First Impressions / Fullmetal Alchemist

Summary:

After returning home from the encounter with Pride, Hawkeye is on edge when she gets a phone call from Mustang. He is able to tell that something is up, but Hawkeye claims that it’s nothing and ends the call. Back up north, Kimblee and company arrive at an abandoned mining town to look for Scar. When they split up to search, Ed and Al find themselves under watch by two of Kimblee’s men, so they pretend to see something and use alchemy to escape. Luck is on their side because they are found by May Chang, and as it turns out, Al was carrying Winry inside of him too. Marcoh and Yoki then join them too, and Yoki recognizes the brothers from his previous encounter with them at Youswell. Recalling how Ed tricked him, Yoki tells of his hardships after that and how he wanted revenge, but no one listens to his story. Instead, Ed and Al tell Marcoh what they know and why they’re after May Chang, and Marcoh shows them Scar’s brother’s research notes. Their conversation is interrupted though by a loud noise from a nearby building.

As it turns out, Scar has been found by two of Kimblee’s men, and those two turn out to be Chimeras. They’re faster than Scar expects, and both of them have ranged attacks that prevent him from getting close and from escaping. Fortunately for Scar, Ed and Al arrive, and even though they figure out that the Chimera are Kimblee’s men, they don’t acknowledge the monsters as their allies and knock both out. Despite this, Scar isn’t giving himself up without a fight, and he almost catches the brothers off-guard. Winry, who followed Ed and Al here, now tries to put a stop to it all, and the brothers take advantage of Scar being surprised by her voice to restrain him. Shortly thereafter, Miles and his men arrive on the scene, and Miles tries to take charge of the situation, but Winry wants to talk with Scar first. When she asks him why he killed her parents, Scar replies that any answer he gives would be an excuse and that the reality is that he killed them.

Meanwhile, over at Briggs, Buccaneer and his men arrive back later than scheduled and expect the entrance to be closed off, but it’s actually still open thanks to Olivier’s broken watch. Buccaneer later finds her sitting alone on top of the wall, and Olivier explains that she’s enjoying the white and black of the clear mountain scenery. Buccaneer points out though that the sky is blue, and he feels that people’s hearts are the same way. This moment is cut short by the sudden arrival of some military men who want to talk to Olivier. Back at the mining town, Kimblee is outside the building where all the commotion is going on, and Ed suddenly emerges from it and blames Kimblee for not watching after Winry. As it turns out, Scar is now standing on top of the building and is carrying an unconscious Winry.

Preview

There was plenty of action this episode thanks to Scar and the Chimeras, and the animation quality was quite good, but what was curious was that there was also a fairly long Yoki flashback/recap segment that really didn’t contribute anything to the current plot (I call it recap because it’s stuff I vaguely remember from the first series which never made it into this series). If anything it interrupted the flow of what was going on, causing me to question why they showed it here. I guess it’s always possible that Yoki is going to play a bigger role from now on or something. Plus it was amusing to see the Armstrong sisters again.

This episode also had a nice Buccaneer and Olivier scene near the end that felt like it was wrapping up and signifying the conclusion of a story arc. It seems pretty apt given how we’re at the end of the third cour and about to start the fourth. Of course there was a cliffhanger in the episode too, if you could call it that, with Scar taking Winry, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s just a ploy to keep her from being Kimblee’s hostage again. And on that note, there’s no new episode next week. Episode 39 will air January 10, 2010.

41 Comments

  1. HOLY SHYT!!!
    The extra stuff added about the Armstrong sisters is AWESOME!! None of that was in the manga (and I’m pretty sure the manly Armstrong twins only appeared in an Omake once), very very very nice to see them added in. And Catherine and her piano from the first anime are back!! <3

    The filler stuff about Yoki was LONG overdue, but not out of place. Overall, very good episode.

    Homuncurus!
    Reply

  3. Why? Uhh.. how about the fact Yoki was randomly thrown into the mix without any sort of explanation of who the Hell he is. The whole Mining town deal was completely removed, which is what introduced him.
    This episode is when he finally meets up with the Elrics again. I can’t think of a better place to add that explanation than now.

    Homuncurus!
    Reply

  8. Oh hey, thanks Bones, for relating the Youswell story 30 something episodes after you should have! Nice. Because it’s not too little, too late, or anything.

    You even cut into Winry’s bit, one of the few GOOD scenes with her. Glad you spent your budget on a fight between Scar and two characters nobody cares about.

    Well, the Briggs arc goes downhill from here, anyway. I don’t see why nobody seems able to kill Scar. State Alchemists, homunculi, chimeras… even Father. Scar is almost as overpowered as Roy. But that’s not Bones’ fault.

    At least that Olivier scene was kept in.

    penguintruth
    Reply

  9. seriously, penguintruth, please consider the possibility of dropping this series (manga and anime), it’ll make your life (and ours) better.

    i can rec a bunch of stuff for you 🙂

    also i see this adaptation keeps on being mediocre, oops.

    i care about the chimeras
    Reply

  12. Just watched the flashback part, and I must say: OMG how brilliant it is!!
    Too little, too late? Not at all imho, for a guy like Yoki, just a flashback like that is all we need to know about him, his past, his personality and all. That mining town chapter (which introduces Yoki)is not that exciting in the manga to begin with, and here it’s so much more fun to watch it like a silent movie, and the added part with the Armstrong’s is just priceless! 🙂
    Anyway, good job, Bones! Really liked how things are changed this time!

    tanukichan
    Reply

  15. Loved it does any one no how eps this series is going to be?
    Are they gona follow the manga all the way?
    Is there any more ova?
    Too many question but one thing is for sure this has to be the best anime series so for.

    Dragonite88
    Reply

  16. i donno, i hated the brotherhood adaptation because it seemed so lame at first, but they are doing a great job now regardless. The recap was hilarious, we needed that bit and the episode was well balanced and well paced. Good work!

    Hm
    Reply

  17. Was the flashback out of place? Yes, but it’s fine if the remaining number of episodes is 63 like we heard.

    Does no one like the chimeras? Hell No, I love the Chimeras, especially Heinkel, also Jelso is the major black character in this series. They also emphasize how large the competency zone in FMA is. How many other series would have minor characters like the Chimeras be this powerful?

    As for Scar, your claim of “Overpowered” would make a whole lot more sense if you didn’t do it about an episode in which Scar is defeated twice.

    Charred Knight
    Reply

  18. Charred Knight: Hell yes, you gotta love the chimera’s, the are sweet!. episode was good, this part of the manga always felt a little slow and boring to me, but it goes faster in the anime(or feels like it anyway) so its getting good, cant wait to see some very special flashbacks that should be coming our way soon. also, if the next episode does not come out until January, does that mean it will have the new OP and ED?

    TakashiD
    Reply

  20. Amen, stop posting, Penguintruth. No one cares about your negative opinions.

    Aww man. Two weeks. 🙁 I hate it. FMA is the one thing I look forward to the most each week. Darn it. Oh well. I look forward to this one. Nice that they added a lot.

    I’m glad that finally they decide to give Yoki a little more backstory in this.

    Cornwiggle
    Reply

  21. aaw, no new episode next week, that’s cool,I can wait.

    It looks like I’m going to have a marathon of anime tomorrow, because I’ve been missing a lot in the pass 2 weeks. so i can’t wait for what I have been missing. and also I’m liking the pictures, the animation quality is looking good for this episode.

    Gravity00
    Reply

  22. im glad they included the flashback. being honest, having seen the yousef mine stuff in the manga and first anime i didnt really want to see it again; however, the bite size silent movie was tastefully done… and the added armstrong sisters scene… genius!

    like i said last week, im not a huge fan of the chimeras, especially not jerso and zampano (darius and heinekel are, admittedly, slightly better). the chimeras that hung with greed were quite tastefully done, looking human with animal traits, but these four look like theyve come straight out the guyver, even down to how they transform. i’ve always seen fma as being just on the right side of believable (if you stretch your imagination a bit) but even in the manga i find the chimeras a little silly/kids tv for my taste. its a shame as i quite like the four of them in general. anyone feel this way?

    oh, and the armstrong/buccaneer scene was excellent. def the highlight of the ep for me

    fathomlessblue
    Reply

  25. Kam7r that’s amazing. LMAO

    Penguintruth, chillax! I mean it fine if these things are annoying you and such and you have the right to complain… however the amount you do complain makes us question why you even bother watching, why not stick to the manga? Or atleast have more objectionable comments with both the qualities you like and dislike rather than focusing on negitives of everything! Bloomin’ pessimist!

    R
    Reply

  26. Still my favorite show that’s airing right now. I’m guessing Winry went with Scar of her own volition, and that there was more to that conversation than “… *scowls*” *BOOM!*

    I kinda liked the Yoki side-story, and didn’t feel it took away from the pacing any more than Mei’s amusing romantic asperations on Alphonse (even calling Winry a skank for popping out of his chest, LOL). There was some good action too, I was kinda surprised to see how swiftly the Elric brothers turned on Kimblee, but that’s his fault for bringing Winry into the picture directly. They were able to snatch the hostage right out from under his nose, and I have a feeling there’ll be more Elrics-and-Scar team-ups in the near future. Especially once Kimblee ditches the gentleman detective mask and shows himself for the true psycho he is (not a spoiler, I haven’t read the manga, but it’s f’ing Kimblee for crying out loud :P)

    Guardian
    Reply

  27. Actually Show Spoiler ▼

    Oempaloempa
    Reply

  32. I thought the Yoki flashback was done well, at least people won’t be complaining about this anime skipping Yoki’s backstory anymore. Plus we get to see Armstrong’s legendary piano tossing sister again. XD

    Besides action, this episode also had considerably more laughs than usual, especially with Mei deluding herself into thinking she’s the centre of some love polygon, and poor Al trying to explain he’s no two-timing playboy. lol

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  33. It wasn’t just like the manga, but I imagine they’ll go back and put in all the stuff from chapter 72 that they skipped in this episode, as well as the stuff in 73. There’s a lot of important character development as well as some plot.

    By the ways, what episode (from the old series) are the Armstrong sisters in?

    curious one
    Reply

  35. Scar is bad but not that bad. Killing Winry’s parents was an accident after the emotion outburts of realizing what his brother did. Which he still feels guilty for so he wants to atleast make it up in someway.

    RS456
    Reply

  36. I loved this episode – although I’ll admit that the whole “Loki’s background story” was a bit too long. I did like his confrontation with Armstrong’s sister though lol XD
    The “Al-get’s-glomped-by-Mei” and “Al’s-a-two-timer” scenes are probably two of my favorites in the series lol ^__^ I love how they animated it 😀

    KimiNeko
    Reply

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