Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 58
Some souls depart and many tears shed, yet they fight on with determination.
After a big cliffhanger last week, the episode starts with Ed being taken to an unknown place, as previously predicted, it seems similar to human transmutation and reaching the gate of truth. The highlights of episode:
Departing Souls
Greed/Lin after finally destroying Bradley’s ouroboros eye, doesn’t miss one step and plunges on. In the ensuing scuffle, Ran Fan saves Greed from plummeting to the river; though, Bradley’s not that lucky and falls after being shot by a Briggs soldier. I am sure, this is not the last time we see him.
Lin emerges to grieve the death of Fu-jisan, shouting for help from any Alchemist who could treat him because he possessed the elixir of life yet unable to save a loved one. This scene was very touching and humbling indeed.
Buccaneer takes his last few breaths and makes Greed/Lin promise to protect the fort and not let the Central army take over as Olivier instructed. All seems pretty hopeless with Fu-jisan gone and Buccaneer on his deathbed. From the senior officials, only Falman stands who directs all fire towards the approaching Central army.
Greed/Lin Alliance
Can a homunculus be touched by human emotions? Not the first time for Greed (refer to Devil’s Nest of Dublith) and determined he is while partnering with Lin rather than thinking of him as a mere vessel. Lin takes strength from Greed and gives Buccaneer his word as Xingese never go back on their given word. Greed takes over and wears his hardened armour skin and goes on a rampage against the Central army. Falman and team look on amazed and glad at the same time for a homunculus on their side.
Buccaneer finally takes his last breath seeing the situation under control, saluting a farewell to his fellow soldiers.
A-Team
Olivier is informed of the current developments at the main gate. She directs her men deeper into the tunnel saying that if Buccaneer passed on with a smile they shouldn’t cry over him as well. Sig accompanies them to find any traces of Izumi while Alex informs the rest about the gate of truth.
Father’s Palace
Ed finally materializes from the endless space induced by alchemy in Father’s underground palace. Izumi and Al materialize in a similar fashion. Before Ed and Izumi could figure out what was happening, they face the monstrous image of Father with many eyes, physically absorbing Hohenheim. Apparently, Hohenheim had complicated matters by evolving the souls residing in his body which Father was subduing by taking over him completely. Ed and Izumi prepare to fight the abomination, calling Al who lies motionless.
The Fifth Sacrifice
After disappearance of Ed, Mustang, Liza and Scar are left to the mercy of the gold-toothed doctor and his minions (ex-Kings). He informs Mustang that he’s the fifth sacrifice along with the Elric brothers, Hohenheim and Izumi. To complete the circle, he has to perform human transmutation.
Mustang refuses this idea because he already knows from Elric brothers that it always fails. The gold-toothed doctor gets Liza mortally wounded. He presents another proposition of either letting her die and perform the transmutation for her or Mustang does it anyway, winning her life in return with alchemy.
Liza holds on saying that she can’t die as she was ordered not to (by Mustang). A look passes between her and Mustang, in turn him accepting the deal.
End Thoughts: Whoa! Talk about development and pacing! BONES sure is not holding out any punches. Now that the end is very near, I can understand how cliffhangers are running the whole show. This was a good episode providing a lot of information of what to expect.
Btw, RIP Buccaneer! *salutes* Solar eclipse is also round the corner and the Promised Day might start with the consumption of five designated sacrifices. Eeek! Now to the mysteries:
Would Mustang perform human transmutation to save Liza? If worse comes to worst, he might but that ending signal between Liza and him was very significant. She had stopped him from killing Envy so would she ever encourage him to do something huge like human transmutation with the risk of his life? I don’t think so. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for some backlash but preview has let on him seeing the big eye. Things sure don’t bode well.
Where’s Al? If the alchemy done was similar to human transmutation, Al must have gone to the gate of truth because he has a link with his body. Would he finally regain the body he has been yearning for? We’ll find out in the next episode!
Preview is as dubious as the previous episode. Good job BONES! Finally they understand the meaning of cliffhanger is not showing what’s about to happen in preview! <.< Though, I would not say showing Bradley was a bad thing, it’s pretty clear that he will not go down so easy.
Countdown: Only 6 more episodes to go! 0.0
About Kyokai
The Boss lady of Metanorn, who makes it all happen. An animanga enthusiast, who watches/reads almost anything that strikes her fancy. Just beware of her Death Perception and always keep her happy. Regularly found at @KyokaiTM & #[email protected].
POWUH: iLurker with 10 comments
looking at the whole story… it’s timeline and pacing was pretty slow. like…50chapters = 2days? (something like that)
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Well, manga is definitely slower than anime (take Bleach and Naruto as an example <.<) I was more commenting about how they were wrapping up chapters in lightening speed with so much development in the process. With 4 episodes left, I would love to see how BONES ends this.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Note, I won’t be posting the review of Episode 59 but would do it together with 60 next week.