Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 33
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 33 review
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 33

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Kimblee continues his search for Scar and determines the likely spot for Scar and Marcoh to have jumped off the train. Deciding to check a treacherous northern pass with some troops, Kimblee discovers evidence of alchemy being used meaning that Scar has traveled north. Kimblee decides to go after them alone on another train and that night, his train catches the train Scar and companion are on. Kimblee jumps to Scars train and thinks he has Marcoh only to discover it is in fact Yoki.

Scar enters and seeing Kimblee, remembers how the alchemist slaughtered his family. Kimblee also remembers Scar and the two battle. During the fight, Kimblee quickly discovers himself at a disadvantage and Scar soon has him literally pinned to the back of a train car with a transmuted pipe. Kimblee won’t be outdone and causes the remains of the car Scar is on to explode, causing it and the cars behind it to be disconnected. Kimblee vows to finish this at a later time as Scar screams. The conductor sees much of his train missing and disobeys orders to not stop the train to investigate. A severely injured Kimblee demands they immediately continue north.

Mei Chan and Marcoh head to the hideout of Scar’s in the northern territory. Upon arrival, they find Scar’s brother’s research, which Mei Chan surmises combines the Alkahestry of Xing with the Alchemy of Amestris. Dr. Marcoh wonders if the research will be a book of hope or despair.

Meanwhile in North City, Ed is excited to see the snow and he and Al remember a rare snow in Resembool when they were kids. They hitch a ride to the entrance of Briggs. Following the snow covered path, Ed and Al find themselves in a blizzard as they head to the mountains. They come under attack by a large military man who remarks on Ed’s “average” automail, displaying his own M1913-A Crocodile military automail arm. Al is snared in a net and the fight does not go well for Ed, who’s automail begins to freeze up. Evan Ed’s alchemy has no affect on the soldier’s automail, forcing Ed to use Al’s armor head to jam up the soldier’s arm.

Some soldiers from Briggs have Ed and Al surrounded and an angry woman from a balcony on a giant wall ahead of them demands that Captain Buccaneer give a report. It is Major General Olivia Olivier Mira Armstrong, the older sister of Major Alex Armstrong. Ed hands over his letter of introduction during an ordered body check but when General Armstrong receives it, she shreds it unopened. Ed is horrified by this as General Armstrong tells them she will be the judge of character and not use some letter of introduction. It is then that Ed realizes just how huge this wall-fortification known as Briggs truly is.

Thoughts/Review:

Man, I watched this almost two weeks ago and only just now got to blog it. Well, there’s been a lot going on personally but that’s behind me for now and so time to analyze.

For starters, I loved the way Kimblee tracked down Scar. Too often, writers use some cheap method to have a hunter find his prey. I half expected Kimblee to look at a map and determine that Scar was actually going north when the evidence was pointing to the fact that Scar was moving west. Instead, Kimblee proved to be a good investigator, tracker, and hunter. He examined the possibilities and followed logic. Going north a bit was just part of being thorough to find Scar rather than some inspired bit of “He is going north because I know how Scar thinks.” It wasn’t until Kimblee found the evidence of alchemy being performed to both clear a path and restore the rock slide blockage that Kimblee knew which way his prey was heading.

Next, I like how the battle between Scar and Kimblee played out. The two recognized each other and during the fight, Kimblee was outmatched. He knew it and though it galled him to do so, Kimblee did the only thing he could do — retreat to fight another day. Kimblee may be completely bonkers, but he’s not stupid and that’s what makes him more dangerous. In their next encounter, I expect Kimblee to be more crafty in dealing with Scar.

General Armstrong is nothing like her brother, is she? *lol* I bet that growing up, she would be the type to kick his but and thus make him a stronger person. She’s certainly a no nonsense kind of person and doesn’t seem the type to just help someone out of the kindness of her heart. So for her to be an ally of Col. Mustang or even Ed and Al, they’d have to prove a great deal to her (or so it seems to me at this point). I look forward to seeing where things go.

Interesting that Izumi was at Briggs for a month or so. I wonder if she knew General Armstrong.

So, a pretty good episode that didn’t take a cliched route and provided a further unexpected surprise in the form of General Armstrong.