Haha! I knew it! Even though the creators may have been trying to not show Marcoh’s new face for a while, they still were trying too hard in the way that absolutely nothing of his face was shown. Not even hints. Besides, the total absence of Mai Chang also showed that the hooded guy that travelled with Scar was one big decoy; otherwise there was no reason for him to split up with Mai Chang and the moustache guy.
Nevertheless though, that fight between Scar and Kimbley kicked ass. While not the deepest character, Kimbley has this air around him that makes him fun to watch. He’s definitely a big change from the first season. It’s one thing that he was a purely evil maniac back there, but the absolutely pathetic way the creators used him in the final parts of the series really made him into one my least favourite characters of the first series.
It’s also interesting that the creators actually paid attention to the effects of heat and cold on metal in this episode. It seems that the winter has arrived, and on top of that Ed and Al have travelled to a high and cold mountain range in the middle of a blizzard. And his automail actually causes him troubles. The strange thing however, is that alchemy suddenly also stopped working. Seeing the nature of alchemy and Rentanjutsu, could it be that something exists that only allows alchemy to be used in certain places? Like, rentanjutsu is the alchemy that’s used throughout the world, but someone created renkinjutsu, which only can be used inside the country.
Armstrong’s older sister is also quite different from what I imagined. While Armstrong always had something comical about him, his sister is dead serious. Or at least, at first sight. And yet, she seems to be even more dangerous than he is.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I’m pretty sure this doesn’t count as a spoiler…I noticed that you misinterpreted a scene in your review, so below this is the correction. Don’t read if you think it may spoil you in any way.
Ed’s alchemy didn’t work because he wasn’t transmuting the right material. You have to know what you’re breaking down to break it down; and if its a different material, then it’ll be unsuccessful. Ed thought that his attacker’s auto mail had the same structure, but his alchemy failed because it didn’t.
from what I understand in the manga, rentanjutsu and renkinjutsu use different sources for their alchemy. I don’t know if I should elaborate more but May Chang will explain it soon, I guess. 😛
regarding Rentanjutsu and Renkinjutsu, while their origins are now clear (in the manga), the actual difference is still up in the air. So, this is one area where folks reading the manga are as confused as you are.
I’m pretty sure why the alchemy didn’t work will be explained in the next episode but it’s not any big revelation involving Rekanjutsu and Renkinjutsu so below is an explanation:
Since Ed’s automail is having problems the reasons that other guys automail was fine was because it was a special northern region model. It’s made of different materials and thus when Ed tried to break it down he was thinking it was made the same as his and so, he couldn’t break it down because he didn’t know the structure.
I’m pretty sure why the alchemy didn’t work will be explained in the next episode but it’s not any big revelation involving Rekanjutsu and Renkinjutsu so below is an explanation:
Since Ed’s automail is having problems the reasons that other guys automail was fine was because it was a special northern region model. It’s made of different materials and thus when Ed tried to break it down he was thinking it was made the same as his and so, he couldn’t break it down because he didn’t know the structure.
interesting!
@psgels
just in case you missed it, theres a pretty important scene after the credits. there are big spoilers in the next week preview though
i gotta say this, and i know it’s probably in the minority here and elsewhere on the net, but olivia mira as a character is probably the most OVERRATED, UNBELIEVABLE character in this entire manga. she looks nothing like her powerful brother, pretty much looks and pouts like a supermodel, yet we’re supposed to believe she’s this badass, super-tough uber-general? really? because she’s always angry and can pose with a sword? at least give her some more muscles, a more homely appearance or something, SOMETHING that makes me think, “hmmm, she COULD be a badass instead of a page 3 Victoria Secret model.”
anyways, needless to say i’m not a fan (haha). this part of the manga is kinda bleh to me so the sooner they move on the better (although it does introduce the rest of the major players on both sides to be fair).
the episode was okay, kimbley wussed out pretty easily for a guy with TWO (count’em, TWO) philosopher’s stones. what’s he saving them for, a rainy day? you’re fighting a super-pissed-off-at-YOU-guy who’d be tough to face even without the extra motivation. just saying.
Bobby: So basicly, you dont like her because she looks like a woman? seriously? she can only be badass if she is a huge muscle bound person like most of her family? we think she is badass because she dosent just “stand there and pout” she actually leads her men.
As for Kimblee and his stones i guess he just underestimated his opponent and did not have a chance to use them before he got speared.
Were you guys paying attention to the episode? Ed Can us alchemy. He creates that hand spear right at the beginning of the fight. He just couldn’t destroy the automail.
And I agree with TakashiD, you don’t have to be buff to command a fort. You need to be smart strategic leader. There’s more to fighting then physical strength.
Well, Olivia shows her physical strenght later on the manga. I don’t want to spoil anything, but you get to see her fighting near the end, remember?
(and hey, not everyone on the Armstrong family has lots of muscles, remember Alex’s cute sister? heh =P)
yes his cute sister that lifted a pianio above her head
I was a bit taken aback at how the alchemy didn’t work as well. I thought it had to do with something about the non-functioning automail arm, which wasn’t able to complete the alchemy ‘circle’ because it wasn’t working…
But I guess the real explanation has already been given by manga readers.
“””But I guess the real explanation has already been given by manga readers.”””
Actually it was pretty clear without any extra explanations, the explanation was hinted by Ed himself in the episode, at 18:26 he screams ((Isn’t that thing made of Metal !!!?)) clearly showing that he used his alchmey expecting his opponent’s automail to be made out of metal and that’s why his alchemy didn’t work (typical alchemy in FMA is 3 steps … 1-analysis, 2-decomposition , 3-recomposition .. but it seems ED skipped the analysiss step thinking he already knows what the material he is transumiting is .. kinda like how Scar always skips the recomposition step)
It also explains why the other guy didn’t have any problems using his automail in the cold since it is made from a metrial that’s not very affected by cold like metal.
From what I remember, the fact that Ed couldn’t use alchemy was just that Buccaneer’s automail is made from different materials, hence working on that weather, while Ed was performing alchemy thinking it would be for some normal automail, like his.
Same way Scar failed his alchemy once, because he thought Ed’s arm was made of flesh.