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September 20, 2009

Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood - 24

Filed under: Finished Series: Action/Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



Whoa, I must say that this episode really caught me off-guard. It really is one of those episodes that’s a perfect example of how good this series can be: fun and tense at the same time, hardly impossible to predict and full of some very surprising plot twists.

Where to start? Because the creators killed off Marcoh in the first season, I really expected the same here… yet he is merely kidnapped. It does make sense: whatever the Humonculi are after is somehow related to the Philosopher’s Stone, so it would make sense for them to recruit the help of someone who is very knowledgeable about it.

But the really fun part in this episode was the part that took place in the forest. Overall it was a very creative action scene with this series’ trademark style of delivering comedy, action and drama all at the same time. Especially Gluttony got a bit of depth: we learn that he at least has half a braincell, and isn’t a complete berserk. Yet again, this guy is developing so completely different from the first series.

We also get our first glimpse of pride… who turns out to have powers of either invisibility or telepathy, and I also really liked the parts that featured Lan Fan, as she was unable to do anything for her master due to her losing her arm. My favourite of this episode was Envy, though. He was a very nice villain, and it’s a bloody shame that he died in this episode. there was so much potential left in him.

This episode ended with Roy Mustang, finding out that the problem isn’t just that the Fuhrer is a Humonculus, but he also has a ton of allies at his side. Thinking back, the first season never mentioned any of this, right? Now that I think about it, it would indeed have been a bit strange for just one or two humonculi on their own: one screw-up and everyone knows who they are. With enough allies on their side, they could cover up for them in those cases (such as, right now with Roy).
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Cross Game - 25

Filed under: Finished Series: Sports/Cross Game



Glad to see that throughout the tournament, there still is plenty of time for a bit of slice of life that this series is so good at. The first half of this episode was that, combined with a bit of building up for the upcoming match, which started in the second half of this episode.I do ope though that this match isn’t going to drag on this series.

But yeah, the gist of this episode was: Kou should have practiced more at fielding. The opponents in this episode did their homework, and managed to find out that Kou relies on his high pitches too much, and so they just bunted everywhere in order to confuse him, which indeed earned them a point in the first inning. Their mistake however was to assume that Kou had no stamina… which didn’t turn out to be the case.

It’s not like Akaishi and Aoba didn’t think of ways to counter Kou’s weakness, so the opposing team ran a bit behind the facts this time, though they were helped by how Kou just forgot to practice fielding. Still, for such a team they did pretty well: instead of randomly playing, they really took their time in analyzing their opponents, even though the persons they used to spy on Kou’s team were… unsubtle to say the least.
Rating: ** (Excellent)