Fullmetal Alchemist, episodes 17-20 (dubs)

[kate_nepveu]

NetFlix got us the new Fullmetal Alchemist disc just nine days after it was released. I think I'm going to like having a distribution center in Albany, at least for new stuff, though for FMA it won't matter so much anymore, as we're going to get repeats on Adult Swim well before the next DVD (episode 21 is due to be re-aired on 10/12, and they're doing four old episodes a week, plus the new ones on Saturday nights. I've been taping them all, though my episode 28 recording starts in the middle of the credits, waah.).

Spoilers for episodes 17-20, obviously. Spoil me for future episodes and I will kill you with my brain.

Episode 17, "House of the Waiting Family": In which Ed and Al learn that they have a home.

Emotionally unsubtle, but important plot setup: we learn about the seal that attaches Al's soul to his armor, and Ed almost tells Al something important, that he'd been reluctant to. Armstrong was listening and comes into the room just after Ed says no and Al protests—it seemed to me almost on purpose, to derail the conversation? (More on this under episode 20.)

(The fansubs have this as Ed wanting to ask Al something, rather than tell him. As tempting as it's been, I'm glad I've been keeping the fansubs as backup reference and comparison, rather than first viewing material.)

Also, confirmation that the watch is an amplifier; and they burned their house on 3 October 10.

Hmmm, for all that this episode is unsubtle [*], it's still important: it gives them an escape hatch, or a lifeline, if they give up and find themselves with no place to go. Not that I believe for a moment that they will give up, because it's not the kind of story we're in (did the anime also reference Icarus, or was that just the manga?), but the opportunity has to be there for the choice to be meaningful.

[*] Tentative morning-brain thesis: FMA is bad at emotional subtlety, but good at emotional truth.

Chad's comment: "Winry is Kaylee."

Episode 18, "Marcoh's Notes": In which very bad news is learnt from burned books.

Human lives are the last ingredient in a Stone, huh? Or at least Marcoh thought so. And Ishbalans are thriving in colonies all over the country even after the Massacre. My very tired brain seems to want to put those together, but I can't quite figure out why.

(It also wants to connect life and miracles, and why equivalent exchange is implicitly no longer the world's one and only truth to the brothers, but that at least makes more sense.)

—I wrote that last night before deciding that I really needed to go to bed. This morning the connection seems obvious: the Ishbalans reject alchemy. I personally see alchemy as a tool rather than something with a moral value of itself, but the Stone is, as always, in a class of its own.

We-the-audience now have two theories on what it takes to make a complete Stone: (1) feeding Red Water to pregnant mothers, taking the crystalized result out of their placentas (presumably killing at least the fetus and probably the mother too), and transmuting it into a Stone (going by the fansubs for the details on this one, here); and (2) distilling mass human lives and adding them somehow to an incomplete Stone. Magwar seemed certain the first method would work, though his knowledge is suspect—as is Marcoh's, since neither have actually produced a complete Stone. I don't think anyone has, actually, at least not within history rather than myth.

Back to the library—Lust knows she's looking for a book in that library. Scar knew where to go from his nasty trick at the train station, but I don't think any of the Homunculi heard that or saw Marcoh's note. Presumably this means that Marcoh told under duress; I imagine he's dead now and the maid too, because I doubt the Homunculi leave witnesses. And Scar recognized them as Homunculi, which is our first in-show confirmation of that, and Lust didn't think anyone knew that name any more, so they're old. And Lust has already died once, so . . . the sins are like the Riders Horsemen in Bone Dance, only taking over dead bodies instead of live ones? Or do they kill the original inhabitant of the body when they move in?

(Is the Furher's secretary one of them? In Trisha Elric's body? They buried her, do they crawl out of coffins? Have I used up my quota of question marks yet?)

Lt. Ross is an initially-reluctant mother figure (to Hughes' father, though not particularly maternal); Sgt. Block has bangs too much like Ed's.

I love the way Hughes flips between serious intelligence officer and ridiculous father (of his daughter, he's not ridiculous about being a father figure to the Elrics), by the way. And Mustang might be recalled to Central? Hakuro sent him East in the first place, and his campaign in Lior is presumably over given Envy's comments somewhere in here about Lior being laid to waste . . . I wonder what kind of political manuverings we'll see in the future. (And what happened to Rose, too.)

Episode 19, "The Truth Behind Truths": In which Ed decides not to give up and the brothers investigate the Fifth Laboratory.

We get Al voiceover narration again, at the opening regarding the Stone.

Al is sneakier than I would've thought, getting Ed to appear to acquiesce to the adults while, I take it, all the time figuring that they'd both go out the window.

When Ed was making his way through the traps and the boulder came, I said to Chad, "you just knew that was coming, didn't you?" Hmm, that reminds me of something—goes back and watches—yeah, when Ed gets fed up and transmutes the traps out of the hallway, there's a red-bathed shot of a chamber (sparking wires, diagrams, a skull; refinery, anyone?), and someone with dark hair bound at wrist, thigh, and ankle lying within it. They might be wearing a uniform. There's some kind of light-colored fur behind their head, so at first glimpse I thought it had something to do with the furry-maned guard we'd just seen, maybe with the helmet knocked off, but obviously not.

Oh, I finally caught something before it was explicitly revealed! I guessed that the guards were souls bound to armor when they were first introduced—not that this was hard, granted. (And Lust gave them orders? With official or unofficial authority, I wonder? Perhaps the prisoner we briefly glimpse is supposed to be in charge and Lust + guards staged a small coup?)

Episode 20, "Soul of the Guardian": In which we meet two other suits of armor with souls inside, and Al has an existential crisis.

The teaser was all repeated scenes. This is annoying.

Aaaannnd there's Barry the Chopper. I thought we'd see him after the revelation that Ed's opponent was a serial killer.

Why the heck is Ed so slow to transmute longer weapons? Nevermind a spear, how about just a blade with more reach? (And of course souls bound to armor have such good reflexes: no nerves for impulses to travel down.)

More brothers, arrgh.

And this is why Al should've held Ed down to make him spit it out, back in episode 17. I don't actually think Al's not a person, because (1) consider the source (Al would never have believed him if it wasn't for that setup); (2) it would be an absolutely monumental, excuse my language but, fucking-over of the viewers; and (3) Ed's comments to the brothers-in-armor. But maybe Al's not all there (Ed couldn't manage to fix all of his memories by giving up his arm?), or maybe the binding degrades or only has limited memory space?

Scar saw the circled map (and what the heck was up with his arm and the papers? Marcoh knew of Ishbalan symbols, and there's that incomplete Stone in Scar's arm; did either or both somehow resonate with the code?); Ross guesses where they went and asks Armstrong to send troops: the lab is going to be very crowded in an episode or two.

* * *

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

Alive, or at least ambulatory:

• Rose;
• Lust, Gluttony, presumably Envy;
• 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);
• Winry and Auntie Pinako;
• Roy Mustang and his staff (Hawkeye, Hughes, Armstrong, Furey, Havoc, Falman); almost certainly none of his superiors, at least not from him;
• Marcoh;
• Scar;
• The Furher's secretary? Was she close enough to see Al in episode 15?;
• 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;
• possibly Lt. Ross (she overheard at least the end of a conversation where, at the start, Ed was talking about how they were going to fix their bodies), I don't think Sgt. Block;
• The Slicer(s), and Barry the Chopper.

Killed, for whatever that's worth:

• Cornello;
• Majhal;
• Shou Tucker.

Also, in the extras of the DVD is a short film called "Mr. Stain on Junk Alley," which is one of the weirdest things EVER.

Comments

We just started watching this.

[seawasp]

Seems pretty good so far. As Kathy points out, that world could easily provide fanfic crossover material for things like Indiana Jones, The Mummy, League, etc.

Re: We just started watching this.

[kate_nepveu]

For the love of proper narrative tension, if you've _just_ started watching this series, don't read this post! Not a series that you want spoilers for. You can find older posts in my memories or by the fullmetal alchemist tag.

I haven't read much fic yet, for fear of spoilers, but I know milliways_bar has at least an Ed (end of series, so haven't read any of his stuff) and a pre-series Al who is rather good.

[kate_nepveu]

Actually, the watch as amp was confirmed in ep. 3

Ed says his teacher said, he didn't have firsthand knowledge and I don't know what source of knowledge his teacher had, which is why I put it that way.

namely how much raw material he can work with

Yeah, but while it takes longer to pull a weapon out of the floor, frex, it still never seems to be his first thought. I just wonder if he had weapon issues.

As for the rest of your comments--

I don't want to sound rude, because I've really enjoyed that you're reading and commenting on these posts, and I can see that you're trying to avoid spoilers. But I've been really sensitive to spoilery things lately, and I'd like to ask that you not give explanations for stuff how-stuff-works that aren't in episodes I've seen, or hints, or even say "this will be important later," because it warps my expectations, and also because it's fun to try and see what I catch on my own.

Comments on whether I remembered stuff properly in these episodes or prior are fine. I'm sorry, I realize this probably takes a lot of the fun out of things for you, but I'd appreciate it all the same.

[kate_nepveu]

The comment being replied to has been screened because it contained what I judged to be spoilers. The comment's text has been reproduced below, with the spoilers bracketed and rot13'ed; the text may be deciphered at http://www.rot13.com/ or similar sites.

***

angelhedgie
2005-10-02 03:17 am (local)

Actually, this is one case where the fansubs got it right - Ed wants to ask Al something. [ Hasbeghangryl, ur jba'g trg uvf punapr gvyy rcvfbqr 24. (Naq jung ur jnagf gb nfx unf yvggyr gb qb jvgu jurgure Ny'f fbhy vf obaqrq be vg'f whfg n pbcl.) ]

Actually, the watch as amp was confirmed in ep. 3 (Ed mentions it when he was talking to Pinoko.) [ Ohg, vg'f bqq gung fhpu na vzcbegnag srngher frrzf gb or pbzzba xabjyrqtr... ]

Yes, the anime referenced Icarus back in episode 1.

[ Bapr lbh haqrefgnaq jung gur Cuvybfbcure'f Fgbar ERNYYL vf, lbh'yy haqrefgnaq jul uhzna yvirf ner n xrl pbzcbarag. (Nyfb, vg urycf rkcynva jul gur Ubzhaphyv ner sbzragvat jne.) Vs lbh jnag n pelcgvp pyhr, pbafvqre gung gur Cuvybfbcure'f Fgbar vf yvxr n jnyyrg, be orggre lrg, bar bs gubfr tvsg pneqf gung lbh pna trg ng fgberf...

Yhfg'f pbzzrag nobhg qlvat bapr unf n ybg gb qb jvgu ubj n ubzhaphyhf vf znqr. Bapr lbh haqrefgnaq gung, lbh'yy xabj jul fur fnvq vg.]

As for your questions regarding Ms. Douglas, I can answer them for you, but then you'd kill me, and we'd all be unhappy. Seriously, if you want some answers, let me know, and I'll tell you.

[ Npghnyyl, qvfgvyyvat erq jngre vagb n erq fgbar vf whfg gur svefg cunfr bs znxvat n Fgbar. Bapr lbh unir gur erq fgbar nf n onfr, gura lbh trg gb cresbez gur cebprff bs vashfvat vg jvgu fbhyf, fybjyl znxvat vg vagb n Fgbar.

Bu, V xabj fbzrbar jub unf znqr n erny Fgbar...

Nf sbe gur thl jvgu gur she - qba'g sbetrg uvz. Jr'yy or frrvat n ybg zber bs gung sryybj va rcvfbqrf gb pbzr... ]

Don't forget, Ed has a limit when transmuting weapons, namely how much raw material he can work with. So making longer weapons may be trickier because it requires more efficient use of his limited supply.

Remember that alchemy is a three step process:
1) Analysis
2) Decomposition
3) Reconstitution
Scar somehow knows how to stop the process at each phase, so what he did was use alchemy to analyze Ed's notes.

[rabidotter.livejournal.com]

So do you take the brain out of your head, and then bludgeon? Or do you have some sort of telepathic powers? Or do you just use it in the general sense to plan and construct a car bomb, or train wild squirrels to gnaw the offender to death, and so forth?

;)

[kate_nepveu]

I always think of it as a kind of telepathic thing, that the sheer irritation at being spoiled will leap out of my brain, lance into the offender's, and cause it to short out. Or something.

But I don't think that River knows what she means when she says it, either, and it's mostly a homage.

[greesh.livejournal.com]

don´t worry, I´m pretty good pretending not to know what´s gonna happen next in the series caus I allways watch it with someone who wasn´t jajajjaja OK:

Why Al couldent be a "Ed´s memories fron Al" or wathever? THink about this: He wasn´t a really grat alchemist at that time... He couldn´t go back his mother and lose his brother, arm, leg (and pride)... Now, I´m not saying he is a freaking selfish bastard, no way!!! he loves Al above everything, but maybe he just make a mistake or something due he wasn´t so trained to do something like bringing back his brother´s soul.... I don´t know...

Ok... sorry about my spelling, but I speak Spanish jajajaj :P

[kate_nepveu]

You have a point, but my guess is still that it's actually Al in the armor. To take my three reasons out of order:

(3) Ed thinks Al is a real person. It's possible that he doesn't *know* that he made a mistake. Of course, if Ed doesn't know he made a mistake, I don't know how anyone else is going to tell the difference between a memory-Al and a real Al.

(1) Barry the Chopper is not a trustworthy source and is clearly trying to upset Al. Okay, I *think* that he's making up the possibility that you can fix something other than a soul to armor, but I don't know that. If the possibility exists, then it _might_ be possible that Ed affixed something else by mistake.

(2) It would fuck over the viewers. This is a meta reason, but I think it's solid. We, the viewers, have invested hours in getting to know Al, worrying about him, sympathizing with him, treating him like he's a real character. If we found out now that he's not who we think, then it would be a complete betrayal of the viewers' trust. Smart creators don't betray the trust of their audience, and I think the FMA creators are very smart.

But I guess I'll find out pretty soon!

You got a point too

[greesh.livejournal.com]

but...
1.- Isn`t this serie especialized in fuck over the viewers. example: Nina... I used to love her and she died... kind of killed by her father (who killed her mother, by the way) Ok, she only was by 2 chapters, but it was a big crying concert here (we watch it all in a anime cicle, I don´t know if you do it there, is cool!) Everyone come out with blurry eyes and the spirit by the ground after Nina died.
2.-Maybe nobody close to Al can tell him he is not human or could you? he is so cute, I, personally, could´n hurt him like that...
3.-You´r right, Barry the chopper? what a hell can he know about it???
by the way I really want to a human Al, I don´t believe that Ed could be so selfisht, you know, is His brother!!! but, like angelhedgie sayd, Ed wanted to ask something to Al in rizebul, but he didn´t do it cause "sparky" interrupt them... What about that? I only say that isn´t that ilogic (for absourd it sounds coming from the chopper) believe that Al could be not human... In fact maybe he believed too, before of that fight, wouldn´t you? you are an armor!! you can´t eat, can´t feel, can´t cry... That must fuck you in the mind is´n it?
Poor Al...

I love the Elric brothers!!!! T_T

Greesh

Re: You got a point too

[kate_nepveu]

You're right, Nina was awful, but that's in a different class, to me.

It's part of the deal with the viewers that awful things might happen--we knew that from the start, at the beginning of the very first episode when we saw the failed resurrection attempt. And it's also expected that *minor* characters might turn out to be other than we think. But Ed and Al are the emotional foundation of the series--they're the reason why we watch. More, Al is the _moral_ center of the series. And like you said, poor Al: restoring his body is the most important part of the quest--so if that's not Al's soul in the armor, then you lose both the plot *and* the emotional connection to the series.

All that said, this is just my opinion--I'm not saying that I *know* what's going on, certainly, and I can't wait to see the next episodes!