Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 03

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 03
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 03
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03Arriving in Liore to investigate the miracle performing priest named Cornello, Al and Ed meet Rose, a devout follower of Cornello who believes the priest can raise the dead. After talking with her about faith and alchemy, they do convince Rose to set up a meeting between them and Cornello. When Cornello hears of their arrival, he realizes his plans are in jeopardy as Elric brothers are working for the government.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03After being shown in, they are beset upon by Cornello’s people, but those people are quickly defeated. Cornello shows up and after exchanging words with Ed over miracles and alchemy, Cornello has a chimera set upon them, which Ed defeats. Cornello instructs Rose to shoot the brothers after realizing they had attempted to perform human transmutations but she hesitates. Cornello creates a Gatling gun with his Philosopher’s Stone ring, but Al grabs Rose and with Ed they escape.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03Cornello gives chase and has his followers try to stop the trio, but Ed is too strong for for them. Al is with Rose on a balcony with Rose struggling regarding her faith and the revelation of what Al and Ed did. Ed confronts Cornello in Cornello’s office and tricks the priest into going off on his followers to reveal the truth. This is broadcast over radio and loudspeaker in Liore.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03Cornello is infuriated and in an attempt to attack Ed, his Philosopher’s Stone rebounds and basically turns Cornello into a chimera. Ed is the better fighter but when he attempts to grab the stone, it falls out of the ring, breaks, and dissolves. Ed declares it a fake and leaves. Rose confronts Al and Ed one more time since her dream of having her lover brought back to life is shattered. After Al and Ed leave town, Cornello discovers Lust and Gluttony waiting for him. Lust kills Cornello for failing his mission and Gluttony eats him.

Thoughts/Review:

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03I remember in the first series that this story covered two episodes and that Rose had a baby. There was a distinct, darker feeling to the original series’ story and while those elements are here, the production team opted for a mix of comedy and drama. Rose has no baby (does she have one in the manga?) so that added extra of danger is removed (actually, I’m told the baby didn’t come until later in the first series — I had to sell it a couple of years ago so I didn’t remember when the baby showed up — thanks for the corrections!). However, Rose’s character design gives her a less cutesy feel and a more genuine one, thus making her belief feel real despite the added danger element of a baby. Things move at a rapid pace rather than take a leisurely stroll as in the original anime. Both versions of the story have good and bad to them and I can’t say that I like one over the other.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03Animation-wise, the production team have been doing an interesting thing to cut costs — use the humor moment to have cheap animation. Normally, I’d be annoyed when animation shifts in quality as it does here, but now that the animators are using the cheap art/animation moments to exaggerate humor stuff, they get a pass. The cost savings from those moments are then channeled into the action sequences, resulting in some nicely-animated fight scenes. This method of production may account for why there has been an increase in humor moments and “chibi” jokes against Ed. I don’t know how dark or comedic the manga is (those who’ve read, please feel free to enlighten me) .

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03Another interesting production item is the use of split-screen. I know this method of story telling has been done on the American show 24, but I don’t remember it ever being done in anime (and I’m not talking about those brief “show shock” splitting of the screen to show multiple characters but rather having an animation sequence done in two separate screens). That’s not to say it hasn’t been done, but in my limited viewing experience, its never been done.

TFullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03hat said, I have to say that it gave a more weight to the conversation between Rose and Ed about faith and alchemy. We could see his flippant attitude while at the same time we could see Rose’s reaction to Ed’s words. So I really like the judicious use of split screen and if needed, I hope we see it again.

The “Father” character gets name-dropped here, which I know comes from the manga. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03So that is the one element of newness to the story that is nice for me seeing as how Father was not in the original anime. I will enjoy watching how this element to the story plays out. I’m guessing that Father is the creator of the homunculi, otherwise he wouldn’t be addressed as such (the Japanese word “otousama” was used, so I doubt there’s a religious element to the title “Father” beyond parenthood of some sort).

Three down and I’m very pleased with this reboot of the franchise. ^_^

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10 Responses to “Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 03”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Things are moving a bit faster than I’d like. The anime is pretty good otherwise.

  2. Anonymous says:

    I can’t quite remember the full details of the manga, but when I was reading it I found it to be quite well balanced in terms of comedy and darkness.

    I remember watching the first anime and that past the halfway point, it become too serious. The manga is never too dark for too long. We are often refreshed with brief comedy scenes so that the story is never dragged into a pit of depression.

    I think someone who’s read it more recently will be able to give a better analysis.

  3. mastermack0 says:

    Rose does not have a baby in the manga nor in this adaptation. She really isn’t that important of a character.

    Lior isn’t supposed to be a dark and depressing story (nor should it last 2 episodes). In fact, MOST of wahts going to happen for the next 10 episodes isn’t supposed to be dark (Nina MAYBE but she didn’t get any build up in the manga, so any build up in the anime should be appreciated.).

    The anime does touch dark issues later but for now, comedic relief EVERYWHERE.

  4. Charred Knight says:

    You made a mistake, in the first anime Rose didn’t have a baby until she was raped by Central Soldiers.

    It’s basically the most controversial part of the first series.

    Personally, this reboot is going great. The only real problem I had with this episode was in the manga, where Ed talks about how science can explain everything when his brother is a soul attached to a suit of amror. Science can’t explain a soul so Ed would have to believe in something that science can’t explain.

  5. AstroNerdBoy says:

    That’s the problem with no longer owning the first series — I can’t go back and watch again. I just remembered she had a baby at some point and I thought it was from the start. Thanks for the correction though. ^_^

  6. evgenidb says:

    Well, you can always download it. Plenty of torrents. ‘Course, it’s not so fun as to own it, but if you’re desperate…

  7. AstroNerdBoy says:

    I could. I only watched the original anime once. I have such a backlog of anime that frankly, I don’t have time to really watch all the anime I do own. ^_^;;;;;

  8. O-chan says:

    Honestly, while I liked the first two episodes of this series I do feel this episode took a dive in animation quality. I’m still going to keep up with the series but it is becoming slightly apparent this series seems to have a lighter budget.
    But next episode…oh god, do we have to go through that emotional gut punch AGAIN?!

  9. AstroNerdBoy says:

    Well, that animation drop off showed up especially in the comedy bits. I thought the fights were still pretty much OK though.

  10. […] a completely different note, I had to laugh when the anime made use of split screen. Why? Well, in episode 3 of the new Fullmetal Alchemist series, I remarked that other than to show surprised reactions for […]

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