We all knew it was coming, but alas it still brings a tear to the eyes.

I never really understood why he had such redundant titles. Is this something the author did on purpose to make a point or did she not really understand the words? Regardless, it does kind of ruin the suspense when you know that despite his helpful demeanor when it came to the topic of conversation, he’s really an antagonist.

One of the best characters in the show, that’s who

Oh man, such a line is almost never uttered in shounen action shows. And by almost I mean every single show. At least the “training arc” from the first series was sufficiently grimdark, here’s hoping that despite the significant story alterations they can at least make it not seem like Naruto.

T_T

Guh

Well, Hughes lasted less than half as long in this series as the first one, as they scoot along quickly to get to the new material. From what I hear the plot should soon start to move in a more significantly different direction then the first series to follow the manga storyline. That being said we will all miss Hughes, he was awesome. RIP.

Personally, I much prefer sad girls in snow to a sad boy in armor. Emo+lack of fighting=boring episode when you’ve already seen the melodrama before. I like that there was a lot of Winry, but other than that the episode was pretty forgettable. It was one of those inbetweener episodes after something exciting happened and before something else exciting/imporant is supposed to happen (Huuuuuuuughes!). At least the gags and humor parts didn’t seem too wildly out of place in the first 2/3 of the episode since the overall tone was more lighthearted. And for the love of god, could they stop with those really awful “Fullmetal Alchemist!” Engrish voice overs in the splash screens.

I haven’t dropped it yet! Two weeks ago I was out of town for a few days, and last weekend I was studying for finals (plus the episode was dull) so I skipped them. I’ve also started work on the summer anime preview, so there’s always that to anticipate sometime soon.

I was rather looking forward to this episode, as I remember that the fights with these guys were particularly entertaining the first time around. I was generally pleased with how they treated it this time, albeit with a few too many speedlines for my tastes. Although Slicer the Homicide is an awfully stupid sounding name.

This guy’s story reminded me of Johnny Depp’s character in Sweeny Todd who was a barber who kills people sitting on his trap barber’s chair with his shaving knife. The dead are then dropped down and turned into meat pies in the basement. Not exactly the same, but that’s just went through my disturbed mind (Mr. Todd was certainly scarier, he sung).

Oh man, the awkward gags again…

That looked painful

The “am I a doll” storyline is necessary for character development I know, but I still don’t particularly like it. Less emo, more fightan~!

Now Kimbley, he’s one crazy ass freak too. Plus, Hiroyuki Yoshino (Allelujah, Gundam 00) does a great crazy guy voice. I always found that turning stuff into bombs was a rediculously awesome alchemy power, one of my favorites in the show by far. And, I think this show has a rather high ratio of mentally unstable individuals making up its cast of characters. Keeps it interesting, but often creeps you out.

Well this week’s FMA was certainly less exciting then I thought it was going to be. I was expecting more of a fight and less chatting and feeling sorry for yourself. At least next week we get to see Winry all grown-up. Mmmmmm, blondes.

That is one fucked up dream.

Ah, religious fanatics. Fucking nuts, all of em. Whether it is intentional or not (leaning toward yes considering the desert settings and other themes), the series does provide a running commentary on religious fanatics. It’s something that everyone who lives in today’s world should be knowledgeable about. Whether it’s far out Christians or far out Muslims, there’s a lot of issues out there to solve.

Well…he kind of got his dome punctured and was eaten by Gluttony if I recall correctly. And by the way, Envy’s androgyny always crept me out. He’s definitely not a delicious trap like Mariya, which is rather unfortunate because this show would be more enjoyable with Mariya in it.

Even MORE crazy religious nuts!

Oh, harsh words baby. He’s just a little gun shy when it’s wet out there. He really wants to do it, I swear!

Maybe that’s because you shouted out a warning right before you punched him.

While Scar’s fight with Ed and Al was rather one-sided, I was rather entertained (for the short while it lasted) by Armstrong’s battle with him. Made up somewhat for the majority of the episode where everyone was talking with their hands in front of their mouth or by a panning away to save on animation budget.

To me it always looked more like someone stuck an X-shaped branding iron into his face than having a scar.

Crusader’s Ministry of Propaganda

So it was time for ultimate X-Men fan Scar to really show his worthy and while I agree that it could have used more action I enjoyed most of it mostly due to Armstrong’s martial prowess. Watching that fight reminded me a little bit of Punch Out, but that is another issue entirely. I suppose having Ishbal now might make it a little more poignant though as always killing them and sending the souls of fanatics to meet a real God like Zeus/Mazinger Z is all you can really do for them. Really you’d follow a God named Leto who isn’t a Sandworm and who doesn’t make the spice flow? Some people are just plain stupid. While there was a lot of talk it was still amusing to hear Lust talk with Kikoku Inoue’s evil voice, I am still not used to hearing Envy as I am expecting to hear Patrick asking for a new mobile suit or something. Still the second best thing this time was Hawkeye saving Mustang’s bacon from Scar, impotent Roy is impotent. I think they could have used a bit more Hughes but another time perhaps. I am glad that they didn’t get too weepy as Scar crashed the second one and Alphonse would have none of it when Ed was batting for three.

Well we all knew it was coming, but it seemed to creep up on us pretty fast. The first truly fucked up part of FMA. Regardless, they did a pretty good job presenting it, and it sets the stage for a lot of later development.

Hasta la vista, baby

The bald head and handlebar mustache is a bit cliche, don’t you think?

Some pretty slick powers nonetheless

Shou’s got the great creepy voice and closeups going on early in the episode. Even if I didn’t already know what was going to happen I’d have felt something wasn’t quite right. Although I’ve always found that the whiting-out of glasses to be an awfully lame and cliche way of showing nefarious intent.

Oh fuck =(

One of the more fascinating parts of watching FMA is Ed’s struggle to mete out justice and morality despite what he did to try to resurrect his mother. Looking at it objectively what he did was pretty horrible, and I remember him often being confronted by those who committed significant sins of their own and his trouble reconciling it all.

Well already they’ve seemingly changed from the original series. I recall that in the first adaptation just Nina-Alexander was killed by Scar, not Tucker. Eventually Tucker came back and was important at the very end, but that was presumably an anime-only thing. I suppose I’ll assume for now that he’s pretty much dead, considering what Scar just did to him.

So far they have not shied away from blood and violence, which is kind of surprising since it airs at 5pm. Fine with me though, I prefer the additional realism. I guess they are going to just skip over the entrance exam portions they went through in the first series, which I’m okay with. I’m happy at the pace they are going, and am looking forward to more action next week as Ed and Al battle it out with Scar.

Crusader’s Ministry of Propaganda

Man after all this time this part still really gets to me, its not that it was bad by any means but rather it’s so depressing. Tucker was off his rocker and by the end he was only looking out for himself since the family he kept out of poverty was utterly destroyed anyway. Knowing what was going to happen did not make it any easier for me; it was kind of like watching Nina and Alexander go to the chopping block. I just made me sick inside just thinking about it. At the very least though Scar is as every bit dangerous as I remember it seems. Still as technically great an episode as it was it made me sad, had to loop the Shin Mazinger Z OP a couple times and watch the most recent episode to get the spirits back up. In a way I guess it was one of those moments that never quite lost its power. Pacing is alright with me, delaying this wouldn’t have made it any more enjoyable so at least it is behind us now. I really don’t have the words to describe how this episode really got to me, still FMA is a great series and I suppose that even this episode helps prove it if in a way that makes the audience a bit depressed. For once I could have used some Armstrong antics, but I think it really stuck because it didn’t do that.

I apologize for skipping over episode 2, but with the traveling and illness I suffered last week it couldn’t be helped. It was mostly material from the first series anyways, although I thought they did a really good job of explaining what happened in the past in a quick, yet quite clear manner.

Ah, the often cited and shopped pimp pose. Looking good there Ed.

I’m not a particularly big fan of the split shots they a couple of times this episode, as I usually find it distracting. Also, I think this is the point where I was giggling along when Ed mocks religion. The symbolism and religious themes in FMA are pretty thick (seven deadly sins and other rather obvious references), but I always found the commentary on the relationship between science and religion to be fascinating. I also dug the Icarus references.

Alright, why are they trying to make this show into some gag-suspense hybrid? I find all of the SD gag scenes to be jarring and really detract from enjoyment of the serious side of the show. A joke here and then is fine, but they interrupted several serious moments this episode to do a stupid joke about Ed’s height or which one is the real Fullmetal Alchemist for the upteenth time.

They certainly made her a lot more of a crazed religious fanatic then I remember her. It’s sad, but there are millions of people like her in this world.

Again with this crap…

Definitely a badass way to annihilate a Juggernaut wannabe.

I enjoyed all of the action this week, and some of the philosophical and religious musings, but I really could do without the stupid gags in the middle of fights and other serious moments. They went through this arc pretty fast from what I remember in the first series, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It didn’t feel rushed, and this way they will be able to get to some more material that we didn’t see in the previous adaptation.