This episode made me think of the use of weaponry in the FMA universe. There were a lot of gunfights in this episode, in which the people working under Roy Mustang were assaulted by some of the homunculi and their chimera, in which they used various guns to defend themselves. That’s pretty nice and interesting, but that does bring up the age old question: why doesn’t Ed use one?

One of the major biggest flaws of Full Metal Alchemist, both the series I’ve seen so far, is of course how they try to get away with Ed’s strangely amazing fighting abilities, even though he’s only sixteen years old. And okay, it’s something that a lot of anime suffer from, so that’s easy to overlook. But I still wonder why he’s still stuck with his sword hands in a day and age in which guns seem to be common.

Anyway, about the actual episode, it was as fun as usual; especially Barry shined, and I’m starting to understand why he’s such an interesting character, and how much the first season raped his personality. It was very interesting to see him finding his old body back (talk about different from the Barry from the first season), and this indeed shows that the Homunculi are somehow related to the fifth laboratory, and their current mission indeed seems to stop people from finding out about them. That still doesn’t explain their main purpose though, but I suspect that Lior holds some hints to that.

I’m also glad to see Ross still alive. It had it coming of course, but it was quite unnerving to not see a single hint of her alive in the previous episode (yeah, I’m gullible; so what?). It’s also interesting that she’s going to get her own side-plot right now, as she travels to Xing in order to avoid any chances of revealing herself to the public. I’m interested to see what she can add to the story there.

Also, for some reason Ross hid near a camp of Ishbal people who happened to know Winry’s parents, and were helped a great deal by them. It then turns out that they were murdered, not by the order of the Fuhrer to wipe out the Ishbals, but rather by an Ishbal himself: Scar. Or someone who looks like Scar anyway. He sortof reminded me of a Humonculus in that flashback.
Rating: * (Good)

This episode was about a strange little side-story, featuring… Risa, the manager, of all people. In this episode, we see her trying to audition for a part in a local movie that seems to be getting shot. She ended up auditioning, and got through to the next round. There is just one problem: the character she auditioned for is supposed to be a female pitcher.

So a lot of this episode is spent on her, trying to actually throw a pitch. It’s far from a pointless filler though, because this episode really gave a totally new dimension to her character. We’ve come to know her as that stuck-up princes whose purpose as a manager never really was clear, but in this episode we finally see her working for something she really wants to do. And surprise surprise, but she actually turns out to have a huge amount of motivation and will power. While that last part was a bit exaggerated to say the least, it was definitely good to see her finally with a goal in mind. It’s good that she finally quit being a manager, to chase her own dreams.

Oh, and her random confessions were hilarious to watch. Especially since you had no idea what was going on at the time. It’s really typical of this series’ humour.

I just have one question: how long are the creators going to continue with that cat drawing at the beginning of each episode? Is it to keep the interest of the little kids that are watching this series? Is it to fill up time? Is it some sort of homage I don’t get? I could understand how it might be a good gimmick for one episode, but we’ve had this going on for what? Four weeks already?
Rating: * (Good)

Oh boy; here’s a series that’s aiming for great first impressions. The OP and ED are sung by the Backstreet Boys of all people. The lead character, a nine-year-old boy named Ichiro, is downright the most annoying and obnoxious anime character out there: he’s loud-mouthed, a cry-baby, continually picks fights with both his friends and family. If you thought your average shounen hero was annoying, you haven’t seen anything yet with this guy. On top of that, his mother is a loud-mouthed old hag, his sister an ugly overly whiny middle schooler, his grandfather a senile old man, his father an egotistical drunk carpenter and his best friend an incredibly shy and spineless crybaby. Oh, have I already said that this is an really charming series?

Seriously though, this is a very ugly series. The screenshots above may be a bit misleading because this is a Madhouse series, so there’s bound to be eye candy somewhere, but just be glad that I didn’t take any shots of Ichiro crying, yelling, taking a dump, walking around naked, picking his snotty nose or whatever. A lot of people are going to find Ichiro and the other recurring characters very hard to swallow, and but those who do stick with this series are rewarded with a very heart-warming story about a boy who can see ghosts.

Basically, this series consists out of a couple of arcs, most of which consist out of Ichiro meets the ghost of a dead person who still has regrets left in this world, and asks Ichiro for help because he’s the only one around who can see spirits. They’re usually the spirits of people who screwed up really badly when they made the most important decisions of their or their loved ones lives and can’t leave to the afterworld until they solve these issues. The stories all have a touch of mystery, in the way that you’re never going to know what exactly the ghost wants from Ichiro when you first see them, and through a very good build-up it slowly becomes clear what their intentions are, closing off with a teary and heart-warming ending that hardly ever misses the mark. These stories, while not on the Mushishi level of quality still are nearly all very good (even the first ones) and an excellent recommendation if you’re in the mood for something sappy.

The rest of the time in this series is meant for character-building for Ichiro and the rest of the recurring side-characters. These ones obviously are a bit harder to get through due to just about everyone being obnoxious, but it’s not like they’re bad characters in any way. The characters here are really meant to be flawed, and the creators sometimes tend to take this a bit too far, but they definitely grow on you as the series goes on. I especially liked Mandame Katarina, the ghost who simply refuses to cross over to the next world because she has too much fun being a ghost.

Overall, Hanada Shounen Shi is a sappy story, but I mean that in a good way. From the outside it might look like a kiddie show, and Ichiro can and WILL get on your nerves, but despite that it again and again proves that it can be a heart-warming series.