that we were introduced to Laila in some filler-esque episode, and she's turned out to be a major player.
I am even more excited that the story went all the way back to Liore, that it's becoming another Ishbal. When I first started watching, I had sort of figured that the action-y first episodes set in Liore were to draw the viewer in before getting into character backstory and etc., but no, it's actually relevant to the plot! And it feels like things will begin and end there as well. Bonus points for the reappearance of Rose (though the speedlines were pretty dumb).
There's just so much that I am loving right now! And I haven't even gotten to Lust's backstory, or her strange relationship with Scar, or Scar giving his brother's arm to Al (oh Al), and finally, the Philosopher's Stone being made.
I still can't quite believe that the series ended up going there; people have been questing for it for so long that it seemed like anything would be a let down. But it's not, and all those soldiers in Liore (including Archer, ptui) died for it, as did Scar (at least, I'm pretty sure he's dead), and there's poor Al, who has somehow become the thing. Things need to stop happening inside of Al; that whole Marta thing was really nasty.
Am dying to watch the last ten episodes. Must write up something on colonization and race in the series next, but this entry is getting entirely too long to do it now.
Tags:
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 23rd, 2006 08:46 pm (UTC)I didn't believe it for quite a while, because I'd gotten the wrong impression about the timeline. But Ed's denial is really impressive as well.
Representative quotes from my paper notes on ep. 42:
(I quote myself b/c the post they're in goes through ep. 43.)
Show kept surprising me and going deeper into things.
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 23rd, 2006 08:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 23rd, 2006 09:41 pm (UTC)Also, the remarkable wealth of mother figures: Trisha Elric, Izumi, Ross, Sloth, Rose... and their corresponding children and child figures.
Not so many father-figures, but the ones who are around are significant: Hughes, Tucker (ew!), and Hohenheim of Light.
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 23rd, 2006 10:38 pm (UTC)Also, I have been completely brain dead for all of today just thinking about this series.
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 23rd, 2006 11:34 pm (UTC)I could have sworn this was set up from the very beginning of the show, with the brothers trudging through the sand and Al filling up with the stuff.
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 23rd, 2006 11:40 pm (UTC)