Aha! And now we’ve really gotten to the good part! At the second half of this episode, the storyline finally completely diverges from that of the original series, and this is really the point I’ve been waiting for. And I must say, that something really strange has to happen in order to cause me to like the original series better. Even though at the same point, the original series had the advantage that it had already better fleshed out characters due to the bigger episode count, I still consider this episode to be better in every single way than its counterpart in the original series.
This episode really shows that this series was made for those who watched the original series. The point at which the story-lines diverge came at a point at which the fighting in the original series completely stopped, and instead Lust appears from out of nowhere and kills the armor that Ed had been fighting. And I must say that Envy also made a pretty large impression on me. In the original series, I never really knew what to think of him: he was there, he probably was the strongest of the Humonculi… and yet he never was involved in anything that important. For me, it just felt like he was a character for which the creators had no inspiration what to do with, yet had to include somewhere due to manga obligations.
This episode also saw the introduction of the Bomb Alchemist Kimblee, who in the original series felt rather annoying to me so I hope that this time he’s going to be better. In fact, the more I write about this series, the more I wonder why the heck I rated it so highly in the first place. The more I watch this series, the more flaws that seem to stand out (but then again, it did have a few parts it was great at).
But in any case, the thing I loved in this episode was the way it wasn’t afraid to quickly switch between tension and comedy to break up the mood. Especially Barry was hilarious, but even during the big climax, we quickly saw Ed’s arm failing and Envy joking around. These tactics are obviously very bad if a series doesn’t have a sense of humour, but in this case it really works well. There were many points later in this episode in which I had no idea whether to laugh or sympathize.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
We’ve finally arrived at the point where the series diverges from the original, and it’s starting off really well.
Suddenly noticing more and more flaws of the original anime is common when you get to the manga storyline. The aftermath of the events from this episode have an even bigger awesomeness gap.
Also, Kimblee is one of the characters who got worst hit between his interpretations in the anime and manga. Manga!Kimblee is psycho to the point of scary, but evil in a cool way. The homunculi are similar-the first anime developed them in a thoroughly human way, but their character strength in the manga mostly comes from how they positively radiate their antagonism and inhumanity.
Well there are still a few things this series has to get through that the first series covered to an extent: fake memory, Hughes, Rush Valley, Izumi, Greed. But most of these are handled really differently from the 1st series. Once we get past Greed everything is 100% different. And this series is definitely moving right along.
And don’t worry I think you will like Kimbley a lot more in this series. He ends up being a pretty interesting antagonist.
As for the humor I love it too. Although there are serious moments in the series I get the impression that Arakawa is saying it’s just fiction don’t take it too seriously. After each volume she draws 4-koma where she literally makes fun of all her characters. She also always draws a little comic of the characters that died in that volume floating up to heaven. 🙂
Barry was pretty awesome in this episode. In the manga both he and Envy are much more comedic than they are in the old series. There was plenty of humour in this episode but it wasn’t as disruptive as some of the episodes before… maybe I’m starting to get used to it.
What pleased me the most out of this episode was Envy, felt exactly like the Envy from the manga. What I enjoyed most out of the manga was the Homunculi. Their individual themes are handled awesomely in the manga.
Also, perhaps because of the fact that the two series have finally completely split but this episode was the first one to feel like it had its own pace that didn’t feel wrong in any way.
What pleased me the most out of this episode was Envy, felt exactly like the Envy from the manga. What I enjoyed most out of the manga was the Homunculi. Their individual themes are handled awesomely in the manga.
Also, perhaps because of the fact that the two series have finally completely split but this episode was the first one to feel like it had its own pace that didn’t feel wrong in any way.
I was a bit bored by the series up until this part, but at the end when the story diverged, it was suddenly amazing. Huh? Well, let’s hope they keep it up!
haven’t watched yet, still, my memory was right, this is really when it all changes, I remember I didn’t really like this episode in the original because once Ed got to the main part of the laboratory, everything felt wrong, and it was so different from the manga, that was awesome. Anyway, i think we can all expect an awesome series from now on as long as the manga is followed. 2m remaining for a complete download lol
and also, psgels if you thought barry was hilarious now, I think you will love his character in the future.
cool i like FMA