Forum - View topicFullmetal Alchemist (Viz Media Release) Discussion
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braves
 Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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Participants!
It is. 
Yes, please. Especially considering how this thread went. And I definitely agree about the Chimeras in this volume spoiler[being stereotypical shonen side characters who suddenly want to do good and help the main characters on their quest.] But I guess it is easy to forget that FMA is a shonen series since its fandom puts it above that level. I guess this was the occasional reminder.
Judging from the preview, it seems like we'll see the Emperor in the next volume. So Ranfan and Foo will probably make another appearance. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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Well it's not necessarily what you are thinking but it is still something to really look forward to. 
But anyways Ran Fan is one of my favorite characters so I am quite happy to see the love for her. In fact one of my favorite moments in the manga is when it was revealed that behind those masks was a girl and old man. I love how Arakawa sort of does things you don't expect like that. Oh and as for the shounen elements I guess I like corny things like that so I never minded. I am just glad it doesn't have shounen elements I dislike such as attack moves and everyone commenting on them. Although Ed did spoiler[make up one attack move: wet tongue on freezing flag pole special attack. But that was just Ed being a dork.] And I also love how although Ed is the main character he is definitely not the one who always wins the fights. |
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braves
Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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Finished vol. 19. spoiler[I was so wrong about meeting the King of Xing, but that flashback was great regardless. We finally learn what the connection is between Van Hohenheim and Father. It's pretty creepy to think that someone goes on living with voices in their head while still being sane. A walking Philosopher's Stone.... I never would have guessed. I always assumed he was a Homunculus.
The reason as to why Father created the Homunculi was something I've been looking forward to for a while. It turned to be a rather simple "to discard away his emotions", but at least now I know why he's not just doing the job himself. Aside from the trope that the main villian must always have some helpers.
Next volume is two months from now. No preview for it, though.  ]
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RhymesWithEmpty
 Posts: 208 |
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So I finally found a good book store out where I'm living now, and managed to pick up volume 19 yesterday - what a volume! Absolutely loved it. It felt like there was so much more in there than any other volume, probably because we were following so many different plot points, but they were all very strong, balanced, the transitions and tie-in between them Arakawa used were great, and none of it felt rushed, so I give this volume a big A+.
I suppose it helps quite a lot that I really love Hoenheim, eh? His back story was very interesting, and I was qiote glad to finally read it. I loved the creepy little 1st homunculi, too, and how he spoiler[tricked the emperor - it was like something out of one of those really dark fairy tails where the moral is "be careful what you wish for!" Except instead of giving the emperor what he wished for, he just killed him and took what he wanted for himself
I do find it rather weird that Hoenheim, being a slave whom his master apparently viewed as so low that he used him as a resource for his experiments, was later given so much status upon learning some math and alchemy and whatnot. Or maybe his master just took his blood because he liked him? Either that or he was just that good at alchemy, which I guess wouldn't surprise me - he is Hoenheim, after all.]
I gotta say, some of that stuff towards the end of the flashback got Evangelion-level freaky - right up my alley! Loved it! You'd think someone would eventually catch on to Mustang's little name game he's got going on with his troops, but I like it, it was a very good way for Riza to deliver her message. I do wonder what the chimera left over from the original Greed's gang is going to do. I liked that those chimeras Al saved spoiler[turned out to still be bag guys after all - well, at least the one, but I'm gonna bet they're both in on it. Not that I'm happy for Scar and Marcoh and Winry and Al the gang that he betrayed them, but I just think it's a much better use of his character, as opposed to wasting time trying to more fully flesh him out and make us care about him fixing his chimera problem, which I doubt would happen. Actually, I already like the other 2 chimera dudes that are helping Ed out more - still don't want to see them all that developed, though.] Ed and Kimblee facing off was pretty sweet, brief though it was. And man, Ed spoiler[getting a steel beam through his side was a shocker - I was just expecting to see his automail leg smashed, or something. I did cringe a bit at the whole "I've got to keep living for my friends!" bit - c'mon, most overdone thing ever - but it was pretty quick, so I was thankful for that, heh.] Al's whole temporary body situation seems to be getting more serious, too, which has me freaked out, though in a good way - seems like the pressure is really on now. It was surprising to see Fuery actually in battle, too - I hope he gets through all of that, he's one of my favorites of Mustang's men. Interesting to see Rose and Hoenheim interacting. Hoenheim steals the show, though. Funny that he calls Ed's work gaudy - funny because it's true
Also interesting that Al doesn't seem to be getting the hang of that eastern alchemy - seems like he'd be at least somewhat inclined to it, what with how calm he normally is, but I guess he's also very rational and structured in his thought process, while this is a bit more...I dunno...loosey goosey If he's getting so frustrated with it, I'd hate to see Ed attempt it Relax your inner chi, Al, you can do eet!
I'm very glad the next issue is coming out soon, I can't wait to find out what happens - if it's half as good as this issue was, it'll still be pretty dang great! |
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braves
Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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Read vol. 20 yesterday. Did they change the font? It really threw me off for a moment there.
Anyways, this volume was packed with stuff, but my favorite scene was the one with Dr. Marcoh and Envy. spoiler[But I really couldn't believe that they were about to kill Envy and...and...he's still alive in the end? I honestly thought that was kinda lame. Sure, he's one of my favorites, but having him survive like that made it seem like Arakawa wanted to kill him off but didn't get the approval from her editor or something.] I did get a good laugh out of spoiler[Hohenheim calling Al the armor from his collection. ] Now that Brotherhood is actually getting good, I'm really looking forward to seeing the fights animated. |
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ugjhmb2
Posts: 1 |
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I have bean watching it for 3 months in 10 days i was done reading the 98chapter and now im wathching it but i have allrety seen the last 4 episods!
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population_tire
 Posts: 576 |
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It's obvious Envy's staying alive for a final fight against Roy (Or do you morons call him Loy?) because of Hughes. No made-up editor disagreement involved. |
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braves
Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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Now that you mention it that makes a lot of sense. Truth be told, I had actually forgotten about that part of the story, but I always thought that in the end it would be more of Roy vs. Bradley fight like the one in the first anime. So yeah, ignore my conspiracy theories on that one.
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population_tire
Posts: 576 |
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So volume 22 is out in a few weeks but volume 23's not coming out until freaking July.
My favorite line regarding this is when Wrath says "He could never be my weakness." |
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killua9101
 Posts: 49 Location: Washington DC |
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fullmetal alchemist is by far my favorite manga of all time. i dont know if any of you have been reading the scantalation, but when spoiler[roy became blind i was horror struck! i cant wait to see what happens next!]
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Blackpeppir
Posts: 234 |
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Not to harsh on your vibe or anything, but if you'll read the thread title you'll notice that this is the discussion for the Viz release, the english volumes. You'd probably want to stay away from mentioning the scanslations. That being said, I was especially pleased with volume 22. Pride was always one of my favorite of the homuns, and with everyone joining the fray it was really enjoyable spoiler[especially when they managed to seal up the little bugger, pity Kimblee had to come along and let the brat out.] It was around this point in the story I actually started to like Greedling and the Xing characters so really a good volume. |
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RhymesWithEmpty
Posts: 208 |
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Well, I haven't posted for a few volumes, but I'll say that I've enjoyed them enough. Volume 19 was the peak of the series for me, so far, but it didn't take a nosedive or anything, so that's good.
The multiple story threads, however, started to become a bit much for me in volume 22. Hoenheim stole the show for me again, I like Mustang's spoiler[attack on central,] but even with that, more and more characters just keep popping up. I mean, ok, I like that spoiler[Havoc supplied the armored truck and ammunition and whatnot, and it's cool that Maria Ross is back,] but the part with Denny... sorry, I don't really care about him as a character, and it seems fairly obvious what's going to happen with him anyways, so, yeah, that's kind of a non-starter for me. And then Olivier Armstrong's bits are tied into all that, and you have spoiler[her soldiers joining in, and now she's battling Sloth...] they're cool ideas, but when you pile them all on top of one another, it becomes a bit much. And while that storyline just keeps getting more and more added to it, the others just seem to keep segmenting, which isn't necessarily a good thing, either. Ed and Al separated again, and I think Al's got the more compelling part this time around, which is a nice change of pace, I guess. Ed's part really just feels kind of weak to me, though. I blame Hoenheim for stealing his thunder, haha. His part of the story just seems the most... typical of standard shonen schlock right now. His whole plan seems rather juvenile, it very much reminded me of when he was going up against Roy in Fullmetal vs. Flame. I also kind of wanted to punch Al for not realizing that spoiler[Pride was sending a message in morse code,] but I'm very much looking forward to what happens next with him. Then Ling/Greed is off doing his own thing again, with gramps and Lan Fan in hot pursuit, and May Chang is back and being predictably stupid. She spoiler[inadvertently freed Envy] a lot quicker than I thought she would, actually - kinda disappointing, I thought there might be a bit more build up to it, but it was turned into a "whoops!" kind of moment, which makes spoiler[his initial defeat] seem pretty insignificant. Oh well. It kind of justified the spoiler[alchemical zombies] for me, at least. At the end of the volume, it seems like all of the different story threads are competing against one another. Trying to pull off 5 different dynamic cliffhangers in a row really just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. It was like the volume couldn't decide when it wanted to end, you can practically hear Hiromu Arakawa saying "oh, wait, just one more thing!" Al and Hoenheim's had the best endings, for me, they're definitely what I'm most interested to see in the next volume. Olivier spoiler[fighting Sloth], I can dig that. May Chang, I still don't really care about... hopefully Envy carries her parts in the next volume. And unfortunately, I think Ed had the lamest finish this time around - not a good thing for the main character. spoiler[Yah, let's fight these zombies! It won't be easy!] ...Yeah, I think the recent review here on ANN said it pretty well - compared to full blown homunculi, spoiler[fighting alchemical zombies] isn't nearly as enthralling. That whole review summed it up pretty well, actually, and I agree that FMA could just coast from here on out and still be great, but if it's going to reach volume 19 quality for me again, it's going to have to do a little better than it has been since. Oh, and the omake at the end with Al and the lion guy has got to be one of my favorites I just love Al's little determination-pose, and the whole "because you're a cat!" line, haha. The Lust-Gluttony fusion at the end of volume 21 was also pretty great.
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population_tire
Posts: 576 |
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So I just bought and read FMA 23
No one has a problem with Roy killing spoiler[Lust], but the second he wants spoiler[revenge on Envy] everyone's like "nowaidude." That really ruined the battle for me. Also, spoiler[Kimblee was killed? Um...So no final Scar VS Kimblee?] I thought they would've killed each other. Well, time for another 6 month wait. 
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Jaymie
Posts: 915 |
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spoiler[They didn't want Roy to be consumed by his hatred, or some sort of moral crap like that. To me it makes sense, but I personally would've just let him toast Envy and get it over with.]
spoiler[I don't think there was any way for there to be a Scar/Kimblee fight. Arakawa had Al, Pride, and Kimblee in a very unfortunate position. Everyone else was already in Central for the grand showdown, while those three were trapped on the sidelines. It would take a lot of convoluted plot devices to get all of them to Central, so she decided just to get Kimblee over with. His death was pretty convenient, wasn't it?  ]
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population_tire
Posts: 576 |
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spoiler[I see your point, but I would argue that there was nothing stopping Pride and Kimblee from traveling to Central together. It's not like Al was trying to kill either of them. He's just defending himself and that chimera guy and then escapes right after. I just hope there's a point to Scar by the end then. He's sort of just hanging around right now with "I'm trying to change the country." I was always hoping for a "they both kill each other to show the moral that vengeance is bad" fight even before I saw the original anime. And speaking of the first anime, it actually helped the Roy VS Envy thing a little for me. In the anime Roy doesn't seek revenge at all. He just continues on his path to becoming Fuhrer and doesn't succumb to vengeance. I still wish it was handled better in the manga, but nothing I can do about it...] |
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