Aha, so the creators really reserved the 64th episode for the aftermath of the series. This really was meant to be the climax of Full Metal Alchemist. Interestingly,t he creators chose not to end it with a bang, but rather tone down the action in order to focus on the main characters. Father really was already defeated at the end of the previous episode. This episode was really meant to wrap everything up: show the end of Father, and resolve the plot thread of Ed and Al getting their body back.
As expected, the characters found some sort of loophole in order to get Al’s body back. This time, the loophole was the door. We learn that every character has a door of alchemy, and apparently Ed knew that he could trade that in, instead of offering another of his limbs to get back to Al.
As for the budget, well, the creators were lucky that a lot of this episode was about a bunch of simple shapes (Greed, Flask (as I’ll call him for now, as “The inhabitant of the Flask” is a bit too long), God), so they could really plan the best of their budget to the previous action-packed view. The final confrontation between Flask was a worthy climax for the series, even though he already had been defeated.
One thing I did not understand was Hohenheim, though. Why did he end up dying? Was it because Father sucked all of the philosopher’s stones out of him or something?
Overall though, this has been an awesome series. It’s not among my favourites, but it still was a wonderful ride. I really hope that Bones is going to adapt more manga in the same way in the future.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
FMA Brotherhood is definitely one of my favorites. It really unique and different from other anime I’ve seen.
I really cant wait to see this episode.
“One thing I did not understand was Hohenheim, though. Why did he end up dying? Was it because Father sucked all of the philosopher’s stones out of him or something?”
Yes that’s right. look at this dialogue
１０．２３ ちょうど一人分が残って
The only thing he didn’t get taken from him was his own life, so he lost his philosophers stone when he protected Ed and the others from father.
“It’s not among my favourites, but it still was a wonderful ride.”
It’s not? How come? You have been giving it pretty high scores lately.
At the end of the battle, Hohenhiem only had 1 soul left in him – his own. No longer immortal, he died of natural causes with a smile on his face. He was centuries old and he had accumulated damage fighting with father, and his body just wasn’t able to function well enough to keep him alive.
Kori: Well, let me rephrase that: it’s not among my all-time favourites. It’s likely if not certain that it will end up in my top 5 of 2010, but there are also a ton of other series that were awesome as well, in their own ways..
I’m confused. What will they tell in episode 64? There is not enough material left to fill 20 minutes…
There definitely is enough material left to fill 20 episodes (although I can see them adding an extra scene here and there).
I really hope that Bones is going to adapt more manga in the same way in the future.
Well that is supposing there is manga as good as FMA to adapt. 🙂
I’m not spoiling anything but…
I hope for the extra scenes to be the animation of the pictures that are at the end of the last chapter. Would be a great conclusion 🙂
Hohenheim is just like a Homunculus. He has souls, never ages, and regenerates but dies if he takes so much damage to burn away his souls.
That fight left him half dead and finally, he just ran out of juice and died.
@Kim
Theres always excellent manga to adapt provided you look for it. I think it’s criminal that 20th century boys hasn’t been made into an anime yet. They did make an excellent live-action trilogy in Japan recently but it’s just not the same as animation for me. Plus a proper anime series based Akira should have been done. The films great but not enough to do the orinal series justice.
@Kim:
Yeah we are also lacking a continuation of Berserk adaptation. Or a lot of other seinens such as Ubel Blatt, etc. 20th Century Boys is definitely a classic. Vagabond as well. And ALIVE adaptation got canceled and the author died. So there so many interesting manga out there that can be adapted…
re: Hohenheim
Remember, he spent quite a bit of time planting many of the souls that were in him around Amestris to create the circle that would counter Father’s attempt to become god and as well as counter Father’s sealing off power from Amestrian-style alchemists like Ed & Al.
He probably used the majority of them up that way, and then the battle exhausted the others.
Well this just goes to show how fickle I am. I hated the last episode so much and I absolutely adore this one.
During this episode and 62, I couldn’t help but notice that Ed’s right arm was reattached to his shoulder without anyone first removing the broken automail implants. Having all of those broken pieces of metal inside his shoulder must hurt a lot. Surely someone eventually takes them out, right? I mean, ow. They’re even still sticking out of his shoulder, for crying out loud.
@ wakka9ca & fathomlessblue
Wow people take things way too seriously. I was only kidding of course. Hence the smiley.
While FMA is my personal favorite manga I know there are plenty of other excellent manga that could be adapted. In fact Cross Game which was also adapted this past year from beginning to end was amazing.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the rest of the Mushishi manga turned into an anime either.
Oh wow. Oh wow. I feel like not watching the final episode now. That was amazing. I for one would have been perfectly happy if this was the finale.
I was really worried that this was going to be a parallel of the 2003 anime and Ed would indeed sacrifice himself again to bring Al back, and they’d do a ping-pong tournament of “sacrifice myself for Brother.” Glad to see that didn’t happen
@ Kane
Of course not. It wasn’t in the episode but in the manga they asked if Ed would sacrifice himself for Al and Mustang said Edward would never dream of doing something like that because he new the pain of being left all alone without your family, so he wouldn’t do that to Al (and there was a quick flashback of him all alone after the transmutation calling out for Al and his mom) It felt kinda like an f-you to the first anime xD
ROFL I think I can see why that line was removed in this episode. Bones wanted to string gullible folks like me into thinking Ed really was going to repeat the 2003 anime, hahaha… they got me there.
they sure found a loophole to get Al back But it was an amazing and most convincing Loophole ever for me !!!!!! , i actully liked the Thruth guy after it!
Hm… Have you really seen other anime tell such an epic fantasy story with as much success as Fullmetal Alchemist? I think you’re not giving this anime enough credit. In terms of storytelling and originality this is definitely an anime that stands out
I liked how Ed refused to sacrifice any other life (including his own or nameless lives in the philosopher stone) to bring his brother back.
Also he couldn’t just sacrifice a limb to bring him back, since the best he could do with that would be a temporary metal body.
The final put a nice touch to the ”folly of playing god” theme of the series.
Disappointing, psgels. You kept giving FMA:Brotherhood these great scores and now you’re only putting it in your top 5 of 2010? Eh, feels like you still have some grudge on the old FMA adaption. Well, you lost a reader.
You’re not gonna read his blog anymore just because he doesn’t think FMA is one of the best things ever made…?
Psgels has very different tastes than most people, and I think if you’re not reading his blog at least partially for that then you’re missing the point…
My goodness people FMA is my favorite manga and has been so for years but it doesn’t have to be Psgels. I think his reviews have been more than fair. I am really glad he blogged Brotherhood. It’s always gratifying for me to see someone who enjoys the manga storyline more than the 1st series. 😉
No one’s really commented on it thus far, but the music was very nice for the entire series — especially this episode. I was never especially thrilled with the original FMA, but the remake has been fantastic. I thought Greed’s final scenes were smartly done; greedy, bossy, and demanding until the final episode.
I know this is a late reply, but it isn’t much of a loophole was it was that no one just thought about it. Alchemists who opened the gate believed themselves to be so superior and unstoppable because of alchemy. Take note that Ed and Al, all throughout the series, believed that alchemy will help them despite the fact that alchemy is what made them lose their body. Ed in particular was arrogant about its seemingly limitless powers. Ed realized that he didn’t need alchemy to get what he lost, that he didn’t need alchemy to live. He could surrender all that knowledge just to live a simple life.
And the Truth congratulated him for it because he finally figured it out. It wasn’t some sort of hidden meaning. Anyone could have done it but people just didn’t see the Truth. And that’s what’s amazing about the journey of discovery Ed did.