FMA S1 Episodes 7-8

26 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment

by Jonathan Thompson in Anime, The Full Metal Alchemist Tags: , , , ,

Episode 7: “Night of the Chimera’s Cry”
Episode 8: “The Philosopher’s Stone”

Wow, watching these two episodes was how I started off my birthday, and what an intense way to start!

Ed has passed the Alchemy Exam, and he is now officially a State Alchemist. Such a prestigious achievement seems less so, due to the nonchalance with which Mustang gives Ed his silver pocket watch. This shows that sometimes the goals pursued feel anticlimactic once obtained.

The former episode deals with a mystery involving Tucker, the alchemist at whose house the brothers have been living. Two years ago, he created a talking Chimera, which won him acclaim and ensured his status as a State Alchemist. Now, his next Assessment is looming, and he is pressured to create something as epic — or else, he loses the grand life he’s grown accustomed to.

The way the artists drew and shot Tucker is peculiar in this episode. Tucker’s glasses are very important in this episode. In different angles, reflective light shields the viewer from seeing his eyes, making the current feelings he experiences unknown. When different people say different things, one cannot tell whether Tucker is nervous, happy, sad, angry, etc.  His glasses, an object which usually enhances one’s sight, is now an object shielding insight. It isn’t until Tucker has lost all sense of morality that one can peer through his glasses to see the madness running rampant.

Regarding the plot itself, this episode is devastating. The past few episodes have introduced and depicted Nina as a darling little girl, full of curiosity and goodness. They have also shown Tucker as a kind father, who says at one point how he hopes he has the ability to raise her well. How did a man who cares for his daughter go from loving her to using her to get ahead in his career? After Ed and Al have found him, Tucker says that it  is human nature to exert one’s power just because he can. Again, the antagonist tries to group Ed and his past into the current situation, but Ed’s past with his mother never was to show the world that he could do human transmutation, it was to save her life — a clear difference between the disillusioned Tucker and the noble Ed.

Hearing Nina speak through such a terrible visage is certainly heartbreaking. Ed desperately wants to mend the situation, but Tucker’s assertion that Ed could wreck Nina just as he wrecked his mother years ago rings true in his ears. Ed is then shocked to see the military covering up the whole situation instead of obtaining justice — what kind of organization is he now a part of?

The end of the episode is even more heartbreaking. Nina, in chimera-form, runs away and finds herself with this man introduced earlier in the episode, with a heavily tattooed arm. He lays his hand on Nina and somehow knows that she has been created from one part human and the other part beast. He has a contempt for alchemy, and he whispers a prayer and “gives peace” to Nina — by ending her life. This unknown man is interesting, because it introduces another set of brothers to this show: an absent brother, and the brother pictured with the tattooed arm.

The latter episode is also moving. The brothers now have to deal with the aftermath of the Tucker debacle by organizing all of his research, now that he has been executed. Ed has a very hard time doing so; he feels that he has failed Nina.

This episode formally introduces the Philosopher’s Stone, which was mentioned in the first episodes of the series. Al thinks that the Stone could help the brothers restore their bodies.

A serial killer is on the loose, and he has been killing women by dicing their bodies. When Winry comes to visit Ed, she, of course, becomes the attacker’s next victim. Ed goes off to save her but is apprehended by the killer. Once awake, Ed finds that the killer’s taken his metal arm off, to prevent him from performing any alchemy. The killer is a deranged man, who genuinely likes killing. He argues that killing is human nature, and that once society endorses the idea (ie. war), humans quickly embrace the killer inside. Ed cleverly gets out of his binds and tries to keep away from the maniac so he can reattach his arm. The action leads to Ed transforming his arm into a spear, which he almost used to impale the killer, but Al arrived in the nick of time and stopped him. While it would have been entirely different circumstances, Ed almost fell into the killing mindset, but he was saved by Al.

Ed expresses that he was terrified of being killed; he was at the mercy of the killer, which was a devastating feeling. Al then expresses that, without his body, he can’t have experienced or known what Ed went through, and hopes that the two of them can look for the Philospher’s Stone to correct their past wrongs. Ed, at that moment, truly appreciates the partnership with his brother, and they decide to stick together on their mission.

 

FMA S1 Episodes 5-6

08 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment

by Jonathan Thompson in Anime, The Full Metal Alchemist Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Quotes of the Episodes:

Mustang: “You can call me Roy Mustang. Or just Lieutenant Colonel.  Hell, you can call me the Flame Alchemist. Whatever you do, remember the pain.”

State Alchemist: “So tell me why you want to be an alchemist for our military.”
Ed: “Because I made a promise, to the only family I’ve got. I told him I’d become an alchemist in service to the state, take all the good and bad that comes with it.”

Episode 5: “The Man with the Metal Arm”
Episode 6: “The Alchemy Exam”

These two episodes lead up to Ed’s taking of the Alchemy Exam. The 5th episode serves as a test for Ed, to see how gutsy, creative, and proactive he is in a tricky situation. The 6th shows Ed’s preparation for the exam.

The advantage that Anime shows (and other animated shows) have over live-action shows is that the artists can create exactly what they want in a shot. Not to say that it’s superior to live-action shows because of this, and not to say that live-action shows are superior in that they put in more work to get the same result — Animes have the means to fully realize every image imagined. Many shots in “The Man with the Metal Arm” were particularly unique and affective. For example, there were some shots of Al, meant to be POV (point of view) shots of the terrorists that confronted him. These POV shots made him look huge, malicious, and terrifying. These shots were extremely affective, because the following shots had Al trying to convince the terrorists not to shoot him, for their own safety — speaking in his sweet and innocent voice.

In “The Man with the Metal Arm”, Ed confronts a terrorist leader who also has a metal arm. The terrorist talks briefly about his life, describing his acceptance as a State Alchemist, how he was laid off after he uploaded his arm, and how bitter he felt towards the State after that — he claims that a queen bee doesn’t want a worker with a sting she can’t control. This man symbolizes a possible future for Ed. Ed could become a State Alchemist and then become corrupted by his immense power, but after listening to all that the terrorist has to say, Ed smashes the terrorist’s metal arm, secure in his good intentions to reverse the tragedies inflicted on his and Al’s bodies.

Even after the entire situation on the train, the terrorist tries to attack Lieutenant Colonel Mustang (Travis Willingham) — and what proceeds is very important. Up to this point, not much is known about Mustang. He seems to want to help Ed, but that’s about it. Though, when the terrorist attacks him, Mustang fights back by igniting his skin on fire. He claims that he controlled himself and that the damage done to the skin is not nearly as bad as how it feels. With that, he gives the terrorist a threat, to remember the pain — so he doesn’t ever mess with Mustang again. With this scene, Ed realizes that Mustang is quite the alchemist himself.

A lot is packed into “The Alchemy Exam”. The brothers live with an alchemist named Shou Tucker (Chuck Huber) and his daughter, Nina (Brina Palencia). Ed is overwhelmed by how many books Shou has on Alchemy and studies hard. At this point, Ed and Al both wish to take the Alchemy exam. After actually taking the exam, a scene with Mustang shows how he only expected Ed to pass the exam — what to do with Al? The brothers and Mustang have a conversation in an alleyway, a sketchy place for such a serious conversation. Because Al is a soul attached to a suit of armor and no body, he has to relinquish his desire to continue forward, or else his secret will be revealed. From that point on, Ed takes the reigns and bears the responsibility to become a State Alchemist and fix himself and Al.

While all that is going on, some character development is also occuring. Major Hughes (Sonny Strait), introduced in the previous episode, comes by to check on the brothers — and to throw Ed a birthday party. He takes the brothers and Nina to his house, and they enjoy a birthday meal with him and his wife, Gracia (Lauren Goode). My favorite part of this episode is a montage of still shots, used to show the goings-on of the birthday party, accompanied by a lush string orchestra. The shots show Ed blowing out the candles, a picture of a baffled Ed with Hughes and Al smiling (someone must have cracked a joke), Ed and Nina happily eating a lot of chicken, and Nina eating a slice of cake. This series of still shots is very affective, because it gives a scrapbook feel of what happened during the celebration. This content feeling is, of course, ruined when Gracia goes into labor, and the three children have to try to help her. Through this process, Ed uses alchemy to heat up water without a transmutation circle — which is considered impossible. He then repeats it during his alchemy demonstration, causing the instructors to immediately accept him as a State Alchemist.

These two episodes have a lot of interesting character development. They also continue to have a previously discussed mark of a great journey. When the brothers neutralize the terrorists aboard the train and deliver the passengers to safety, the little girl they spoke with at the beginning of the episode expressed her gratitude to the two boys, her older brothers. Affecting this girl’s life, and Nina’s in the following episode, shows how life is just as much about the journey as it is about the goal.

FMA S1 Episodes 3-4

31 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment

by Jonathan Thompson in Anime, The Full Metal Alchemist Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Quote of the Episodes:

Majihal: “Are you telling me this wrinkled old woman is Karin? Karin was a woman of incomparable beauty and perfection…just like a rose.”
Ed: “Exactly like a rose. Flowers whither, Majihal, but despite all you’ve become, Karin’s feelings for you have not.”

Episode 3: Mother
Episode 4: Forger’s Love

These two episodes were just as interesting and moving as the first two. “Mother” starts chronologically after the 2nd episode, but then they find a beginner alchemy book and go back in time to remember how the brothers began studying alchemy. The brothers, at ages 5 and 6, discovered their father’s alchemy book and were able to understand its contents. Their first attempt at alchemy was to create a doll for their friend, Winry (Cailtin Glass). Their alchemy was a success, but the process terrified the little girl. Once their mother found out, she was extremely proud of her sons that they had the same gift their father had.

The brothers’ alchemic gift is a gift and a curse for their mother (Lydia Mackay). She is incredibly proud that the sons are smart enough and talented enough to perform alchemy so well, but it reminds her of their father. This show has established a giant mystery regarding their father. As of now, all that is known about him is that he was a great alchemist who has disappeared from their lives for some reason. Maybe their mother knows, but the brothers do not. After their mother’s death, the boys realize that the reason she smiled whenever they performed alchemy was because it reminded her of their father. Ed is very antagonistic towards his father because of how he makes his mom sad every time she thinks of him, but Al still has hope that he may come back — and that he isn’t a jerk who just left the family.

This episode shows how, after their mother’s death, the boys were so distraught to lose her and how they decided to attempt human transmutation to bring her back. The procedure goes terribly wrong and Ed loses a leg. Then the alchemy tries to take Al, and Ed manages to stick his soul to a suit of armor in the corner, sacrificing his arm in the process. This scene is also very graphic because they indirectly show the result of their experiment, their mother not entirely human, which probably haunts their nightmares from time to time.

After this failure, Ed decides to become a State Alchemist so that he can learn as much about alchemy as possible in order to change Al and himself back to normal. That becomes their new mission — not to bring their mother back.

“Forger’s Love” shows a tangent to their main mission. The mark of a great journey isn’t the overall arc, but the stops made and lessons learned along the way. They hear about a man who’s worked in human transmutation, so the brothers go to visit him, in case they can learn anything about that or their father. Upon arrival, they hear about “zombies” that have been haunting the town — one in particular who has allegedly taken the life of a towngirl’s sister. Turns out, this alchemist legend Majihal (Kent Williams) has been creating human dolls of his lost love, Karin (Ellen Locy), and injecting the souls of girls from the village. He’s too blinded by obsession to realize that his love is actually there in the village, interacting with him on a daily basis. This part of the story gets a little hyperbolic, because I feel that something as simple as asking Karin somethings that only Karin would know might have solved this confusion, but the point was to show a man who’s been lost to obsession. It’s ultimately Karin’s blue rose — transformed by alchemy by Ed into a whip — that causes Majihal’s death, which must be unbearable for Karin to accept. Though, what may be more unbearable is the fact that he doesn’t accept her as who she is, and uses his last breath to reassure the “dead Karin” that he’s coming for her.

This episode does not further the main storyline, but it gives the brothers something to think about. They had dipped into the world of obsession when they tried to bring their mother back, so they can learn a lesson from this experience to think clearly before acting. Also, they helped out that village — and doing good deeds is, I’m sure, very gratifying. The brothers will surely learn many lessons and help many people along their journey, which I’m excited to keep following.

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