Summary:

Ed and Al arrive in Dublith and are soon reunited with their teacher Izumi Curtis and her husband. She greets them both by attacking them, but they find that she’s still not well and throws up blood all the time. Izumi also isn’t able to tell them much about the Philosopher’s Stone, but her husband does remember meeting someone at Central who did know about it. When he learns that this person was his father Hohenheim, Ed is angry because it means that his father is still alive, and he still blames his father for his mother’s death. Regardless, Izumi can only remember that Hohenheim was happy that his longtime wish would soon come true. Over dinner, they talk about the childbirth incident in Rush Valley, and Izumi tells the brothers to have pride in their own lives. Later that night, Ed and Al reminisce about how they met their teacher after she used alchemy to create a floodwall during a storm. She had taken them on as her apprentices only after they pestered her and after she found out that they didn’t have parents.

First, however, she had stranded them on an island and told them to survive for a month without alchemy. She also instructed them to find the answer to the phrase “one is all, all is one.” The boys struggled for the first few days because they were hungry and had a hard time getting food. The one rabbit they were able to capture was too cute to kill, though during their indecision, a fox came along and fed the rabbit to its own pups. A starving Ed even bit Al and started eating ants because he was so hungry. The experience taught Ed about the food chain and the meaning of living, and he and Al renewed their survival efforts. They learned to find and kill their own food, and soon, a month had passed. On the night before Izumi was going to come back to get them, they talked about the phrase she wanted them to think about. Reflecting on the food chain and on how everything is part of a larger flow, Ed felt that they’re nothing more than “one” in the “all,” but the “all” is made up of a gathering of “ones.” Izumi had laughed at their answer, but she accepted it, and they started their real training.

Ed now remembers one particular lesson Izumi had taught them about the transmutation circle and how they had asked about her being able to transmute by putting her palms together. At the time, she had mysteriously said that they might become able to do it if they reach the truth. Remembering his own experience after his failed human transmutation, Ed realizes now that Izumi must have had a similar experience. The next morning, he tries to talk to her about it, but she attacks him, and he’s forced to use alchemy on his automail arm to defend himself. This gives away the fact that he’s able to transmute with just his palms, and combined with how she’s figured out that Al is an empty suit of armor, she gets Ed to confirm what he saw. She’s not angry though and admits to seeing something similar after her own failed attempt at human transmutation. Back then, she and her husband struggled to conceive a child, and when they finally did, the baby had died. That’s what led her to the taboo, and the price of it was some of her internal organs. Izumi realizes now that she should have told them about this sooner. Ed and Al try to convince her that it hasn’t been so painful for them, but she tells them not to force themselves and hugs them, and they apologize.

Back in the past, while they were still stranded on the island and were discussing the meaning of “one is all, all is one,” Ed and Al had recognized how the fundamentals of alchemy were like the food chain. They had concluded from this that alchemy was life itself.

Preview

I came into this thinking that if they were going to do all the Izumi stuff in one week, then it would mean another episode of frenetic pacing since this part in the original series took 2+ episodes. This, however, didn’t turn out that bad at all. A lot of the stuff was the same from the first series, but they took out the masked man entirely, and obviously there was no original series Wrath either. In fact, given how powerful the hug scene was (it tugged at my heartstrings a little), I’d say that they did a pretty good job here. I wish though that they had ended on that hug scene instead of going to another flashback to emphasize the importance of alchemy. They could have stuck the alchemy stuff in earlier for almost the same effect and not diluted the impact of a scene where Izumi shows how much of a surrogate mother she is to the brothers.

In any case, I liked this episode more than last week’s, and I’m looking forward to seeing Greed appear next week.

35 Comments

  1. this was paced better than Ep2, purely because half of material was already covered in Ep2. While I DO miss some of the jokes they cut out, the ep overall flew really well and I am really happy with how it was handled. They managed to fit all important and emotional scenes and they felt right.

    And next episode – FINALLY THE CHESS SCENE!!!!!!!

    Unknown Voice
  2. I was pretty disappointed that they completely cut the character of Mason out of this part of the story. I mean, he wasn’t that important, except when he’s on the island beating the Elric brothers, but that sort of added to the tension of the situation, and it was certainly in the manga.

    I liked that they added in a scene of Izumi doing human transmutation.

    Greed is my favorite character in FMA, so I’m looking forward to seeing him again, even though they changed the VA for him. At least Izumi and Sig kept their original VAs.

    penguintruth
  3. https://randomc.net/image/Fullmetal%20Alchemist/Fullmetal%20Alchemist%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2004.jpg – whoa, somebody just divided by 0 on Ed’s face

    from the looks of it, the time they spend on the island is somehow too short. i expected it to last for an entire episode, but oh, well. now – Greed. he was my favourite character in the first series, with the fight between him ad ad being the most awesome. i wonder how will the new VA handle him. while i think some of the VA’s are better suited for their roles now, since the characters in the manga and the first series are different, but i was somehow attached to Greed’s previous voice.

    bgi
  4. @bgi

    I know what you mean. Junichi Suwabe was part of the charm of the character of Greed. (I thought Chris Patton’s version was too flat.) Yuuichi Nakamura is a decent VA, though, so he might be a decent Greed.

    penguintruth
  5. @penguintruth – i agree. while Roy “scorching the targets” Mustang works well for me, as this voice is more suited for carefree Roy from the manga, i can’t imagine how Mr.Bushido-Greed will sound like. as for the rest of the new voices, i think that creators did a good job, with some of them being just perfect (Envy, Kimblee and Lust – but i was certain that Inoue Kikuko can pull off great Lust, since she played I-No in Guilt Gear video games – and I-No is even more intense). my only problem is with new Havoc – i don’t think this voice fits his character.

    bgi
  6. @bgi

    Well, I guess we’ll have to wait until the role has legs (ooh, maybe a bad phrasing), before we can really judge how the new Havoc is.

    I don’t like how oddly narrow-looking Havoc’s face looks in this series, though. It looks different even from the manga design. He’s got a really long face, and it bothers me.

    Yeah, the new Roy voice has grow on me, too. Envy has me thinking of Dilandau (same VA), and the new Lust is pretty good, too. I’m still glad that some of the VAs from the first series returned, though.

    penguintruth
  7. after watching – not including Mason was a bad choice IMO. because he was there on the island with Ed and Al, there was bigger pressure on them. this episode made it look like a walk in a park. true, they made them starve for much longer, but there wasn’t any danger for them besides that.

    Ed and Al lying to Izumi that they have a good and fun time was a good addition (as was showing Izumi perform human transmutation). for me, it added bigger emotional charge for the hug that followed.

    as for next episode – Ed’s fight with greed looks VERY promising, being so well animated and dynamic. however, it looks like art quality is going to suffer because of that…

    bgi
  8. Another bit I liked them introducing was Izumi and Sig talking in the shop while the brothers were on the island, from the beginning of volume 6. Izumi recalling her training in the Briggs mountains (I wonder if there’s a chance we’ll get an animated Tales of the Master),

    I’m so pumped for Greed. Always been my favorite FMA character. They better have good quality animation, damn it.

    penguintruth
  9. So, we’ve finally hit the manga-only material, though they’re still blitzing through it. Dammit, I want the original Greed to last longer than one episode. He left us too soon. I’m going to miss Junichi Suwabe, but Yuuichi Nakamura also voiced Graham Aker in Gundam 00, so he should be fine.

    I’m kind of worried about the pacing next week, since it seems to shoehorn an entire volume into one episode as Greed is shown already fighting Ed. Though the scene of him barely moving while Ed attacked him in the preview was pretty neat.

    Huh, Mason got written out of this episode, yet he appears in the next one. Hm.

    Crossword
  10. I wasn’t expecting them to fit everything into 1 ep, I thought the island would be an ep itself, but they did a pretty good job making it all work out. From the preview, I expect to see some good fighting.

    yukino
  11. hey…i’,m worried about how fast they are going i mean… i don’t want the first greed kinda arc to finish so easily!!!! i love Greed! he’s the best!!!!
    hahaha but yeah…i’m worried the’ve gotten to chapter 26 from the manga in just 11 episodes, cause the first one was a filler so im not counting it in, and that means that the 96 chapters…will they be done in 50 episodes???? noooooo i dont want that!!! its happening too fast!!!!! :'(

    akane984
  12. Mason was written out and Pinako Rockbell wasn’t there to say they don’t have parents including a few scenes too in the manga. The first Anime was more accurate at this part.

    SilentCid
  13. I thought the episode was fine the way it was. Mason wasn’t really necessary in showing them the cycle of life. Plus, getting abandoned on an island was already tough. And they had enough nature to observe to help them figure out the secret.

    Also, <3 Hohenheim.

    Greed’s voice change is dissapointing, but I’ll wait and see.

    Yotsuband
  14. funny episode, and the hug got me misty-eyed…
    The most wonderfulness came from the scenes of human Al, at least for me, he will always be my favortie…
    I think Izumi’s voice bothers me a bit, but I’ll get used to it…

    Lily
  15. @Lily: Or, ya know, he’s been to China/Xing. But I don’t see how that’s relevant to this ep

    On to the episode.
    I thought it was great. I don’t mind at all that Mason was cut out, as TBH he wasn’t really all THAT important.
    The reference to Pinako getting cut out of ep11 bothered me more.
    And I liked the added footage of Izumi. Kinda gives more impact to the whole backstory, to actually see it happen. Definitely a great ep.

    DX

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