Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 10
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 10
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Col. Mustang has a dream-memory of the Ishval War where Hughes first pledged his support to Mustang’s desire to become Führer. Meanwhile, Major Armstrong, Lt. Col. Hughes, Al, and Ed meet in Ed’s hospital room to discuss current events and what Ed learned in the now destroyed Lab 5. King Bradly arrives to the shock of Ross and Brosh outside. Upon entering Ed’s room, the people inside are shocked as well. After looking over their research, Bradley orders them to stop the investigation and to trust no one in this matter. Bradley tells them that he will have special things he’ll want them to do in the future though.

Winry comes by with Ed and Al’s tickets to Dublith, where their former sensei in Alchemy lives. Upon learning that Dublith is just south of the Rush Valley, home of some great automail, Winry convinces them to let her tag along with them. After the trio take off the following day, Hughes receives information about recent events which when combined with an article in the newspaper, Hughes leaves to do some additional research in the library. Upon learning more of the truth, he’s confronted by Lust, who attacks him and wounds him. Hughes manages to get a tossed knife into Lust’s head and escapes, not realizing this won’t kill her.

Outside the library, Hughes leaves a small blood trail and is seen by the officer in charge of the phone banks. Initially, Hughes is going to make a call to Mustang from there but decides to go out and use a pay phone instead. Outside, Hughes makes his call but before he can be connected to Mustang, Envy arrives, disguised as Lt. Ross. Hughes realizes that this is not Ross and points this out to Envy. Envy corrects the disguise mistake, then transforms into Gracia, Hughes’ wife. That’s enough to freeze Hughes for a moment, allowing Gracia-Envy to shoot Hughes. As Envy is hanging up the phone, Mustang answers but there’s no one there.

While Winry, Ed, and Al continue their journey (Ed and Winry enjoying Gracia Hughes’ apple pie), a military funeral is held for Maes Hughes. Afterward as Mustang and Riza stand at Hughes’ grave, Mustang decides to do a bit of investigation. He retraces Hughes last known places to the telephone booth and interviews the two people who last spoke to him. Mustang wants to know what information Hughes could have had. Armstrong arrives but cannot tell Mustang anything about what Hughes learned. Armstrong does provide some clues though so as to not disobey Bradley’s orders on the subject. Mustang suspects the military leadership and promises that his first act upon transferring to Central City will be to investigate the matter further.

Thoughts/Review:

Having the episode front loaded with comedy certainly disguised the fact that Hughes was going to die in the 2nd half of the anime. I knew that it wouldn’t be long before he’d be killed, but I thought he’d make it through next week. Guess that goes to show what I know, eh? ^_~

I will say that while Hughes’ death was sad, the emotional impact of his death was not as great for me this time. I’m sure part of that comes from knowing he was going to die, but part of it stems from the quicker pace of this anime series. As such, we don’t have as deep a connection to Hughes and that’s a shame. Still, any time a character gets killed, it opens up the door to kill other characters, meaning one can never know for sure if this character or that character will make it. As a dramatic tool, it works well.

There were a lot of good things in this episode. For starters, seeing how the Ishval War is what seems to have planted the seeds for Mustang to want to become Führer. Clearly, he was not happy with King Bradly even back then and who can blame him considering how the war went (even though they were victorious)? I like how Hughes was there from the start as Mustang’s first supporter in his quest for power. I also like how Armstrong managed to give Mustang some information without breaking Bradley’s orders.

Going to the comedy, King Bradley’s visit to Ed in the hospital worked pretty well, though I can’t say I was laughing my rear off or anything. Because I know a bit about Bradley from the first anime series, seeing him in these lighter moments made me appreciate more where the story will take him (or rather, where the story will take us regarding him).

So, another episode that manages to hit both ends of the spectrum — comedy and dark drama. The previews appear to have a character I don’t remember from the first series, so looks like I may be getting some new materials. Here’s hoping. ^_^