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Summary:
Inside of the fortress, Ed and Al are taken to the infirmary, and Ed is warned about the effects of the extreme cold with regard to his normal automail. This is in contrast to Buccaneer’s automail which was made to endure these conditions. The brothers then meet with Olivier Mira Armstrong and tell her the story behind why they’re there, though they decide to leave out the parts about King Bradley and the Homunculus. Olivier doesn’t really want them around, but she is interested in the applications of alkahestry, so she agrees to help them find May Chang. In the meantime, she puts them to work and leaves them with a subordinate named Miles who, when Ed pries, reveals that he’s got some Ishval blood in him. Despite this, Olivier had kept him around because she felt that this was not the kind of place for discrimination. Miles now assigns the brothers to remove dangerous icicles hanging from the ceiling, and while attempting to do so, the brothers run into Falman who’s got the same job. Afterward, he shows them around, taking them to the technology development area where several tanks are being worked on and also to the fortress’s lowest level. While down there, the three of them witness something emerge from the ground: the Homunculus Sloth.
Ed and Al think at first that the Homunculus is after them, but they soon realize that Sloth doesn’t even know who they are. Sloth instead has been digging underground and now isn’t sure of what to do in this unfamiliar place. With bullets not slowing him down at all, Sloth heads up an elevator to the technology development area, and everyone follows him there. News of the intruder reaches Olivier right as she is getting word that Kimblee is in the area and wants her cooperation. She first tries to stop Sloth with a rocket, and when that fails, she jumps into and commands a tank. Even tanks shells have very little effect though, and Sloth counters by punching debris in their general direction. Ed uses alchemy to protect some of the soldiers from being crushed, and he then tries to tell Olivier that Sloth can’t be killed. She in turn questions what Ed knows about all this, but he refuses to tell her anything specific about the Homunculus. What he does say is that he doesn’t want to see the people there get killed, and he guesses that Sloth has the same body structure and composition as a human. This is all Olivier needs to know to prepare a plan involving tank fuel to stop her opponent.
Preview
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The first part of the episode was a little on the slow side. I guess it can’t be helped because they’re basically introducing us to a whole new cast of characters – Miles and Olivier in particular here – who I assume are going to be here to stay for a while now that Mustang’s group is all broken up, though it’s worth mentioning that Falman did show up this episode.
The second part had a lot more action thanks to the appearance of Sloth, and thanks in part to that, it seemed to go by very quickly. I didn’t realize until my second viewing of the episode that it was only about half the length of the first part. Now Sloth isn’t quite as interesting as the other Homunculi, but I guess his attitude and slow manner fit the name quite well – Tachiki Fumihiko is a good choice of voice actor for the character too. Conversely, Olivier was a lot of fun to watch as she went from rocket launcher to tank to whatever she’s planning next. It’s just a shame the episode ended at what appeared to be the climax of the battle when I was most excited to see what happens next. I was also expecting Ed and Al to contribute more and thus help gain her trust, but maybe that’s for the conclusion of the battle next week.
They covered about 1 1/2 of chapters from the manga, they are going way too slow considering how fast they were going at the beginning, I wonder if they are actually thinking of making it 5 seasons long(65 episodes)
Well they went at a super fast pace for the first half because we’ve all seen that stuff before so why not get to the good stuff. I think now they realised how fast they’ve gone and that they are catching up to the manga to fast. I assume they are in contact with the manga staff to try to figure out a time line for then the manga will end. I wonder which is slowing the anime down, the manga taking longer to end than they anticipated or them going to fast. I don’t remember where I read this but I think they waited so long to make another season because they wanted to have an actually end to a show, and of course the money.
The pace of Brotherhood is a disgusting mess, considering the fact they skip/chop-up/reduce 2-3 manga chapters into one episode at some points, then all the sudden slow down to a grinding halt. Either slow down, or speed up, don’t jump around all over the place.
The entire Sloth fight could have honestly been fitted into one episode.. specially since they had no problem doing the same shit with Lust’s final fight.
Bright side of it all: from this point forward its when the story really starts to pick up and get complex.
That has been the talk as of late, that it would be close to a 65 episode end. Really happy to see that Major General Armstrong is now in the story.
What’s with all of you? The pacing of this episode is great! There’s a lot of talking in this chapter of the manga, if they had made it faster, many lines or scenes would’ve been cut, then some manga freak would bitch again. And I don’t think it’s a good idea to introduce Sloth and then finish him off all in one episode.
Overall, great episode! And I hope Bones keep up this pacing of 1&1/2 chapters per episode.
For someone who does not know the manga, the pacing seems fine to me. Though I can get the “slow” and “fast” comments, so I can sort of see what you mean. As a series for those who’ve not read the manga like me though it is perfectly good and watchable. All I ask is to be entertained for half hour and I certainly get that.
On topic of the episode, nice to finally see Sloth in action. I wonder what his “ultimate” ability is compared to the rest of the Homunculi.
Heh, notice that the people complaining about the pace are mainly the manga reader (like myself), this is cause looking at it from a structure point of view — meaning all the past events and the ones to come — it just doesn’t feel right.
**Bit of a spoiler**, but Sloth isn’t “finished off” in the next episode, you’ll see a lot more of him later on. His fight in Briggs, however, /could/ have been fit into one episode.
Also, that excuse of “they sped up early on because we’ve already seen it in the first anime” crap really needs to be dropped. If Brotherhood was aiming all along to retell the Fullmetal Alchemist story by the manga, one would expect them to retell the WHOLE story. The fact they did cut out a lot of stuff just because it was in the first anime just shows how much of a crappy job they did with it from the beginning. People who are watching Brotherhood for the first time and learning the FMA story for the first time too (trust me, I know a few), are just left out by all the stuff they cut. Need I go on with the crappy job they did introducing Yoki? (who?)
I honestly thought this was the best episode since Roy’s battle with Lust (ep 19). I was pretty impressed and couldn’t see any major flaws.
Though it was weird that it ended where it did.
I’ve been critical about how they stretched out volume 16 needlessly, but this episode does a great job of joining the end of that volume and the beginning of 17.
And it’s hard to complain with Olivier Mira Armstrong being as badass as she is.
Prepare yourself.
The next episode have big revelations and answers about mysteries of FMA. Especially about Lior.
Why Arakawa started the story of FullMetal Alchemist in Lior (not in the second anime, but in the manga) ? You wiil know why in the next episode.
Also prepare yourself at the dark-shikamaru ^^!
I don’t usually care about music, but I wish they’d use some new pieces. Also, what a strange place to end the episode.
I agree that they must have zoomed through all the other stuff because its almost like the 1st series. Now they are introducing totally new characters for those who only watch the anime. It doesnt matter because they will still catch up to the manga from going so fast and introduce the filler arcs like Naruto,Bleach,Gantz, and every other series. I think they should take tip from books turned movies. You dont see movies being made from a book series that is still ongoing( to my knowledge anyway.)Its like the Berserk thing that on hiatus. They dont want to bring a continuation because Miura is releasing it like on biannual basis. Anyway awesome introduce for the general nothing like her brother at all.
@abe
FMA manga IS ending already 😉 They won’t catch up to it.
and no, them speeding through Ishval Flashback made no sense.
@Sol Fury
You know, I don’t think they ever named Sloth’s ultimate ability in the manga. I think I know what it is (not going to say, since I don’t like giving spoilers). We’ll see if they name it in the anime (considering Sloth doesn’t talk much, though, don’t count on it).
Well, not every homunculus has an ‘ultimate’ named ability anyway. Only three were ever named, Ultimate Lance, Ultimate Shield and Ultimate Eye. Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be interesting to see the other four named though
While the manga is “ending”, it won’t end anytiome soon you know? It’s not like c102 is the end or something. We’ll be lucky if it ends at 105, but I’m betting for 110.
REgardless, the anime didn’t wanna take it’s time redoing and reshowing EVERYTHING that they’ve already shown in the first damn anime series. So speeding through that was just fine and I thank them for it. I follow the manga and while some of the newer parts are over quick, when it’s something emportant they slow down and give it the time it needs. I for one don’t complain about the pace.
And since the manga won’t end for 5 or 6 months at best, they’ll slow down the pace even more unless they wanna do fillers, but I doubt that.
I haven’t watched the episode yet, but this is all I gotta say: manga-readers, STOP complaining! As a manga-reader myself, I think it’s just right to remember that this is an ADAPTATION of the manga… a SECOND adaptation at that, and not a COPY/PASTE show. In the manga, there were times when I was bored to death with all the fancy details and everything, and FMA Brotherhood is doing a good job at keeping most people interested. I can bet that most non-readers have no complaints whatsoever about what is “missing” because that part is of no extraordinary consequence to the rest of the story.
*sigh*
Now I gotta wait until tomorrow for the subs… (lol)
I think this is the first episode that followed the manga (nearly) panel by panel; I liked it.
I do wish there were some new music pieces.
@Kethy-chan
Oh enough of this bullshit.
we already had incomplete, imperfect, impure, shitty version of fma few years ago.
“we are artsy while adapting” excuse does NOT cover cuttin gout huge chunks of great storyline .
@ skurai
The show has already been confirmed to be 63 eps in length by FUNimation who got the info directly from BONES.
Olivier with Panzerschreck FTW!
finally we had an episode that was completly manga material start to end! it feels like its been forever since we had one of these after they wasted so much time adding extra scenes of kimblee chasing scar. i agree that the pacing needs to pick a state and stay with it. i dont mind if they pace it slow or if they pace it fast, but i wish they would stop going back and forth. some episodes are stupidly slow, and some episodes take out stuff and pack everything into one episode(like the Lust fight, i didnt like how they cut out Ling and Lan Fan vs Envy and Gluttony). now that sloth has appeared the storys finally going to get much more interesting and complicated. looking forword to the next episode!
@blinx01
where was that confirmed?? i cant find the source anywhere
I’m glad they’re slowing down.
I’ve been rewatching it, and honestly I find no problem with pacing, it’s quite good and they’ve managed to 99% of everything important in.
I’ve only had a problem with 2 things:
Dublith’s first episode. They needed Maison and a better way for Bradley to just show up there. Two would have been more than enough.
I enjoyed what they did with Greed moreso than the manga.
Barry, they cut out a lot of funny stuff between him and Falman, and that’s why that entire part of the manga is my favorite. Stuff about him killing his wife, and just more detail about him would have been good. Falman too. They have yet to explain what each of Mustang’s men are good for. That should have been included. (Why was Falman at Barry’s interogation for example).
Other than that, I’ve had no problems and I think it’s probably one of my all time favorite animes, ever.
Oh, and skipping the mining town.
Yeah. But I included that episode of the first anime (edited of course for any non-manga related material to be taken out) in my collection and it fits quite nicely into the story and makes you laugh at Yoki when you see him next.
I agree with CW. Barry’s interrogation especially. I didn’t quite understand where Kimblee’s new stone came from and Envy’s remark about “We used Marcoh’s old research pals in it” until I reread that chapter.
Barry says something like “All the guys in lab 5 were used as a stone just days before it was demolished”
Roy also says “Lab 5 was used to make Philospher Stones” and then in the Ishbal flashback you see Marcoh making one (as in the anime) but Barry, 48, Lust, and them are around him. I really really miss that. Just having those little cameos showed that it was lab 5 and makes everything more clear. And then that explains where and how Kimblee’s new stone came about. It’s all still in the anime, but you really really really have to think hard about it, and I think that’s a bit on the annoying side.
current Sci-fi shows also make viewers think what they have saw and have to be on the look out for tiny details (yes, the “syfy” channel stuff) it may be that the productions are aware of the hype of the the series they’re making, and stopped “spoon feeding” details and let the viewing community to figure out themselves with the help of the “modern” communication techniques such as the forum…
…on the other side of things, man I like how the episode was drawn…(aka. agreeing on the Panzerschreck SS)
Actually the part in the manga where Barry and 48 were shown when Marcoh made a PS was a continuity mistake (Barry would not be captured for years, based on the dates Falman mentioned when interrogating him, and the date on Hughes’ gravestone), and it was edited out of the tankoboun release of the manga for that reason.
Well, since Falman didn’t give any dates in the anime, I think they should have included it. It’s hard to tell in the 2 seconds of the episode that it’s Lab 5. And knowing that is pretty crucial.
@Unknown Voice
“we already had incomplete, imperfect, impure, shitty version of fma few years ago.”
Any chance to throw a flame, eh? I’m pretty sure Bones didn’t make a new FMA series because they, or most of the fans, thought this.
Try to criticize this series without throwing the first under the bus. Or is that not possible for you?
i like the pacing right now and the pacings before that. sure, the beginning was way too fast, but who would want to rewatch something that already aired in fma 1? besides, the real meat of the story is right now, so it makes sense to slow it down.
Awesome. To the one poster who was complaining in the previous thread that Olivier was an overrated super model with pouty lips who was only good at posing with a sword and looking mean, I think this episode proves just how much of a badass she is. XD
Olivier? lol Olivia, maybe. >.>
@Lagunamov
Only 3 are named, so the other 4 would be fan based names, here’s my 2 cents on what they would/should be
Show Spoiler ▼
@Unknown Voice
Man, get a life. If you don’t enjoy it, stop watching it, and spare us all your complaining. Go find some blog that bashes the show too. Sick and tired of you crazy purist manga/anime fans who feel that it is your duty to spoil the enjoyment of others.
Why don’t you just stick to the manga then?
@Kethy-chan
Ill say it for the last time:
“adapting the manga” does not excuse them from cutting out huge chunks of manga information.
I have no problems with them cuttin gout various bits or adding in anime-original stuff. Its all great.
But that does not mean that cutting out 3 episodes worth of material and character development is alright just because “they are artsy adapting it”.
Just shut up already you annoying twat. If you dont like it then stop fuckin watching. Youre lucky youre even getting this new series and if you cant appreciate, well no one’s forcing you to watch it.
Fuckin trolls.
@Labyrinth: IMO “Ultimate Stomach” would work better, LOL!
Will comment again ponce I’ve seen the ep. But General Armstrong is PWNsome.
i havent watched it yet but i cant wait to see the chapters in the manga animated. oliver in her panzerrr.
i havent watched it yet but i cant wait to see the chapters in the manga animated. oliver in her panzerrr lol.
Why does she need a panzer? Doesn’t she have any alchemist powers like her little brother?
Tachiki Fumihiko, I knew it sounded like him. His voice sounded just lazy and droopy enough for a character like Sloth. lol
Maybe it was the slow introduction to new characters in the first part, the episode felt wanting in action as it got cut off just when the fight with Sloth was getting interesting. It’s like having a very long starters, and then the meal’s over just when you’re in the getting to the best part of the main course without even going into dessert.
for those that want the episode, eclipse have finally released the subbed torrent
http://eclipse.speedsubs.org/
Regarding the whole pacing issue, i’ve been ok with it for the most part. Sure i would have liked the pace up to and including the greed arc to be slower (another 4-5 episodes would have been great) and events such as the ran-fan/ling vs envy/gluttony included; however bar the crap ishbal flashback, there hasn’t been anything that has greatly subtracted from ther main story.
Whenever people complain about this anime adaptation i alway think of the author James M Cain, who when asked on the impact film versions of his books had, replied “they haven’t done anything to my book. It’s right there on the shelf.”
While that quote doesnt specifically relate fma, people who want the series to be exactly like the manga, should just… well, read the manga. Personally im happy to have a series thats close enough to the source material with absolutely no trace of nazis in it.
i knew it sloth had kenpahis voice from bleach!!!
@ bobara: No alchemy for her, Major-General Armstrong is just THAT badass!
*ignores manga/anime/whatever argument*
this ep may be slow, but, judging from the preview, im guessing there’ll be loads of stuffs coming out.
btw, i think sloth is the lazy version of zaraki *recalls “what a drag” said by both characters*.
Sloth is voiced by Kenpachi…that’s just awesome. Plus he’s kinda funny…And he actually is the lazy bastard his name would indicate…not like what’s-her-face from the original.
Also LOL @ Olivier calling Ed a “red runt”…and his response is just to cower in fear. Probably only two people in the world who can talk shit about Ed’s height like that and get away with it – her, and Izumi.
Speaking of which, that smile does not bode well for somebody.
“Alkahestry”, huh? Most translations use the term “Eastern alchemy”.