Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 51
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 51 review
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 51

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The sub-homunculi army comes “alive, but soon go after the general who activated them and the scientist with him, killing and eating both of them. Ed and company arrive at the giant doors to get to Father’s lair, only to discover that opening the doors releases a ton of sub-homunculi that they have to fight. In the HQ building, Olivier has a general hostage who defies Olivier and gives orders to his men to seal the HQ building than give into Olivier’s demands to stop fighting the Brigg’s soldiers and Roy’s forces. As a reward, he’s accidentally killed by Sloth, who’d been ordered to kill Olivier.

As Roy’s small band prepares their next move, the injured Heinkel hears the tapping being made by Pride and realizes that Pride is sending a coded message. Kimblee shows up and attacks, critically wounding Heinkel and opening a hole in the mound trap laid by Hohenheim. Al uses alchemy to get himself and Heinkel to safety at the cost of his metal feet. Heinkel tries to get Al to abandon him but when Al won’t, he produces the philosopher’s stone that Kimblee lost and asks Al to use it. After convincing Al, who then asks for the strength of the souls in the stone, Al uses the stone to reform his feet and face Pride and Kimblee to their surprise.

Back in Central, Mei Chan is attacked by sub-homunculi and loses the jar with the small Envy in it. One of the sub-homunculi eats Envy, who then in turn takes over that sub-homunculi’s body and then proceeds to consume ever sub-homunculi, thus returning to his normal giant form before returning to humanoid form.

Meanwhile, Olivier uses Sloth’s wild attacks to take out Central soldiers and uses a grenade to try to fend off Sloth. Sloth gets her trapped behind a pillar and begins to crush her with his hands when Alex arrives and punches Sloth across the room. Olivier briefs Alex on what they are fighting, so Alex asks her to leave this to him since it is something he can handle.

Thoughts/Review:

It is always a bit weird getting used to a new OP/ED theme song after one gets used to, and even enjoys, the previous one. The OP isn’t gripping me, but that doesn’t mean anything. The ED theme doesn’t do much for me either, but that’s OK too.

Another thing about new OP/ED sequences is their spoiler effect. Granted, I’ve spoken of this before, but what did I have verified for me as the episode started? Bradley is indeed alive. OK, I figured this to be the case (and I think a naughty spoiler or two may have posted such in one of the blog comments ^_~ ), but the story hadn’t revealed this at this time. I guess it goes to show that the anime is primarily targeted at readers of the manga since they already know what’s going to happen.

And now, on with the analysis.

WHOA!!!!!!

How many times have I uttered that word when it comes to Fullmetal Alchemist? Quite a few times as I recall and frankly those “whoa” markers are new high water marks for kicking bottom and taking names. I had an inkling that based on the screams last week, these homunculi soldiers wouldn’t be ordinary. To quote myself, “Finally, the homunculi army has awoken to quite creepy and monstrous means. Somehow, I get the feeling that they may not be so easily controlled. In fact, since Father is no doubt behind their creation, they would seemingly destroy everything. We’ll see though.”

Turns out I was completely right on the uncontrollable part. What I didn’t expect was for them to basically be a zombie army, sans the rotting flesh, but having a craving for human flesh to feed their hunger. Unlike the main homunculi, these sub-homunculi don’t seem to regenerate when hit but do seem immortal. Thus, we have something more akin to zombies, which imagery is enhanced thanks to the gory, bloody start of the episode. *shudder* I imagine some kids having nightmares about this one for sure. ^_^;

Ed and company basically are in a no win situation, which will be interesting to see how they get out. I had thought that Scar injuring the one sub-homunculus that the others might attack and eat it. That didn’t happen obviously.

Speaking of eating sub-homunculi, there was Envy. I had a chuckle at Mei Chan and Xiao Mei fighting off the sub-homunculi, but it was pretty well telegraphed that she was going to lose the jar and Envy would ultimately escape. Of course, I’ve been waiting for Envy to get free ever since Mei Chan returned to Central. So, Envy saves Mei Chan by consuming the sub-homunculi but leaves her alive. I wonder why.

Add Kimblee’s other philosopher’s stone to the “I forgot about that” list. Good thing the writers (and ultimately, the original manga-ka) don’t forget. *lol* Its one of those things that clearly are going to be used later when last we saw it after Ed was taken to the hospital, but then forgotten for long enough time that when it does finally show up, it is unexpected but nifty. So, in addition to repairing his own body, did Al heal Heinkel too when he used the stone? I’d guess so but we’ll see. Either way, this twist is unexpected and fun to the predictable Pride escaping the trap scene.

Finally, Alex kicking Sloth’s butt makes up for the pasting he took at the hands of his sister. Further, this moment is sweetened by the fact that Alex saved Olivier from being killed by Sloth. *lol* Anyway, I’d love to see Alex and Olivier fight side-by-side against Sloth, but even then, it is likely still a losing proposition.

So, chalk another “win” up for this anime series.