Hmm, this episode was a bit of a step back for this series. It had a great potential, but in my opinion the creators wanted it to make an emotional impact a bit too hard and so the episode featured a bit too much overacting and clichés.
The fight between Lin and Wrath was great: it really showed yet again that this is a series in which nobody is just going to get himself killed that easily. The fight was inspired and dangerous, without overpowering the characters in your typical shounen-esque series. It really showed that Lin’s performance for the past few episodes was indeed very much an act, and is a force to be reckoned with.
But yeah: then we cut to the fight between Ed, Al and Scar. In order to buy some time for Lin to show up (of course not knowing what happened to them), Ed and Al start talking about philosophy. Ed then mentions Winry’s parents, just at the moment which Winry chose to show up in order to check up on him. So she gets emo, grabs a gun that happened to be lying around, and fails to shoot the guy who killed her parents. I’ve never really been a fan of her, and I really feel that her voice actress was really trying too hard in this episode.
It’s a shame, because Scar was really good in this episode. His background is much like in the first series, but a lot more brutal and realistic. He feels sorry for what he did for Winry, but at the same time his mindset is not idealistic enough to just drop his guard and try to make up for her loss in every way he can.
But yeah, I really do wish that the creators are going to make Winry go back to Resembool soon, because she really doesn’t belong as a main character in this series. Once in a while she does something slightly useful, but the show often gets too angsty with her around, with this episode as the epitome. If I want to see angsty teenagers, there are plenty of other shows I can go to.
Rating: (Enjoyable)]]>
Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 22
It sounds as if you liked everything except Winry, that’s a real shame, for me she didn’t take anything away from a brilliant Scar-centred episode. It won’t help much, but I imagine the gun was from one of the two military police Scar took out.
Hope May Chang appears next episode
The gun was indeed from one of the police officers. Was that not clear in the episode? Sounds like they didn’t bother with having Winry hear from crowds about the fight and intentionally rushing towards it, either.
And of course she couldn’t shoot Scar. Winry’s never held a gun before(within our knowledge), much less shot at anyone. Even if she’d been in any state to pull the trigger, she’d probably miss. Breaking down like that, with the parallel between the Elrics’/her parents’ backs and the out-of-nowhere shock that the guy who killed her parents was also an enemy of the Elrics, always felt natural to me.
I agree about her VA, though. It was a while into watching fansubs before I realized it, but a VA can make or break a flawed character, and Winry’s VA isn’t too great.
Aside from Winry, has Ran Fan been getting ANY spotlight? You haven’t said a thing about her for the past two episodes, but events related to her should be going on right about now. And did they cut out Mustang and Hawkeye this ep?
senerikfred: my suspicion is that the creators are going to save her part for the next episode. She spent most of this episode unconscious, so yeah, there wasn’t a lot to say about her. Mustang and Hawkeye also didn’t appear.
Also, my problem with the gun wasn’t that it wasn’t explained or lacked logic, but rather that the creators bothered to insert such a cliché in the first place. All it did was lead to some unconvincing emo scenes and take the focus away from what was really important (ie, the missing Hawkeye, Mustang and Ran Fan scenes you mentioned).
Sadly(for you), Winry will remain one oc central plot aspects, considering in FMA:B(and manga), the importance gap between “Main” and “Supporting”characters is really small, unlike in FMA1, where the only really important characters were Ed and Al.
Let’s face it: Winry sucks. She’s really only there for fanboys to lust over. The story would lose nothing with her not in it. She’s like Hikaru’s “love interest” in Hikaru no Go or the token cheelgirls in Prince of Tennis; except that she supposedly has a “story”, which unfortunately only makes her more of a dead weight.
Make that “cheergirls”, obviously.
Well, Ran Fan’s part can come neatly next episode(I was just surprised you never mentioned her getting pwned so badly), and Mustang and Hawkeye’s part in this arc isn’t important, so it’ll work out.
Personally, I like the little details that made Winry’s scene make sense when I read it, because you could see something cliche but painful coming very smoothly. So I’ll hold on to the conclusion that Winry’s VA and her lack of role in the action are what’s making you dislike her. After having a tantrum in the middle of a fight, there must be a pretty wide gap between her and all the strong, decisive characters the series possesses.
man, i was soooooooo psyched for this ep after how the last one ended… and… and…
THEY TOTALLY BLEW IT :-(. man oh MAN did they blow it lol.
they got the more compelling fight out of the way 1st then NEVER went back to it. in light of the big fight they skipped in ep 19, couldn’t they have included it in 19 and bottled it up in a 2-3 min segment like they did here? they’ve really underused Lin and co. so far.
and i TOTALLY agree with psgels re:Winry. she KILLED this episode. things get a little TOO EMO when she’s front and center NOT repairing Ed’s armor. she can’t fight, she cries a lot, there’s a lot of facial close-ups etc. that’s passable in a purely reflective ep, not when TWO FIGHTS ARE GOING ON.
and why oh why after zooming through the manga at a brisk pace are they SLOWING DOWN HERE??!!! i thought a muuuuuuuch more logical season cliffhanger (don’t worry no spoiler lol) is when X, Y, Z are _______ by Q. ((lol if you know the manga you can kinda guess what i’m referring to, if not then you’re just confused as to why the letter Q is so aggressive towards other letters of the alphabet haha))
instead we’re getting ed/scar and wrath/lin over THREE episodes??!!! uh, NO. heck, lust got offed in ONE kick@$$ ep. one episode resolutions ARE doable.
anyways, hopefully the new manga chapter will salvage the disappointment this week.
I have not seen this particular episode yet but I remember this chapter from the manga and I disagree that Winry’s character is EMO or angsty. In fact I think people do not understand those terms if that is how you describe Winry’s character because she breaks down once when she comes face to face with her parents murderer.
An EMO character is one that is always upset and thinks their life is meaningless and everything is against them. Winry if anything is the exact opposite of that. She is a cheerful and happy teenage girl. However she is a teenage girl and thus has her moments of weakness. She does become stronger emotionally as the series progresses.
And yes to a point I agree that Winry overhearing that Scar killed her parents at that exact moment was somewhat cliche but I don’t think there is a story out there that isn’t cliche to some point.
Its sad but you’re right really. Every other character in the show is multidimensional. But Winry? She’s just the generic love-interest for Ed who exists at times only to further the plot.
So what? It’s true that Winry is not as interesting as Scar or Mustang. But she’s necessary, because she’s a confident to Al or Ed, and without her, they would not be able to express their thoughts to us.
@Immelman
That’s a joke, right? O.O Ever heard of inner monologue and other such fancy story-telling devices? For god’s sake, what a lame reason to give..
I haven’t seen this episode yet, but honestly, the stuff that they are excluding from the manga hasn’t detracted from the pacing thus far. The fight with Envy in the previous episodes wasn’t important to the plot really. I feel like they’re getting the earlier parts of the manga rushed through so we can see the better/later parts executed a little more smoothly.
Aw, I like Winry. She gets a raw deal because you can’t really have her in those hard core action scenes but I think she’s a central character to the story. She keeps Ed and Al tethered to the ground, and she’s interesting enough on her own to know she has her own things going on. I think if you follow the story from the beginning (the manga, at least) you understand Winry a lot more.
I really agree with Joe G. I love Winry as well, and, face it, for the brothers, she is home. I felt like your review was a little biased towards her, but I do agree that the episode was great.
21:48- Please don’t be offended, but why have inner monologues? Now, that’s just lame. If people can’t hear your thoughts, why should you be able to hear theirs?
heh-Agree with the last comment, inner monologue has its place, but it feels much more natural to have a character hash their troubles over with someone else if possible
Yes Winry was a little over the top in this episode and her VA wasn’t helping, but I don’t think she’s “dead weight” like some people seem to think here. She is capable (Rush Valley) and it might just be that people are still linking her to the first FMA series that everyone is spewing hate at her like she’s the Sakura in Naruto.
Wow!!!
This episode is really cool. The episode of fullmetal alchemist brotherhood in this time, gift me surprised. Al, Ed, & Scar they were fighting. And once again gift me surprised, that fuhrer was homuculus.
Wow. . . . He’s big enemy.
I thought it was natural for Winry to be alll angsty in this episode. hello, it’s her parents’ killer right in front of her eyes! And like Edward says, “her hands aren’t for killing, they are for saving…”
I still dont get why people would hate her. She’s NOT emo at all. She only cries when bad events happen to the elric brothers.
It’s not that winry is emo, like psgels said this episode tried too much to make the audience shed a tear and thats why it wasn’t as good. Episodes that naturally make you emotional are still better then trying to force the audience.