First Impressions / Fullmetal Alchemist

Summary:

Mustang’s group is saved by back-up hiding in the rafters, but this entire situation shocks King Bradley’s wife because she realizes that she might have been abandoned by her husband. Mustang promises to protect her, but he opts not to tell her about what happened to King Bradley. He and his men make an effort to only injure the Central forces they come across, but that only pisses off the enemy commander who sends more men. Olivier meanwhile uses this chance to point out the weaknesses of the Central forces and asks the two generals watching over her for control of those forces, but they refuse and point out that she’s in their custody.

They want her here to keep the Briggs soldiers from rebelling, however this just causes Olivier to laugh because Briggs abides by survival of the fittest, so even her death wouldn’t stop them. As if on cue, the alarms in Central go off because the Briggs soldiers have made their move, and it turns out that they were being hidden inside the Armstrong estate. Across town, Mustang’s group gets resupplied by an ice cream truck driven by Rebecca and Maria Ross. After picking up the group, Ross makes a stop to let Mustang talk to the person who procured these weapons and set this part up: Jean Havoc.

Outside of town, Ed’s group can see that things have started happening, so they get ready to head in. Since their goal is Father, Scar proposes using the underground tunnel, and the group leaves behind Marcoh, Yoki, and the injured Heinkel. Ed first pays a visit to the dome to tell Al that he’s going, and what the brothers don’t realize is that Pride is sending a message to Father by tapping on Al’s head. Back inside Central, Olivier’s superiors try to get her to make the Briggs soldiers withdraw, and she finally decides to make her move by stabbing one general in the arm and shooting the other in the head. A short time later, Fu picks up information about how things are progressing by listening in to the reports coming in to Olivier’s brother. Fu’s priority is still finding Ling, but he senses the presence underground is larger than it was the previous day.

Ed’s group meanwhile finds their path blocked by a large number of troops. Instead, they head to the Third Research Laboratory, take care of the handful of soldiers there, and enter the underground that way. Since the tunnel goes in both directions, they decides to split up, with Hohenheim taking Lan Fan in one direction. Hohenheim chose Lan Fan because he knows that she wants to go look for Ling, and he lets her go as soon as they get out of sight of the others. At around this same time, one of the Central generals gets frustrated by what’s going on and decides to activate the Homunculus army to combat this uprising. These Homunculus awaken with a shriek that’s heard by everyone underground.

Preview

Not surprisingly, last week’s cliffhanger didn’t amount to anything, and Mustang and company were fine. In fact, they were more than fine, and it’s like they didn’t even need their full effort to beat the forces in Central. That made things in the first half fun to watch because for once the good guys seemed like they couldn’t be stopped, and and the action was pretty exciting and had some nice music to boot. I especially liked Olivier’s speech to the two other generals and how the Briggs forces appeared on cue. However, the best part of the episode was the return of both Maria Ross and Jean Havoc just before the halfway point. It’s great to see everyone getting involved, particularly those I had long since forgotten about.

Compared to all that was happening on Mustang’s side, in contrast, Ed’s group hasn’t done anything significant yet other than sneak underground. They should probably be worried that Pride was sending a message to Father by tapping on Al’s head – I certainly am – but unlike the audience, it doesn’t appear that they’re aware of it yet. Anyway, the cliffhanger (if you could call it that) and preview suggest that things will get exciting for them soon because they’ll have their hands full with the Homunculus army. It also looks like Olivier will get more screen-time next week, which is great because she was already pretty awesome this week.

Unfortunately, as you may have heard, I am retiring from anime blogging at the end of this season, so this will be the last episode of FMA that I’ll be blogging. I wish I could have chosen a better stopping point, but up until a few months ago, I hadn’t expected it to go longer than four seasons. Regardless, I’m excited about where the story is headed and will continue watching the show even if I am not blogging it.

50 Comments

  5. Are you going to continue watching? Seems kinda sad that you quit blogging right as it gets here, especially with a new OP/ED and all that next week, but oh well. It seems like a huge waste of time to watch 25 hours of this and quit actually watching at the climax though, so are you going to continue watching the show without blogging it?

    Envoyofuno
    Reply

  9. It’s your decision Omni but I suppose you can blog some episodes periodically. FMA (manga) is near its end and thus I’m sure there are really great episodes coming up.

    I’m a bit surprised they made Pride’s actions so obvious but I guess it doesn’t change the overall plot in the end.

    Looking forward to more Olivier

    Orangere
    Reply

  10. Aaaand so it begins.
    Looks like its going to be a very nice episode just from these shots. Are we sure the new EP/ED’s are next week, though? Sooner the better, I guess.. since.. technically it /will/ be the shortest running ones.

    Homuncurus
    Reply

  11. ^Erm.. totally meant to say OP*.
    On an added note, I’m gonna missh you all! There’s never gonna be a place quite like Randomc.. especially the Brotherhood ***discussions***..

    Homuncurus!
    Reply

  12. Orangere: I’m not sure you understand. If you read the “All Good Things” post I linked, I was pretty clear about the reasons I’m giving up anime blogging. There’s no maybe-I’ll-blog-every-now-and-then – I’m retiring for good. As I said in that post though, I’ll still continue watching anime, including this FMA series.

    Omni
    Reply

  15. The last time i checked , baidu was puttin up a few of them . . . But i’ve never gotten into baidu without someone giving me cent percent assistance there . . . Its not english you see . . Thats why 🙁

    Nawar
    Reply

  16. Omni, your episode reviews are always one of my must-read picks every week when it comes to FMA because you add an non-manga follower angle. Anyway, so sad to hear you’re leaving. Thanks for all your wonderful blogging!

    bluemist
    Reply

  17. Aw. Oh, well. I loved this episode 😀 And I love FMA. And I love Random Curiosity, but I’m getting kind of tired of saying that… I still do, though.

    Just keep following FMA, ’cause it’s only getting better from here.

    Acylia
    Reply

  32. I’ve been a lurker here for the past 2+ years, I don’t recall ever leaving a comment to thank you. Your site restored my interest in anime. Thanks to your blog, I’m enjoying anime again like I was when I was a kid. I hope you get a chance to read this reply, as I am truly grateful for what you have shared with me and the anime community. I wish you the best with your education and career.

    Poshi
    Reply

  34. This is probably going to be my last comment, so thank you so much for everything. Quite a few of the shows I got into was because of your blog. ^^

    That said, I have never laughed more during an action scene. Probably had to do with the Funny Bear Ice Cream truck.

    Satoida
    Reply

  35. like poshi I also have been a rather silent lurker around here 🙂 This blog has become my Sunday ritual. The subbed versions of FMA2 sometimes take a while to release so this is like a little snack to help me not be so hungry while I wait for dinner. I will miss the blog of course, but good luck to you! i hope Divine will get a chance to post. Also will we still be able to post comments on that new site? if so we could still discuss the series even w/o the awesome screen shots and maybe we could fill each other in on the details…

    Kiyoshi
    Reply

  36. Hey Omni its sad to see this site go, but I’m also happy that your life is working well and you just have to move on. The main thing I follow is FMA, and every time I watch an episode I quickly go here to see your opinion on it. :(. Maybe you could open a little blog somewhere reviewing the episodes? or in a forum? it takes away from running the site xD.

    Either way, hope everything goes well for you. I’ve been like a ghost follower since I’ve posted like only 3 times here. ^^u Your fanbase will miss you!

    Wrath1138
    Reply

  38. Another one delurking.

    I’ve really enjoyed following this blog. Especially your writings about the (relatively) new Fullmetal. It’s been fun to get the perspective of someone who hasn’t read the manga.

    I wish you good luck with your future endeavours.

    TheHabbadasher
    Reply

  41. My guess on the first thing the homunculus cyclops army would do is to kill the general that has awaken them, as is the tradition with all Frankenstein-like settings, with the monster killing its creator/master when they least expect them to.

    Thanks for blogging FMA all this far Omni, we’ll miss yer. There goes one of my avenues for commenting and discussing with others on FMA.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  42. “Lt. Ross returning without permission, sir!” Awesome.
    ‘Havoc General store at your service. Where’s my money.’ Hilarious AND Awesome.

    Even Rebecca came back and played a role. This writer doesn’t let a single charachter go to waste. I luv it.

    Omni, your work will be missed.

    hms-one
    Reply

  43. I never commented because my english sucks XD (I’m from Argentina), but now I want to thank Omni for blogging, thanks a lot for the awesome FMA summaries and screenshots that you upload every week. I will miss it…
    And good luck in this new phase! ^^

    Sneewittchen
    Reply

  45. I gotta say, this is one of my favorite episodes in a long time. The manga was basically a storyboard for this ep, as it looks identical to me.

    Also, I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the abundance of new music tracks in the last three eps, since that’s been a point of contention in the past.

    Nyasu
    Reply

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