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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 17 August 2006 00:00 |
 Full Metal Alchemist takes a mid-series break from the search for the Philosopher's Stone to give Edward and Alphonse a chance to deal with the emotional backwash of what they've been through - but not before a totally unnecessary death - while Mustang sets his ambitions ever higher...
25 - Farewell Ceremonies / Words of Farewell
Seems Mustang's done some research into human transmutation in the past, in part to assuage his guilt over those he killed in the Ishbal Massacre. The only person to know about his work is Hughes - who's now involved in investigating others, like Dr Marcoh, who were researching the same thing. With the Fuhrer determined that such experiments should be stamped out, he's been doing some serious digging into the circumstances surrounding the Ishbalan Rebellion and the other recent attempts to create a Philosopher's Stone - but his digging attracts the attentions of people who'd rather keep their actions secret. Meanwhile, Ed and Al leave Central, on the pretense of visiting their old alchemy teacher in the city of Dublith - although Edward has other plans in mind - while Scar is warned by his old master that his path of vengance may not be in the best interests of the remaining Ishbalan refugees...
26 - Her Reasons
Ed, Al and Winry arrive in the town of Rush Valley. It's a Mecca for mechanics, if you like, and the centre of the automail trade, which means that Winry's right at home - and with Ed having won the town automail-armwrestling contest, she's got money to spend, too. An(other) argument with Ed sees Winry wandering off on her own, where she meets young automail user Paninya - just the person she needs to help teach Ed a lesson or two. Back in Central, Mustang's looking for those responsible for killing Hughes, but someone more senior than him seems to be blocking his investigation...
27 - Sensei / Teacher
The one person in the world who Edward and Alphonse have been avoiding is their old alchemy teacher - they're smart anough to realise that if she ever finds out that they were messing with human transmutation, the results could be quite painful. Unfortunately for them, she's been hearing stories, and has tracked them down to see if what she's been hearing is true. While suitably tied up on the train back to Dublith, they have plenty of time to explain to Winry how their sensei picked them as students...
28 - All is One, One is All
Izumi has left Ed and Al stranded on an island in the middle of a lake, with strict indtructions not to use alchemy while they're there. Whether it's for penance or training, even Izumi's not sure, but the boys know better than to ignore her instructions. She'd given them a similar task back during their initial training, and just like before, there's the problem of dealing with the island's other inhabitants, who aren't particularly friendly...
Episode 25 has one of those "Nooo! How could they!?" moments, as poor Hughes meets his doom at the claws of the homunculi (although I understand there's an even bigger "Nooooo!" moment coming later in the series). FMA hasn't been slow at killing off lesser characters (Gen. Grand, anyone?), but the writers have just sent a signal that no-one's safe. Somehow, the series won't quite be the same without Maes flashing his baby photos around the place. This unfortunate event seems to serve as the trigger for Mustang to work that little bit harder towards achieving his personal goals, which flow from his time putting down the Ishbalan Rebellion - and let's just say he's setting his sights high.
From there, the disc slips into a few episodes that are interesting enough, but don't seem to have much of a role in the grander story. Episode 26 is eminently forgettable, with Winry just out to teach Ed a little lesson in appropriate use of alchemy, while the remaining episodes are more interesting, especially when Izumi is on screen. She's quite the character, and you soon see why the boys were seriously scared of how she'd react if she found out about their transmutation efforts. Definitely quite the expert at laying the smack down, and not a transmutation circle in sight.
The end result is a fairly slow disc where not an awful lot happens - definitely a case of the mid-series doldrums. What's here certainly isn't bad, but after the fast pace of the previous few discs it's definitely lacking. Hopefully volume 8 will pick up the pace again.
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