Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 42



I didn’t quite understand one part in this episode. It might have been because I missed a detail in one of the earlier episodes, but even then that part in which Mai Chang grabbed that book of hers, unravelled all of the pages and laid them so precisely in such a way that they formed the transmutation circle that Father is trying to carry out… First of all, how would you even think of such a thing, and second of all: what exactly does it mean anyway?

In any case, I liked the building up that this episode did. We finally got to know a bit more about what Roy’s former subordinates have been doing, and Sloth has finally finished his tunnel, bringing Father another step closer to his plans. Also, Rose returns. Seriously, talk about an improvement over her development in the original FMA!

Hohenheim’s trip inside of Lior (in which you can still see the remains of Ed’s battle there, hehe), in which he finds the tunnel and encounters Pride. Well, so much for the strongest of all Homunculi: he can only use his full powers inside that tunnel for some reason. It’s pretty much the same as with that flask, although he did seem to have found a way somehow to go in the outside world through that boy appearance.

Also, Drachma attacked Briggs at the end of this episode. Talk about irony in which an outside force has to make use of people from inside the country in order to make their advances.
Rating: * (Good)

22 thoughts on “Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 42

  1. actully pride’s shadow can strech all the way to tunnul it just can strech any father unless the main body moves

  2. I can understand why you might not’ve caught what May did. In the last episode they were talking about how Immortals are called Golden people and things like that. Basically, May and Marcoh realized that there were a lot of reoccuring words being used, so they rearranged the papers, putting like words with like words. Then she realized that arranging them like this made a transmutation circle.

    Kind of a stretch, but it’s better than drawing out the point.

    Also next episode will be a real treat. It’s one of my favorite parts in the entire story.

  3. Pride can stretch his shadow further than the tunnels it just depends on where the physical body (Selim) is located at the moment.

    I guess Mei was just trying different things and eventually it led her to the truth (a little suspension of disbelief & luck). They don’t know exactly what the transmutation circle will be used for just yet however.

  4. @ Keith I forgot that about the Mei explanation (I still need to reread the chapters covered in this episode which I do every week). So thanks for pointing that out. 🙂

  5. Mai had the idea about unraveling all the pages, from when Al was out and he had to be carried separated because he was too heavy…..
    She arranged the pages exactly like what Keith had written above…
    And then she connected the symbols in the pages and the lines formed the transmutation symbol…..

  6. Ah about Pride, its mentioned in the manga [by hohenhiem] when they meet in the tunnel that he isn’t able to move outside of the tunnel because pride is limited into the space he can travel since the tunnel acts like the jar did for Homunclus and Hohenhiem is entering the tunnel from outside [lior side] rather than inside [Amteris side].

    And yes, may figures it out by matching up all of the occurances of ‘golden being’ I think

  7. So, as far as I’m concerned this episode marked the start of the climax. Some people would say that’s not until chapter 83 (we’re currently at ch. 78) but I say it starts now ^^ A very long climax, full of epicness non-stop.

  8. So, as far as I’m concerned this episode marked the start of the climax. Some people would say that’s not until chapter 83 (we’re currently at ch. 78) but I say it starts now ^^ A very long climax, full of epicness non-stop.

  9. Reading over the chapter (still have not watched the episodes) it looks like I was wrong about Pride. He his reach can’t go beyond Central or where the tunnel is. It’s still a pretty far reach but it is a limitation. But hey every villain needs a limitation. Just wanted to correct myself.

    I believe Father also has an even greater limitation of where he can travel. It seems he can’t leave his underground base. This is more implied than stated though.

  10. Yeah, Kim, Hohenheim said something about Father dying if his container was broken, but we still don’t know if he meant the underground base, or his Hoho-clone body.

  11. haha i always thought the way may/marcoh came upon the new transmutation circle was a bit of a stretch in the manga. i mean, from marcoh hiding HIS research (to make philosopher’s stones) as an actual recipe book and scar’s brother similarly disguising his research makes total sense. but Arakawa never really explained adquately how just by placing the pages with similar words together they get (a) overlapping and (b) overlapping in the RIGHT sequence/order.

    psgels you always review FMA:B before i can get a hold of the subbed version but i always peek at your rating beforehand to get an idea of how good the episode is/was (you’re pretty much spot on every time, like an anime Roger Ebert LOL). so when i saw just ‘good’ after the ‘awesome’-ness of last week i was like “aww crap, it sucked”, but this is one of those necessary build-up eps like you said where the story advances without a lot of action actually going on.

    like JackDawkins said, this kinda starts the climax of the manga, and Arakawa has been skillfully drawing it out with cliffhanger after cliffhanger. We’re officially 2/3 finished with Brotherhood and the manga doesn’t look ANYWHERE close to a resolution. Shamballa: Brotherhood anyone LOL?

    btw the manga panel with Kimblee encountering Pride is one of my FAVORITE ones in this entire manga (http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/77/28-29/) Pride scared the HECK out of him LOL

  12. I believe that Father original form{inside the flask},is probably the “weakest” amount the other homunculus,is unique “power” is probably being the smartest one and the most manipulative then the rest of the homunculus,and probably then any other characters in FMA world.

  13. As Mai watches her companions try to put Al back together (and fail!) she gets the idea to try connecting instances of certain phrases to each other, much like connecting certain parts of Al’s armor to each other. The easiest way was to take the book apart.

    The fact that it’s the same transmutation circle? It means Scar’s brother knew something about that particular array and (when they flip the pages over) possibly how to counter it. It’s still a bit of a mystery at this point, so stay tuned! I know I will be…

  14. There’s one problem with this episode.

    Miles didn’t mention “ten days” upon returning.

    That one line gives us insight that it’s been 10 days since Kimblee’s orders, Ed’s disappearance and all of that.

    Why is this important?

    Could Kimblee go across the border and bring the entire Drachma army to Briggs in just one day? Nope.

    10 days.

  15. Dunno if someone pointed it out, but alchemists put a code in their work so only fellow alchemists can understand it. So I’m not surprised if we have such a hard time believing and understanding it.

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