In the thirteenth episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Al is captured by an impossible group of people. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch FMA:B.
Holy shit, that episode was SPECTACULAR.
- Y’all, I am so fascinated with Izumi. In condemning Al and Edward for their experiments with human transmutation, she’s inherently condemning herself. And that just makes everything so sad to me, y’all. I think she’s so harsh on the Elric brothers because it makes it easier for her to distance herself from what she did. My heart. My heart.
- But the expulsion the boys receive has a silver lining! Sig points out that they now can come to Izumi as equals instead of within the dynamic of a teacher-student relationship. Through this, we get to see a (briefly) kind side to her. She does want to help these boys, even if she’s sad that they disobeyed her teachings.
- I just adore Izumi a lot.
- HOW DID I NEVER REALIZE THAT AL MUST HAVE SEEN MORE OF THE “TRUTH” THAN EDWARD DID? HE GAVE UP HIS WHOLE BODY. You better believe I want to know what he saw. Bah, this show has given me so many exciting prospects for the future! Initially, I was a bit bewildered that we were being introduced to SO MANY new characters in this episode, but once I saw their connection to the story, I was quite pleased.
- That dude spying in the window had a tail. No. Nope. No, thank you.
- So, was I supposed to know who Lt. General Grumman was? I got the sense that he was an important person in Mustang’s life, but this really wasn’t explained to me well.
- I did appreciate that we got more of the plot in East City, and given the homunculous reveal, I’m intrigued more than ever about what Col. Mustang is going to find in Central City. Plus, NOW HE GETS TO BRING RIZA ALONG WITH HIM. THAT’S ALL I WANT OUT OF THIS ARRANGEMENT. Well, and answers. Mostly Riza. Then answers.
- OH MY GOD, MORE OF SCAR’S STORY. Oh gosh, y’all, his old mentor is trying to convince him to end his cycle of violence and hatred. This is such a complicated story! On the one hand, Scar has every reason to desire revenge against the state alchemists. But his mentor is also right. For every murder that Scar commits, he further guarantees that the state is going to continue lashing out at the Ishvalan people. I think the show has done a fantastic job of showing the ramifications of the Civil War by giving us images of the slum that the Ishvalan people have been left with. Meanwhile, those on the side of the state, while still struggling with problems of their own, are much better off than them.
- Who was Yoki??? I’ve not seen him before.
- I think it’s slightly unbelievable that Al would go off on his own to discover the source of a note that claimed to know his secret, but this didn’t bother me too much. It was surprising to see that Al could be kidnapped, despite not having a body, simply by someone entering his suit. Well, that’s strange, isn’t it? I never thought of that!
- Oh. His name is Greed.
- Wait.
- WAIT. IT’S ANOTHER ONE.
- Where did they come from?
- Wait, THEY ARE ALL TALKING CHIMERAS????
- HOW THE FUCK IS THAT POSSIBLE.
- GENE SPLICING????
- WHAT IS THIS SHOW BECOMING.
- THE STATE MILITARY DID THIS???????
- Okay, that has to be what Hughes found out. That has to be what Mustang is destined to find. But how does this tie in with the Philosopher’s Stone or the Ishval Civil War? Obviously, someone in the state military has been conducting experiments on people for many, many years. (Given that Greed is 200 years old, that is a ridiculously long time.) I mean, I wasn’t surprised by that revelation because there have been a ton of hints to this along the way. But why? Why would the state do this?
- I’m finally given the answer behind the existence of Greed, Envy, Gluttony, and Lust. They are homunculous. ARTIFICIALLY. CREATED. PEOPLE. Someone did it. Someone created people out of nothing.
- As if that isn’t mind-blowing enough, especially in the context of what Edward and Al are searching for, Greed demonstrates this by HAVING ROA KNOCK HIS HEAD OFF AND THEN HE REGENERATES IT BACK.
- WHAT THE FUCK!
- WHAT THE FUCK!!!
- Of course, this presents an uncomfortable opportunity to Edward and Al. Clearly, Greed knows how to create human life out of nothing. (It wasn’t clear to me if this human life contained a soul, though.) In exchange for that information, he wanted the knowledge of how to transmute a soul and bind it to a physical object. It is tempting, and I think right up to the point where Greed starts saying that Al’s predicament is “perfect,” Edward was actually considering the offer.
- However, Greed has no understanding of the experience of losing one’s entire body. Granted, Edward only lost a leg and an arm, but he knows how spiritually painful it’s been for his brother not to enjoy the things he took for granted when he was corporeal. Not needing to eat, not needing to sleep, not going to the bathroom… these are not ideal things to strive for.
- So Edward loses his temper. We’ve seen Ed’s anger issues arise in nearly every episode, but his breakdown here is frightening. I think Greed is unfortunately right when he says that Ed is going to have to control his temper in the future. It’s not his best asset all of the time, though I think he admits as much later.
- So, about that. Yeah, Greed is that thing in the opening credits who can encase himself in armor. Hahahaha. HAHAHAHAHA. HAHAHA LAUGHING TO KEEP FROM CRYING.Â
- But the great thing about this is that Edward thinks. Once he’s able to put aside his anger, he uses SCIENCE! to come up with a way of lowering Greed’s apparently “impenetrable” shield. THAT IS SO BEAUTIFUL. I LOVE SCIENCE.
- AND THEN IZUMI SHOWS UP, AND IT’S SO FUCKING AMAZING. “What are you?” “I – AM – A HOUSEWIFE!!!!” BLESS. BLESS THIS SHOW.
- I MEAN, SCREW THAT CLIFFHANGER, BUT BLESS THIS SHOW.
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