And King Bradley shows his fangs again. Apparently, he’s fast enough to avoid bullets and cut them in half, and his presence is so great that he’s able to create shock-waves of air to smack down his victims. Bones, that may have been a bit too much; those are tricks that cheap shows use in an attempt to make characters look really strong.

Nevertheless, talk about an action-packed episode. The previous episodes were full of euphoria, and here Bradley comes and completely turns the table. None of the characters who have a good chance of actually beating him (Roy, Hohenheim) are anywhere near, so instead characters as Greed and the people from Xing are going to have to keep this guy at bay. This episode already started with the first casualty on the good guys. In any case I love how even in the finale, the creators try to make everyone important.

The promised day was actually a very interesting way to bring everyone together at the same place: everyone currently is in central city, trying to prevent it from occurring. It’s a lot more impressive than what the first season pulled, as it tried to pull some really weird plot-holes, just to keep the characters inside the story. Thankfully, this season really knows that there are some characters who have no business being here, like Rose, and the library girl whose name I forgot. I’m also very glad that the creators also didn’t try to shoehorn Winry in somewhere. She really served her purpose well, but it’d be just stupid for her to suddenly appear int he middle of Central City, just for some extra drama for Ed. Instead, the climax really takes place between a lot of different parties that all do have their business and reasons for being there.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

I love how this episode showed that Izumi Curtis was really the one who taught the Elric brothers alchemy: their tricks are based on the same principles: manipulating their surroundings, often making them end up as a fist. I’m still not sure why Hohenheim and Father fight in the same way, though. Is it coincidence, or does this have something to do with Father’s plans of using Ed, Al and Izumi for something?

In any case, this episode closed off the first part of the finale: the takeover of the imperial castle. The annoying clone army seems to be decimated by now, Sloth is dead, and the good guys are at the moment in control of the main capital… just as Wrath gets back. I was hoping for a bit more on Hohenheim vs Father action, but their action-scene was surprisingly short, concluding on an annoying cliff-hanger.

As for the flaws of this series, Thomas made an interesting comment about it:

“Generic bad guys (looking at you, evil clone army that has no purpose whatsoever), illogical character choices and motivations, too many “last minute saves” and last but not least: too much repetition.”

I disagree about the repetition being a flaw: there has been plenty of new stuff amongst the repeated parts. The series so far hasn’t exactly started dragging to be bothersome, and it’s still all building up the storyline. I’m also not sure about the illogical character choices: I can’t recall having seen that many to really become bothersome. The “last minute saves” are becoming a problem, though. This episode again: the Armstrong siblings are about to be beaten… and who knows? Izumi arrives at the exact right moment to save their lives. The show is indeed at the point at which they’ve pulled a few too many of these twists, and I hope that it’s not a trend that’s going to increase for the rest of the series.

Nevertheless this again was an excellent episode. It was especially interesting how none of the major characters were in the spotlights: it really was all about the side-characters, from the major ones (Armstrong, Hohenheim, etc) to the minor nameless ones. It’s a great fun action-packed way to spend 20 minutes.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Sorry for the delay, that’s just me being lazy.

There isn’t much to say about this third OVA, though. This OVA was all meant to show who Izumi was when she was 18, and how she once wasted a whole month on a damn mountain, but it never asked how and why. Why was she so set on becoming an alchemist? Why did she come to Briggs, of all places? How did she grow up? I feel that the creators could have used this subject matter better, instead of having her go on a silly adventure like that.

The best part was that epilogue that told about how she met her true love. Why couldn’t this episode have been about that?
Rating: (Enjoyable)

This show… just continues to get better doesn’t it? This yet again was an awesome episode, not to mention that it was also quite a sad one. It’s been a while since this series was this good at the drama-department, and that promises a lot of the rest of the finale.

With this we now also get why Envy got to be Envy. It’s again in the way he was created, however his desires go quite a bit deeper than with the other homunculi. For example for Gluttony and Sloth their personalities pretty much are defined by their name. Also Greed and Pride often remind us of what they’re called. I don’t actually get why Lust was called Lust to be honest, and Wrath seems to be excellent in hiding his wrath. Envy is different from all of them, though: alone he’s probably the weakest of all the homunculus, and instead needs a ton of human lives to actually be competent. Because he had this power he was continuously looking down upon humans, not even realizing that he was jealous of these creatures.

The death of Envy also closed off a chapter for Roy, who at that point had lost sight of his original goals. Now, I wonder to what kind of character-development that’s going to lead.

And as if this episode didn’t kick ass enough with the Armstrongs shining during the second half of the episode, there’s also the next episode, which will focus on something that I’ve been looking forward to for ages: Father versus Hohenheim. Bones, please continue to give more all of your future series the same kind of treatment that you’ve given FMA. Isn’t this so much better than just curring off potentially awesome stories after just 26 episodes?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Wow, what an episode. Roy is back in the spotlight, and immediately steals it again. The action-scenes around him were just awesome. The animation, the way that Envy kept playing dirty and screwing up, it all worked wonderfully, not to mention that it was an exceptionally emotionally charged fight as we finally see him get the chance to avenge Hughes’ death.

And even though Mustang was incredibly powerful, it’s not like he god-moded himself through the fight as well: the creators made sure to not make this into just a one-sided bashfest due to that twist at the end of the episode: Mustang not taking into consideration that Envy could also change into Hawkeye. While not Darker than Black, this is another series in which being the strongest doesn’t necessarily mean being able to win every fight, and it does so without overdoing it by having weaklings win against incredible odds. Of course, this was a bit of a cliched cliff-hanger: the fact that we do not see Envy shoot means that he’s either going to miss, or just not shoot at all due to something (either Roy or the real Hawkeye) getting in his way.

And aside from the action, I also love those tiny details that are in the non-action parts of the show, like how during the broadcast, some of the guys had trouble holding in their laughs as they played around with the military on the phone. At this point, they really have nothing to lose, so they can really take such a risk of hacking into radio broadcasts, in order to gather up as many allies as possible.

One small bit of criticism here is the following: the past few episodes have really focused on a select amount of characters. I also would have liked what the characters who weren’t in the spotlights were doing. Not much, of course, just a few shots of were they were in each episode. For example, Hohenheim still is walking around somewhere, but we have no idea where that is. I actually think that it would make the series more complete if we occasionally got a small update on what guys like him, Al and also characters like Izumi and Father were up to.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

This has got to be among the best Full Metal Alchemist episodes to date. And with more than a hundred episodes on the franchise’s track record, that has to say something! It mostly focused on two fights: the one versus Kimblee and Pride, and the one versus Sloth. Both were awesome in their own ways, full of great twists and turns, making for one hell of a ride.

Seriously, I’m getting the same vibes here as when I watched the action scenes of Bounen no Xamdou. What Bones did here is deliver animation with such a force and power. This is exactly what I’m looking for in an action series. And this time, the stories and backgrounds actually did get well developed. While at this point Full Metal Alchemists’s animation still isn’t quite as good as Xamdou, it has far surpassed Xamdou at this time as an action-series for me, due to the plot, characters and setting in this series.

Kimblee’s death (or at least, I think he died) also really surprised me. In the way that Pride kept playing with his victims like a cat, it was a very good reminder that there are plenty of mortals in this series, and this even showed that having a philosopher’s stone doesn’t make you immortal. To contrast, there were also plenty of heart-warming moments during the same fight: three side-characters who I wrote off as being useless in battle really created an awesome escape sequence.

Also, the clone army really proved to be one of the flaws in Father’s plans: having them rampage around is nice enough, but the way in which they fail to recognize either friend or enemy leads to a lot more soldiers changing sides, especially when you’re in front of such a charismatic leader as Olivier. This episode forced a ton of characters to do things they usually would not: Ed also finally ended up using weaponry, the Armstrong Siblings working together.

One point of criticism for this episode was during the Ed’s fight. I mean, the army of closes did go a bit into overkill there, and it wasn’t that well animated anyway, with a lot of clones just being CG dolls. It reminded me a bit of these cheap fantasy series in which teen-aged leads have to battle on hordes of copy/paste zombies. Not to mention that the clones decide to just stand still whenever some major plot twist happens. Really, if I was such a clone, I wouldn’t care about what happened around me. All I would care about would just be these tasty human beings in front of me.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Whoa, so many things happened in this episode. What an awesome way to enter the fifth and final season of this series; it was action-packed from start to finish and just about every side-story the creators showed here kicked ass.

The clone-army, which we saw awakened at the end of the previous episode, was indeed as intense as I expected. It had it coming that they would freak out, but I really have to give credit to Bones for animating this so well. It also was very nice to see not just Barry the Chopper’s body back, but also the same wall that was created in the same fight still standing. It’s the same as in Lior: these things ain’t gonna fix themselves, and it really adds to the setting to keep track of the damages that are done to buildings and surroundings during the past fights in the story.

The best animation in this episode definitely came from Envy, though. His scene was short, but incredibly powerful, especially considering that Mai Chang is going to have to face him all by herself. It may have been stupid of her to take Envy back to where he wanted to go, but at the same time this flaw does add to her character. What would be awesome now if for her to actually redeem herself, and learn from her mistakes.

Also, against my expectations it was Kimblee instead of Sloth who came to rescue Pride, but of course that makes all the more sense, since Kimblee could reach the guy a lot faster than Sloth would, and he also would not have any problems blowing up a wall. It’s still a bit of a mystery why Al let it all happen, though. Even considering that he didn’t know at all that this was possible, you would have to get some sort of clue after seeing Pride hit on his helmet for who knows how many hours. But then again, Al has been going through a rough time. My guess is that he was so relieved that he was able to something despite his condition, and I think that he was much more focused on not trying to lose his body. Which made his comeback all the more worthwhile.

So yeah, an awesome episode. If the rest of this series is going to be like this, we’re in for one hell of a finale. It’s just a shame that the new OP was a disappointment, though. Both the song and mood in my opinion failed to capture what this series is about, and instead made it look like some cheesy sentimental drama. All of the shots we saw were of people looking gloomy or angry, being sad or looking downward. What I got from this series however, was to look upward: don’t resign to your fate; instead you should do something about it!
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Okay, so we may not have Roy Mustang in action for about twenty episodes or so, same with the people around him, but I loved how in this episode it becomes clear how much he managed to prepare in the time he was away from the spotlights and how many allies he managed to gather. And even Ross and Havoc, who disappeared for even longer, have been carrying out their own agenda in an attempt to assist him. And while they pretty much slaughter the army in this episode, the creators did take care to give every one of these soldiers their own identity with this subtle characterization, rather than just packing a clone army of mindless slaves or something.

The second half of this episode was more about the stealth, as Ed and his father try to get to Father. In the meantime, we have also three homunculi who are trying to do the same (Envy is nearly at Father, Pride will get rescued by Sloth any minute now, and Wrath also should show up somewhere in the next few episodes). Truly promises to be an action-packed finale. Especially considering how at the end of this episode the clones were activated. I really have to give credit to Bones: that was one creepy scene.

In the next episode we should also see the new and final OP, if the creators indeed planned to have a new OP at the start of every season. I wonder whether it can beat the current one, though. It’s been by far the best OP of Full Metal Alchemist yet for me (including the first season, of course). But damn, this really means that at this point the total amount of Full Metal Alchemist Episodes is already in the three digits. The thing I really hope for this season is for its success to inspire more series to just go with the right amount of episodes that their story requires, rather than just stick to 26.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Sorry, but I have to get back to Pride again. I just keep wondering what it means to be considered “the strongest” homunculus, and whether he can really be measured as such, especially considering the other homunculus. Does he have the biggest amount of strength of the homunculi? I doubt that actually, considering Sloth and Envy. The biggest defense? Nah, Sloth and Greed are also incredibly sturdy. Meanwhile, I believe that his speed is about equal to that of Lust and Wrath. I think that what sets him apart is more his combination between strength and range of weapons that can hit from multiple directions.

So while he might be considered the “strongest” homunculus, I doubt that he’s been the most useful one. He might have the upper hand in battle, but he never uses that. Ed in this episode could be excused, but what about the others? He could have easily killed all of them, and yet only the lion got a few wounds that don’t seem too serious. Compare that to Wrath’s battle against Greed, in which Wrath just kept pushing his attacks on Greed, leaving as little opportunity as possible for Greed to recover. That’s something I consider stronger than some kid who holds a lot of power but doesn’t use it, and I believe that Wrath would actually be able to make minced meat out of Pride if they ever were put up against each other. And even Ed: why didn’t Pride just grab him in the way that he took control of Al?

In any case, that didn’t mean that I didn’t like this episode. It was another excellent build-up to the inevitable promised day, and how different parties are coming together again. I liked how the four chimeras finally saw each other again (not knowing that they’ve decided to betray Kimblee). And despite my gripes about Pride’s fighting ability, the part about his relationship with his ‘mother’ was definitely interesting.

As for Roy’s plans, I’m also curious about those ones: what was the point in kidnapping Bradley’s wife: the end of this episode showed that the military clearly doesn’t intend to consider her safety; especially with Bradley gone now. Next episode should again start with an intense action scene in which we can finally see Roy in action again.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

On a side-note: I finally changed the banner for this site, after having the previous one for more than three years by now. The image comes courtesy of Rel, an amazing artist. I’ve made a few other potential banners in the process. Do you suppose that these might look more appropriate?

After this I’m planning to overhaul the side-bar. My plans are to:
- Move the most recent post upwards for easier browsing.
- Sort the series entries on recommendation-worthy.
I’ve also been toying with the idea to include a small section containing a link to my favourite episode each week, or something similar. How does that sound?

With this episode you can really see that the pacing has slowed down: an entire episode was dedicated to just one fight, save from two or three scenes about Mustang. It makes you wonder: did the creators at the start of this series know how many series they were going to have to work with? Or did they intentionally rush the first half of this series, in order to give the finale ample time to play out? It’s refreshing to see though: most endings of long series are rushed, but by the looks of it this series is going to get all of the time it needs.

In any case, for the supposedly “strongest homunculus”, Pride looked pretty pathetic in this episode at first, when he couldn’t even beat Ed. Wouldn’t it just be easy to surround Ed with his powers and strike him from multiple sides? It looks to me that while Pride may have the most convenient ability, he’s also quite uninventive, and instead had to actually eat Gluttony in order to gain the upper hand. It’s probably because he’s not used to these “cleanup” duties, which seem to have been part of Lust and Envy’s role, when they were still alive/free.

I thought that Wrath would be back for revenge quite quickly, but surprisingly he’s hiding somewhere. This series has been quite skillful in having characters carry out their own agenda when they’re not on the screen, so who knows what he’s been up to.
Rating: * (Good)