Forum - View topicFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV) (w/ index).
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kpk
 Posts: 484 |
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If he said is an atheist then is an atheist. There isn't "more true" to it. Oh, and.. a recap episode? 
WTF? |
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Dune
Posts: 223 |
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If he firmly believes there is no God, then he's an atheist. Maybe he is. I find it hard to completely believe that's the case, though, given some of the points you brought up.
Lol, yeah. Episode 27 is mostly a recap episode from what I've read. Looking forward to Thursday so I can see it myself. But anyway.. Episode summaries for the future, for those interested: spoiler[28: Al and Shao May arrived at Father at last by Gluttony's lead. Suddenly Ed, Ling and Envy appeared from Gluttony's lacerated belly. The pleasure of meeting again was passing moment, then "Father" who appeared in front of Ed and Al looked like Hohenheim who is their father. "Father" orders protecting Ed and Al, and killing Ling. 29: Ed and Al who got caught by Envy are taken to Bradley who is in Central Command Center by the order of "Father". By Roy who was already in the room, Ed and Al are informed that all the top of military was falling into the hands of enemy. Ed rejects having a part in the plan of "Father", and tells to Bradley to return the licentiate of State Alchemist. 30: Ed visited to Riza's apartment to return the gun which borrowed from Riza. Ed told Riza that he couldn't shoot a gun against the enemy. And he asked her about the strain of having a gun and Ishval war which caused to accept it. Meanwhile, in the basement of Central Command Center, Marco was telling Scar what military brought on Ishval. 31:Ed who left Riza met Al again in the town. Ed tells about Roy and Riza who never give up living and act with looking to "the things after accomplishing a purpose" since finishing Isval war, then they also renew their resolve to take their lost bodies back. In addition, Ed sees the light to Rentanjutsh which unchangeably became operative when the battle against Father. They look for May who uses Rentanjutsu] Source: http://amber1003.deviantart.com/journal/27673562/#comments |
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Tsuppi
 Posts: 12 Location: Canada |
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 Episode 27: Great but not so great.
I think that the pacing was a bit wonky. The very first frame hardly lets you ease into the episode--it's a freaky image, starting off a whole battle scene with lots of (pretty well-animated) action, but personally I think this kind of action could have been put later. Would it not have been a much better decision, in terms of editing, to start things off slowly with the slower part spoiler[of the Shao May investigation], then let the battlespoiler[ with Envy ]play out uninterrupted? (Don't even get me started on how they botched that fight's emotion--spoiler[I swear it was more shocking to have a tiny hand lain on Ed's head than to get a head popping out of another one laughing MANIACALLY]) Despite all this, the ending had every feeling of an intense, climactic cliffhanger (hoorah for alliteration  ). It just would have been better if they set it up better BEFOREHAND with less bumpy pacing. Can they ever get the pacing right? 
Dune mentioned:
...and it's hard to disagree. The payoff would be so much better if they were consistently moving at a moderate pace, not packing all of a good, long arc into an episode or two. I mean, there was the Elrics' training. spoiler[And it seems that they're going to be getting to the flashback of Ishbal--coincidentally my favourite part of all of Arakawa's manga--way too fast, which is kinda exciting anyway. ] But that's how it is. No matter the botching they do, I'm still gonna love this adaptation for its faithfulness to the source material!! 
on another note: the quality of the openings and endings is sliding a lo-o-oot. Sukima Switch doesn't even sound their best in the new OP, and I can't believe the ED (seemingly 95% fanservice) has rapping in it. 
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Westlo
 Posts: 1684 |
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Look at the reaction from Umineko VN readers to show you that isn't always the right action... and it's going to happen again with the 3rd arc sigh...
If it wasn't called FMA it would be selling fantastic... top figure is dvd, bottom is bluray. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST) 15,715+*6,316=22,031 (Bones/FUNimation) 2009/08/26 15,715 Vol. 1 (Two episodes) 2009/08/26 *6,316 Vol. 1 They're just bad compared to the first adaption and the other big Aniplex funded anime in Bakemonogatari.. which had the second best opening week for a tv series.. and it was supply constrained too lol. If it was any other show you would be totally rapt with sales figures like that. Stuff that sells 5k per dvd sometimes gets sequels... It's down from expectations but Aniplex had a surprise hit in Bakemonogatari anyway so I guess it evened out. |
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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For those that haven't seen it yet, episode 27 is a flashback episode. I am tolerant of flashback episodes but prefer episodes continually picking up where the previous "canon" episode took place.
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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Depending on what translation you see he says he is agnostic. So it's not a plot hole. In fact it is agnostic in the official Viz translation (although they have been known to make mistakes in this case I think that translation is correct). I forget how Funi translated the line. But my point is you see translation can change the meaning of a sentence.
As I said above it's a translation issue.
I am sorry but first of all what you say is not true. How is Scar's Brother everyone in Amestris? I don't see how he represents the entire Amestris population. He doesn't even represent the entire Ishbalan population since I think he was sort of an odd one. It was prettty clear that he became interested in alchemy and he saw a connection to what the Xingese were saying to what the Ishabalan religion was saying. But you know in RL there are connections between religions. So this isn't so far fetched is it? And the Xingese characters are not right about everything. You call them Mary Sue's and ignore that Arakawa was trying to introduce a different concept of alchemy. The more important thing is why did alchemy develop differently in the two countries (eastern and western philoshopers)? The only character that understands this alchemy is Mei anyways. As for Ling and Ran Fan being able to sense the homunculus again that was just a clever way to introduce to the audience what the homunculus really are with all the souls in their body. It's an advantage for sure but it doesn't help them always, cough Bradley cough. And isn't it Ed not Ling who got them out of Envy? But then again people constantly misuse the term Mary Sue.
The human transmutation circle opened the doors but he was the one standing on the circle (unlike the first time when they tried to transmute their mother the materials for a human body were inside the circle). Basically it doesn't break the taboo because he is just destructing and then reconstructing himself again. It doesn't really do anything special just open the doors. And he had a philosopher stone this time so he didn't have to worry about the price. |
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Dune
Posts: 223 |
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Looked it up, you're right. I forgot about the Viz translation. Funimation goes about it both ways, atheist in the sub with (IIRC) agnostic in the dub.
It just annoys me is that the Xingese, a bunch of visiting side characters, are the only ones who are truly right about alchemy (with some religious connotation attached). The Ishbalans tend to slip into stereotypical 'we're religious therefore fearful of science', meanwhile secular Amestrian alchemy, practically the basis behind Western civilization in this show, is usually portrayed as heavily flawed, perhaps evil in origin. They're all lost until someone can show them the glory of alkahestry (I'm using Funimation's term, it's actually a pretty clever translation). I mean, there are similarities... and then there are similarities that make it too darn easy to accept the Xingese way. I find this especially irksome since Ishbala/Ishvara is a real term borrowed from Hinduism. It'd be like having one of the brightest guys in the show saying, 'Btw, didn't you know that the Buddha we revere is really an earth god, just like the Xingese believe? How right these guys are!' It's just too convenient. You can have similarities between religions without alluding them to be practically synonyms. Arakawa does a lot of things right but this needs improvement, IMO. Maybe I exaggerate by pulling out the Mary Sue term. Btw, have you played the video games? There are multiple real Mary Sues that make my problems with the Xingese seem extremely petty by comparison. They're hilariously bad, and there's at least three of them. 
Thanks, that helps a little. I'm still confused about the bolded part though. Like, how does this differ from medical alchemy? And did he literally break down/rebuild himself a la Sandman, or something? |
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2633 |
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Well I do think the FMA world is pretty well thought out and complex but it's of course not as complex as the real world, so some conveniences have to be allowed. But what I was really trying to say is the Xingese powers are not there to make them more powerful than the other characters but to introduce concepts that are important to the plot. Some of these concepts are even introduced in a vague way at first but they might become important later on. Again I reference the Eastern and Western philosopher. Of course I understand that you don't like when outside characters just come in with the answers but I would argue that all the characters are connected in a way and this includes the Xingese characters. And I believe the two different forms of alchemy or also more connected then they may first seem.
No but from your description I guess I am not missing much. 
I haven't read Sandman (and I love Neil Gaiman too) so I am not sure about the similarity there but yes I suppose what Ed did is similar to what Mei can do but I guess they still use different sources spoiler[And he does use what he learns for medical purposes later on in volume 19]. But in this case you saw that Ed's body deconstructed and reconstructed inside the doors right? |
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Dune
Posts: 223 |
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Ha ha, I was actually referring to Spiderman Sandman. My bad for not clarifying. I'm just stuck on the whole 'transmuting yourself' thing.
Maybe so. Neither the manga nor Brotherhood have ended yet, so maybe I'll try to withhold judgment...
When you have some free time, youtube the cutscenes or something. You literally have super-powered girls that all the other characters automatically fawn over, etc. spoiler[Like the ending for the first PS2 game. Roy starts breaking down at Mary Sue's grave despite knowing her for all of three minutes. It's hilarious] |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I can't decry the latest episode too much. Sure, a recap episode is pretty worthless, but it was well-organized, and helped put together many of the pieces of the story for those who might have had difficulty keeping up. Not to mention I enjoyed how they handled Hohenheim's dream, talking to Pinako, but really it ending up being himself, since it seems to be the part of him that wants people not to give up, and the assurance of Trisha in his mind.
I couldn't help chuckling at the Evangelion episode 26-like scene, but it was sort of nice to see Hohenheim having human doubts and trying to resolve them in his head. An unnecessary episode, but as recap episodes go, not the worst. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2633 |
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I've been listening to the OST and it actually is quite impressive. I know I have complained about the use of music in the series before but I think listening to all the tracks it sort of proves that it's not the music itself (or even the lack of selection) just the placement of music is sometimes off. Although I think they have gotten better with that if episode 26 is any indication (knock on wood).
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Westlo
Posts: 1684 |
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That's what I've been saying all along, it's not the music, it's the guy in charge of the placement that is sucking ass. Same thing is happening with Umineko sadly. Whoever composes the music hardly has any input in how it is used in the show. If anyone has seen Noir and they know "that" theme which was really good.. but got used over and over again... when they asked Kajuira about it being played so much she said the producer must have really liked it.. lol. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I checked out the OST, too.
I found a lot of it pretty generic-sounding, but there were some highlights. "Lapis Philosophorum" and "Trisha's Lullaby" for instance. Not as good as Michuru Oshima's soundtrack for the first series, but still worth a listen. |
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RhymesWithEmpty
 Posts: 208 |
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Man, been meaning to post my thoughts on the last few episodes for a while, just never got around to it. Overall, I've been pretty pleased with them. I've liked Bradley's bits, including the added scene with Selim reading his speech at the dinner table. And I think his one conversation with Pride was done nicely. But I haven't liked the way Roy's parts have cut into the action going on with Ed, Ling, and Envy. Just didn't flow right. Roy's one scene with General Raven, where they tried to tie in Lt. General Grumman, came off as slightly awkward to me. But again, I did like Bradley's parts, once he got involved. The part showing his past and how spoiler[he came to be a homunculi] was done quite well.
The anime is making May Chang a bit more bearable for me, although seeing her animated does just make her seem more cartoonish than everyone else, at times. The scene where she spoiler[jumped in to save Scar, for example.] Adapted straight from the manga, but I think I bought it more in manga-form, heh. I think more of her personality is getting across, though, which is good. Glad the Elric telepathy bit was kept in. I suppose all of the scenes spoiler[inside Gluttony's stomach/at the fake gate of truth/wherever were done pretty well. Seeing Envy's true form in color was a bit weird, though, not sure how much I liked all of that green, although I'm not sure what color I was really expecting, heh. And the scene at the real gate was quite excellent - its being animated made seeing Al's emaciated body all the more shocking. And the ending theme coming on early while Ed breaks back through the doors to tell Al he'd be back for him was wonderful.] That seems like a good hodgepodge of random thoughts, heh. I actually really liked the recap episode. Hoenheim's one of my favorite characters, so it was nice to see him battling his inner demons in dream form, and the way they went about it was cool. I've gotta wonder how Hoenheim had memories of all of those scenes he couldn't have possibly viewed, but, eh, I'm not gonna question it. A lot of moments in this episodes gave me chills with just the way they were put together. Kind of makes me wish they had pulled something like this together for the first dozen episodes, although doubt it would've been as moving right at the beginning of the series. |
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Blueshift
Posts: 11 |
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wow. 28 was awesome After watching the first fma, I was led to believe spoiler[ that Hohenhiem was the main bad guy, but this seems to suggest otherwise. What timing on Ed's part, coming out of gluttony right in front of Father!!!! that was my favorite part i think.]
I hope the action stays at this pace for a while, Looking forward to 29 |
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