First Impressions / Fullmetal Alchemist

Summary:

Ed and Armstrong arrive in Resembool and are surprised to find Mustang’s subordinate Breda waiting for them. Breda and a guide then lead them through the desert to the Xerxes ruins, and there, they meet up with Fu. Ed knows about Xerxes because of the legends of the Philosopher of the East who supposedly spread alchemy to Amestris, and it turns out that there’s a similar legend about someone from the West coming to Xing. Inside the ruins, Ed notices a certain engraving on the wall, but he isn’t able to stare at it for long before having to catch up to the others. A short while later, the group finds Ross who is actually alive and well. As it turns out, Mustang had been suspicious about her arrest, and those suspicions were confirmed after talking with Barry. He had thus gotten Breda to gather the materials to transmute a burnt corpse, and when Ross ran into him that night, he had burned the body and thrown her into a dumpster where Havoc had retrieved her through a secret passage. Ling was the one who later arranged for Fu and Ross to head east.

Breda also reveals to Ed and Armstrong that Mustang is now trying to reel in the person behind the scenes in the military. As the others then review what they know about the Homunculus, Ed reflects on what Gracia told him and how he feels they have to move forward. He also vows to protect anyone who’s going to be sacrificed. Ross, on the other hand, is continuing onward to Xing, so she asks Armstrong and Breda to pass along her gratitude to Mustang and to tell him that he can call on her in an emergency. After bidding farewell to everyone, she leaves with Fu and can’t stop herself from crying. Meanwhile, in Central, Falman’s apartment gets attacked by a wild man in an iron mask, and Barry keeps Falman from shooting him. Havoc then rushes in with guns blazing, and he, Falman, and Barry decide to escape outside. They are followed out by the wild man, and fortunately, Hawkeye has them covered with a sniper rifle. She shoots the wild man in the hand, and that keeps him at bay long enough for Barry to realize that their enemy is his old body with something else’s soul.

Back in Xerxes, Ed returns to the large engraving he noticed earlier which resembles the transmutation circle he saw at the Fifth Laboratory. When he suddenly gets attacked from behind, he’s able to pin down his assailant, but he’s then surrounded by a group of Ishval people who want to take him hostage. They are stopped though by a female elder who knows that not all Amestris people are evil. More specifically, she knows of a husband-wife doctor duo who saved them during the war, and Ed realizes that she’s talking about Winry’s parents. When he asks about their death, he finds out that they were killed by an Ishval patient whose identity is unknown but who had a certain tattoo on his right arm. The group ends up letting Ed go, and the elder asks him to visit Winry’s parent’s grave to pass along their gratitude and apology. Unbeknownst to him, back in Central, the battle is intensifying because of the appearance of Gluttony in the tower where Hawkeye was sniping from.

Preview

Not too shockingly, Ross was alive after all. I was happy to see that they were pretty thorough in showing how Mustang pulled it all off, but I really didn’t like the music they used when Ed and Armstrong realized she was still alive – it was too victory-ish and seemed overboard for a scene like that. In any case, I hope what Ross said about being called on in an emergency means that she won’t disappear entirely from the story. As for the rest of the episode, I thought that inserting the Ishval group into Xerxes was sort of random, however the stuff about Winry’s parents was certainly interesting. That tattoo is a pretty obvious give-away that Scar killed them. Related to that, my other (albeit minor) complaint about the episode was how it jumped around a bit in the latter half. They should have just kept all the Xerxes stuff together and had the Barry action at the end of the episode. At least Hawkeye being threatened by Gluttony makes for a good cliffhanger, though the preview seemed to indicate that she survives the encounter. It looks like there’s plenty more action to be had though, and Mustang himself is going to get involved, so it should be good.

43 Comments

  2. Dadum.

    I am happy with this episode, except for the fact that they seem to have cut out all of Ran Fan scenes. Oh well, you can’t get everything, I guess. Next episode should be great.

    Unknown Voice
    Reply

  3. It was a decent episode, though revealing Ross as alive so soon annoyed me almost as much as her voice in this series (too weak). Next week will be a real test of the series.

    penguintruth
    Reply

  4. That’s why the first animé is a shit…

    In the manga, the Mustang team discover Homonculus before the middle of the story. We don’t have to wait episode 48-49 for that just like in the first anime.

    The first anime is really badass.

    The manga story destroy the first anime. Mustang (and his team) travelled through the looking glass.

    The preview in the manga is…beautiful:

    “Now… it’s the end of the innocence time…”

    angous
    Reply

  11. @X-Rick

    Spoilers if you haven’t read the manga:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    CS
    Reply

  21. small spoiler ahead:

    wish they would’ve included the scene with lanfan and envy. that would’ve made for a better cliffhanger like it did in the manga with her shooting off the signal and roy driving towards it.

    damian
    Reply

  27. Omni, your site is buggy – firefox loads only blank pages, reloading do the same, sometimes it load properly, but its annoyingly bad. In home and office pc. Opera mini works ok, surprisingly..

    Kei
    Reply

  28. Man! They totally skipped the whole Ranfan and Ling vs. Envy fight! To tell the truth, I was looking forward to that more than the Royai, seeing as it introduces a new character at the end; although other than that, no progress is made so I guess it was a little pointless… but what’s the point of making such a big deal of the Xing characters being new points to the anime series if their fights aren’t shown?!

    And it looks like they’re gonna zoom through the whole ([spoilerdemiseofhomunculusendspoiler])with just the next ep. Dang.

    dorcas
    Reply

  33. @ feenix

    not to be completely morbid, but breasts are primarily made up of fat; fat burns quickly, and if the body is burnt to the point that they are IDing it by the dental records there wouldn’t be much left to show whether the corpse was even male or female other then the shape of the pelvis.

    ok-aay … that aside, liked the ep. I think they reveled that Ross was alive too soon, and I wish they would have included the Roy/Barry ‘Bunny’ conversation… but other then that :))

    Jarri
    Reply

  37. @Kei, funny you mention that. I’ve got the same annoying problem as well with Omni’s blog on FireFox. Sometimes I would have to reload 3-4 times before the page shows.

    Looks like next episode will offer something that isn’t available in the first anime – Hawkeye’s backstory. I always find her to be an interesting partner (not sidekick or henchman) to Mustang to be left as merely a side character.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  38. Good episode. 😀

    I can’t wait for next week….probably going to be one of the most favored episodes even after the entire series is done, considering the reaction from manga readers. 😀

    Hawkeye looks normal this week! She doesn’t look like a deer in the headlights anymore, LOL. It seems like they continue this into next week, yay.

    While I did hear a new piece of music, DAMN do I wish they would get some new, better music. Hopefully now that the story is picking up, we’ll hear some new stuff. 😀

    distantblue
    Reply

  39. Haven’t seen the episode yet, just posting some questions, cause there aren’t many comments yet on this episode, so you have the cance to answer me. Pweeeese!
    –Shit, I’m so irritated, I’ve totally missed something!! If Ross only shot one bullet on Barry, why has he two holes in his hand? Did Brosh also hit Barry’s hand?

    –Eternal head-scratch of The Full Metal Alchemist: Edward wears a wig? Compare his braid and his ponytail! It bugs the hell outa me!!!

    Lily
    Reply

  40. Lily –

    1) Yes, Ross shot one bullet, and Brosh did as well, which was mentioned at the beginning of 17. Apparently, they both happened shoot at his hand.

    2) About his hair….*shrug* I don’t mind mishaps like hair length anymore. The only thing that really bugged me were Hawkeye’s eyes since they were so big it didn’t even look like her anymore. XD

    distantblue
    Reply

  42. You have to remember that the one who went over the body was Dr. Knox. If anyone has read the manga, it should be pretty obvious that he was also in on it. That’s why Roy was so confident with Breda’s remark “What if they check the teeth” and he replied with “Don’t worry about that.”

    Cornwiggle
    Reply

  43. ooh! first snapshot, Mei Chang

    yey, Ling doing sneaky-sneak!

    I’m a nerd and controllfreak so I’m reading the manga simultaneously with the anime (It works), and now I rushed through the big part they are going to animate for the next couple of episodes. And (I think it’s quite a major spoiler) Show Spoiler ▼

    love happy Ed! and his hair bounced really cute when he cursed the colonel!

    And up there in my question about edward’s hair, I was refering to the thickness.
    https://randomc.net/image/Fullmetal%20Alchemist/Fullmetal%20Alchemist%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2025.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Fullmetal%20Alchemist/Fullmetal%20Alchemist%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2024.jpg
    but I can live with that!
    But thanks anyway, distantblue.

    Lily
    Reply

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