「神を呑みこみし者」 (Kami wo Nomikomishi Mono)
“The One Who Devours God”

With the recent confirmation that the series will be 64 episodes (not 63), the pacing was so quick here that it left me wondering what we’re still in store for. Once Father contained God in his own body with the help of fifty million souls he absorbed from all of Amestris, the biggest surprise turned out to be Hohenheim’s countermeasure for the Promised Day. I always wondered what he was up to traveling around the country to various remote places, so it was awesome to learn that he laid the foundation using the souls of Xerxes to forcibly return all Amestrians to their bodies. It looks like my hunch was right that there was still hope with everyone’s bodies intact after all, with the subsequent activation of the alkahestry transmutation to neutralize Father’s one and unlock alchemy’s true potential being the tide turner here.

Before getting there, watching Scar battle it out with Wrath and sever both his hands was a pretty gruesome sight, not to mention that it didn’t even stop the homunculus from getting one more stab in using his mouth. They were both going full-out in a battle of the death, so that was quite the spectacle from a pure action-oriented perspective. Oddly enough, Wrath’s death wasn’t as dramatic as I imagined it would be, but that was likely because he’s been severely wounded for the past four episodes and trying to go out with a bang. Well he sure got that here, and Lan Fan made it just in time to witness the death of her grandfather’s killer.

I must say though, thank goodness that Hohenheim had something in store while Scar was having his death match with Wrath, because if Father started throwing mini suns and letting them go supernova, I get the feeling he’d probably take out sections of the Earth’s crust at a time. Fighting him in his weakened state as he focuses most of his own Xerxes souls to try and keep God contained within him turned out to be somewhat better, but even with the newly unfiltered power of the Earth in Ed and the others’ alchemy, it still looked like a pretty lopsided tilt against them. My immediate reaction was how ridiculously overpowered the little homunculus in the flask has become — holding down God and taking on a full-frontal assault — especially when both Hohenheim and May were doing everything in their power to hold Father’s attacks back.

However, their attacks weren’t all for naught despite how it may have appeared, as Father’s shell looks like it’s going to burst at any moment and God’s going to come flowing out. After he retreated to try and feast on some more souls, it was good seeing Ed finally do something about Pride. Chipping away at these immortal homunculus until they exhaust their soul supply seems to be the effective way of taking them out, but the reappearance of Kimblee within Pride was something I wasn’t anticipating. All I got to say is that it must take one hell of a psychotic freak to make his presence known in a sea of souls and disrupt Pride from within, though Ed deserves some credit too for getting into his head to land the final blow.

With the realization of Scar’s brother’s hard research, Wrath dying at the hands of Scar, and Pride reverting back to nothing more than a fetus, all eyes are on the final battle against Father and the return of the so-called God to its rightful place. It was a bit convenient how the souls of fifty million Amestrians were returned just as quickly as they were taken only the episode before, but there was plenty of build-up on Hoheinheim’s efforts the entire series to make the brevity of that reversal not even a concern. In fact, it was just the opposite as it was his lifelong work pitted against Father’s in the moment that everything came down to. Considering how it was on a country-wide scale and even had God involved, it was quite epic to say the least.

Finally, as the final chapter of the manga was released earlier this month, I’m doing my best to avoid being inadvertently spoiled by those who have already read it. So with that in mind, please don’t mention what happens later on if you already know (even in spoiler tags) and keep discussions to what actually happened this episode. Surely everyone has reactions to seeing these chapters animated, plus the announcement that we now have three episodes left! It might even mean we’ll see an epilogue episode with the extra time.

 

Preview

143 Comments

  1. Can’t wait to finally watch this episode. They really are ramping it up for the last few episodes.

    And good luck in avoiding the spoilers about the final chapter. Hope noone’ll spoil it for you because it’s a worthy ending imo.

    Morridin
    1. I didn’t expect fangirls below to be going crazy over Father’s new body.

      lol, why is his body specifically in that form anyway? Maybe it really is just fanservice for girls.

      Eamon
  2. As an aside; it was pretty interesting that Kimbly still retained his ‘self’ to help out/get revenge.

    Though, if I remember correctly Van Hohenheim actually ‘spoke’ to some of the souls in him a lot of episodes ago when he was still travelling towards Central, so it’s not like they pulled it out of nowhere as a deus ex machina.
    Kimbly did have a very strong personality and was able to get through to Pride in his weaker moments. Would also explain why Gluttony never ‘came back’ in the same kind of way because he was rather errr primal in his way of thinking.

    Morridin
    1. Well the reason Kimblee still retained his ’self’ because he a twisted psychotic killer as he considers the screaming of the damned a most pleasurable sound and music.Im looking forward to see final battle.

      Charles
    2. With Hohenhiem a few episodes back he states that he personally spoke to all 500 000+ in his body and Charles is right about Kimberly. Only the nutty can keep nutty in a nutty situation.

      Cherubium
  3. The reason for the extremely quick pacing would probably have to do with the manga. The one problem with animating an ongoing manga (well, now it’s over but before it was an ongoing series) is that, since the animators don’t know when the manga will end, they can’t pace it right.

    Now that the manga counterpart is finished, Bones probably realized that they need much more time to animate the remaining parts of the manga (especially that 112 page final chapter @.@)

    Either that, or the pacing was fast this episode because the creators wanted to leave as much episodes possible to devote to the father conflict, and the end to this series.

    I can’t wait to see how the anime version turns out 😀

    1. they usually don’t know when the manga will end. however, the reason they started brotherhood last year was because bones knew this time the series was going to be concluded this year and they were even given the panels for the conclusion a couple of months ago so they could end it simultaneously like how the anime and light novel versions of toradora concluded at the same time.

      RickyMack
      1. Well, I stand corrected then.
        I’m more used to seeing anime where all is fine and dandy, then the last one or two episodes are wayyy too fast paced because everything is trying to be crammed in.

        Quite annoying, and I’m hoping FMA doesn’t take the same route. Bones is my favorite animation studio, though, so I have faith in them 😀

  4. Yeah, I hope no-one ends up spoiling the ending, because it really would ruin the surprise. And the epic moments.

    It’s good to see that the animation quality seems to be remaining pretty high; the last bunch of chapters were so awesome, it’d be sad to see shoddy animation there. Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

    I love the fact that Father’s God form is… a hot guy (A clone of young Hohenheim, really).

    Masked Anon
    1. I’m stuck at 32 as well and just waiting for the anime to finish before mass marathoning to the end. Manga ended fantastically, and hope the anime will pull through as well. Maybe even more 8DD ~ And oh, this is going to 64? I thought it was 63 XD

      Rei
  5. I don’t know what was more bullshit in this episode: The bullshit pacing (with Hohenheim’s plan going into action almost immediately, and other extreme speed), Scar’s brother being the greatest alchemic genius ever despite being self-taught during a war wiping out his homeland and people where things were blowing up every two seconds, or Edward entering Pride and the little douche getting to survive this story. And of course, Pride, despite having absorbed Kimbley, did absolutely nothing with him, so absorbing him seems like it was just for this part.

    No, the biggest bother was Keyhole. Aside from that, midget baby Pride was fine.

    That being said, I recently read the final chapter of the manga, and really enjoyed it. I was a fan of how the first TV series ended, too, and still felt thoroughly pleased by the ending for the manga. Whatever Arakawa does next, I’ll be reading it.

    1. i think Pride was quite certain that no living being would have the willpower to withstand cries of anquish of the souls inside of him. also, Awesome!Kimblee isn’t a _NORMAL_ human being, with his mental condition and such.

      Show Spoiler ▼

      bgi
      1. i always thought that he absorbed Kimblee for one aditional life, as his amount of stone was diminishing in latest fights. i never really thought that Kimblee will make a comeback like this, i thought that being absorbed by Pride of all things would only produce a powerup for the latter. also, i’m still wondering, if Kimblee’s knowledge wasn’t somehow used while forcing Mustang to see the gate – i know that they used Gold-Toothed Doctor, but i’m not really sure if it was his knowledge used to perform human transmutation.

        bgi
      2. you also have to consider that Pride absorbed Gluttony. He even said himself that this brought up quite the hunger inside of him.

        My assumtion was that he initially absorbed Kimbley just because… well… he could.

        someSyl
      3. Keep in mind that Pride wanted to keep Kimblee “alive” so to speak so he would see the outcome.

        Basically a few things:

        1. He was hungry
        2. More life. (keep in mind he swallowed his stone along with him) which is why I think he was hesitant to stab him when Heinkel used him as a shield.
        3. As a request to honor him (though I think this was merely his excuse)

        Cornwiggle
      4. This is what I think.

        Pride absorbed Kimblee to get the alchemy skills he needed to force open the Gate.

        The doctor was not absorbed. The doctor was the raw materials needed to open the Gate. Remember back in episode 2, when Ed and Al were trying to revive their mom, they used a plate of the elements of the human body? I think of the doctor as that plate of junk.

        I’m pretty sure they always said Kimblee had the skills to do human transmutation. But they ruled him out as a sacrifice because they decided he wouldn’t be able to survive passing through the Gate and seeing God.

        Tavor TAR-21
    2. LOL, Arakawa made Pride absorb Kimblee simply for this moment. That’s it.

      I’ve learnt that if I mute the critic inside of me while watching FMAB, I start to enjoy it a little.

      Oh well, the ending is looking to be much more interesting than the majority of this series. Although, everyone has to admit, Hohenheim’s backup plan was over-convenient. Well, this is a typical shonen anime. So it’s no surprise.

      Eamon
  6. Pacing was quick in this episode and they missed certain scenes from the manga.

    Overall really good even if we missed a few more punches thrown with Father and everyone else.

    Cherubium
  7. Am I the only one thinking that the pacing is, in fact, not all that fast?

    I mean, compared to stuff like Bleach, Naruto and all the other run of the mill shounen stuff it’s like lightning… but FMA doesn’t need to stretch episodes like they do.

    One thing I always liked about the manga, and the anime only added to this, is how the action segments are 1.) varied 2.) weaved into the story and 3.) SHORT
    How long do you think would a fight between guys like Wrath and Scar take? A few short bursts of all out crazy ass superhuman destruction or ten minutes of staring at each other and hitting air… ?

    Speeding up the action means that you don’t get bored watching them, each attack is unique and more time can be spend on making the fights MATTER because there’s a meaning attached to them via the story…

    someSyl
    1. Well, the action scenes are short in comparison with mainstream shonen anime like Naruto, Bleach and One Piece.

      But IMO, good coreography is what makes any action scene entertaining. No matter the length.

      Eamon
  8. The first anime series of FMA was the worst. Hopefully the manga ending is not as bad, although to see some good fight in this anime you have to light a candle to some saint. Oh God.

    Anyway, thanks for the review : )

    Unknown
    1. I thought the first anime series was effin’ brilliant. They might have taken a detour from the manga, but at least it stayed interesting until the end. (Except for the movie I would like to say…)
      Also, by using “worst” doesn’t really make sense since you’re only comparing it to the current series. Ya’ could have just said it’s “worse,” but I really do not see why you would bash on the first series out of nowhere. It was awesome.

    2. I have to agree with criticism of the first series for one reason. Characters.

      So many characters were introduced that I liked, but whose stories just seem to fade into the background. Ed and Al became central to the shows story while it went off the rails, at the expense of every other character in the show.(Riza is a perfect example of this. I liked her character in the first series, but I am in love with her in FMA:B.) In the end, Ed & Al hadn’t grown much as characters either, despite them having gone through so much. They also managed to make one of the few characters I could care less about(what’s-her-name from the mining town, I think they made her up) a big deal in the end. The Father charachter(what’s-her-name) and Hoenheim were introduced late, and their back story was pretty thin. The story was just bad really, especially the ending.(London blitz? wtf?) I watched the show all the way through, and really liked the characters, but somehow it never sat well with me. It seemed like a promising show that never quite lived up to it’s potential.

      That analysis is in hindsight of course, having now seen most of brotherhood, but I think it’s still valid.

      hms-one
      1. well they did show a few photos on the last page and there were plenty of foreshadowing of what was to come. SO i think that the end will more than likely be longer. It was a good finish to the series and it worked out well in the end not like the first animations ending, i didn’t like it.

        Chaos
    1. Not so sure about that. Without wishing to spoil anything, the manga already had what you could easily call an epilogue. ( Pretty much the whole second half of the final chapter… which is the length of one regular chapter if you think about it )

      I think it’s likely they’ll put this stuff in the last episode, leaving the two in between to conclude the current battle.

      someSyl
      1. I guess what I meant was I would like them to give us like a ova on the dvd of everybody like 20 years later. And I liked them photos at the end but was that just fan service pics or do them couples realy end up like that. Im trying my best not to spoil anything. LOL!!!

        infinite
    2. I think the 64th episode they just announced is for the epilogue *happy dances*, how do I know? go to vol.13-14 of fullmetal alchemist and find elric telapathy.(I got eds message.)

      ChocolateSilkPie
  9. People really can’t be bothered reading previous posts, can they …?

    I wish I understood Japanese because this episode seemed to explain a lot about alchemy and what Father’s gonna do now that he’s taken the form of a hot young guy (probably get him some bitches and a 40 and make a few rap videos). I’m glad Pride finally got his face smashed, literally. I didn’t think he deserved to be left alive in any form, but how long will he really survive as a fetus a mile underground?

    OMG Wrath’s death was so epic O_O I knew he was a tough bastard but hadn’t expected him to get both arms blown off and still use his freaking MOUTH to stab Scar with the shards of his sword. I didn’t think the fight between the two of them was too short, despite being used to DBZ and Bleach-length battles. It is probably more realistic considering the massive destructive potential (and lack of armor or high-speed regeneration) that they wouldn’t be able to hold up to 4 full episodes of beating the hell out of one another.

    I wonder what exactly Scar did, since all the souls had been returned virtually instantly by Hohenheim’s countermeasure. Divine made a reference to ‘unfiltered alchemy’, so maybe he just powered everyone way up in order to compete with this god-made-flesh.

    Thrilled we get another episode out of this series! Can’t wait for the last 3 (and subs!) 😀

    Guardian
  10. Yay! I always prefer fights when they’re animated over the manga version. It looks cooler when it’s fluid and with background music.

    I’m still feeling bad for Mustang. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to be no use in such an important fight.

    Blue
      1. haha… some Mustang and Hawkeye “action” :’D *snort*

        Just kidding. I am not spoiling when saying there -will- be some action (as in “battle” XD) involving the combined skill and power of those two; I figure all of us commenters are clever enough to get that out of Mustang’s dramatic question 🙂

        nn4
  11. So there is now 64.

    Nice. I hope they didn’t abridge anything though. I can’t believe Bradley’s fight and Pride’s defeat was just that short… but maybe it felt longer because I had to wait a month to continue when I originally saw it.

    I usually read the manga again after I watch an episode to be sure, and I think it’s alright; I’m just remembering wrong.

    Cornwiggle
    1. It’s probably because what takes 15 pages to show in an action scene only takes 2 minutes animated >.<

      The Wrath vs. Scar fight was definitely extended, though. I don't recall him surfing on a reconstructed pillar in the manga :O

      Tavor TAR-21
  12. If your are a girl, you will like the ending of this series.
    If your are a perverted without life who keeps pretending that he lives a in the anime world, you will like it too.
    If you are a regular people with a normal life, you’ll not like the ending.
    If you’ve a brother who you watched the whole first series and the second one like partners since it appeared (just like ed and al) YOU WILL HATE THIS PIECE OF TRASH FOR AN ENDING!! IT SUCKS!!! better watch supernatural or the first FMA series, now that’s real brotherhood.

    typical shitty ending were everyone lived happily ever after. -___- what a dissapointing

    X
      1. even more specifically, he thinks that all girls “are a perverted without life who keeps pretending that (he) lives a in the anime world”, who are not “regular people with a normal life”, who don’t have “a brother who you watched the whole first series and the second one like partners since it appeared”. XD

        Looks like somebody has seen way too few girls in his life.

        Mei
    1. More likely if you’re a kid who can’t get over not seeing what they wanted you won’t like the ending. I thought it was fine. A real ending with actual closure. I think people get too obsessed with seeing things play out the way they want. Why can’t you enjoy it for what it is. Have your opinion but leave it as opinion. I personally think Supernatural is a cheesy, poorly written soap drama type show. But I can see why its entertaining.
      My point being that the ending was not BAD it was just not to your taste. So what if she left no twists, turns or clever gimmicks at the end of the story try looking at the series as a whole.

      Blaineo
    2. I don’t read the manga, but the way X is making it out to be, it sounds similar to the LOST ending – which was absolutely disgustingly dissapointing.

      Meh, FMAB has been just average for me anyway. I’ll make my opinion of the ending at the 64th episode.

      Eamon
    3. Have to say I think you’re wrong on that, I liked the first anime ending fine but the manga one was way better. There aren’t many people who prefer the first anime ending over the manga one, you definitely don’t have to be a girl or a perverted anime nut to like it (which has nothing to do with it anyway).

      Also taking Supernatural as a model of real brotherhood seems a bit twisted to me, those two do *not* have a healthy relationship.

      MegamiMiko
    4. I’m going to just throw my two cents in here. Are girls not considered regular people with normal lives anymore? I don’t care if you dislike the ending or not (everyone is entitled to their own opinion after all and that should be respected), but seriously. If girls aren’t considered regular people, 50 percent of the population must be rather nutty.

      Jay
  13. X…

    I watched the first anime series, Conqueror of Shambala, read the manga, and I still liked the ending. Makes me wonder what they are reserving for the final episode since they are having such a fast pacing here.

    And what’s the problem with happy endings?

    People get disapointed with unhappy endings, and here we have other fellows that get disapointed for a happy ending… In the end it’s impossible to please everybody… And it’s not like everything went perfect for them either, I won’t say more since it could be considered spoilers.

  14. Ransom, first at all I was talking about the ending from the manga.
    Second, I’ve nothing against good happy endings, but this is a shitty one and you know that, just like soul eater anime series.

    X
    1. Okay, you can’t even compare those. The Soul Eater anime ending left nothing resolved other than the bad guy dies. FMA tied up every loose end, sub plot, and inconvenience it had. And on top of that, awesomely. Anyway, even if you don’t complete closure in a series, you are in a minority on this site, so I suggest you find a forum to flame to vent all of this out.

      And if you reply to this message in spoilers, please be sure to cover those up.

      Da5id
    2. I’m pretty sure Ransom was talking about the manga’s ending. He only mentioned that he saw the movie ending for the first series to establish that he was judging the manga’s end with a “comparison” if you will to the ending of the first series.

  15. I did think it was a little TOO happy (regarding one specific character), but it was a pretty good ending.

    I did wish for more of a resolve, which is what I’m hoping will be in the anime due to the announcement of an additional one.

    Cornwiggle
  16. https://randomc.net/image/Fullmetal%20Alchemist/Fullmetal%20Alchemist%20-%2061%20-%20Large%2039.jpg

    Nobody said it. Nobody said it!? Well, I guess someone has to say it.

    This hand of mine is burning red! Its loud roar tells me to defeat you!

    Hmmm…the ending…I think it was just a tiny bit *too* happy, though I wouldn’t call it bad at all. A certain pairing gets closure, and then the next second they split. I do find it interesting how there is tons of leeway for a sequel, without leaving a massive gaping plothole in the current story.

    Vsin
  17. X,Ransom, along with a few others…look…don’t forget that Divine and quite have not read the last chapter. With that being said, let’s keep the discussion about the ACTUAL episode itself, instead of arguing about whether you hated/loved the ending, be it happy, sad, tragic or whatever, alright?

    If you want to discuss about the ending, there’s plenty of sites that you can do that, like the onemanga forums or myanimelist.

    Chris
  18. I thought it was interesting how fate (or God, I guess) stopped Bradley from killing Scar. Were it not for that one beam of light, Scar would have lost. I guess that’s God’s way of saying he wants his Truth back? lol

    caramel_cod
  19. Best part of this episode:

    Kimblee putting on his hat and walking away. This was exactly how we got properly introduced to him in episode 31. And it’s how we bid farewell to him now.

    YOU’VE BEEN HIT BY, YOU’VE BEEN STRUCK BY, A SMOOTH CRIMINAL!

    Tavor TAR-21
  20. Epic Epic Epic episode. If there was ever an award for the best episode of an anime in the history of anime, this episode took it. By a long shot. I watched it last night, and I’m still tripping out about how amazing it was.

    Satoida
  21. Epic chapter which will eventually lead to an epic end.
    BTW, was it just me, or the next chapter preview’s images looked a little… weird? Like they’ve been made in a rush (which would be totally justified, but anyway I hope the quality of FMA’s ending doesn’t decrease as the ending approaches because of lack of time).

    PS. Fetus Pride was so cute, specially when saying “Mama, mama” lol.

    CiNtU
  22. I have mixed feelings about this episode. The art and animation were amazing, but way too many scenes were cut out and altered. I think this really should have been two episodes.

    Also, I will never get used to hot!Father having the same voice as geezer!Father. It just doesn’t work. Wouldn’t his vocal chords change along with his body?

    AXavierB
    1. If you’ll remember, Father’s had the same voice actor throughout. It was distorted and tinny when he was in the flask, and deeper and more echoing in his black ooze form, but he’s always sounded like Homunculus.

      Guardian
  23. So what Scar told us this week is that the entire series, all the epic fights we’ve seen where humans were standing up to (and killing!) Homunculi after Homunculi …

    Everyone’s only been fighting at about at most, half power (compared to the homunculi, which were full strength). Thanks to Father’s meddling with the crust. Now with Scar’s Reverse Transmutation Circle, that’s been lifted and everyone has, so to speak, gone Bankai. I really hope Roy figures out a way to get Hawkeye to be his vision so we can see what full-power Flame Alchemy can do to GodFather.

    Granted, the aforementioned Thing Who Ate God is still rediculously overpowered as he’s able to all but overwhelm all the heroes at their newly-acquired full power levels, while trying to hold God/the Truth/the Sun inside of him. His body’s breaking up like crazy, judging from all the veins popping out everywhere, but the previews showed some pretty beaten-up heroes, so I’m betting he’ll still do quite a lot of damage before he goes down. The fact that there *is* an epilogue kinda spoils the fact that good wins the day, but I don’t think any of us really doubted that … well, maybe at the end of last week’s episode 😉

    I wonder if we’ll get to find out more about what exact it is that Father ate … was it supposed to be the entire Truth-dimension they see on the other end of the gate? The gatekeeper they run into? An old bearded white guy in a robe? If it is answered, please don’t spoil it, this is just me conjecturing …

    Guardian
  24. It is power crunch time for FMA right now. The manga is long but the series has to end before the next begins. That’s why I vote for a Brotherhood 2 hour long movie. They should be free to keep everything from the manga in the movie and add a little if they want. Most likely this won’t happen. Plus everyone stop comparing this to the manga please. I know half the people hear have read it like X who set the trap to get people talking about the manga’s ending. The show is hitting the vital points and that’s all that matters. The action is on point, the story remains awesome and the animation is flawless far as I can tell.

    Cain
    1. … You just planted the seeds of a theory. Now I’m starting to believe that Scar really WAS a divine agent on a holy mission for Ishvala, just like he claimed way back when he entered the series in episode 4.

      And yet, the irony is, once Scar stopped believing he was on a holy mission, that was the moment when Ishvala began using him to fulfill His plans.

      Ohhh man, this could be a big theory!

      Tavor TAR-21
  25. Wow I didn’t expect the manga to be ending now – then again I wasn’t really following it. Guess it’s time to pick up again. I still read the last chapter and really liked how it ended. And that’s rare for me to say as usualy most manga/anime endings piss me off.
    Wonder how they’ll end the anime.

  26. odd, no one noticed that Father’s voice sounded a lot more like the announcer’s – now that he has a (younger) body again

    (that or my ear’s gone out of whack listening to the episode on headphones)

    …or am I a few months late on that realization?

    info600
    1. If you listen to what the old man says at the end of each episode, it supports this. He starts off with good advice and powerful insights. Later on however (near the completion of Father’s plans), his advice gets shorter and shorter, plus his words start becoming bitter and anti-humanity. In this one, he just restated Equivalent Exchange.

      Shad_Phoenix
  27. God I love Senju Akira for the music he composed on the series. 3 more episodes to go!! I wonder if they’re going to produce more OVAs that come along with the DVDs. I for one, love reading extra (omake) in any manga I read.

    Lil' Lilly
  28. i wonder why father didnt use the moons shadow as his circle
    he wasted like hundreds of years preparing a tunnel :p
    and hohenheim he travels a couple of years putting some souls here and there and hop finished ^^

    freedomapoc
    1. It’s not as big. Also, it only lasts for a short time, so if he didn’t transmute it at precisely the right time, he’d have lost everything. If he screwed up this time, he could just absorb everyone’s souls and build another country for the next eclipse.

      Shad_Phoenix
  29. There’s one thing I still don’t get, even after seeing the anime version.

    Ed “turns himself into a philospher’s stone to infiltrate Pride”

    How? Why? Can anyone specify, I still don’t get that part.

    Cornwiggle
    1. Well there was that one time in band cam- I mean, when Ed traded “long-term life” for the ability to heal his wounds after fighting Kimblee. The idea that one’s soul can be utilised as energy over a lifetime – I hear that a certain Father dude knows an awful lot about this sort of thing. But this was more than that; after taking his “soul power” and putting it through the rather large gap in Pride’s bonce, he was able to maintain his identity in Pride like Kimblee had in order to deliver the Shining Finger. Bullshitty? I’d say so, but not as much as than Kimblee being there too, or Scarbro being the hidden BEST. ALCHEMIST. EVAR!!!

      As for this episode, hooooooooooo boy. I’m glad I’m not the only one who took a double-take at the change(s) in pace. Also, BONES *really* likes spoiling the next episode in the previews, don’t they? The end of chapter 106 would’ve made a good cliffhanger for this episodeShow Spoiler ▼

      .

      For those that have read chapter 108, I liked it too. Like a few above, I have my reservations about a couple of things (including one BIG hangup), but otherwise it was thoroughly satisfying to see the story brought to a fitting end.

      Seeing as I may without the webterblags for the next month, I’m going to bite while I can:-

      In line with comments from a select few over the past 5-10 episodes, I proudly declare that I have learnt a new word (well two actually)! It is as follows;

      “Character-driven” – The writers have made something of a mess of the plot and seem unable to fix it, so they have decided to spend an inordinate amount of time fleshing out the personality of a chosen two or three “main” characters, at the expense of most of the supporting cast, in the hope that the readers/viewers will be so attached to said characters that they won’t notice the gaping holes in the story … or the lack of any significant contributions from what was a well-developed host of secondary characters.

      Unfortunately, it seems to be agreed by said select few that the “character-driven” term DOES NOT apply to FMA:Brotherhood in any way whatsoever. Damn; it must only be a perk of the first series then …

      J Jay
  30. This episode was good, but man, if they went through all the trouble to make another episode, why cut out a bit here and hurry through it.

    Really the only thing they cut out was Hohenheim managing (and nearly failing) to repel a blast from Father, then while everyone’s attention was above, Father attacked below, which is why May stepped in to help guard their feet.

    A few other attacks and a few lines from Father about “You’re doing well, Hohenheim, for just having maybe half a million souls”

    They weren’t needed, but it did add more to the tension of God-Father and it wasn’t resolved so quickly as in the anime. For a minute you think “Shit, even Hohenheim is no match for him” And like I said earlier, it made more sense as to why May joined in when she did.

    Vercetti
  31. I get it now how he infiltrated Pride.

    You honestly thing Brotherhood isn’t character driven? You need to watch it again, and this time, pay closer attention. It’s only character driven.

    You think the first series is more character driven?

    …ha…haha. Good one.

    Vercetti
  32. Man, the times I’ve said “Holy Shit” has simply increased as this draws closer and closer to the end. Arakawa-sensei, I salute you for making me do that. 🙂

    Here are some of the bigger Holy Shits this week:

    Holy Shit #1: Father’s new youthful body after consuming “God”.

    Holy Shit #2: Hohenheim’s centuries-worth of travelling paid off and forced Father to spit back out the Amestrian souls he’s consumed.

    Holy Shit #3: Scar battle it to the death with Wrath, and emerges victorious.

    (Not quite Holy Shit, but a W00t moment: Lan Fan shows her pretty face once again! Please keep your mask off for the rest of the series FTW. )

    Holy Shit #4: Kimblee’s bad-assed enough to maintain his will within the sea of souls inside Pride and ends up destroying Pride within while Ed destroys him without. (Though Ed never really kills Pride completely. )

    Kinny Riddle
  33. Who cares about the freaking pacing it was great. Get over it. But DIVINE you should cover Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. So far there has been one episode out of 6 and the next one will be done in october so it wouldn’t be a weekly thing to eat up your time but it is a masterfully done anime.

    Hei
    1. I care about the pacing because a lot of great scenes and characterization were unnecessarily cut out. They could’ve easily split this into two episodes and left the last two for the remaining two chapters. There was no need to compress 105 and 106 into one episode, losing multiple scenes and lines of dialogue in the process. I’m really wondering now how they expect to stretch the remaining two chapters-worth of manga material into three whole episodes, actually.

      Not saying it’s a bad episode. I enjoyed it. But as an adaptation of the source material, it falls short because it’s a rush job.

      AXavierB
  34. NO!

    Happy endings are a form of closure given how much these characters have been through and all the pain they had to endure, they deserve some form of closure and what a nice way to do it by making it happy.

    Jeez, give the FMA characters a break, you want them to have MORE tragedy after the ordeals they had to go through already?

    So if the ending is a happy one AWESOME. I want to see them happy, I’m not gonna be a sadist given how much they’ve suffered already.

    Anjiro
  35. Great review, great episode.. but im with Divine.. the pacing was a little too fast..

    i think the ending “Ray of light” would have been a better choice to play in the “resurrection” scene than the opening.. but its understable giving the lack of a proper opening..

    neko
  36. Good review, and I like the screen shots. I just read the last chapter, and I’m looking forward to seeing these last 3 episodes. I was wondering how they’d spread out the last part of the story, because the last few chapters were longer than usual. In fact, the last chapter was 109 pages, and 3 of the pages were colored. It would be nice, if the last episode was an hour long.

  37. FINALLY, THAT SON OF THE BITCH PRIDE HAS FINALLY BURN IN HELL!! FUCK THAT SOB PRIDE, SCREW
    THAT ENVY THE JEALOUSY ONE and even all of these douchebags LIKE WRATH in this
    show!! NOW It’s TIME TO MOVE ON!!

    Guys, I don’t care whatever i like post here because talked about suffering about what happened in the previous. I mean GOD,…
    I’ll SHOULD KILL THEM IN 1st PLACE!! I mean those HAS-BEENS in my favorite anime!! I SAY FUCK THEM!! I hope these Images & voices in my head won’t strike again or i couldn’t eat @ sleep all because of that!!

    Jeffry2010

Leave a Reply to Shad_Phoenix Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *