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After catching up on 30-31 a couple days ago and then watching 32, I just wanted to say that this ep (30) was terrible. I should note that even though I have indeed read the manga, I hardly remember the earlier details so the anime is basically playing recap for me--my statement that this ep is a failure is based not just on its quality as an adaptation, but as a standalone narrative as well.
People said 'the Armstrong scene was well done' or 'the Roy-Liza romance was interesting', but for me, who has forgotten the emotional background/context the manga gave those scenes, they were complete failures. Given the way this episode was set up, the principle question it was supposed to address was 'what happened in Ishbal?'. More specifically--given the way practically any supporting character who was involved with it has reacted to it--'what exactly was so terrible/traumatizing about it?' That was the point to get across.
However, all the episode actually tries to tell me is 'we massecred a lot of innocent/helpless people'. What the anime completely fails to get across is: if it feels so terrible to kill those civilians, why did you do it? Why are you all traumatized and 'I am a sinner' and 'my hands are covered in blood' now (however many years in the future), when you willingly took part in the first place? What exactly is powerful about Armstrong's scene? He erected a wall to trap fleeing civilians into the city, and subsequently looked traumatized over doing it. lolwut? Isn't that just stupidity? Hypocrisy? I know that isn't really true because of other events I vaguely remember from the manga, but that's all the anime scene gets across to me. Similarly with the Roy-Liza scene. 'I give you permission to shoot me in the back if I turn into a criminal' or whatever. lolwut? What exactly is so touching about that? Aren't you a criminal now, going out there and blowing civilians up 'with the eyes of a killer'? Am I supposed to get some kind of 'we've done evil and stuff, but so long as we stay together, we can continue striving to do good' vibe from that scene or something? So far as I can see, all that scene conveys was a ridiculous delusion that they aren't already monsters. (I don't remember disliking RoyxLiza in the manga.)
This episode makes the entire military staff look like humongous hypocrites. 'Ishbal was so terrible!--But I willingly took part in it! I followed my orders like a good little dog and let my resistance amount to vague, determined-sounding words and intentions.' lol. And these guys are telling Ed/Al/Scar about this, what, as a confession/expecting sympathy? Like hell, asshats! You willingly took part, gained those 'eyes of a killer' of your own volition, so it's too late to carry that past around like a personal trauma now. By all rights Ed should have condemned Liza right there. No way in hell would Scar not have killed Marcoh either, let alone escape with him. The anime's failure in portraying the military cast's characters completely derails the rest of the protagonists as well. This episode was just an abysmal failure in directing/adapting/writing/planning/whatever. Utterly worthless.
My (irrelevant, but the energy of this rant demands it) conclusion: this anime is a mediocre piece of shit on its own. I'm only following it as a recap of the manga. Bones can do alright action/animation, but they routinely fail with the actual narrative. (lol okay this last paragraph might be a stretch. I'm ~75% it's actually justified though.)
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