Fullmetal Alchemist, ep. 43-51

[oyceter]

Um, many apologies to all those people who have no idea what I'm talking about. I swear, I will eventually stop burbling about FMA sometime in the near future.

Also, now I am mad at myself for not watching when everyone else in LJ-land was watching, because I desperately want to burble at people and squee and wail and talk about it.

And finally, my spelling of everything will be completely off, given that I watched the DVD sub and various other subs, all of which spelled things differently.

My favorite, though, is: Jork J. Kimblee vs. Zolof J. Kimbley. Unfortunately, this made me and Rachel laugh so hard we nearly fell off the couch, quite probably at a very inappropriate moment. I mean.. Jork! HEE!

yes i am twelve

Spoilers for ENTIRE SERIES

Um. I'm still trying to come up with something coherent, but most of my brain is just curled up crying still. This is not to say that I didn't like the ending; I LOVED the ending. My people survived, but I didn't feel like it was a cheat largely because I am still completely obsessed with the PAIN LOVE SACRIFICE DOOM PAIN SEPARATION of the last episode and hugging both Ed and Al and I cannot bear that they're separated.

My speculation was, of course, completely off, but I'm sure I entertained rachelmanija a whole lot over the weekend by randomly throwing out weird ideas every other minute.

I am completely bowled over with what they did with equivalent exchange. Thanks to watching about 30 episodes in two days, I am now thinking of all the terms in the Japanese, usually narrated in Al's armor voice at that. I love that the energy comes from lives and souls beyond the gates; it's not quite what I thought about all alchemy being bad, but it's scary enough! And you've got to wonder if there's a group there like the homunculi deliberately waging war to provide more alchemical power somewhere. On the other hand, there was definitely a shouted "WTF?!?!?!" moment when Ed went through the gate and emerged in a world with zeppelins.

I am glad that Lust ended up doing what she did, despite remaining rather scary and amoral to the end (which is how it should be). And she goes in a way much like Greed, deciding finally that she wants to die. I am strangely fond of Lust, and this fondness has actually spilled over to Gluttony, who is not all there mentally and really scary, but childlike in his devotion.

Wrath, on the other hand, still freaks me out, though in a sad and pathetic sort of way. Dante I just want to slap. Also... so cool that Dante was the one in Laila's body! I continue to want to slap Hoenheim as well, particularly in the final sequence as he seems to ally himself with Nazis. Great choice there, Hoenheim!

I cheered when they showed up at Resembool again, particularly with the reappearance of Winry and Sheska. I love how Sheska continues to dig for the lost information Hughes took with him, how her memory makes it so that the books in the library could be recovered. Also, while Pinako says Mustang didn't want to tell the Elrics about Hughes because he wanted to keep them focused, I think the concealment of most information in the series ends up going badly. That is, with the major exception of the knowledge behind the Gate and the knowledge of human transmutation, and I'm not even sure if knowledge of the stuff behind the Gate is a bad thing anymore. (I was convinced for a while, though)

The other thing is that I don't think the law of equivalent exchange is ever quite broken the way Ed's voiceover makes it out to be (I love the new voiceover!). The thing that breaks the law is the Philosopher's Stone, but it has so many lives stored up into it that it feels like any miracles it can do come directly out of those deaths. Also, every time you use it, it diminishes, so it's not everlasting.

Things that I think break the law of equivalent exchange (alchemy-wise):
- Ed bringing Al back that last time and finding himself still alive in a different world
- Destroying the homunculi via alchemy ala Greed and Lust

The weird thing is, I don't think Al bringing Ed back is a break from the rule. A lot of this is because he's the Philosopher's Stone and he's got a bazillion lives stored inside of him to draw on. Another bit is because I just like how it works out thematically if Ed's final act is the one that breaks the rule, because so much of the series is about Ed growing up and giving up the moral rule of equivalent exchange.

I'm still of two minds if equivalent exchange works as a purely physical and alchemical thing (must think about this more after my heart stops breaking...). The series pretty much says that equivalent exchange as a moral rule just doesn't work. Even though Dante and Hoenheim can't get eternal life, there are things like love and life and all that happy fun rainbow stuff that is freely given out. And on the flip side, all pain doesn't mean that you get something in return; sometimes, all you get is more pain.

But Ed learns that even when you might not get anything in return, you have to do the right thing anyway. That last conversation he has with Roy is one of my absolute favorites, and it made me want to hug him. I've loved Al through the whole series, and while I love Ed as well, he's scared me through a lot of the series because of what he's willing to do and how far he's willing to go to get what he wants. Thankfully, the brothers do a switch near the end, with Al being willing to cross the line. See: cutting off Wrath's limbs, taking up with Tucker (never ever ever a good thing!), not willing to accept that Sloth isn't their mother. But Ed grows up and realizes that some things just have to be done, even if you get nothing in return, because you have to try or not live with yourself.

And that's when Ed just totally takes my heart and jumps all over it and smashes it to bits.

So I'm ok with Ed bringing Al back in the end, because it feels like something he's doing though he's not sure where he'll be, or even if he'll be able to get Al back. But he's Ed, and he can't let his brother sacrifice himself, and I see the last bit of him still being alive on the other side of the gate as a gift.

So even though he does end up getting what he wishes and still pays a price, it feels like that willingness to just let go of equivalent exchange, the willingness to not demand things of the universe, that's what makes it so that it actually works.

And now, I'm just totally babbling because I love this so much, and I love the Elrics so much, and I love that Ed grows up and accepts things and starts doing things not just for him or for Al, but because it's the best thing he can do for his world.

Other really cool things:
- Roy drawing a transmutation circle on the back of his hand with blood, holding onto Pride's skull the entire time
- The transmutation circle sealing the door behind Pride
- Hawkeye shoving an apple in Roy's mouth to make him shut up
- Armstrong distracting people with his muscles, just as Hughes used to distract people with his family
- Roy putting glasses on Hawkeye's nose
- Roy putting glasses on Hawkeye's nose as a precursor to Havoc and Fury playing Roy and Hawkeye
- Roy's conversation with Ed (I mentioned it before, but it is just that cool)
- Izumi coming back!
- Ed digging up his mother's grave by himself because he won't let Al help, oh the pain! And also, I wanted to slap him on the head for this, because I think trying to protect people from things in the FMA-verse usually ends up backfiring somehow
- Ross and what's-his-face show up again! And warn Winry!
- Sheska and Winry's different ways of cooking
- Winry telling Hoenheim that her parents were killed by the military, but that she also knows the man who killed them, and she doesn't think he's a bad man
- Hawkeye glaring at Winry when Winry asks Roy about her parents, ala their conversation in ep. 36
- Ed's last smile to Rose
- Envy's true form, ghostly/ghastly older brother to the Elrics

And I'm probably missing out on a ton of stuff, but my brain isn't working now.

Comments

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Jork?!?! So wrong.

Word to much of what you had written above--as you can see if you read my posts, a lot of the same things zinged for me.

I do especially love that last conversation between Mustang and Hughes--I mean, you had to wait 48 episodes for those two to be able to talk to each other like that. And by the end of the series I too was weeping and weeping.

(I still cry pretty much every time I watch episode 25 too, and I've watched it several times by now.)

[oyceter]

I know -- it was spelled out in a really dramatic moment, with Tucker reappearing and Archer telling Roy and co. that he was reinstating Kimbley as a State Alchemist. Then he says, "Jork J. Kimbley, State Alchemist" or something, and I think me and Rachel both nearly fell off the couch.

I am SO GLAD Roy and Ed finally talked! Like adults!

I was just bawling through all of the last episode. OMG. I have to go read everyone's posts now (for the second time) and actually attempt to process.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

while I love Ed as well, he's scared me through a lot of the series because of what he's willing to do and how far he's willing to go to get what he wants

He's so young. FMA is an example of show where the adolescence of the protagonists really works for me, because things that would make me think "oh my God, get a grip and grow up!" about an adult.... they're so young, and they're trying so hard. Ed tries so hard to be good, and to do right. I can't help but love him.

[oyceter]

He is. On the flip side, since a lot of anime has 14-year-old protagonists playing at adult roles, one of the things I really loved about the series was that Ed wasn't the super mature person who just happened to be 14 (or 15, I can't remember). He acts like a teen. A very mature one, yes, but every time I see him in the military and working with people, he just breaks my heart.

I love both of them so much.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

What I like is the way the adult characters react to his youth -- from Mustang to Hughes to Ross to Armstrong, who are all trying to protect him to varying degrees because he is young -- to the homunculi who take the attitude that, as Lust says, he gave up being a child when he became a state alchemist.

Having been inspired by you and other wonderful manga/anime analysts here on LJ, I've just joined, though I don't have any posts up yet. I'm hoping to put up some (or most) of the FMA posts I'd put on rec.arts.anime.misc eventually. I became obsessed with series because it's so Faustian -- selling one's soul for power and knowledge and creating a homunculus in the process.

-elsie

[oyceter]

Welcome to LJ!

I really want to do a giant post on childhood vs. adulthood in the FMA universe. Well, actually what I really want is to find that post so I don't have to expend energy to write it.

Of course, this would go after the post on FMA, race and colonization, or FMA fic, heh.

I'd love to read more posts on FMA!

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Childhood and adulthood in the FMA universe, huh? That sounds like my kind of topic. But I need to figure out my angle. It may actually take more than one post because one angle I see is the number of children, Al included, who are halted in their mental/emotional growth at some point, through the wreckless actions of another. Another thing to think about is the number of older brother/younger brother relationships, and the way that forces adulthood on the older brother. Hmm, this is going to take some thinking, but I should be able to come up with the post you're looking for.

[oyceter]

Yes! You should write it! My brain is too broken to, plus, I want to do the race/colonization post and FMA's take on shounen tropes post first.

More than one post is never a bad thing... ;)

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Well, my first installment on childhood in Fullmetal Alchemist is up at http://fmanalyst.livejournal.com/. I wanted to start out with minor characters and gradually work my way to more important characters, finishing with Ed and Al. Tomorrow I'll write about the Tringham brothers.

[octopedingenue]

Oh my God FMA race & colonization post the POC chibis demand it!

[oyceter]

OMG you have POC chibis!

I am very much planning on it. That, and a "how FMA subverts shounen tropes" post as well.