Summary:

After a nightmare about his mother and Nina, Ed is shocked to find out from Hawkeye that Tucker and Nina were killed. She refuses to let them go with her to the scene of the crime though because she feels that it’s better if they don’t see. Meanwhile, back in Lior, the Homunculus Envy has been masquerading as Cornello and has split the town into two warring factions. Envy is working with Lust and Gluttony, and the three talk about Tucker’s death and the guy who killed him. Lust doesn’t like Ed, but she knows that they can’t let him die since they’re going to use him as a sacrifice. At around this same time, Hughes and Armstrong are telling Mustang about the man with the scar on his forehead whom they’ve dubbed Scar. Scar is going after well-known alchemists, including Tucker and Basque Gran, and Mustang realizes who the next target might be.

Ed and Al spend this time reflecting on what alchemy is and whether Ed could have done something about something that was futile. Ed feels that he’s an idiot who hasn’t grown at all since they tried to revive their mother. The two are then approached by Scar and barely have enough time to react to his attack. They try to run away, but Scar is able to cut them off and use his power to destroy anything they attempt to use to escape. He eventually corners them in an alley and leaves them no choice but to fight, and he manages to destroy a huge chunk of Al’s armor. This infuriates Ed, and he ignores Al telling him to run away, however he’s unable to do anything against Scar and gets his automail arm destroyed. With his chances of survival almost gone, Ed gets Scar to promise to spare Al in exchange for his own life.

Fortunately, Mustang and company arrive in time to save Ed. Mustang tries to fight Scar, but Hawkeye realizes that Mustang can’t use his flame ability because it’s raining. She thus trips him out of the way of Scar’s attack and then forces Scar to back off a bit with pistol fire. Scar is still ready to take everyone on, but Armstrong then steps in and engages him. While Armstrong keeps Scar busy, Mustang’s men get Ed and reveal that Scar was the one who killed Tucker. After a bit of fighting, Armstrong figures out that Scar is an alchemist as well, and Ed realizes that Scar stops at the decomposition stage of the three parts of transmutation. Given the dangers, Armstrong is careful about attacking Scar, and he backs off when Scar seemingly finds an opening in his strike.

Hawkeye uses the opportunity to shoot at Scar, and she manages to knock off his sunglasses, revealing his red eyes. This combined with his dark skin gives away the fact that Scar is an Ishval person, and with the odds against him now, he decides to create a hole in the ground so that he can retreat through the sewer system. With the battle over, Ed runs over to check on his brother and gets smacked because Al is angry that Ed didn’t run away earlier. Al calls Ed an idiot for choosing death and makes it clear that Ed should live in order to study alchemy more and find a way to return them to their original bodies as well as to perhaps find a way to save a girl like Nina. Still, the important thing is that they’re both still alive.

In the aftermath, Mustang and the others explain to Ed and Al how the Ishval people were a religious group from the East that became one side of a civil war thirteen years ago. After seven years of fighting, it was decided that the group would be wiped out, and State Alchemists were used. Mustang thinks that Scar is justified in wanting revenge, but Ed rejects that notion because people who have nothing to do with it are getting dragged in. Regardless, Mustang declares that they have to kill Scar. As for Ed, he decides that he and Al have to move forward, and in order to get some repairs, they have to go visit their mechanic.

Preview

As much as it sucked to watch Ed be so shell-shocked almost the entire time and get defeated so pathetically easily, this was a pretty good battle episode. To make up for Ed and Al, Hawkeye really stepped up and shined – the way she tripped Mustang made me laugh – and Scar and Armstrong weren’t bad either. I also thought Envy’s new voice actress did a pretty good job, though this is another case where I don’t remember how the original voice actress voiced the role. I do have to say though that I’m liking Gluttony’s voice the more I hear him.

Story-wise, this series continues to take a different path from the first one, but many of the core elements (the Ishval civil war, Lust and Envy’s conversation) are still the same since they’re based off the same manga. I think the problem I have with the show in general right now is that it’s hard to get really excited until something completely different/new happens. Fortunately, they’re moving fairly quickly, so that point may be soon, and next week will have Winry and Marcoh.

66 Comments

  1. A fairly good episode, but I felt like it wasn’t nearly as good as the first television show’s version of this material. Also, the animation quality was pretty poor throughout, too. At least Envy and Scar’s new voices were excellent.

    Ed’s nightmare was nightmare fuel for anybody watching.

    penguintruth
  2. seriously man even though this is just a ramake, but bones still does a good job at it. i could feel the excitement of the fight n conflict in every episode

    Dearka Elsman
  3. wasn’t this material in the first series like, the same? i mean, it still followed manga pretty closely back then.

    good thing that Envy is here at last. i was looking forward to hearing him 😀

    bgi
  4. I don’t really know what to think about this adaptation. I do understand that they want get to the part where the last one parted with the manga and they think that most people watched the first series, but I think they are rushing it too much. I mean why would you skip the whole mining city arc, it was far from being a filler in the manga, maybe it wasn’t the most vital part but still it did introduce some characters who appear later on. If you’re doing a second series which is based exactly on the manga then do it properly…

    Zenzen
  5. @Zenzen – Show Spoiler ▼

    bgi
  6. OMFG! the Train! I totally forgot that!
    Anyways, I do like the fact that this is being sped up. I remember skipping around whole episodes because they were bogged down by lines and filler. I like this series, even though they botched up Nina’s death.

    THough, its kinda weird that he still had that nightmare… even though Nina’s remains didn’t look anything like Ed and Al’s “mistake.”

    Zero
  7. I like the speeding of the series too. First one I also wanted to race forward a bit since it felt a little draggy.
    Ahaha! Hawkeye action! Wee!!
    Can’t wait till this catches up with the manga coz it’s going so fast 😀
    mmm~~ I really dislike Winry’s new voice T___T;;;;;

    Furuba
  8. I can’t wait to watch this… I feel like they kind of rushed through some of the previous episodes, at least parts of them, but they also made some things darker and more dramatic than in the first series (at least from what I remember), so all in all I still feel very satisfied with this series, though I do hope they will slow the pacing down soon.

    Acylia
  9. I have to agree with Zenzen on the mining arc, I thought it was one of the better arcs throughout the first half of the series. But, after hearing bgi’s thought, I think as long as they include it in reasonable detail somewhere in the series, i’ll be happy :P.

    I can’t blame bones for going through the story so fast, after all, I’m getting anxious just thinking about the awesomeness in watching the later parts that I’ve read in the manga, I’m sure the creators would be even more anxious to get to it.

    KC
  10. Considering its only going to be 13 episodes…. its bound to feel a little rushed. I’m kind of disappointed by the length of this rendition. I was really gunning for a full series like the last one but ah well. So far i’m impressed with the way the story has been told.

    Andue
  11. i think once they catch up to where they stayed(following the manga) in the previous season, the pace will start to go slower. I guess BONES is doing a great job, because if they had a slow pace, then the fans instead of complaining how fast it was going, they would start complaining how fast they are going -.-
    Also, the nina arc, and this scar battle was actually really fast paced in the manga, so i think they are doing a great job in this “remake”(cause we can’t really call it a remake since they just followed the manga a few episodes)
    People say that they followed the manga until Hughes was killed, but even before that there were parts that got nothing to do with the manga.
    I also loved the first series, but i think this is a great opportunity for all the fans since it’s not an everyday thing to see a good series done for a second time and following the manga…i mean…even if sometimes the animation isn’t as good, in the other series it wasn’t that great either, and i think that even though sometimes they look weird to me, it’s still a great animation and i also think that BONES is putting a lot of effort and are actually something that might backfire is this series aren’t as “good” as the first one.

    andrea
  12. actually…doing…something that might backfire if the second series isn’t as good as the first one(geez i ate some words and wrote others that had nothing to do…) hahaha 😀

    andrea
  13. @Andue – it’s not going to be only 13 episodes long, BONES said that they’ll make this as long as it is needed to cover the whole material from the manga. and that means around 100 episodes if they’ll keep the pace like it is now. considering that they’ll slow it down the moment the first series parts ways with the manga (and that’ll be in 10-15 episodes), it can be even longer.

    bgi
  14. this show would definitely be more than 13 eps lol 13 eps would hardly cover the story til the point where the first series departed..then there’ll be no point in making this series xD

    yuuji
  15. Those of you who are disappointed, hang in there. Remember, you’ve seen all this before, and BONES knows you’ve seen all this before, so they’re just trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. And besides that, things will catch up soon. That is if “they” don’t screw up.

    And this episode covered like 3 chapters, not so bad considering those chapters were kind of small with nothing but fighting.

    Fiji
  16. Hm, Envy sounds a bit more boyish this time around. And he got to keep his hair black. I love how Gluttony sounds. Tetsu Shiratori has such a funny voice.

    Still pretty good. The art was a wee bit inconsistent at times, but the animation for the fighting was pretty darn good. Overall, it feels a lot more shonen-y, like the manag, than the first series did, which felt like it strayed into seinen territory quite a few times.

    I see that Isaac and Giolio Cormanchet got cameos during the Ishval War flashback.

    Crossword
  17. This episode had really good pacing, the series is finding its flow now after the first three were a little shaky. I thought the exposition about Ishbal at the end was unneeded though, even if the majority of viewers already know the story either from the first anime or from the manga, an air of mystery about Scar would still be nice. Especially if this series is going to have the Ishbal flashback episodes from the manga (which it ought to, they were fantastic.)

    Sai
  18. Hawkeye is awesome. *sparkly eyes* That’s one reason why at least I’m glad there IS this new series, fast pace or not, because she’s about 1000x more badass in the manga than she ended up being in the last series.

    Kylara
  19. yes!! now this is the type of preview that makes me wanna watch immediately. it looks unfamiliar so my interest is up. RUSHED?? i hope so. i hope they can put the ENTIRE series in animated form from start to finish. “being as the manga will probably finish soon”

    BROOKLYN otaku
  20. @Sai – Ishbal flashbacks are the must, as they cover things that are vital for the plot and develop certain characters to the point of awesomeness Show Spoiler ▼

    also, there is still a lot of mystery about Scar, even in the manga.

    @Kylara – absolutely true, especially in the last released chapter. and it’s even better that she’s not the only one that is so much more badass:)

    bgi
  21. I don’t know where anybody heard that 13 eps would be the run for this series, but I highly doubt it. That’s about a quarter of the first series. They would have to be extremely rushed to get to any sort of ending in that length of time. I’m guessing 50 episodes, though reflecting on the manga material, it could very well be more than that.

    I do agree this new series has a faster pace, but I think it’s to plow through the exposition and get to the new material, which I am in favor of. Ultimately I think the two series complement each other nicely. If people want more of the exposition, they can go ahead and watch the first FMA for that.

    Lastly, regarding the new voices, I am probably the only one who doesn’t think Roy’s voice is a big deal; I mean, it’s clearly Lockon, but I don’t remember his old one at all. For some reason, Ed and Al sound a little different, even though it’s still Park Romi and Rie Kugimiya. It’s also interesting to note that Gluttony’s voice used to be that of Fuery (and later, Lloyd in Code Geass)…

    d
  22. is this show going to cover the entire manga series? if so – im surprised by the relatively high production quality. At first i thought the production quality was much lower than the original series, but if its going to be over 100 eps… well – lets say compared to naruto/bleach and the like – FMA II looks like a million dollars. This is relatively speaking of course – if this was a 13 or even 26 ep series – i would def balk at this relatively low production quality. But as it is – good stuff!

    arthurprescott2
  23. Am I the only one who doesn’t think it’s rushed? ^^;
    I believe we are moving forward nicely at a steady pace~
    Anyway, we’ve still got *many* episodes to look forward to, so great 😀

    Sherry
  24. Winry with green bandanna? I rather see the familiar red one….

    and there’s no point in keeping Hohenheim’s face obscure form the family picture….his face was blatantly exposed on the opening. unrequited spoiler, that is.

    Z-01 Lancelot
  25. @ Z-01 Lancelot
    Even though Hohenheim featured in the OP, anyone who hasn’t seen the series before might be unaware of his relationship to Ed and Al, hence the covering up on the family picture.

  26. I think this episode was the best one so far.
    It was well paced, animation wasn’t so hideous, a tad bit of angst, and that comedy that’s so typical for the manga! the comedy that strikes even at the life threatening situations! In contrast to the first series, that I think lacked some…

    I like 😀

    nn4
  27. I think once FMA brotherhood reaches the manga-exclusive content which the previous anime adaption didnt. Then people will start to like it more.

    Although I can understand speeding up some parts to get to the manga exclusive parts quicker

    Cyburn
  28. The probable reasons why the mining arc was skipped are:

    – No huge plot developments (the most being Yoki – lulz character – and the knowledge that the mining town exists)
    – More or less identical to the first FMA anime version

    As of right now, the director is probably concentrating on moving as fast as possible to the Greed arc, so that the stuff that the old FMA watchers already know isn’t repeated to excess.

    Vsin
  29. @Mark

    Americans can see it on their site, but us poor europeans living in small shit countries which will never air this anime ever need alternate methods of watching it. For example illegal streaming and downloading.

    Geekodot
  30. has anyone seen the animation error with regards to Armstrong’s knuckles? It’s no biggie but if you pause right after Armstrong backs off from attacking Scar you’d notice that his knuckles magically disappear and is no where to be seen.

    fr0stbyte
  31. @Z-01 Lancelot
    it’s not the matter of his identity or general facial fearutes^^ the picter’s been covert the entire time in the manga as well, until one chapter where its history was reveald. when you see it, you’ll be surprised^^ (unless you already know how he looks there^^; )

    dzioo
  32. I’ve said it before but it follows the manga a lot more closely and I’m really enjoying it so far so the 2 break off fairly quickly (though its like 1/2 way through the anime, its much earlier in the manga, the original series stretched out a lot of scenes that have already been seen more like in the manga) so new stuff should be happening fairly soon. There is 1 part of the manga that initially bugged me and I assume it’ll bug a lot of people, I don’t really want to toss out spoilers though so I won’t go into that now (and who knows if they’ll do it all the same any how?).

    Also, is anyone else impressed with the quality of the art in the series so far? I rarely notice these types of things but while I was watching this episode I just kept noticing how well drawn/animated it all looked, I’ve seen anime with worse first/last episodes then this series seems to be getting as of the 5th episode still.

    J9
  33. Not to be a doubting thomas or anything but…anime news network is usually pretty accurate about how how long a series might air. this is where i got my information about the amount of episodes there will be of this series. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=10216&page=25 not to say that it won’t have more seasons and won’t air later. Hell, Spice and Wolf is supposedly coming out with a new season which will pick up where it left off.

    Andue
  34. It really bothered me how Ed was lying on the ground when Scar was about to kill him instead of kneeling like he was in the manga and first anime adaptation. Physically, there’s not much of a difference, but I found that when he was kneeling, he still had some pride and determination, rather than a quivering mass of pathetic…ness on the ground. xP

    Leeza

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