Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Forum

We’ve got a new intro and outro,  so I suppose this is a new season, but  there isn't as pronounced  a marker in the plot as there was for the last one. Deciphering the clues, it looks like the Alchemical Kids are going to get a huge posse (which they really already have if the beast men are joining them,) the Xingese are just going to wreck Envy and, well, do their best against Selim, and Al’s going to get a a creepy all-hands, touchy-feely renuinon with his body.  

Oh, and apparently they’re going to spend a LOT of time down in the tunnels.

Touchy-feely is something I’m fearing, actually.  While I was leery of seeing the troops execute the beast men (and it does make sense that Al would appeal to their mutual predicament) all that talk of loved ones was getting a wee too SPIDER-MAN THE ANIMATED SERIES for me. Man, every villain in the show ended up only being evil because they were having some tiff with their wife or their girlfriend, and all Spidey needed to do was patch up their relationship like he was Dr. Love. Blarg.

Anyway, Winry continues to be assertive without being a killer. She's got a valid point that she needs to be taking some risks for her own life, as well. I feel like I need to be playing that Ne-Yo song about "Ms. Indepedent."   

I guess Scar’s further on the path to redemption with this reveal, this super-long flashback. I suppose I had him pegged all wrong in that cliffhanger last episode. This show has been really smart about arranging the order of plot to exploit the most tension. Get all the planning and discussions out of the way in the first half, then use the second half for all the dramatic stuff like the (gasp!) withdrawl of General Armstrong from Briggs and Al’s visions of his ghostly, emaciated body.

Once again, the sub uses some phraseoly that would’ve sounded incredibly awkward if it were spoken aloud by a dub cast. I know what "wonton" means. I rarely hear it said outside of a Chinese restaurant, but I have never heard its adverb form used like this, especially by a young gearhead/grease monkey who’s in the emotional throes of forgiving her parents’ killer.

Watch this episode, “Daydream”,” below and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.     

  

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of  HYBRID BASTARDS!  &  UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon   here  &   here .  Follow him on Twitter:  @tompinchuk

     The one thing I dislike about the openers of both the original FMA and Brotherhood is that they feature these brilliant battles that just never happen in the actual series. Case in point, the Xingese never fight Envy, as awesome as that would be.  
     That being said, this opener is my favorite of this series.  I love the song, and the fast and furious action. My favorite moment though, is when Winry and May appear before Ed and Al, and then the empty landscape begins to fill with all their friends and allies. I found that to be really moving. So much of the first series seemed to be Ed and Al alone against the world. It offers a poignant reminder of both the countless lives they've touched in their journey, and all the people who still stand with them against Father and his machinations.  

The chimera dudes were never evil, they were just normal soldiers, so them having family/friends isn't really a stretch.  It actually really sucks because they mention the military announcing their deaths publicly.  They just figured there was only two options for them after being caught, killed by Miles or killed by Kimblee.  I think most people would take any offer that gives them another chance.
 
Also, Miles is still awesome, and Kimblee is still crazy.  And the next episode is going to answer Tom's questions about Hohenheim that he had a few episodes back.

@Fanboy said:

"      The one thing I dislike about the openers of both the original FMA and Brotherhood is that they feature these brilliant battles that just never happen in the actual series. Case in point, the Xingese never fight Envy, as awesome as that would be.                       "

Damn it! Suckered again!

"My favorite moment though, is when Winry and May appear before Ed and Al, and then the empty landscape begins to fill with all their friends and allies. I found that to be really moving. So much of the first series seemed to be Ed and Al alone against the world. It offers a poignant reminder of both the countless lives they've touched in their journey, and all the people who still stand with them against Father and his machinations.   "

That is a much more elegant way to put it then I would've. I just thought they ran out time to feature everybody, so they just threw them all into one shot.

@rubberluffy said:

The chimera dudes were never evil, they were just normal soldiers, so them having family/friends isn't really a stretch.  It actually really sucks because they mention the military announcing their deaths publicly.  They just figured there was only two options for them after being caught, killed by Miles or killed by Kimblee.  

Yeah, I sympathized with the motivations,  I just thought Al's style of rhetoric was just so... earnest, as to undercut the great edge the scene.@rubberluffy said:

And the next episode is going to answer Tom's questions about Hohenheim that he had a few episodes back. 

Man, it'd just be WILD if they turned to me and said, "Now, to answer your question, Tom."

@ninjadude853 said:

" I haven't seen this far into the anime, but I have read all of the manga, and the whole thing you just saw with scar was... It may have been the first genuine cliffhanger I got off FMA online.

How faithful has this been to the manga. Isn't it supposed stick to closer than the first show? But I'm hearing there are still differences.

@Winrydoppleganger1 said: @Winrydoppleganger1 said:

 I like how you can tell that it's close to a closing. People are becoming suspicious, a plan is about to be taken out, tragedy is about to strike Amestris, can't u feel it!!!

I can feel it!!!

I had finished the series a couple weeks ago (a friend of mine had the entire japanese series with english sub sent straight from japan) and thought it was riveting. 

Are they all done with sub, or has is being done in chunks and thus, still in progress? Is that why it hasn't come to America all at once?

@Tom_Pinchuk said:

" @ninjadude853 said:

" I haven't seen this far into the anime, but I have read all of the manga, and the whole thing you just saw with scar was... It may have been the first genuine cliffhanger I got off FMA online.

How faithful has this been to the manga. Isn't it supposed stick to closer than the first show? But I'm hearing there are still differences. "

It has been pretty faithful.  A few missteps here or there, but you can't expect everything to be perfect.    There are no major plot changes, just some things from the manga that clarify things a  little better were omitted, but nothing that would leave you completely confused.