Fullmetal Alchemist, episodes 33-35 (dubs)

[kate_nepveu]

A good place to leave the series for a week or so. Spoilers for episodes 33-35 behind the cut; spoil me for future episodes and I will send a vengeful ghost to go "BLEAAAHHHH!" at you.

Episode 33, "Al, Captured": In which Al is, well, captured.

Lyra (what's-her-face from Youswell) is not dead after all, okay.

Izumi doesn't trust her teacher, very interesting. Considering that Dante has A GREAT BIG RED STONE, I'm guessing that Dante decided in favor of going after the Philosopher's Stone and Izumi decided against. Does Dante want or intend to "put an end to all this fighting"?

Greed wants eternal life and thinks Al can help. That's interesting. And his real form is creepy.

There was really intrusive music over Greed and Ed's faceoff. And Ed's never killed anyone? Are we not counting Majhal in episode 4? I guess they mean with intent.

Episode 34, "Theory of Avarice": In which Ed kills Greed.

Military bits: Archer + Tucker + Kimblee = oh so very bad. Armstrong only wants them to give up Al, that's interesting. Poor Armstrong, he's really in a bad situation during these episodes.

The "person pulling the strings" has given them the means to end Greed—and the plan was for him to go to Dante's, where those means are. Greed tells Al he could've fled, Al says "That's not what I'm worried about now"; is he worried about Greed, who really does inspire loyalty oddly, doesn't he?

So the presence of the bones of the attempted-resurrectee weaken a Homunculus (that would be the skull in his prison), and that array (points at icon) makes him vomit up Stones—"That's my life!" And the creepy old guy in the Ishbalan camp told Scar there were lives in his arm—so Stones are like extra lives in a video game, and getting your head smashed off just uses up one of those lives. And Dante's body is on the floor, and Lyra shouldn't know how to do that array or have his remains—apparently Lyra is working with Lust et al. (the H-team, I'm calling them (see roundups below)). Greed seems to recognize Lyra as she left—as Pride? Something else? (I am reminded that when we first met Lyra again, she said that their encounter at Youswell made her realize she needed to be stronger—not better, but stronger.)

Greed specifically taunts Ed into killing him so he could have a good death (my interpretation) and also to tell him how to beat the other Homunculi: "they pull the strings, now cut them. I'm counting on you." This was more emotional than I expected, actually. (Except that he doesn't tell him about the array or Stones. By my interpretation of what we saw, the presence of remains is necessary but not sufficient. Hmm.)

I didn't catch that the bag was Greed's skull, btw, Chad got it. And the brothers are going to have to dig up Mom, won't that be fun!

Episode 35, "Reunion of the Fallen": In which Lust has memory flashes.

The H-team knows that Greed's dead. Envy: "You-know-who will just replace us." Me: "What, Voldemort?" Sloth is taking care of Wrath.

The brothers are heading for the Ishbal camp (what will they find there, considering the way we left it?); there's a really brief flash of Scar with some kind of pendant in his hand.

Okay, to summarize the main plot: the H-team spreads a ridiculous plague so that Lust can encourage a doctor, Lujon (sp?), to use alchemy; she gives him a fake Stone which temporarily cures people, and when that fails eventually, as it must, he'll seek the true Stone. Lujon falls for Lust, Lust has memory-flashes of the person whose form she has, and eventually Lujon reminds her of Scar's brother a little too strongly and she kills him. This girl with a really really annoying voice also loves Lujon, finds him dead, and lies down and dies at his side.

There's also a nice echo of the birds in the first two episodes.

A less-jarring way to wrap up this arc than episode 26, that's for sure.

* * *

Roundups (wow, I'm such a dork):

The list of people who know or knew about the brothers' human transmutation:

• Rose;
• All the Homunculi but Pride, since Pride hasn't been revealed yet;
• did the people of Lior understand about the empty armor? I don't think so, but there's a slight possibility that "most of Lior" should be on this list (what's left of it);
• Cornello;
• Majhal;
• Shou Tucker;
• Winry and Auntie Pinako;
• Marcoh;
• Scar;
• The ex-soldier without a leg in episode 16, who Ed tells about trying to restore his arm and leg and his brother's body;
• The Slicer(s), and Barry the Chopper;
• All the prisoners in Lab 5;
• Izumi Curtis and her husband;
• the chimeras with Greed in episode 30+; and
• Kimblee.
• In the military:
  • Roy Mustang;
  • Riza Hawkeye;
  • Maes Hughes;
  • Alex Louis Armstrong;
  • Kain Furey;
  • Heymans Breda;
  • Jean Havoc;
  • Vato Falman;
  • Maria Ross;
  • Denny Brosh;
  • Lt. Col. Archer.

The Homunculi:

Name	Creator	When created	Power	Faction	Notes
Lust	Scar's brother (attempt: his lover)	(First) Ishbal Rebellion, ~1908?	pointy fingernails	the first-seen Homunculi team (Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth), working for an unseen person	stated goal: acquire the Philosopher's Stone so that the H. can become human
Gluttony	?	?	eats through metal, tracks by taste	the H-team	mostly works with Lust
Envy	?	100s of years ago?	shape-shifts	the H-team	loathes Papa Elric
Sloth	Elric brothers (attempt: their mother)	1910	manipulates own body as water and vapor	the H-team	masquerading as Juliette Douglas
Greed (1)	Dante (attempt: ?)	pre-1770s (130-140 years in prison)	the Ultimate Shield (carbon)	himself	imprisoned by the H-faction; stated goal: eternal life; killed by Ed in episode 34
Greed (2)	speculation based on episode 35 comments that H. will just be replaced
Wrath	Izumi (attempt: her unborn child)	~1906? (before 1910, appears a pre-teen in 1915)	can do alchemy because of Ed's limbs; H.-specific power?	the H-team? Sloth is "taking care of"	survived on own because of alchemy unlike other H., per Envy
Pride	?	?	?	?	?

Comments

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

Here is a thing I am wondering about: the H-team (nice appellation!) want a Philosopher's Stone, and their M.O. is to manipulate alchemists into trying to produce one (Ep. 35), because homunculi cannot (in general) do alchemy themselves. But Wrath can do alchemy, so why don't they just get him to make the Stone?

Did I miss an explanation in some episode or other? Is it a plot hole? Is it just that Wrath isn't a good enough alchemist? (I am watching the show on Cartoon Network, so I have not seen much beyond the episodes discussed above. If you spoil me for future episodes, I will kill you with Kate's brain.)

[kate_nepveu]

* Lab 5 was the product of a lot of work—maybe it'll take time for them to get that back in place so Wrath can attempt it, and also to teach Wrath. (They didn't know about Wrath & his abilities until Envy found him in episode 30-whatever, after all, and why not keep plots running in the meanwhile.)

* Maybe Lust is lying. This thing about someone else pulling strings behind them is interesting--and it has to be an *alchemist* behind them, since whoever-it-is can make *more* Homunculi. Why can't the alchemist behind them just do it?

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that something else is going on.

[orzelc.livejournal.com]

* Maybe Lust is lying. This thing about someone else pulling strings behind them is interesting--and it has to be an *alchemist* behind them, since whoever-it-is can make *more* Homunculi. Why can't the alchemist behind them just do it?

Given how Homunculi are produced, I don't think that whoever is behind them can personally make more homunculi (equivalent exchange). I think whoever's behind them can cause more Homunculi to be made, by tricking alchemists into attempting human transmutation, but I don't know that they can do it themselves without suffering personal harm.

If they're not actually making more Homunculi directly, that person wouldn't necessarily need to be an alchemist.

[kate_nepveu]

I dunno—I might be reading too much into Envy's comments, but tricking alchemists into performing human transmutation seems a lengthy and chancy way compared to that comment. But, I presume we'll see.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

It seems that Wrath has a peculiarly specific ability to work alchemy, which is that he can transmute something + his own body into a new modified part of his own body -- eg, becoming entangled in the bed at Izumi's house, and I think there's a couple examples in subsequent episodes of him giving himself a stone or otherwise modified arm to fight with?

Wrath doesn't seem to be able to transmute things other than his own body into other things not his body, the way Ed and Al often do (examples other than Ed making a blade of his automail arm). I'm guessing that's why he can't do the particular kind of alchemy required for the Philospher's Stone.

[kate_nepveu]

I do recall him modifying his arm; I think you're right about a limited ability shown, though it's possible that with training he might be able to do more. Again, I guess we'll see!

[angelhedgie.livejournal.com]

Well, we now know some things about Homunculi and their weaknesses:

*Homunculi are fueled by proto-Stone, and maintain a supply of it within them. The proto-Stone fuels many of their abilites, most notably their inhuman constitution. Ergo, if you can deplete that stock, it's easy to kill one.

*When a homunculus is created, it acquires somehow fragments of memory from the person that was to have been ressurected. These fragments can be used as a weapon, as they and the emotions they engender tend to confuse the inhuman Homunculi. Needless to say, the Homunculi don't like that.

*And, as was stated, the presence of the remains of the original person paralyzes Homunculi. Which means Wrath is even more dangerous, because there are no remains left to use.

[kate_nepveu]

Well, as for #2, all we really know so far is that _Lust_ has memory fragments.

You're right WRT #3, now that I think about it--Izumi handed those remains back through the Gate.

I wonder what, in thematic/magical/alchemical logic, leads to #3? I should think about this some more.

[angelhedgie.livejournal.com]

Actually, Izumi used the corpse of her child as the raw material for the transmutation. She then handed the created homunculus through the Gate.

OT, considering that you seem to enjoy classic literature, you may want to add Gankutsuou: The Count Of Monte Cristo to your Netflix queue. It's an adaptation of the novel that has some very interesting design.

[kate_nepveu]

Is the thing that was created the same as the Homunculus? She thought so, but I thought it was something like what Ed and Al created, something that could never, err, continue to be animate, on its own.

I read _Count of Monte Cristo_ when I was really too young to follow it, but have somewhat fond memories of it all the same. I may re-read that next time I need a really long book to read chapter-by-chapter at night. =>

[angelhedgie.livejournal.com]

That's the way it seemed to me from what we saw of the transmutation, but it's not all that clear.

As for Gankutsuou, I was referring to a recent anime series that's just getting released here - I think you'd enjoy it.