Summary:

The final episode of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood brings us to the extended epilogue. The episode starts off with Dr. Knox showing up to visit Roy Mustang. Now in charge of the East, Mustang has made it his goal to reconciliate with the Ishbals by restoring their homeland. He figures that only by restoring their trust could he ever become the king. Knox then reveals that Dr. Marcoh has tagged along, and armed with his Philosopher’s Stone made with Ishbal souls, he uses it to restore Roy’s sight, but not before restoring Havok’s severed spinal cord. Meanwhile at the Armstrong house, we see that Scar has been saved for the purpose of cooperating with Miles and his project of putting Mustang’s plans in Ishbal into action. Scar considers himself dead yet again, and with that even his name of Scar no longer applies, as he is now nameless.

We then go to the Elric brothers who are traveling home. Sporting a new haircut and a giant chin, Al travels with a cane, weakened by his atrophied body which was previously beyond the gate. As the brothers walk, they recall their final meeting with Lin, RAN FAN and May Chang as Lin states his intention to become emperor but also to take care of all the clans including May’s. Finally they reach the Rockbell residence. Hearing her dog Den start barking, Winry realizes something is up and walks outside to find Ed and Al returned at last as they have a tearful reunion.

Fast forward two years later. Ed has rebuilt the house that his father made and that he burnt down. After reaffirming that his alchemy powers are truly gone, he’s greeted by his younger brother, now exactly the same size as he is (although still with a girly kid voice). As the brothers look toward the horizon, they both acknowledge that there’s something more that needs to be done.

Meanwhile, Selim has now grown from a tiny fetus into a little boy under the mothering of Mrs. Bradley. Seemingly innocent, he is under constant guard just in case. We also learn that Grumman has now been elevated to the position of Fuhrer, while Olivier is still in the north and Mustang is in the east.

Al meets up with the Hughes’ once again before setting off to find Jerso and Zampano. Al has decided to visit Xing and the East to learn more of the world and of eastern alchemy and the chimeras are accompanying him in hopes of finding a method to regain their original bodies. Meanwhile Ed has decided that he will visit the west to learn more about the other half of the world. After a teary farewell, Ed finally confesses to Winry in his own way and she reciprocates her feelings as well as she watches the man she loves go on his long journey.

As the credits roll, we learn about the fate of everyone else. Hohenheim has been buried next to his beloved Trisha, Den’s managed to score himself a bitch, Lin Yao is now emperor with Ran Fan looking on, Yoki’s joined the circus as a clown with Darius and Heinkel in tow, with his eyesight intact, Roy has no excuse for his new mustache, while Riza’s hair has been shortened once again, Izumi is still as crafty as ever, Fuery is an even bigger radio nerd, Havok and Breda fight for Riza’s friend’s affection and Falman’s back in the north. And finally…

Looks like Ed’s now a father twice over with Winry, and Al has finally grew taller than his older brother.

Reaction:

From the little extra animation at the end of Gundam SEED Destiny, to the full episode treatment at the end of Infinite Ryvius, it’s always nice to have a solid epilogue whenever you have such a long series with so many characters and so so much that happened, and as such episode 64 did not disappoint. If there was one disappointment it was the completely shotty animation that was featured in this episode, although I guess they blew the entire animation budget in the past few episodes, and this was not exactly an action packed episode. Still it would have been nice to end of the series without having characters looking different every other scene.

It looks like every single loose end was tied up. We learn that Roy and Olivier are still running in contention to become the next fuhrer, while Grumman (who basically did nothing the last 10 episodes) managed to gain the seat he so coveted and plans to keep for a long while yet. We learn the Pride is truly the only Homunculus left alive, as he’s now managed to grow into a toddler, although no precautions are spared as he’s still under constant surveillance.

Meanwhile it was heartwarming to see the Elric brothers return home and to finally see Winry again, this time with most of their original bodies intact. I enjoyed the timeskip, especially seeing Ed decide to rebuild his house (or is he just fixing up Winry’s house?) and for him to reminisce about his missing powers two years down the road. In a way it was a bit sad to see what he lost, but then to see that he managed to shrug it off shows just how much of a great character he really is.

I am not exactly sure if it was a translation error in the sub or if I’m misunderstanding something but I’m not totally sure why the brothers said that they were both “wondering about something for a long time” while they were on the roof. I took it to mean that they wanted to see more of the world and learn of it’s secrets instead of staying still at home, but I wonder if there’s something else I’m missing here. It was interesting to see Al grow to be his brother’s height and in the end look even taller than his brother who remains a shorty to the end (note Ed’s height difference with Winry does not change much). One wonders if Al will end up looking exactly like Hohenheim when he grows up.

It was really nice to see Ed finally confess to Winry in his own way, and to see Winry respond with such a sure declaration of love. With the brothers now deciding to traverse the wider world by themselves, one wonders if this opens up FMA to many more sequels and side stories, although I would wonder if Arakawa would really want to keep writing more after 10 years.

Finally, as a full episode wasn’t long enough to fully encompass what happened to everyone, it was good to see the montage of photos at the end. The second to last photo of Ed and Winry as parents, with Al taller than his brother and with new grown up babe May Chang really managed to tie everything up nicely. Of course the episode doesn’t end there as the last and final image of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is that of Ed going on his travels. Will his kids grow up to hate him as much as he hated his own father for leaving? Will they grow up to do even greater things?

It was a great way to end the series, and I for one enjoyed it immensely.

P.S. Please note, I will be making a final series review in a day or two, so this episode review will end here.

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