Every time I ride an airplane I want to get one of those pillows he has... oh wait that's not a pillow...
Summary:
In hemorrhagic shock, the first thing you want to do is lay the patient flat and by all means DON'T STAND THEM UP!
As Riza lies bleeding on the ground, the Gold Toothed Alchemist taunts Mustang by telling him to perform human transmutation to save her life. As Roy ponders the offer, Riza manages to give him a signal to stall which he does by telling the Gold Toothed Alchemist that he will not perform human transmutation. While amazed and distracted that Roy would refuse him, Jerso makes a surprise move from above by capturing Gold Tooth with his saliva while May Chang and Zampano jump into the room from above and start attacking the failed Bradleys.
Amidst the confusion, Roy makes his move to save Riza as him and Scar break free from the failed Bradleys and they start to take down the various bad guys. Noticing that Riza is on the brink of death, May Chang gives up trying to pick up the Philosopher’s Stone that Gold Tooth dropped and instead quickly seals up Riza’s wound with alchemy. Although not completely healed, Roy manages to get Riza on her feet. With the failed Bradleys defeated, everyone motions to go get the dropped Philosopher’s Stone when suddenly the real King Bradley/Wrath appears and picks it up.
Even in his injured state Bradley still kicks ass
May Chang suddenly feels a presence coming from above, but before she can do anything, Jerso is slain and Gold Tooth is freed, while from the shadows Pride appears. Using that distraction, Bradley charges at Roy before he can react and pins him down by impaling his two hands with his swords on the ground. Pride then kills Gold Tooth, absorbing Gold Tooth’s body into his, and uses his shadow arms to draw out an alchemy circle around Mustang to force him to perform human transmutation.
Bradley prepares to mount Roy as his son looks on
By forcefully activating the alchemy circle, Mustang is pulled in and disappears while a newly transmutated Gold Tooth is all that remains. We then see Mustang encounter Truth himself and as he passes through the Gate of Truth, he falls down into Father’s lair.
Hey Father did you gain some weight or are you preggers with Hohenheim?
Surprised that he dropped down, Ed, Izumi and Roy reunite as Roy explains what happens. It’s then that it’s revealed that Roy’s price for performing human transmutation is his eyesight. While all of his pieces appear there, Father realizes that Al is not all quite there just yet.
Al drops to his knees when he realizes he was actually this 'small' (smallness hidden by carefully folded hands)
Meanwhile, Al is still in front of the Gate of Truth. After reacquainting himself with his body which is eager for his soul to return, Al explains that he cannot use such an emancipated body to fight and that he must stay in the armour for a bit longer. Understanding this, his body lets Al pass through the gate in his armour as Al promises to come back to retrieve him one day. As Father realizes that all of his pieces are finally there, Al’s body remarks to himself that he’s glad that his soul wants to help his friends, but because he returned to the real world, the world will soon be filled with despair.
**On keeping with not being spoiled, I did not watch the previews**
Summary:
This was not so much of a plot episode as something that just neatly tied up the various cliffhangers from the previous episode.
It looks like I underestimated Roy Mustang as he didn’t end up doing human transmutation willingly in the end. I also underestimated Father, as it seemed that even if Roy refused/didn’t ever perform human transmutation they were just going to force him anyway. It did looks like though that the whole forcing was done at a significant cost to Pride. Pride likely used his own Philosopher’s Stone to power the transmutation, and then used his own Philosopher’s Stone to power the alchemy to transmit Roy into Father’s lair (I’m assuming that the previous failed Bradleys that were sacrificed to get Ed, Al and Izumi to Father’s lair have already been used up, and that new power needs to be used to bring the newly minted human transmutator Mustang to Father’s lair). We can clearly see Pride ‘melting’ away a bit later on in the episode when he’s inside Father’s lair.
This does of course create an interesting situation. Considering we generally only see the Homunculus ‘melting away’ when they are severely weakened (i.e. arm chopped off and it melts away, or just before they die), we can assume that the whole forcing of Mustang to do a transmutation really took a lot out of the little guy. That said, with Pride severely weakened, and with Bradly obviously injured our heroes will get ample opportunity later on to defeat them before the inevitable final showdown with Father.
As for Al’s body, it seems like the body has a ‘mind’ of it’s own. Whether or not it does still contain parts of Al’s personality or soul or whether it is just a talking container is hard to say. Either way, it looks like Al’s body knows exactly what Father is up to. I wonder how he is able to know such a thing. Is Father really just an entity created from the ‘Truth’ itself (perhaps those Xerxes alchemists stole a bit of Truth after opening the gate and put it in a bottle) and thus being within the Truth lair, Al’s body knows what’s going on? Or perhaps the truth lair is a bit of a ‘heaven’ where the body is able to ‘gaze down’ and see what mortals are up to.
It also seems I was right last week in that Bradley is still alive. It does looks like that he still carries with him a strong Homunculus identity within him, and my earlier musings (tens of episodes ago) about him eventually siding with the humans probably won’t happen. But who knows!
Finally we get to a bit of a nitpick I had about Riza. Remember that she had lost enough blood to create a pretty large pool of blood (more than enough for May Chang to draw an alchemy circle with it!) and that she was on the verge of passing out and dying. She really should not be able to instantly stand up and be awake and well enough to sort of walk even if the bleeding is sealed. If you have that much blood loss, your blood pressure is probably very low, and standing up equals instant loss of consciousness… but I digress. I mean Bradley is able to pull himself up with his right arm after being SHOT in the right shoulder after all… Oh yeah and not to mention how Roy’s gloves were clearly cut last episode, but magically normal again this episode to allow him to use his flame alchemy. A bit of a glaring oversight don’t you think?
It seems like next episode we will see Father’s plan finally being shown. With the eclipse starting and all the players gathered in his lair, it’s only a matter of minutes before he activates whatever the heck he was planning to. The one thing that will stop it from happening is if Scar manages to show up and do SOMETHING to stop him. I doubt May Chang will be able to do anything even if she is there, but who knows she may be useful yet again (the first time ever being how she saved Riza). I am also waiting for Dr. Marcoh to show up and heal up Riza to full strength and seeing if Grumman has indeed fallen off the face of the Earth or not.
Related posts:
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood 53
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 19
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood 30
This post was written by...
Epi – who has written 175 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
As a huge fan of all things mecha, high school and tsundere, I've been writing for SSAB! since the summer of 2009, although my love of anime spreads through all genres. I'm not as witty as some, but I aim to bring comprehensive and well-written anime reviews out there for you all out there to enjoy!
{ 59 comments… read them below or add one }
I find Father’s saying of how the sacrifice’s were punished intresting
Ed wanted to stand with his family so he lost his leg to stand on
Al wanted to feel his Mom’s warmth so he lost his body to feel with
Izumi wanted to bring back her child so she lost the organs that she needs to have a child
Roy saw a great vison of his country so now he can’t see anything
yeah Truth’s an asshole
About Pride remember how his shadow’s are his true form and his child body is just a container for it I think it works like this , like father back in day his child body is just a flask with the shadows being the true body his stone puts all of it’s power into making sure that his child body does not break. so forcing Roy to open the gate made stone eather lose a lot of souls or made it so his stone’s power no longer go’s into his child body’s eatherway making it really weak making it really weak (im not sure it was not really explained in the manga)
also about scar saving the group he has his hands full with our good pal Bradley and he is not easy to get by (he also has a lot going for not liking Bradley the dude ordered the genoside of his people)
You forgot the whole thing for Ed.
Ed wanted to have his family back so he lost his only remaining family member and the leg he needed to stand on his own.
What I find interesting is that Roy didn’t actually LOSE his eyes. He just lost his eyesight. So either his optic nerve got severed, his brain is missing a piece, or maybe he’s just pretending. Who knows. But since the eyeballs are definitely there, I feel that there’s a chance he may regain his eyesight.
i think the optic nerves were taken not sure its never said just that he lost his sight
Jeez, how come no one gets it? No one in the Brotherhood only viewing audience gets it and when this came out in the manga (last December, ch. 102) me and only one other person got it. It’s not that hard people!
TRUTH IS WEARING AL’S BODY!
That’s how he has a “mind” of his own. Remember back in episode 26 when we saw Truth wearing Ed’s limbs? It’s the same for Al’s body. Because the Gate of Truth and all that nonsense is pretty clearly based on ideas of Pantheism. At any rate when Truth introduces himself to Ed he says he is “God, the universe, the Truth, One, All and…. I’m You!” Truth is like a shadow of the person who is seeing him. When Ed and Al see Truth he looks like a young boy. When Roy saw Truth this episode he was a grown man. When Izumi saw Truth it looked like an adult as well. Just like everyone has their own Doors of Truth everyone has their own “Truth” and when Truth takes something from you Truth “wears” it. Ed’s Truth is wearing Ed’s limbs….Al’s Truth is wearing Al’s body.
Al’s Truth is the one talking, and on top of that Al’s Truth is now acting as Al’s container (w/out the contents) because Truth is just…everything. Read up on Pantheism to understand it better.
yeah but Al’s body was
every time we see Truth he is an ass hole with a big grin
I hope this isn’t a spoiler. Man I’m not going to read this comment cause it sounds like a spoiler. Anyway it was strongly hinted that Al’s body was not what it seems because they kept showing it’s shadow (to imply it was maybe the Truth guy). That said, Al’s body also seemed to genuinely like Al when talking to himself.
it’s not a spoiler as far as i can tell just odd info thats wrong
You should read it. Its true too. Truth is wearing Al’s body just like Ed’s truth is wearing his leg and hand
It’s not a spoiler. I wouldn’t spoil anything for you Epi. Really it’s all just speculation but I’m positive it’s true, Clinton. Everyone read up on pantheism.
Hmm…I dont think so..
The truth which Mustang saw was the same truth that Ed encountered too…
How do you know he’s an adult for Mustang and Izumi??
I dont see any difference
Look again man. Roy and Izumi’s Truth is obviously much taller than Ed and Al’s.
If that’s the case, Greedling, why did Ed came across Al’s body when escaping from Gluttony’s stomach?
It seems like they’re inexplicably tied together. There was that scene where they talked about Ed’s huge appetite, and someone suggested that he was feeding both himself and Al’s body.
Why Al’s body didn’t show up to Ed when he traveled through the gate this time is anyone’s guess. Although, Ed didn’t seem too aware that he was in the gate this time round.
I think Greedling’s assumptions are mostly correct though.
but truth is creep and Al’s body is polite and nice i think its just because it has Al’s brain
man the comments are comming quick
Al drops to his knees when he realizes he was actually this ‘small’ (smallness hidden by carefully folded hands)
)
ROTF
“Oh yeah and not to mention how Roy’s gloves were clearly cut last episode, but magically normal again this episode to allow him to use his flame alchemy. A bit of a glaring oversight don’t you think?”
Is it so…I dont think so…when were his gloves cut??(and by whom?)
If so,then he must be having an extra spare pair ;P
By the way I dont get it how Al’s body remains intact after so long without his soul…if you remember Barry the Chopper’s body was eroding when he was experimented in lab 5….guess the story has its own glitches…
By the way LOL @ Pride then kills Gold Tooth pic
He deserved it and the pic is too funny!!
Look at 18:20 in the previous episode, his gloves are clearly cut.
As for Al’s body it’s being kept in the world of the Gate of Truth, which is a different plane of existence I assume. Barry’s body meanwhile was in the real world, and thus rotting.
Roy has extra pairs of ignition gloves! He always keeps them with him after what happened with lust! (Gloves got cut and he carved the transmutation circles into his hand)
Actually, the mangaka clarified in an interview that there is a different version of the “Truth” that appears for each alchemist who opens the gates, hence why Ed’s and Al’s are fairly different in personality. As far as why Al’s body is still intact, I remember the characters themselves had theorized that Ed was eating and sleeping for both of them.
Arghh, I hate it when people get annoyed at seeing things they think are mistakes.
“Oh yeah and not to mention how Roy’s gloves were clearly cut last episode, but magically normal again this episode to allow him to use his flame alchemy. A bit of a glaring oversight don’t you think?”
Check that scene again. The RIGHT glove is sliced while a Fuher candidate holds Roy’s LEFT hand open. When Roy starts to burn people again, the LEFT hand is used again. When Wrath attacks Roy, Wrath’s sword goes through that glove, fully disrupting Roy’s alchemy.
Other than that, some good musings. I enjoy reading the comments of people who haven’t read the manga.
I’ve also heard the theory of Al’s Truth and body being connected but its never explained. Guess the idea is based on Al’s body and soul being separate entities but it still doesn’t make much sense.
Anyway this ep took a step backwards again with animation, alot of the character models looked plain awful. Disappointing its still going on now that the finales underway. It seems if you get 20 seconds of great looking action you’ll have to watch three minutes of poorly drawn faces as a result. I really hope the final four episodes won’t suffer from the same thing.
Also what will it take for Pride to actually kill one of those damn chimeras, first Heinekel’s spared and now Jerso. I guess the idea is that Briggs/Xing characters can easily die because they selflessly fight for a greater good while Ed/Al’s buddies are luckier because they fight to protect everybody around them. It’s a classic shounin idea but its still really irritating, the chimeras are side characters and two should have realistcally died already.
Guess its a good ep overall but I wasn’t as excited as I have been in recent months. The series has gone a little into standard shounin fare for my tastes. I’m certainly not getting the same enjoyment as I am from series like Arakawa under the Bridge or House of Five Leaves (which i’ve just got into and totally love – watch it people!!!).
Actually scratch that, I blame Evangelion 2.22 for making every other anime pale in comparison. As much as I love fma, in terms of anime eva really separates the men from the boys as far as i’m concerned. I think i’ll go watch that movie again now before i’m strung up by the hardcore fma fanbase, lol
well Kimblee did say your body’s a lot tougher then a human’s and Lion king would have died if was not for marcoh
I know but it still doesn’t sit right with me in relation to Pride. His shadows can cut through metal, stone and flesh and he has enough eyes all over to pinpoint an attack yet he somehow never does any more than graze them. No internal damage, no missing limbs. I suspect the idea he hasn’t killed anyone is supposed to be that unlike Wrath he’s so arrogant that he doesn’t go for the kill and never takes his opponents seriously. Maybe he’s just toying with them but considering the power he has it would seem easier to accidentally kill his foes rather than deliberately maim them.
Maybe my bias against the chimeras is not starting to show, well at least Jerso and Zampano with their silly guyver designs.
I think its because Pride is arrogant he was playing with them like a cat when they first fought
Perhaps Pride just isn’t that good at fighting. I mean Wrath is literally trained in the fighting arts, and his all-seeing eye makes him even more invincible. Meanwhile Pride has super powers sure, but no formal fighting training. I would imagine that would make a big difference. Like the difference between a lion and a kung fu guy.
I really loved the episode, as wel as your recap about it.
I especially liked how Mustang didn’t open the gate willingly and how Riza hinted him about the ambush.
I do wonder about how Pride was able to get back to central that fast tough… If you think about it, Al got there almost equally fast as pride, even tough he had a car to drive there and even got teleported directed to father in the end. Pride just had to walk (assuming he didn’t buy himself a train ticket :p).
Thanks SilverWolf, welcome to SS!AB! Perhaps Pride hitchhiked with his cute boyish looks… Or he used his shadow legs to make him move faster (remember when he was chasing Hohenheim in the tunnel?)
I tought that ,back when he met Hohenheim, his real body was still in central whereas his shadow arms could just reach through the whole tunnel, to any place in the tunnel where theres light for his shadows to materialise.
But your probably right tough, when he entered last episode, he was also stading on his own shadow arms.
PS: thanks for the welcome
There’s a Q&A section in a FMA perfect guidebook or so I think that provides answer about what happens on the other side of the gate of truth. Basicly, there’s a body of the same individual who opens the gate of truth on the other side of it. The body is unsubstantial at first so it will take whatever body part that a passenger pays as toll if he/she makes it back alive. So yeah, I think Greedling is mostly correct and Truth did wear Al’s body.
About why it didn’t act like a jerk like Ed’s Truth did, I’m still thinking about it. But hey Ed sometimes acts like a jerk too while Al is always polite and gentle, so maybe that’s why their Truth are different!
That actually makes sense… sorta. Maybe because Al’s entire body (especially brain) is infused with Al’s Truth that the two entities have sorta merged. It explains why he talks with Al’s voice and is kinder towards him.
Plus even though Truth gives that creepy smile to Izumi and Roy I don’t remember him taunting them or anything although I may be wrong. He takes Roy’s sight (afterall a fee needs to be paid) but perhaps out of sympathy for him being forced to do human transmution he does a far less messy job than the other characters get.
As for him being a complete jerk if Ed… well that not really a first for this series is it? Personally I find the notion of truth messing with him just the lulz somehow very apt. It would reflect Ed’s taunting/mischievous attitude at times.
Father looks like some random creep who’d be hanging out in Chat Roulette at some ungodly hour at night.
I will draw you!
What Father requires for his sacrifice are those who not necessary have perform human sacrifice, but witness the Truth and survived the encounter. Mustang has always been on the top of the list, but Gold Tooth’s attempt failed. Note that Pride is the one performing the transmutation, and he did pay his price for it, even though it is not readily obvious what he paid.
Jeez, people. Watch episode 12 or 13 again. When Izumi opens the gate, look at Truth, he’s got breasts and all that. He’s just a reflection of Izumi.
Look at Mustang now in this episode, it’s not obvious, but he’s obviously the same size as he is, a grown man.
Now when Ed and Al meet him, he’s a child, because they’re children.
Every one has their own gate, which is, dur, what Father needs them for. With your own gate, you have your own Truth. Remember in episode 27 when Ed was like “Why are there two gates?”
That was Al’s gate, with Al’s body right there while he went back through his own gate.
Look at them, everyone’s gate has different things written on it. Why do you people even watch this show when you can’t even figure out such basic information?
Thank you. Someone else that understands.
Really, people watch this show but they don’t seem willing to think about it, which is a shame since Arakawa has put so much effort and research and detail into everything. Most people haven’t even realized that their are different designs are everyone’s Doors so I’m not really surprised they can’t figure out there are different Truths as a reflection of the person.
this weeks preview actually didnt show much for once ;P
Watch episode 12 again. Izumi’s Truth is a woman. Roy’s is a man.
Everyone has a separate gate too.
Sorry too for the multiple posts… I wasn’t sure if it went through or not. You should add some sort of a notification like “This is being processed” or something.
Thanks.
WHAT are you serious
So are you saying that that fellow with the white silhouette and creepy grin isn’t God, that there is actually an infinite number of Gods based on the person?
LAAAAAAAAAAAME
I was hoping this series would turn into a kind of “final battle against God” kind of thing like Fire Emblem did in the Wii game (and it was AWESOME), especially when Ed said in episode 20 something along of lines of “I’m gonna beat the shit out of God and get your body back.”
How’s he gonna beat God when there is no God in the first place???
LAAAAAAAAAAAME
But it is God. It is also the World, the Universe, All, One, and You. And the Truth; we were told this in episode 2. It just takes on a different form that mirrors whoever opened the gate.
Arakawa has taken a fair bit of inspiration from Kabbalah (which includes ideas from Pantheism, like Greedling said). There’s a discussion about the gates, Kabbalah, Truth, and alchemy here.
I don’t think there’s any spoilers, but you might want to steer clear just in case your brain kicks into gear. Plus one guy’s signature contains a (kick-ass) image from a few episodes away.
There aren’t an infinite number of Gods. There’s one God….in a way. That’s the problem here I think….people can only think in terms of Monotheism and Polytheism….If you know anything about Hinduism think of Brahma. The Truth is sorta like that. And like Loudmouse said Arakawa’s inspiration is mostly taken from Kabbalah, you can read up on that. Just Wiki it.
The existence of God is not confirmed nor disconfirmed in the FMA universe. Whether truth is really God or not, that is pure fan speculation.
Truth himself said he was God. Truth is God.
I meant God in a more conventional sense, because God isn’t always refered to as Truth.For example, Ed has seen Truth, who allegedly is God, yet Ed has stated in the manga more than once that he doesn’t believe in God. The God Scar and the Ishvalans talk about is also a more general definition of God.
Well sure, the God that the Ishvalans believe in they don’t think of as the God that Truth is. But I really do think that in FMA-verse the “true” God is Truth-kun. And the thing about Ed not saying he believes in God…that’s a mistranslation sort of thing. Technically he’s saying he’s atheist which you would take to mean “I don’t believe in God” but really what he’s saying is “I don’t believe God deserves to be worshiped.” The definition of atheism has come to mean someone that doesn’t believe in God straight out but really in the East many religions would technically be classified as “atheistic” in meaning that the followers of it don’t believe that the God in that religion needs to be given worship. Ed doesn’t believe Truth needs to be worshiped, he’s met and spoke with God, he knows he exists, and he’s decided he’s not someone he’s going to revere.
Phantomlessblue, give FMA and Arakawa a break. While it’s true that FMA breaks a lot of the stereotypes usually found in shounens, it’s still one nonetheless. Evangelion is a seinen, which is on another level, and comparing both series is comparing apples to oranges, a bit unfair.
And well, this is just my opinion and no more than it, but while I also consider Evangelion to be a great anime, and perhaps among the first to explore the psycological aspects of the characters, I still consider it to be highly overrated. If you haven’t, I suggest you watch Monster and Lain if you’re into more deep animes
Even my non-anime liking friends enjoyed it.
Still, I putting tastes in anime aside, I agree with the whole point about the chimeras. They don’t sit too well with me either, mainly because I find them to be quite irrelevant and because I think there’s already too many side characters. I feel that in its last chapters, FMA has started featuring more shounen clichés. The good thing is that it’s near the end, as I think the author can still raise the story a few notches up in the final chapter, and at least the story won’t keep go more downhill like those seemingly endless mangas, say Bleach and Inuyasha for example.
monster was good but too long, i stopped after watching 10 episodes.
i don’t think i can watch the whole 70+ episodes
but i’m interested in lian.. where can i watch it?
(post where here, if its not allowed click at my name and you will get my e-mail as the url..please send it to me!)
Zoon, for some reason (which I suspect has to do with my old-ass laptop) your e-mail won’t appear. I would post the link right here and now if I was sure it wouldn’t cause any sort of trouble. I’m sure if you google it, some site will come out. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be of much help >_<
Haha I was mostly being tongue in cheek. I generally love Arakawa’s work on fma. Most of my sleep deprived grumbles are based on certain anime decisions. Still wish some of those chimeras would kick the bucket though. I guess my issue with series that build up to a final battle is that I find the lesser baddies (ie. Homunculi, Kimblee) more interesting than the main villian. Kingdom Hearts 2 is another good example of this, the final fight isn’t as fun as the journey and the people on the way.
Also Evanglion is unbelievably overrated… just not to me. Thankfully there are just as many people who hate it with equal passion that I can discuss with/throw stones at xD.
ps. I have Monster but haven’t had time to watch it yet (along with the 60+ other series waiting in the wings) but will agree that Lain is astounding as a series and a social commentary. Even its Op theme kicks ass!
Truth says he’s everyone, everything. Every person has a Gate, sorry, that’s just the truth.
And like someone else said; he’s not “God” by means, just the entity of the Gate of alchemy, even though people refer to him as God. God is a pretty vague word in reality.
By the way, Epi. Roy’s gloves were not magically repaired in this episode. They’re still bleeding when he comes back through the gate. Keep in mind that he doesn’t even need them now anyway. He may be blind, but he’s also been through the gate; he can clap now just like Ed, Al, and Izumi.
no he still needs the gloves to make a spark he just does not need the circle on the gloves so the gloves can be damaged as much as he wants but he still needs the gloves
I bet he doesn’t need the gloves either, since he could probably transmute some other way of making the spark now at the same time he adjusted the oxygen levels. It’s not as cool looking without the finger-snap, though.
Like they said, it’s still possible to make them another way.
Besides, even if he still does need them for a spark, the gloves he’s wearing right now can still perform. All that’s been damaged is the circles, not the fingertips.
To put it shortly: He’s still useful and can fight.
not really i know he can still use the gloves but useful no he can’t see the target so if fires off his flames he could hit his allies instead
You’re going to be surprised.
ah nice find loudmouse. That thread explained very important stuff the mangaka didn’t/won’t explain at the manga and the anime.
especially the father part
I wonder if Father (a.k.a. original homunculus) was made by dragging out some element from the gate and mixing it with Hohenheim’s blood? His claws just looked too similar to the black hands from the gate, they must be connected somehow.
I LOVE FMA. I LOVE FMA. I LOVE FMA. I LOVE FMA. I LOVE FMA. I LOVE FMA. I LOVE FMA. I LOVE FMA. AL DOES NOT HAVE A SMALL DICK!!!