Again an episode in which two chapters cropped in order to get to the new material as soon as possible. It was to be expected, but for once I have to say that the original series handled it better. Especially the return to Resembool-arc needs a full episode in order to have its full impact. Half an episode is just too little to make the most out of Armstrong gradually understanding the situation that Ed and Al are in.
In the first half of the episode, Marco suddenly turns up. It’s an interesting decision of the creators to introduce him like this: he simply was at the wrong time at the wrong place and Armstrong happened to see him. While chances of this happening are of course very slim, it could happen, since the guy seems to be travelling by train often. It’s obviously flawed, but somehow, I’m buying it. The short length and early death of Basque Gran also had also an extra advantage, since we didn’t have to watch endless scenes of Marco getting emo when Basque Gran discovers him.
But the interesting news is that we should be getting to the really new material in three or four episodes with a bit of luck, if my memory doesn’t fail me. The next episode is probably going to be about the research in the library, then the next episode is probably going to deal with Laboratory five, and after that it’s going to get interesting, since that bugger of a Shou Tucker is dead so someone else needs to guide Ed into trying to make that Philosopher’s stone (or whatever it was that they did in the manga).
Bones has been a strange production company in terms of adaptations. Ignoring that their endings usually fall short, they often try to add things to their adaptations to make them better. The original season did the same, and it really did some scenes well: some of the quiet scenes that were added really added more life to the characters, but yeah: the problem was that huge string of filler episodes that just wasn’t interesting at all. Arcs like the Phantom Thief, the Fake Brothers or that one in which the broken Al gets lost and they spend an entire episode chasing him just to return the status quo: what really was the point of that? They really were a pain to get through.
But looking back, it’s amazing how much the creators managed to cut: at this point, we’re eleven episodes ahead of the original series already, and the result is already looking pretty competent. The question is of course going to be: will the creators slow down once they reach the new stuff?
Rating: (Enjoyable)
A light and laid-back episode and still it’s rushed, but it’s pretty solid so far and Marco’s story was much better than in the original.
I enjoyed this episode and despite them adapting 2 chapters into 1 episode it didn’t feel rushed (or maybe I am just getting used to it). Mind you they did cut scenes from the manga I really missed. But these are just scenes I enjoyed they didn’t necessarily hurt the flow of the episode.
As for new stuff I think it will be a bit longer than 3 or 4 episodes. If they keep combining 2 chapters into 1 episode they should get to the start of the Greed arc by about episode 13, after that arc is when things completely diverge.
so someone else needs to guide Ed into trying to make that Philosopher’s stone
Oh no this scene is completely 1st anime. Lab 5 happens but it’s more focused on Ed & Al’s fight with the suits of armor. 🙂
I’m hoping they do retain a steady pace when they get to the normal manga material, though the ironic result could be that it suffers the fate of Soul Eater and ends up with a 1chapter=1episode system.
In theory this works with monthly series, but in practise it doesn’t, and the occasions where a studio does cram more chapters into less episode do usually end up being better.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with a solid manga adaptation, but to really make use of an anime, the pacing needs lots of attention.
Personally I think a to-the-letter 3chapter=2episode ratio works best with monthly manga adaptations, hopefully they will do this.
they are plowing through all of these preliminary chapters pretty quickly, but yeah once they get to meat of the story (Lab 5 and onwards) hopefully they’ll take the time to develop the scenes.
I liked this episode a lot, actually. I also think that they could have split it in two episodes, but then again, the manga itself is quite fast paced. I’m not sure if such a pace translates well into anime, but for now it seems ok.
Ok first few times it was funny, but now every time i hear “they are rushiiing iiiit” comments i want to punch that person in the face. Seriously.
Just because First anime took its time throwing fillers there and there, it does not mean that FMA2 is “rushed”. The only episode I could complain about pacing-wise was Episode 2….
I agree, episode 2 was the only one that seemed a little rushed (not mentioning that I can’t understand why they decided to introduce Ed and Al’s backstory so early, while in the manga it doesn’t happen until chapter 20-something). The pacing in the rest of the episodes was fine to me.