Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 47
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 47 review
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 47

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As Pride takes over Al’s body, Ed, Greed, Darius, and Heinkel arrive at the slum of Kanama (Canama), where Hohenheim is working. After greeting his father with a punch, Ed and company sit down with Hohenheim and he tells them of the Promised Day. Ed agrees to fight with Hohenheim rather than use the Promised Day to restore their bodies, which makes Hohenheim happy. Ed passes on Trisha’s final message apologizing for not keeping her promise and Ed is surprised to see it affect Hohenheim so much.

Elsewhere, General Grumman and Major Miles are at the site of the bombing of Bradley’s train but have found no body, thus Grumman is very cautious and Miles wonders if Grumman is plotting his own rise to power.

Ed and company leave Hohenheim and the slum town that night only to encounter Al. Ling senses the homunculus Pride inside and warns Ed of the trap. Pride soon has the traitorous Greed captured and threatens the slum town if Ed doesn’t listen to him. Ed has other ideas and using alchemy, he knocks out the power to Kanama, causing a blackout. With no light coming from the slum and no moon or starts, it is too dark for Pride to work. Greed lets the others know that Pride’s main body isn’t in Al’s armored body but further back in the woods out of sight.

Heinkel transforms into his lion form and uses his sense of smell to locate Selim. Though he feels weird for doing it, Heinkel begins beating Selim, who cannot use his abilities as Pride. Meanwhile, Darius senses danger and gets Greed and Ed down just before Gluttony attacks, taking a huge chunk out of a tree. Realizing that Gluttony is who led Pride to them, Ling convinces Greed to let him have control over the body since his skills can sense homunculi and his fighting abilities are top notch. Greed agrees as Darius battles Gluttony. Gluttony gets angry at taking a beating and so opens the false gate up to consume everything. However, a blur comes in and causes Gluttony severe damage. Ling recognizes that blur before it comes to a stop before them — Lan Fan.

Thoughts/Review:

I’d forgotten all about Lan Fan. ^_^; She hasn’t been part of the story in quite some time, though the moment I saw the blur and the bladed arm, I knew it was her. Nice to see she hasn’t lost any skills and has adapted to her new arm quite well. Her arrival will make things interesting, eh? I wonder what her reaction will be to Greed resuming control over Ling’s body?

And speaking of body control, that was pretty clever of Pride to use Al’s body and control it remotely. Even though Ed sensed something not quite right, I think he would have been captured if Ling hadn’t broken through Greed and warned Ed of the danger. Regardless, since Pride is weakened due to being without light to move his shadow form, it seems that some sort of large container that can’t be easily broken and wouldn’t let any light in is in order. However, Ed’s alchemy would create light which might be enough for Pride to use against them. Thus, it would be very difficult to create such a container. Plus, with darkness the way it is now, is Pride still partially within Al? Or with the light gone, is Al’s armor empty of Pride? I’m guessing the former but we’ll see.

I was surprised that Gluttony had such a hard time of fighting in the dark. I guess I figured he’d be more like Heinkel and uses his sense of smell to go after his prey. He’s proven to be a good tracker but I guess in combat situations, he’s not that good.

One has to think that with the look on Hohenheim’s face after the power went out that he suspected something bigger is going on. Since Ed’s party wasn’t that long gone from the slum, I’d have to think that he’d come out and investigate. I may totally be misreading this though.

I’m sorta surprised that this episode begins to paint General Grumman in a somewhat negative light. It is as if he’s now hoping that Roy and Olivier do enough damage before getting killed to allow himself to rise to power. However, the way the scene is played out in the anime, I’m not sure if that’s what Grumman is actually thinking or if that’s just what Miles believes Grumman is thinking or both.

Anyway, the fact that Bradley still hasn’t been found supports my belief that he isn’t dead yet. As Grumman basically said, until I see a body, he’s not dead. ^_~

So as usual, a really good episode full of surprises. Can’t wait to see what happens next. ^_^