Oh my god. Talk about an amazing episode, seriously. This episode contained so many plot twists and amazingly directed action-scenes. It really ranks among the best episodes of this series so far. I’m really beginning to understand why the story of the manga is so highly regarded.
To start off with, this episode really took me by surprise when those bodies on Envy suddenly started talking to Ed. I first thought that it was just another illusion by Envy, but damn, those are the souls of real people there, who once were sacrificed in order to create this homunculus. That fight scene also showed how scared Ed still is of ending lives. Common sense should have told him that those bodies were nothing like normal people, and yet he lost all will to fight for that moment.
It was a bit questionable that May Chang and scar were able to track down Al and Gluttony that easily, but there’s probably some reason for the two of them to be present in the next episode. To make up for it, we got some very nice build-up during the journey that Ed and Gluttony made to “father”, and some awesomely animated fights between Scar and May Chang and the various chimera.
On top of that, we get the back-story on king Bradley. He once was a human, specifically “bred” to advance the experiments on homunculi by “father”, and I guess that he was trying to create a homunculus from a human. I guess that that’s why every homunculus is different: they were all created through various means.
And what the heck, Al is actually still at that door?! That’s one hell of a twist, and yet it makes so much sense: it’s been made clear that bodies don’t simply disappear to the realms of god, so it still must have been somewhere. The same goes for Ed’s limbs: where did they get to? And is there perhaps also some homunculus walking around with the Izumi’s guts? In any case, this proves to be a major step forward for Al to get his body back. All they need to do now is make a truce with the homunculi, borrow one of their stones and have Al attempt human transmutation. The only problem seems to be to get the Homunculi to cooperate.
Also, on a different note, when I checked MAL, it suddenly came up with a total amount of 63 episodes for this series. This obviously hardly says anything, since at MAL they like to use any baseless rumour for these amounts of episodes, but at the same time 63 seems a bit too random to just have been pulled out of thin air. Is there some trustworthy source to support this claim? Or is this just the case of another noob who just went with a number that sounded right?
Rating: *** (Awesome)
The 63 episodes apparently has appeared in some European anime magazines so it might be based on something. But until it comes from a more official source I am not betting on anything yet.
Anyways this is my favorite chapter of the manga (although the ending of the chapter still hasn’t come, I guess it will be shown next week). I like that there is some logic to what happens ( unlike the first series where people end up in our world).
Ed himself theorized that his mind and Al’s were connected since their blood mixed when they tried transmuting their mom. As for where Izumi’s organs are well I am betting they are with truth, or her truth like Ed’s limbs are. I think one of the biggest mysteries of the series is what exactly is truth (it hasn’t been answered yet in the manga so I am not hinting at anything).
Also getting Al’s body back, it’s not going to be as easy as all that.
If 63 is the real episode count, then it’s good news, ’cause we can go at the 1.5 chap per ep pacing, which has played out quite well so far. As far as it’s not 51-52, or any number lower than 60, it’s fine.
Well, we still don’t know when the manga is going to end… True, it’s close to ending, but I do not see in finishing in the next 6 chapters, and that means half a year… So I’m really not sure how it’s going to play out
The episode was indeed great, and there are at least 2 more episodes of greatness!
They might try and do what Vampire Knight did and finish the manga and anime at the same time, but that didn’t work out to well for Vampire Knight.
yeah this was a pretty cool part of story finding that Al’s body is still alive. This gives Ed a lot more motivation to keep on moving.
Hard to say when the manga is going to end, but I agree with Perrin4869’s guess; probably not within the next six months if we are expecting an FMA calibre ending. Lol we’ll just have to keep on watching to see how many episodes there will be.
So far this show is pushing all the right buttons for me. I first thought that it was Ed at the other gate. But when realized it was Al’s body I was like =0
For Homunculi, there’re two types of them. The “Pure” Homunculi, which use Philosophers’ stones own power to create physical bodies, and “Hybrid”, which use living human as a base. So far, Bradley is the only one Hybrid, the rest are Pure type. Hence, that’s why Bradley ages, but still gains Homunculus superpower.
Things are getting more and more interesting from now on.
It is a good thing that Bones decided to make a new FMA series so I have my dose of FMA while waiting for the next FMA chapter to come out 🙂
I think 63 is a good length for the anime. I remember reading somewhere that the mangaka want to end the series at ch.100. I’m not sure how this is possible unless she intent to make the next chapter (which is 100th) extra extra long to wrap thing up. Well this is all rumours. Bones probably got some insider info on when the manga would end.
The manga is definitely not ending in one more chapter (100) but I think 6 more is entirely possible. The series is definitely heading towards it conclusion.
this episode was great but im worried about the next episode. from the looks of the preview their planning on having a filler episode that wasnt in the manga. if the preview is accurate it appears to be about Hohenhium (damn it, i cant spell his name). I hope they dont make it the whole episode at least, because we are getting to one of the best parts soon.
@ TakashiD
I am nervous about the next episode too. Perhaps they decided to have an anime only episode so they won’t catch up to the manga material too quickly. But if that is the case I wonder why they rushed through earlier chapters.
um, i don’t know if you missed this, but ed limbs are at the gate too. the see-though truth guy is wearing them…
but i agree, this was definitely one of the best episodes so far!
I am loving the ending song because of the way the episode ends – mixing the ending with the song.
The ending of this episode was amazing. Even though I have read the manga, its been a long time since I read this chapter.I don’t remember a lot of the events of the earlier chapters. When Ed broke through to give his message to ‘Al’, I had a big smile.
Well, its hard to say how long the anime will be, since the manga is still going. I’ve been fruitlessly hunting for a release date for Chapter 100.
“They might try and do what Vampire Knight did and finish the manga and anime at the same time, but that didn’t work out to well for Vampire Knight. ”
Hahaha you could say that, I think the manga is “halfway” done at the point the second anime season ended lol.
@pgal
haha i totally agree with you on how they ended with the ED mixing with the end of the episode like they’ve done a few times. this song is by far my least favorite of the 4 songs so far (OP and ED) but damned if it didn’t work so seamlessly every time they mix it into the episode’s ending…
this episode was GREAT, this series is EPIC, i can see how people can have some built-in loyalty to the original series but seriously, is there any comparison?
i hope that 63-ep rumor is true, based on the amount of battling and new characters that get introduced between now and the end, they’re going to need as many eps as they can get. as for the issue with the anime catching up to the manga, maybe they are talking with arakawa to get at least an idea of how she’ll resolve the story so at least they’ll have some indication of what to do when they start to catch up.
i agree the manga doesn’t seem to be finishing any time soon, though i think whenever the end comes it’ll probably be at least twice as long as a regular chapter.
Looking at that preview TakashiD, I think it will sort of be a filler. I think the first half will be a good chunk of material made up by the animators but centered around bits from the manga that I’ve been wondering when would show up. I think the latter part of the episode goes with straight up manga. Just a guess though.
damn that was good! but i always get confused with stuff relating the “gate”. so they found a human transmutation circle? how is that different from the circle in lab 5 to do a stone? 😐
This episode was filled with all sorts of awesomeness!!! OMG!! The tension was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. They sure know how to keep us wanting more. The suspension and cliffhanger ending had me on the edge of my seat. This is my favorite episode so far. The animation seemed to be better than the average episode. Hope that next episode keeps the momentum going. The previews seemed more like a backround episode. We’ll see.
judging from the preview, i don’t recall any of it in the manga, so most likely it’s a filler… Sigh going to have to wait 2 week for the climax i guess..