First Impressions / Fullmetal Alchemist

Summary:

While recovering from his injuries, Mustang lectures Hawkeye on losing her will to fight during the previous battle. However, he continues to entrust her with watching his back, and he’s more concerned now with why no one has come to finish him off. As it turns out, Envy does want to kill him, but Wrath has other plans for him. Meanwhile, Al is worrying about the state of his body, and Ed theorizes that his and Al’s spirits got mixed in the aftermath of the failed transmutation of their mother, so it’s possible that their bodies are connected. The two later go to visit Mustang and Havoc in the hospital, and they get involved in a discussion about how the Fuhrer might be connected to the Homunculus. Mustang ends up warning Ed not to act rashly, but he’s still excited about this development and expects the fullest out of his subordinates. Havoc, however, counts himself out because he can’t feel either of his legs thanks to the spinal cord damage he suffered. Not content with seeing Havoc having to retire because of this, Breda asks and gets permission from Mustang to go look up Dr. Marcoh.

Ed and Al meanwhile try to investigate on their own, and although they’re not able to find any worthwhile leads, Ed does remember how the Homunculus called him a valuable human sacrifice whose death would be troublesome. He suspects that it has something to do with opening the Gate and wants to find out more from the Homunculus. By chance, he then learns that Scar is back in town. Aside from the fact that he’d like to confront Scar about killing Winry’s parents, he’d also like to use Scar attacking him to lure out the Homunculus. The problem is how they would capture a Homunculus, and that’s when Ling suddenly shows up to offer his services. He’s still interested in the Homunculus immortality, and Ed decides to accept his help. Ed also wants Winry to stay in Central for a while longer in case Scar breaks his arm, and she shows her concern by telling him not to do anything too dangerous.

Back at the hospital, Roy learns from Breda that Marcoh is missing, and to make matters worse, Havoc is seriously getting ready to retire from military service. Havoc knows that he’s useless if he can’t move and wants Mustang to let him give up. Mustang decides to leave him behind for now, but he wants Havoc to catch up with him at the top. After Mustang leaves, Hawkeye tells Havoc that Mustang isn’t the kind of person to abandon them, and when Havoc calls Mustang stupid, Hawkeye suggests that it’s good to have an idiot like that around. Mustang then discharges himself from the hospital and he goes to track down Ed and Al. As it turns out, Ed has been doing good deeds around town to draw attention to himself, and right as he and Mustang are talking, Scar strikes. Ed springs into action to fight him while Al explains everything to Mustang, and they get Mustang’s help in keeping the military away so that the Homunculus can show up. Mustang thus gets to work spreading misinformation around the military intelligence network about Scar’s location. Unbeknownst to him, Wrath and Gluttony have already shown up on the scene. Ling and Lan Fan are waiting for them, but Wrath demonstrates such speed that Lan Fan is caught off guard and gets her mask shattered.

Preview

I don’t know if it was me missing watching this series after the break last week, but this episode felt longer than usual. That’s not to say that it was slow or boring though. The middle parts of it were great, starting with the powerful confrontation scene between Mustang and Havoc (it’s a shame to see Havoc out of the picture, but I suspect he’ll be back) and then moving to hilarity when Ed went around fixing things. That humor then turned real serious real fast with the appearance of Scar and then Gluttony and Wrath, all of which were pretty cool scenes. They also ended on a good cliffhanger with Wrath injuring Lan Fan, so I came out of this very excited about where the series is going.

I think my main question from this episode is about Marcoh. Whatever did happen to him? Aside from being mentioned a few times, including this episode, I don’t remember seeing him since episode six when he met Lust. They’re just now finding out that he’s missing 15 episodes later, so I guess they’re finally going to do something with his character. In any case, I’m looking forward to the continuation of the battle next week, and the preview seems to indicate that it’ll be more Winry and Scar focused than anything else.

41 Comments

  2. What’s with the lack of Marcoh scenes in this show? Really, we got more from the first series thus far. It’s especially heinous, given how great the scene with Envy at Marcoh’s is in the manga and that it has some important bits.

    They also seem allergic to the Xingese, since they’re only NOW getting to an encounter with them and the homunculi. Even I feel bad about it, and I DESPISE the Xingese characters.

    Well, it wasn’t a bad episode, I guess. They could have flavored the battle between Ed and Scar a little more, it didn’t have to be entirely like the manga battle. If they’re going to take liberties, ADD, rather than subtract. The part where Ed attracts attention with his alchemy was good for some laughs, at least. Ed’s got… a weird sense of style.

    penguintruth
    Reply

  6. Epeek. Thats all I can say.

    I can forgive them all the cuts this episode for the PERFECT ending of episode alone.

    Now here’s hoping that the huge emotional and powerful stuff will be adapted perfectly next episode.

    Unknown Voice
    Reply

  13. @penguintruth
    But they MUST subtract… they are going to compress a monthly 100+ chapters manga into a 50 episodes anime, they have to cut scenes out to get 80 pages into 20 minutes.

    Steelman
    Reply

  18. On the topic of Marcoh, it was like that in the first series too.

    After he meets Lust, he’s not even mentioned until towards the very end of the series, and that was pretty much a “oh this is what happened to him.”

    Matthias
    Reply

  20. Yeah, but the point is, Marcoh is supposed to be IMPORTANT in the manga, and so should be in this series. I’ve always defended the first series, and I continue to, but he does so much more in the manga, so it’s appropriate to give him those scenes necessary to build up his character in Brotherhood.

    In fact, my favorite scene of all time in FMA is Marcoh-related, though Arakawa later softened the impact of it, which annoyed me.

    penguintruth
    Reply

  23. I laughed out loud when Ed got hit with the wrench, and his soul started leaving.
    The part when Mustang told them to get out of the car was pretty hilarious too.
    Hope Havoc isn’t out of the picture now.
    Looking forward to the next episode; this week’s was one of the great episodes for me.

    l3reezer
    Reply

  24. This does look like an awesome episode, true to the manga just rearranged a bit, and I wouldn’t expect anything less since they’ve had two weeks this time. But it kinda sucks Ranfan gets injured that quickly; without the Xingese vs. Envy fight, we really haven’t seen anything that she can do before she’s outta the picture for like months on end. The audience hasn’t had a chance to connect so the scene…oy, the impact won’t be as strong, y’know?

    dorcas
    Reply

  26. can someone help me find a version of this with GOOD subtitiles? the only ones ive been able to find are subbed very badly, such as when mustang says “my subordinate”(in japanese) its translated to “my child” wtf?

    and yeah dorcas i agree with you i wish they had done the Xingese vs Gluttony and Envy so the audience had a chance to see how badass they are before this

    sorry for the long comment, i dont usually leave comments here but just read what you guys say

    TakashiD
    Reply

  28. @Anonymooo
    i doubt about a six months till end of manga, end is near nevertheless
    but even if it had only six months, still its later than end of anime so different ending it is

    razi
    Reply

  30. @razi

    perhaps you are right-they are currently around halfway the manga (around chapter 47-49) and next month, it will be 5 months since the start of this series, so in february, the anime will be at chapter 98 (if they don’t slow down), whereas the manga will be at chapter 103 (and it’s not even clear if the manga will end then)….i dunno how fast they can animate things, but it seems kinda close….wouldn’t a different ending be kinda dumb considering the first version already had a different ending ?

    ye4595
    Reply

  31. The whole point of this series was to tell the story of the manga, so I assume they must have some infornation from the mangaka that it will be ending soon since they are speeding through the chapters and even chopping some scenes out all together.

    blinx01
    Reply

  33. I keep forgetting that FMA is a monthly, but yeah, you’re right on that.

    Maybe they’ll take a break between series halves? They’ll finish up this current arc, take a break for a while like so many other series have, give the manga time to finish up, and then it’s back into broadcast?

    Anonymooo
    Reply

  34. Can’t wait for Envy’s true face. It didn’t make much sense the first time I read the chapter, but oh man, Marcoh’s going to be bad to the bone when he gets his turn.

    …accursed school’s going to get in the way though…

    Zero
    Reply

  37. A decent ep, though I can’t help but feel that the animation quality and pacing seems a bit off with the Brotherhood series compared to the first. The super deformed chibi style is nice to see once in a while but Brotherhood seems to abuse this far more than usual as a way to cut production costs. I guess they’re saving most of their budget on the action scenes, which are admittedly good (Wrath/Bradley is scary fast with those swords).

    But that just leads me to my second point. The pacing is super fast compared to the first but is uneven, which is a good and bad thing. Brotherhood skims over a lot of the set up and exposition material from the first series, which were admittedly slow at the start but once things got going, things continued to get interesting in the first series.

    Here, it just feels really rushed and glossed over (Hughes, Greed, Lust, and the kid/dog’s deaths seem less poignant, for example, Barry the Chopper is another). Scar’s character doesn’t seem very integral to the story at this point either, where in the first series his character was very significant, fleshed out, and even sympathetic. Same with Lust and Greed.

    And another thing, the musical score for Brotherhood just doesn’t compare to the first series (which had some really memorable and moving pieces). Here, it just sounds generic and forgettable. I kinda wished they had reused some of the soundtrack from the first series.

    Anyway, I think the Xingese characters add more than they detract from Brotherhood. I’m well aware of what happens to Ling later on, but I really do like Ran Fan’s character a whole lot (wish she didn’t get hurt that fast by Wrath; we need to see that kickass fight scene with her and Ling vs. Wrath as in the opening sequence!), even if she seems like a brunette ninja version of Hawkeye, heh. The little Xingese girl and her pet panda; I wonder where she fits into all this and with Scar.

    Reiter
    Reply

  38. “The super deformed chibi style is nice to see once in a while but Brotherhood seems to abuse this far more than usual as a way to cut production costs”

    No. Thats called being faithful to manga comedy scenes. Unlike first FMA which took itself way too seriously. It has nothing to do with production costs, considering FMA:B animation quality is far superior to FMA1.

    “Brotherhood skims over a lot of the set up and exposition material from the first series”

    “the setup and exposition material” in first series were FILLERS. They never existed in manga and are not cannon in this version of FMA ;]

    “Here, it just feels really rushed and glossed over (Hughes, Greed, Lust, and the kid/dog’s deaths seem less poignant, for example, Barry the Chopper is another).”

    Nina’s introduction and death took one chapter in manga and one episode in FMA:B. Thats actually slowed down pace than in manga. ;]

    Hughes was never intended to be character everyone baws about. Its for Roy. And Roy is sad for reasons only he knows for now(cue flashbacks). NOt everything has to be connected to Elric Brothers. Other characters in FMA:B and manga have equal value(unlike in FMA1 where they went out of the way to pile everything up on Ed).

    Lust was a villain and she fulfilled her role. Her stone is destroyed and her story has ended. Greed on other hand…

    Barry The Chopper was handled WAY BETTER in FMA:B than in FMA1(where he was some sick transsexual little girl molester with cleaver).

    “. Scar’s character doesn’t seem very integral to the story at this point either, where in the first series his character was very significant, fleshed out, and even sympathetic.”

    I can’t disagree more. Scar’s backstory before his official introduction, with him attacking Ed was unnecesary in FMA1. Scar is warrior monk, he has no need to angst around. He has values he feels to have betrayed, and just like japanese ronins, he wanders around feeling not being able to go back to the way he was.

    In a sense it works so much better as a threat. Sympathizing with him can come after the whole thrilling encounter with him is done ;]

    “Same with Lust and Greed.”
    I hated how Lust was developed in FMA1. From this unfeeling, sexy and evil chick she went into a suicidal depressive woman who got killed by shotacon Wrath(another character I feel like strangling with my own hands).

    As for Greed I will just stay silent for now. ;]

    “And another thing, the musical score for Brotherhood just doesn’t compare to the first series (which had some really memorable and moving pieces).”
    Out of first series I could remember only the OP songs(which were great, minus the horrible last op, Rewrite). The musical OST of FMA1 is way too overrated.

    “I kinda wished they had reused some of the soundtrack from the first series.”
    No. Reusing something from THAT…thing would only leave bad taste in my(and other fans) mouth. Arakawa’s FMA separate entity without ties to Mizushima’s FMA. THe message is different, the tone is different, the moral is different, the characters are way different(thus the so called “set up” of FMA1 does NOT fit into this one).

    The episode 20 could even be read as deconstruction of the most stupid twist in FMA1, or Arakwa’s revenge for that, so to say(ala how S.Lukyanenko in the third book of his Night Watch quatrology, made fun out of the NightWatch movies).

    Its a different story than the other fma. And while this adaptation is surely not perfect(with all cutting out stuff), but its certainly way better than FMA1 so far.

    Unknown Voice
    Reply

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