(L) Fullmetal Alchemist Manga Discussion

[Jarmel]

Well it looks like the first series wasn't as completely off as we thought it was, either that or Arakawa got some inspiration from the first series. I loved the way how pretty much everybody contributed to the fight. The next chapter has to be pretty long considering it has to wrap up the Father fight, deal with Truth(which this chapter showed Truth and God are separate), and possibly an epilogue although she might make the epilogue a volume only thing. I do wonder if this is going to go with the tragic ending of Ed sacrificing himself for Al.

Either way Ed was amazingly GAR and that final image of him was awesome. Now we know why the series is called FMA instead of the Elric Brothers or something.

[Vicious108]

Originally Posted by Jarmel

Well it looks like the first series wasn't as completely off as we thought it was, either that or Arakawa got some inspiration from the first series.

Actually Arakawa told Bones her plans for the ending to the series before they made the first anime.

[Jarmel]

Originally Posted by Endless Twilight

Actually Arakawa told Bones her plans for the ending to the series before they made the first anime.

Makes sense and it seems I heard that somewhere. Anyway I do hope we avoid the sacrifice then another sacrifice thing.

[Kirarakim]

I would argue that it is different from the first series because while Al did sacrifice himself as he said Ed would be back for him. His actions were more based on faith in Ed then deciding to give up his life to save Ed.

In the first series we have Al first sacrificing himself for Ed and then Ed sacrificing himself for Al. The fact that the gate leads you to our world and not death was not known.

[GDB]

But it's easy to draw parallels when you also consider that Roy lost an eye in the first anime, and lost his sight in the true series.

And while it's a REALLY far stretch, Father is going a little koo-koo bananas like Gluttony did in the first one.

[amjzz]

Interesting part of 107 cap:

Spoiler for Image:

Hughes is in the top rigth.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by GDB

But it's easy to draw parallels when you also consider that Roy lost an eye in the first anime, and lost his sight in the true series.

Well yeah I guess but there are differences too. Like here he doesn't have to wear an ugly eye patch and hopefully he is not going to go into seclusion.

Oh well Arakawa just does similar things better (and yes I am biased).

[carcanclaw]

Originally Posted by amjzz

Interesting part of 107 cap:

Spoiler for Image:

Hughes is in the top rigth.

Spoiler for OMG:

And Kimblee to the far left O_O

Anyway, the only complaint I have is that Father is still in his EdGod form, which I like a lot less than his true form.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by amjzz

Interesting part of 107 cap:

Spoiler for Image:

Hughes is in the top rigth.

Better hide that before the EdWin goons get too close a look at it...

[Grey]

Originally Posted by amjzz

Interesting part of 107 cap:

More interesting than that, I think, is that

Spoiler for 107:

Kimblee's arm + hat are shown on the left. I mean, he was an antagonist except for that very, very last moment when he saved Ed.

[Vicious108]

Spoiler:

Wow I completely failed to notice Kimblee!

I'd like to say that that pretty much confirms my theory that in the end he chose to side with humans and deemed them the most worthy of survival.

[Kirarakim]

If you guys notice the characters that you can only see their arm are the ones that have passed on or the ones that are not physically there. Thus all those characters are fighting with them in spirit:

Anyways on the side I spot: Hughes, Winry, Pinako, Havoc, Buccaneer, Fu, and Kimbley (and yeah I guess this shows he officially joined the human side).

[kujoe]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

I would argue that it is different from the first series because while Al did sacrifice himself as he said Ed would be back for him. His actions were more based on faith in Ed then deciding to give up his life to save Ed.

In the first series we have Al first sacrificing himself for Ed and then Ed sacrificing himself for Al. The fact that the gate leads you to our world and not death was not known.

I'm hoping that the outcome would not be that comparable to the first series.

Not to mention, the whole "gate leading to our Earth" bit just didn't go so well with me...

Indeed...

Spoiler for ch 107:

Just what will Ed sacrifice to get Al back this time? Al practically has what he's been aiming for all this time (his body), and only thing that's needed is for him to get back to everyone.

I agree with the speculation that has been laid out so far. Hohemheim is the best candidate for the job, and arguably the most logical solution.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

If you guys notice the characters that you can only see their arm are the ones that have passed on or the ones that are not physically there. Thus all those characters are fighting with them in spirit:

Anyways on the side I spot: Hughes, Winry, Pinako, Havoc, Buccaneer, Fu, and Kimbley (and yeah I guess this shows he officially joined the human side).

I like how Pinako is the only one not sticking her hand in... ^_^

[Grey]

Spoiler for Chapter 107:

I was a bit disappointed about the "just wants friends like them" revelation for Greed. It fits with the way he developed a band as the previous Greed, but it's such a shounen cliche it felt a bit like Greed's character was cheapened. "You don't really want everything in the world, you just want some good friends"--what? I guess the set up and delivery just didn't work for me.

I was getting a bit choked up about Al (that one caught me by surprise), but then I realized he wasn't perma-dead and the moment changed to "...oh, no worries then".

The Roy-Hawkeye bit was expected, but the clapping caught me by surprise. I forgot Roy could do that now. Heh, it was fun seeing him get used to it.

[xellos2099]

Spoiler for spoiler:

I think another reason why al did it is because of the seal is cracking, which would lead to his death QUICKLY, specially in the heat of the final battle. So before he can actually die, he return to the gate to exchange his soul for Ed's arm so they can have a fighting chance.

[duckroll]

Others have mentioned the similarities to the original anime's ending, here's something else I personally noticed:

- In the original anime, Envy's "true" form turned out to look a lot like a slightly older Ed, and he caused fatal damage to Ed which resulted in Al sacrificing himself to bring him back.

That definitely feels to me like the most direct homage to the evens of the actual ending we're seeing here. It's possible Arakawa might not have told them specifically how she planned to end the manga, but maybe she hinted it to them that it would be cool to see Ed fight someone who looks like him, but who overpowers him and causes Al to sacrifice himself to bring his brother back.

I feel a lot of things could simply be coincidence (Mustang losing an eye is a pretty common plot element for older military heroes for example), but the visual impact of seeing Ed get beaten by someone who looks like him is probably something Arakawa wanted to see on screen just in case they never do another anime again. That's how I feel.

[kujoe]

Well, Ed isn't exactly out of the woods yet...

Spoiler for ch 107:

He still has his automail leg.

If I remember correctly, he lost his leg trying to bring back their mother; his arm was for Al's soul as this current chapter already points out.

[Claies]

Originally Posted by carcanclaw

Spoiler for OMG:

And Kimblee to the far left O_O

Anyway, the only complaint I have is that Father is still in his EdGod form, which I like a lot less than his true form.

Spoiler for color title scan:

Is that really Kimblee? I thought it was one of Roy's comrades at first. (You know, the one who helped him defend Mrs. Bradley.)

[Freya]

Oh dang. The fighting scenes went by so fast I didn't even realize the 69 pgs were over.