Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 54 Discussion/Poll

[White Manju Bun]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Episode 54.

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[quigonkenny]

Judas H Priest, that was an incredibly awesome episode. I don't know where they're getting the budget for this, but these last two episodes looked like they cost about two seasons worth of most shows... Just...holy shit, the flame, Alex and Sloth, Envy, the flame... And more motion "camera work" (that can't be cheap to do...). Gorgeous.

Can't wait to see it in HD...

[mageormike]

Exactly.

I think this may be my favorite episode in the show thus far. Everything just came together so well. Simply amazing.

[yajra03]

just wow... amazing effects!!

[kitten320]

Oh... wow... 0_0
Usually raw don't impress me that much and I wait for subs but this episode is an exception 0_0
I definetly liked Roy VS Envy in anime more than in manga... Roy is one scary beast and I just love that scream he gives when firing the last time into the empty corridor... and Envy... I felt sorry for him, to see Envy cry is something new.

And go Alex! He stole the ending!
I just like Olivier's and Alex's relationship^^ They definetly have a hate/love sibling relationship

And yay! The two scariest females in the show aka Olivier and Izumi will finally meet!

[Haladflire65]

Incredible episode. Everything was top-notch. The animation - the flames were absolutely wonderful and so was the Sloth vs. Alex fight and everything else that moved.

The music worked very well, including that insert at the ending with Hoho confronting Father. The piece coupled with the Hughes flashbacks really brought out Roy's raw emotion in the scene and even got me a little teary. Everything that played in the background this week was placed nicely.

Voicework was great, too. Wish Roy got to scream a little more but where he did, Miki was awesome. I can't stress how well he did in these past two episodes. His Angry Roy was utterly convincing. And Takayama was also stellar as Envy, his screams, his cries and his eventual demise was almost... heart-wrenching, more so than the manga.

BTW, I also loved the Roy/Riza Ishval flashback at the beginning. It was nice to see it animated. This episode/chapter is one of the reasons why us Royai fans think that Roy and Riza are THE pairing of FMA.

[kitten320]

^It really doesn't supris me. after all riza said that she will die the moment Roy will. She litteraly suggested that she would kill him and herself right afterwards. Roy was completly against her being killed... so yeh it does seal Royai relationship very well^^

[Kristen]

To me, this was probably the saddest episode of the entire series, because Envy to me was the best character in the series.

But they did it well, so I'll give it a 9.

[jujubee23]

I love full metal

[Vicious108]

Originally Posted by kitten320

to see Envy cry is something new.

Actually he was crying too when Marcoh first reduced him to fetus form, but yeah.

Anyways, this episode was another easy 10/10 for me (much like quigonkenny, I'm still shocked at how they're still keeping up this ridiculous animation quality with each passing episode), but I feel like I should watch it with subs first before writing more extensively about it, since the dialogue was pretty important here and they actually seemed to add some lines and flashbacked to some previous ones too, which I thought was great and added to the scenes.

[Shiroth]

Jesus Christ was an episode. It 100% delivered in every way possible.

-Insane animation quality yet again. BONES are showing no signs of stopping here with this episode, which looked just as good as last weeks. Seriously impressive with more Mustang flames, together with Alex's epic shinning moment.
-Music placement in this episode was off the charts, especially with the new pieces. The new version of Beyond the Walls (my favorite piece from the first soundtrack as well) which was used gave me the shivers, along with the so damn epic piece used for Alex's scene, my god it was so awesome.
-Adding in the Hughes flashbacks such great impact for the viewers, along with Envy's lines that came pouring in. Very nicely handled.

Man this episode, just wow.

[Vicious108]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

-Music placement in this episode was off the charts, especially with the new pieces. The new version of Beyond the Walls (my favorite piece from the first soundtrack as well)

Wait, what!? Beyond the Walls was my favorite song from OST1 too but I didn't notice that any song from this episode was a new version of it! >_> When did it play?

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Endless Twilight

Wait, what!? Beyond the Walls was my favorite song from OST1 too but I didn't notice that any song from this episode was a new version of it! >_> When did it play?

While they were showing the Hughes flashbacks, and Mustang finally stopping his rampage of revenge.

[kitten320]

The subs are already out

[duckroll]

Really liked a lot of things about this episode. In particular, the character facial animation is really above average for this episode, and it's a good thing because it really needed it. The detail in how Roy's eyes are drawn as the episode progresses really makes the episode for me.

Yoshimichi Kameda is a really, really good animator. BONES has done an amazing job in discovering new talent with FMA:B, and even though they don't use the veteran action animators I've come to expect from BONES, the series has really found its own style and action milestones as the series progressed.

I commented early on in the series that part of the problem with FMA:B was that as a reboot it was constantly being compared to the original, and it would be hard for a new team to do the same action scenes that were done in the original series with the same impact, and it was something that worked against the team. I'm glad to say that now towards the tail end of the series, I've seen more than enough in the last 40 or so episodes to be able to conclude that yes, the new team has indeed managed to make their mark on the major animation sequences and have animated many scenes which they can be very proud of and will always be associated with them, and not compared to the previous series. Hironori Tanaka and Yoshimichi Kameda are every bit the highlight of FMA:B, just like Yutaka Nakamura and Takashi Tomioka were for the original FMA.

[kitten320]

Am I the only one who wants to laugh each time I see Mustang's expresion in the flashback when Riza shows the tattoo?

He looks so spaced out there! I guess he was thinking of something different than Alchemy there

EDIT: Now that I saw subs... looks like Alex's guess was right about why Olivier had sent everyone away from the mansion^^
And lol at Izumi and her tunnels

[Haladflire65]

Originally Posted by kitten320

Am I the only one who wants to laugh each time I see Mustang's expresion in the flashback when Riza shows the tattoo?

He looks so spaced out there! I guess he was thinking of something different than Alchemy there

I let out a few giggles 'cause Young Mustang is incredibly rounded and adorable, he reminds me of my little brother

[Sol Falling]

Envy's death was quite impressive, quite emotive. I was never quite as moved by Hughes' death as many people seemed to be, so it was Envy's confession of his jealousy of humanity that moved me the most about this episode.

As for the animation...to be honest, impressive as it was, somehow, at this point in my appreciation for fantasy action my foremost reaction to Roy's pillars of flame was "is this physically accurate"? My understanding of Roy's alchemy being based on the flow of air had me thinking 'with all these short bursts and powerful explosions, where is he getting the oxygen?' And with regards to Envy's burns, I was wondering if it might not be more effective to set him on fire and let his flesh burn slowly as opposed to repeatedly blasting him with so many individual bursts of flame. I dunno. I liked the rest of the action though.

[kitten320]

Nah, who needs physic knowledge? As long as it looks cool, those things doesn't matter^^

Besides it is mangaka who did it this way, not animators

[Freakyfeline]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

And with regards to Envy's burns, I was wondering if it might not be more effective to set him on fire and let his flesh burn slowly as opposed to repeatedly blasting him with so many individual bursts of flame. I dunno. I liked the rest of the action though.

I think he didn't want to kill him right away, he wanted to make him suffer to death for revenge. If he wanted him dead, he would have got it done with his powerful flame alchemy.

Despite all the drama and emotions when Envy realised he is jealous of humans, i found him rather irritating xD

oh yea is it me or the scene between mustang and riza wasn't part of the manga?