Summary:

Thirteen years ago, Hohenheim had lived with Trisha and his two sons, but he had been tormented by the fact that he wouldn’t age with his family. Aware of this, Trisha had brought in a photographer to take a family photo, and she had wanted them to stay a family regardless. Hohenheim had shared this desire to stay together, but when he figured out what was happening with the country, he knew that he had to go. He had found it hard to face his sons when he left, and even now he still carries the photo of them. Back at Briggs, Olivier continues to play along with Raven, and their conversation is interrupted by news that something happened to the advance team that was sent into the tunnel – only a horse and a soldier’s dismembered arm came back. Taking command, Raven tells Olivier to return Sloth to the tunnel and to then close it off, and she complies. Raven also goes to check up on the Elric brothers in the prison and conveys his belief that Olivier is on his side now. When Olivier later releases Sloth, Raven reminds Sloth of the job he has to do and invokes Pride’s name, so Sloth returns to digging in the tunnel.

A few days later, when Olivier’s men are laying cement over the hole, she finally makes her move against Raven by stabbing him in the arm and slashing him into the wet cement. As he sinks to his death, Raven is shocked that Olivier would give up immortality like this, but she’s content with making him part of the literal foundation of the nation. When Kimblee is informed that Raven has disappeared, he’s happy to hear it because it means that he can do as he pleases now. Knowing that the Elric brothers are there, Kimblee brings them a surprise guest: Winry. Officially, she’s here to work on Ed’s automail, but Kimblee makes it clear to the brothers that this was King Bradley’s doing. Meanwhile, over in Central, Mustang hears about Kimblee and Raven’s movements from his network of intelligence sources. He also gets a secret message from Olivier.

Preview

So this episode didn’t start with the OP like normal but instead had a long segment on Hohenheim showing that he’s got souls inside of him (like Father?) and that, in the past, he wasn’t anywhere near as bad or as cold a father as Ed often makes him out to be. In fact, he’s portrayed as a pretty good guy, and what I found interesting is that Trisha seemed to know that he didn’t age. And thanks to the fact that they placed this segment before the OP, it didn’t feel nearly as random or disjointed from the rest of the story as I thought it might from the preview last week. It was like a mini-episode hinting at what’s to come.

It was also great to see Olivier finally do something against Raven this episode, which in this case meant killing him and cementing his body. I don’t think that she or Ed and Al really gained anything from the deception though other than confirmation of what was going on, and they lost Sloth in the process – perhaps not the best of trades. Regardless, it does appear that trouble is converging on Briggs, with the appearances of whatever that was in the tunnel, Scar, and now Winry. Bringing Winry into this is pretty well played on Kimblee and King Bradley’s part. It looks like they’re being very cautious in regard to the brothers and wanting to make sure that the two don’t misbehave and interfere. I’m guessing that it won’t stop Ed and Al for long though.

Oh and in related news, the fourth OP and ED have been announced. The OP will be Period by CHEMISTRY, and the ED will be Shunkan Sentimental by SCANDAL. Both should premiere in January.

38 Comments

  1. Show Spoiler ▼

    Homuncurus!
  2. Homuncurus!, please use spoiler tags or don’t comment. I have a friend who comes on this site who hasn’t read the manga and I am trying my best to keep the Show Spoiler ▼

    a secret. I’m glad they finally fleshed out Hoenheim a bit. That filler with him was disappointing and I’m still annoyed they cut his “I’m a monster” scene out.
    As for this episode I can’t really add to Penguintruth.

    Blaineo
  3. to say that married couples should hide no secrets from each other is true…

    …and can we say lack of security (for the tunnel)?

    @ karry
    Omni here can interpret Japanese…

    @penguintruth
    I thought Raven’s dead already by the time they ‘buried’ his body(cause it wasn’t that brutal…)

    info600
  4. I may be the only one who thinks this series goes on turning so boring. Even more than usual. Anyway…

    PD: GOD that Ichigo vs Ulquiorra video, we don’t need anything else 😀 Just who cares about the rest, damn. Epic.

    Coralte
  5. They may have had an Hohenheim episode, but it wasn’t established that he has souls in his body, doesn’t age, and at the time it was still ambiguous if he was Father or not.

    Having the Hohenheim part in this episode was VITAL for the character and story. I would have been so pissed if it was cut.

    Cornwiggle
  6. I don’t like any of the scenes that they add on that are not from the manga. Such as these dumb segments with Hohenheim by the fire. In the manga you wouldn’t find out about the souls in Hohenheim’s body until they get to the little past arc about his life, and its actually really boring because they could cover it all in one story rather than slowly leak these things that are not known about until later in the manga!

    asdfgh
  7. @Blaineo
    I would hardly call that a spoiler, but to each his own.
    Especially since there’s been people here outright shouting all the spoilers from beginning to end and I’ve yet to see anyone do shit about them.

    Homuncurus!
  8. for those who didn’t understand the killing of General Raven *spoilers*
    Show Spoiler ▼

    …one thing’s for sure, the preparation is starting to take place…

    *wonders if those words were spoken too early…*

    info600
  9. @info600

    I don’t know if this is the case, but the sub I watched kinda had that dialogue a bit differently from what I read in the manga. Instead of offering a seat in Central, Raven ensures Olivier’s current rank. Olivier then kills him stating that won’t be necessary, because his rank just opened up.

    Vlyse
  10. asdfgh – “I don’t like any of the scenes that they add on that are not from the manga. Such as these dumb segments with Hohenheim by the fire. In the manga you wouldn’t find out about the souls in Hohenheim’s body until they get to the little past arc about his life…”

    Are you talking about the recap episode, or this episode? If it’s the latter, then it’s like that in the manga too. The very first scene in this episode is from the last 2 pages of chapter 67. 😛

    tanukichan
  11. Another incredible episode, I’m guessing the shape in the tunnel is
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Kimblee is getting really creepy with the Winry stuff. Having a guy who turns people into living bombs with his hands resting on your love interest’s shoulders is one hell of a message from the Fuhrer. I’m betting Olivier will be the first to act once again, forcing Ed and Al to act as well. At least the fact that Winry is close by means it’ll be easier to grab her and take her to safety themselves.

    Guardian
  12. came into this ep expecting to be disappointed as, like siddarth, i thought bones had removed hohenheim’s crying from the photo scene. so glad i was wrong, its a great scene.

    love olivier in this ep, both her and miles’ voice actors are fantastic. i also really enjoyed how reluctant sloth was to get back in the tunnel until raven mentions pride, an answer to those who wondered what could keep someone as lazy him keep digging: fear!

    fathomlessblue
  13. @asdfgh – I don’t even care that your information is wrong, but it’s pretty essential for Brotherhood to add things and change some things around. In fact, I love how gutsy the writers and the director are for doing these.

    Anyways, this episode was kickass. Raven’s death makes me wonder if the director changed his mind after he said that he was making the series more for kids.

    Trashcan
  14. oh, I always loved the Family photo part. It made Hohenheim so much more sypathical (sp?). (Only after reading the corresponding chapter, I realised that he was cursig father that made him leave his family because he had to go away to search for a way to get an mortal body…Can’t really remember if anyone mentions that later…)

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Olivier/Olivia has been awesome so far. Not one of my favorite charachters, but it’s so fun to watch her just cruch Ed!

    And I just seriously, seriously hate Kimbley!

    Lilly

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