First Impressions / Fullmetal Alchemist

Summary:

Ed and Al haven’t been able to track down May Chang, and unbeknownst to them, she’s actually at the train station. She runs into a certain old woman there and reveals that she’s headed north, and the old woman takes note of Shao May. Scar meanwhile is heading in a different direction and escapes from his pursuers who are now reporting to Kimblee. Over at the cemetery, Mustang runs into the same old woman that saw May Chang and realizes that it’s actually Lt. General Grumman in disguise. After Mustang fills him in on what’s going on in Central, Grumman reveals that Raven had approached him a while back about an immortal army. Grumman had rejected the idea, and soon after, he had been transferred to the East. Mustang gets Grumman interested in getting involved again, and after seeing the drawing of Shao May that Mustang is carrying, Grumman tells Mustang of what he saw earlier.

At the library, Ed and Al are trying to do some research on alkahestry but aren’t having much luck. Ed is found there by Armstrong, and Armstrong passes along a message from Mustang about how May Chang is headed north. Because of this, Armstrong also gives Ed a letter of introduction to the Major General Armstrong who guards the northern border. Ed then goes to tell Al of the news, and he finds him with a young boy who knows exactly who the brothers are. It turns out that the boy is none other than King Bradley’s son Selim, and he invites them to his house with his mother. There, the brothers learn of how Selim is interested in alchemy and how he wants to help his father. Partway through the meeting, King Bradley himself shows up, and he and his wife explain that Selim was adopted. King Bradley emphasizes how he has a family and reminds Ed and Al of their own family before leaving again. Afterward, Ed and Al refocus on how their goal is in the north, and they set off in that direction by train.

Preview

So I never realized how fun a character Grumman was. The whole old lady bit here was great, and it was funny seeing Mustang’s reaction to it. The question mark in the eye-catch of him was pretty amusing too. What’s even better is that he seems like the kind of character who can really help Mustang get things done, and this showed the extent to which he’ll operate, so I’d love to see more of his antics in the future.

Aside from that, the episode for the most part was split between Kimblee tracking Scar and Marcoh, and Ed and Al meeting Selim. The Selim stuff was interesting to the extent that it showed his character a bit and that King Bradley has a family as well, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of how King Bradley had told Mustang previously that Selim wouldn’t be his weak point. I’m not sure if this is a contradiction to that or just King Bradley putting on a different face. I did notice though that Hawkeye is already following him around. There wasn’t too much else of note, though I’m very curious now about Armstrong’s sister (who’s already shown up in consecutive weeks in the commercials and sounds a bit gruff). In any case, the preview makes it look like we could be seeing some more action next episode as things shift northward.

64 Comments

  3. So, basically, what Bones is trying to say is, volume 15 only needed one episode to cover, but a few pages in volume 16 need more than one. It’s okay to cram one volume into one episode and then add a lot of filler to another, according to them.

    Brotherhood’s pacing is effing ridiculous.

    penguintruth
    Reply

  4. Appearances can be deceiving.
    The old lady seems so nice. and Selim is so cute! 😛

    hm..Scar going mad, must be some awesome action next week
    Ed and Al must be at Brigg next ep too, though I can’t seem to remember who the big guy is.

    ciq666
    Reply

  5. One more episode that bathed in awesomeness. Grumman in woman disguise is one hell of a camouflage technique, isnt it? 😛 And at last we’re coming to Briggs episodes.
    Btw did you know that Selim means “calm, tame” in turkish (dunno, probably came from arabian)? 🙂

    pabucumunsatanisti
    Reply

  10. Grumman is a sexy beast, no questions asked.
    Also, interesting to note that the whole Selim/Elrics part did not include Bradley at all in the manga. They must have added him in this anime to show a bit more his “human” side and spotlight his relationship with Selim.

    . . . . .

    > __ >

    Homuncurus!
    Reply

  22. Penguintruth: i have to agree with you on the pacing thing, but its not really that big a deal to me anymore im just glad that we are getting to Briggs. i liked this episode for adding bradly into that scene, it makes me like his character even more. I do wish they had done ishbal better though….

    TakashiD
    Reply

  23. Looks good, but I have to concur a bit with penguintruth on the pacing. Volume 15 was pretty much one episode, with some stuff getting cut out. Ep. 31 and this one covered not even one-fourth of volume 16 each.

    However, as a whole I supposed the pacing works in terms of the story, so I won’t complain to much about it. It’s just a bit awkward for the manga-readers, I guess.

    LoL – Well, a lot of people who have only been watching this and not reading the manga know nothing about Olivier yet, so you’ll have to wait to see their opinion, ha ha. I won’t say mine for the purpose of spoilers and such. 😛

    blue
    Reply

  24. I can already tell the shit is gonna break through the roof soon enough with the whole “Olivia/Olivier”, deal.
    Sad truth of the matter is, Arakawa has NOT stated anything about which one is right or not. Remember, we were in the dark for the longest time about whether it was really “Ishbal” or “Ishval”.. turns out, after countless volumes of confusion, she said the official name of it was “Ishval”. Which, of course, hasn’t stopped people from calling it both (mainly in part to the first anime, which made the canon name “Ishbal”).

    Since apparently the Armstrong family seems to have a bit of French influence (i.e. “Louis,Gargantos”), its entirely possible her name is Olivier. I can already tell you though, when the English dub comes out, you can bet your ass its going to be Olivia.

    Homuncurus!
    Reply

  29. @Ral

    I think it’s:

    Lieutenant -> Captain -> Major -> Lieutenant Colonel -> Colonel -> Brigadier General -> Major General -> Lieutenant General -> General -> Fuhrer President

    I could be wrong. Is Lieutenant General a higher rank than Major General? I’m assuming Grumman, who has been around longer than Olivier Armstrong, would have a higher rank than she does, but there’s a reason they stuck him in the East.

    penguintruth
    Reply

  30. re: penguintruth

    Both Lieutenant General and Major General derived from ranks from medieval army’s Sergent Major General. This wiki link explained the origin of Major General, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_Major_General.

    In medieval time, the General oftentimes is not the most qualified person to actually lead the army (nobility != actual knowledge and ability). To make sure the army they raised and train actually succeed, they’ll install a professional soldier that actually runs the army. This rank is the Lieutenant General, as he’s subordinate to General.

    bigfire
    Reply

  33. @Homuncurus!

    Actually, it IS Olivier, her name was spelt in English in the popularity polls AND it’s pronounced Olivié because it’s French and it’s how her name in katakana is written.

    Dendoh_fanboy
    Reply

  43. Grumann turns out to be quite interesting, not only does he make a funny (while unconvincing) old “trap”, him getting subtly fired up when being goaded by Mustang into inciting an insurrection was fun to watch.

    I have a feeling the hooded guy with Scar is actually Yoki, while Marcoh is actually travelling with May. Since Envy didn’t know May’s been reunited with Scar, so they must be assuming Marcoh’s with Scar, and Scar’s probably betting on that. (Though at the possible expense of poor Yoki. lol )

    Considering that Marcoh’s now been disfigured, he doesn’t needs much disguise. A passerby would just see May as a kind girl taking care of a horribly-burned man and nothing else.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  44. … There’s a problem with ‘Olivier’ being the official name… In French, it’s a man’s name! So every time I see Olivier, I just think of a guy (especially since I personally know some Oliviers). That’s why I prefer to call her Olivia. Just like I prefer to call Winry’s dad Yuriy (as seen in Brotherhood) rather that Urey (as seen in the manga), because Yuriy is actually a real name (and Urey makes me think of the French word for urea O_o).

    Ando
    Reply

  45. From Mustang’s description of how control of the Lior riots was transferred from Eastern Command to Central Command, and from Amestris’s easy to read map, it’s safe to assume there are five command centres for the entire nation, one Central and one for East, West, South and North.

    Theoretically, all five armies are of equal strength, with the four regions nominally under the command of Central. Most of the elite troops would naturally be concentrated in Central, since the Homunculi needs their cooperation most.

    In fact, it doesn’t seem like Central regards the regions to be able to rebel against them, and even treats it like a dumping ground for out-of-favour generals like Grumann. This could prove costly as Mustang acutely observes, most of the Ishbal War vets are concentrated in the East, plus the story’s now gonna cover Armstrong’s sister, who’s in charge of the North.

    Without any knowledge from the manga, and just observing from a strategic point of view, it would be interesting if North and East really does rebel, then Mustang’s insurrection would have a more realistic chance of succeeding as it’ll be 2 vs 3 armies, and North Command is probably just as battle-hardened as East Command, compared to the quiet West and South Commands (storywise), so it’ll be mostly Central holding out against the rebels.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  46. Anyone else noticed the Armstrong “seal” right before our preview of Olivia? Looks like Alex-Louis’ ‘stache and curl of hair, LOL.

    Kinda wish I hadn’t had Selim’s secret spoiled for me (thanks a lot, manga fanboys) but it does put an interesting perspective on watching him be ubercute with the Elrics. As well as shedding some light on why they’d name the episode after such an (apparently) minor character.

    So is Mai Chang trying to hook back up with Scar again? Or is she wandering North at random for lack of anything better to do? And why does Scar keep picking up these random sidekicks? 😛

    Guardian
    Reply

  47. I love Grumman’s VA.

    He’s one of my favorites. He’s so just full or range, it’s great. Almost like he can sound like a group of several different people. Which was great for his role in Yu Yu Hakusho, where he played someone with multiple personalities.

    Amazing guy.

    Cornwiggle
    Reply

  48. @penguintruth. totally agree with the point about non manga material being added while proper material from the ishbal campaign was cut. oh well i’ve bitched enough about that already. at least the the new scenes were quite good and fitted into the story.

    that made me wonder; does anyone know how input Hiromu Arakawa (the manga author) gets regarding the anime adaptation. it would be nice to think that some of the new segments are her own ideas (possibly deleted scenes from the manga) rather than just filler from the anime writers.

    @guardian. i wont give much away but if you’re thinking the bug dude behind olivier/olivia is yet another armstrong then you’re barking up the wrong tree. he is, however very cool (they all are)

    also regarding your selim related annoyance. that really wound me up and i’ve read the manga. the attention seeking troll from over a month ago was a pain but not that unexpected. however; the sheer volume of posts from last week with their not-so-subte hinting really took the piss. i couldnt believe how inconsiderate and/or dumb people were. unless of course it was all someone trolling again.

    oh well. briggs here we come!

    fathomlessblue
    Reply

  52. @srsly. well i doubt anyone who still uses this wall doesnt know by now. its not a huge deal anymore. anyone who was pariculary worried at spoilers being told stopped reading the walls a while back. the trolls are simply flogging a dead horse. its just a shame some real fans have been careless in their excitement of knowing things others dont.

    overall, its kinda sad (in a pathetic way) that this stuff always tends comes up when regarding series (such as fma) that try to show the best of humanity: friendship, respect for others, forgiveness etc. some people really dont get the main point of it all amid the big explosion. ah well im not gonna waste my time moaning anymore. lifes too short XD

    fathomlessblue
    Reply

  55. you know i thought i was done bitching about how they messed with the pacing for this episode and the ishbal episode, but i just went back to my copy of volume 16 and realized that after craming volume 15 into one episode, they made this entire episode out of only made up of 21 pages of manga material. how,…why…..why?

    Also, ugh are trolls infinite? some one please get rid of this guy saying “see my name”. im not gonna put it in my post but i think you know who i am talking about.

    TakashiD
    Reply

  57. Regarding the spelling of Olivier/Olivia’s name, whether people like it or not, it IS Olivier. That is her name in the english FMA volumes.

    It seems to me that the people bitching about Volume 15 being crammed into one episode don’t love it enough to realise that in fact, it was put into one full episode AND into parts of other episodes (e.g.: Winry’s parents, Scar, Kimblee flashbacks).

    The Ishbal flashback was actually my least favourite part of the FMA manga (barring smaller parts like chapters 3 and 4), so I’m ok with how they animated it. A bit more’dve been nice (the Envy scene at the end for example) but I’m not bothered about it.

    This episode was pretty good.

    Sim
    Reply

  59. SPOILERS
    SPOILERS
    SPOILERS
    SPOILERS
    SPOILERS

    just wanted to say how it’s interesting that selim always says “father” and in previous episodes and how wrath in previous episodes has said how “proud” he was of him. if you read the manga you should know what im trying to point out here and i think it’s cool how they drop these little foreshadows early on in the story.

    SPOILERS
    SPOILERS
    SPOILERS
    SPOILERS
    SPOILERS

    sean
    Reply

    1. This. The Ishbal volume was only OK, I have no problem at all with what this adaptation decided to do with it. Damn purists can’t just be satisfied with voicing their thoughts at the appropriate time and letting it go.

      Sextus
      Reply

  62. I’m such a silly fangirl… When Bradley said that he, too, have a family, although it’s not like ed and al’s, and then there’s clips of pinako, winry…and then Al. Al gave me a fangirlistic heartattack! They just threw him at me, no warning! *be still, my heart*

    Lilly
    Reply

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