Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 38

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 38
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 38 review
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 38

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38Riza deals with the knowledge that Pride is Selim and that the homunculus promised to watch her from her shadow. Mustang contacts her by phone but her short answers let him know something is wrong. Up north, the search for Scar happens in the abandoned city of Baschool. Ed and Al find Mei Chan and Dr. Marcoh before Al lets Winry out of his armor to Mei’s dismay. Yoki arrives and is stunned to see Ed and Al, who were instrumental in his downfall from the military.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38As that group discuss Scar’s brother’s research, Kimblee soldiers Zampano and Jerso find Scar and reveal they are in fact chimera. Ed and Al join the fray and figuring out the truth, pretend not to recognize the two solders in their chimera form. Zampano and Jerso are defeated as Miles arrives with troops to make an arrest. Winry confronts Scar again and a battle ensues in which Scar has apparently captured Winry, which is witnessed by Kimblee.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38In Briggs, Buccaneer and his men arrive at the hatch and expect it to be sealed as it has been longer than a day. However, General Armstrong had given a broken watch to the soldier responsible for sealing the tunnel. Buccaneer gives his subtle thanks to Armstrong as a convoy from Central arrives and a military leader has some questions for the leader of Briggs.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38

Thoughts/Review:

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38I can understand Riza’s fear concerning Pride-Selim. After all, his shadow ability means that he can get anywhere there’s a shadow, right? At least, that’s the implication and reason enough for Riza to fear. Still, if Pride can watch from the shadows, shouldn’t he be able to watch everyone? He’s shown that he can be at Briggs and at Central at the same time so that would seem to indicate that he could be Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38everywhere. Despite this, there’s no evidence that Pride has been much of anywhere to unmask any conspiracies or the like against Father’s plan. That suggests that his abilities are limited and that he may be bluffing. Then again, he may have cut Riza on purpose in order to give himself the ability to watch her, though how that would work, I don’t know. It will be interesting to see as will Roy’s eventual involvement (’cause you know he’s going to get involved somehow).

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38This episode proved why skipping Yoki’s story was a mistake in my opinion. Had that been shown properly, having the silent movie flashback sequence would have been funny to me considering Yoki’s take on how things happened vs. reality. The writers tried to compensate with that strange, rich family Yoki tried to rob from. (Was this the Armstrong family?) Still, at least the production team decided to explain why Yoki ended up with Scar and his connection to Ed and Al.
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38
Speaking of funny, I was amused by Mei Chan’s “love-love” moment complete with Xiao Mei’s imitation. Her jealousy over Winry didn’t make me laugh, but it was predictable. Still, one suspects that since Ed and Winry have feelings for each other and would pair up when the series is over, having Mei and Al pair up after he recovers his body would be a nice touch.
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38

The chimera were an interesting twist. Looks like the military were further along on chimera research than first thought if they have chimera who can shape shift.

I loved the moment between Buccaneer and Olivier Armstrong. Actually, I loved how her soft side came through by giving the soldiers tasked with sealing the tunnel a Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38broken pocket watch. Then the scene where Buccaneer expresses his gratitude without overtly doing that was a nice touch. It allows General Armstrong to keep her tough reputation while showing that she does care for her men deeply. No wonder they all seem fiercely loyal to her and why Central would have to neutralize her, which is what I suspect this visit at the end of the episode is about.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38Finally, there’s the battle with Scar. After taking a day to consider it in the back of my mind, I decided that I’m not buying the final scene with Scar holding the apparent unconscious Winry. Though Ed and Al do consider Scar an enemy, Kimblee has to be an even worse enemy. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Further, Ed and Al need access to Scar’s brother’s research on alkahestry, Mei Chan, and Dr. Marcoh. Since Scar is an honorable man in his own way (the incident with Winry’s parents aside), I figure Ed and Al must have struck a deal with Scar and gotten Miles to go along with it. That way, the others get away, Scar reveals he has Winry and escapes, thus Ed and Al have a millstone removed from their neck so that they can get to the alkahestry research.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38I could be wrong, of course, but I keep thinking of how Ed chastised Kimblee for not keeping better tabs on Winry. Clearly, Kimblee had no idea that Winry had slipped into Al’s armor body so Ed’s words seem to be designed to get Kimblee to believe that Scar had kicked their tails and had Winry as a hostage. We’ll see how it goes though.

So as usual, another good episode.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 38
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8 Responses to “Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 38”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Now the only flaw in your theory is the fact that it seems highly unlikely that Ed or Al would ever let Winry anywhere near Scar. So they probably wouldn’t come up with that plan.

  2. arimareiji says:

    Not much to say… you pretty much nailed every point on the money. Great review.

    I love Mei’s crush on Al; it’s a funny (and cute) twist on her previous crush on Ed that didn’t survive five seconds of meeting the real thing.

    The way she reacted to seeing Winry inside Al was actually interesting to me, believe it or not. Not for the lame jealousy humor, but for the fact that she unquestioningly accepts Al for who he is right now. Many (maybe most) anime girls would obsess over their inability to touch him, or would get freaked out at every reminder that he’s incorporeal. Mei quickly accepts it… what freaks her out is his “infidelity”. ( ^_^’)

  3. AstroNerdBoy says:

    @Anon — My initial thought was to think that Scar had escaped, attacked them, then grabbed Winry. However, the more I think about it, the more I keep thinking, “that’s not what happened.” After all, why would Ed (without Al) race out of the building and scold Kimblee rather than pursue Scar to get Winry? It just feels like a setup to me.

    That said, I could be wrong since it is only a theory that seems to fit the facts in my mind.

    @arimareiji — It is pretty strange for a young girl to fall in love with a living suit of armor. *lol* As I read your comments, I was reminded that Al has had more women than just Winry in his armor. There was Mei Chan, of course, but also Martel. I couldn’t help but think that Mei felt special being inside Al’s armor that one time so seeing another woman come out of it made Al to be cheating in Mei’s mind. *lol*

  4. arimareiji says:

    Wow… I guess Al does get around, doesn’t he? The little playboy. (^_~)

    It’s weird how much what you watch can change your perceptions. Back when I mainly watched American TV, I found it hysterically ludicrous that people could get so freaked out over a kiss, let alone the notion of waiting for months or even years for a person. After several years of anime, it’s quite the opposite.

    At the risk of extremely overbroad generalizations… I wonder if the difference in cultural ideals of love might have anything to do with the respective Japanese and American divorce rates.

  5. AstroNerdBoy says:

    I do think that cultural aspects play a big part in things. While Japan has become very western, they still have a strong tie to their cultural roots (honorifics and the hierarchical system being one such thing). Of course Japan does have the problem of a dwindling population, which some have attributed to Japanese men not knowing how to deal with Japanese women whom are non-traditional, thus giving rise to fantasy women (whether anime, manga, or game women).

    So there are things on both sides.

  6. ku_fei lover says:

    now what did I tell you astro?

    surprises`

    I bet you figured out that the other two guys are chimera’s too…

    yes the winry thing is a setup (and I cant for what happens next!)

    and yes those *ahem* women were armstrong’s sisters (>_> oliver you were lucky)

    the one with her hair in braids was Amue Armstrong the second oldest the one with the bowl cur was strongine armstrong the middle child and the cute one who can lift piano’s was Catherine Elle Armstrong the youngest child
    alex is the second youngest and olivier is the oldest (oliver and catherine were lucky….)

    also catherine appeared in the previous anime episode 37

  7. You haven’t put together a scan image in a while. What gives?

  8. AstroNerdBoy says:

    @Ku — I didn’t think much about the other two but now that you mention it, it would make sense for them to be chimeras as well.

    So, that was the Armstrong family then. I thought it might be based on the hair.

    @Frank — Aren’t you supposed to be working? ^_~

    Yeah, when I was constructing this entry this morning, I decided that I really wanted that image as a whole. That burned some time since a straight pan shot is out of the question. *_*

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