Whoa! Shadow! Spoilers ahead! Do not read if you didn’t watch this episode yet!
I was already told that Pride’s identity would be the biggest spoiler of the series, that we’ve already seen his human form. Because of that, I occasionally imagined who the hell he could be, but who it eventually turned out to be… I never considered that option. I really thought that it was going to be some sort of obscure adult.
There still are a lot of questions remained about why the son of Bradley of all people turned out to be Pride. Out of all the disguises, that has to be one of hardest to keep up. The people around him (maids, et cetera) should all be aware that something is wrong with a kid after a few years. I especially wonder how long Pride has been playing for Bradley’s son anyway: if he doesn’t age, then there are bound to be people who find it strange what’s happening to this kid, and why he refuses to grow up.
One theory is that he can take up multiple forms, and only recently decided to play for Wrath’s son, because Father’s plan is about to come to fruition. In this episode we’re shown that Kimbley wasn’t just set out to catch Scar, but also to instigate the final massacre at Briggs. And finally I’ve gotten my respect for Winry: she finally ends up doing something relevant, and I admire her courage in this episode despite finding out that she’s basically a hostage.
With this, I can see the big lines of the plot that’s currently still left: protect Briggs, go after Father, and in the meantime provide adequate background for all of the important characters. Sounds promising!
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Oh my god. Hohenheim’s backstory should be within the next couple episodes. This is so exciting!!!!!
hm we have not seen envy for a while wonder what he is up to
@keith
Easy my boy! Lets not even give hints to psgels. It is awesome fun to see a person going “whoa!!!” when he/she watches an episode.
@psgels
I can assure you, there are going to be at least 3-4 “whoa!!!” moments in the next 10-12 episodes. get ready for the ride! 😀
I’m really glad you were not spoiled about who Pride was. So far most of what I’ve been seeing is people saying they already knew because they were spoiled. It’s good to know someone on the Interwebs managed to stay surprised.
And Winry’s moments in Briggs are some of my favorite parts in the story.
the scne that revealed pride in the manga was actually a lot creepier. they only showed the image of Selim surrounded by the eyes for a second, but in the manga it felt a lot darker
I’m so happy you found some respect for Winry!~
The funny thing is I always liked her and was never annoyed by her until the chapters at Briggs xD But I still like her.
Ah, the part with Pride was MUCH creepier in the manga. Much, much creepier. I think I’m just dissapointed in the way they drew his face. The cute look comes off seeming really forced and not natural at all.
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/fullmetal_alchemist/v018/c070/36.html
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/fullmetal_alchemist/v018/c070/37.html
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/fullmetal_alchemist/v018/c070/38.html
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/fullmetal_alchemist/v018/c070/39.html
And they did something I was really hoping the wouldn’t. Changing his voice. I know it makes sense and all but I thought it would be much creepier if he kept his cute little voice while he was the homunculus just as he keeps his cute little face. That’s always how I imagine it in the manga anyway…
Just as another note this how Pride should have looked when he was revealed: a lot creepier than he looked in the anime.
http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/70/39/
Somehow I imagined that cut Pride gave to Riza’s cheek in slow motion in the manga… not the way they did it. Creepier… like the reveal was in the manga rather then anime *sigh* oh well, it was still pretty good
Have to say I like Winry better in this version then in anime1… but she still irritates me at times. But then with the levels of awesome/badass the other female characters reach in FMA:B she doesn’t stand much of a chance! ;D
OMG!!!!! OMG!!!!! Can you not see my suprise? This episode was my favorite so far just because of all the major revelations. This show is epic, I love every minute of it.
I like the “hint” of romantic feelings between Ed and Winry. In the first anime that was never really hit upon. It’s very cute. Ed was so funny in this episode when he was naming all the elements trying to get the Lt.’s words and Winry out of his head.
nice ep. glad they’re leaving briggs for a while so things can finally pick up. i like how they introed the ep with kimblee’s men walking in together, don’t recall seeing that in the manga, but it was a nice way of letting the audience know, these guys are probably not generic “soldier no. 1” types.
credit to bones for doing pride’s shadow decent justice so far, when i first read the manga i wondered how the heck could this translate to anime? i’ve read hear and elsewhere how the manga reveal of pride is more creepier. true, but black and white is muuuuuuuuuuuuch easier to emphasize/de-emphasize and highlight or stylize a panel. plus his true identity is a poorly kept secret so there’s no real WHOA! unless you’ve lived in a cave for the last 8 years.
kimbley is a KICKASS bad guy, he ca’t be called an antihero, but anti-villain maybe? the talks he gave to mustang/hawkeye in ishbal, on the train after scar shish-kebabed him, and to winry in the car, just great and surprisingly LOGICAL arguments/comments. he might be batsh!t crazy, but there’s method to his madness.
@Bobby- I agree with your assesment of Kimblee. His logic has a strange sense of truth to it. He may be a psychopath, but he is a logical one. He’s the guy I love to hate or hate to love?
@egress63
hahaha, I was thinking of the same thing, it’s so interesting to see psgels have a “WOAH” moment. 😛
I guess Selim has only been adopted after having grown almost until what he is now.. even though it sounds improbable
maybe the author really forgot this tiny plot-hole
its true that the whole pride having a childs body is never properly explained. my belief is that he probably doesnt age from his current state, although you never know as its left vague.
i also cant remember it ever being revealed when he was ‘adopted’ into the bradley household. my guess would probably be only a few years prior the start of fma in order to help facilitate the final stages of whatever fathers planning with the rest of the homonculus. if thats the case, it wouldnt look too strange that he doesnt age; appearing as a preteen most people would probably assume hes just due a growth spurt in the near future. thats how i always imagined it anyhow.
if wikipedias true it looks like fma missing a week over new year
From my understanding Selim was adopted as the Bradly’s son only recently and beforehand he was helping out in other areas of the plan always in the same form as he is now. But it went unnoticed because A) he wasn’t playing an iconic figure as the head of the countries son and B) he was only around and working with people who were in on the plan.
If you want to know, it’s going to be revealed later, but Mustang’s information system finds some pictures as far back as the founding of the country I think with Selim in them along side whoever was a part of the plan at the time and he was only ever aging 5 years older or younger. But they kept his presence well hidden.
psgels, I guess both of us were a bit ‘spoiled’ by overzealous commenters that Pride was to become someone we’ve already seen, etc etc. Still it was a good ‘reveal’ for what it was worth.
As for him not growing up, that’s a good point in the fact that someone should have noticed by now, if not his mother at least. Perhaps his power has a bit of Envy’s power in that he can make it appear that he’s growing… or at least give his 10 year old body a 5 o’clock shadow!! 🙂
Pride can age a little bit because there are photos of Pride as younger and older that Roy sees after Madame Christmas shows it to him.
Somewhat of a spoiler I suppose regarding whether or not Pride ages.
Pride doesn’t age. Hiromu Arakawa (the author of FMA) confirmed it in a recent FMA Q & A thing where she replied to some FMA questions. One of them was whether Pride can age, and she said he can’t. In the chapter where Roy looks at old photos of Pride and comments on how he never looks more than 5 years older or younger, I imagine that would be due to the clothes he’s wearing. Wearing different clothes can make someone look older or younger. It seems like that’s the case given the confirmation he can’t age! I would guess he was ‘adopted’ recently otherwise people would notice his lack of aging.
Ok. What a ride. I just caught up on the manga and I can’t wait to see each and every chapter transformed into sweet anime-candy form. And I MUST say Hiromu Arakawa is a genius in the truest sense. Not only did she conceive both the plot lines for the original anime and the manga simultaneously, they were both glorious. To be honest, between Hiromu Arakawa (FMA), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Ichiro- O-kouchi (Code Geass), and Tite Kubo (Bleach) that’s all the inspiration I need. These four are the pillars of inspiration that allowed me to create my own manga “Prime” (which you can view at http://www.primeoff.com). Your thoughts on it would be much appreciated since I’m sure we have remotely relevant tastes considering that if your posting here, you LOVE FMA just as much as I do. Visit at http://www.primeoff.com