Fullmetal Alchemist (Chapters 1-42)

[cahn]

...why yes, I have officially become the Last Person in the World to read the manga. (No, I have not become the last person in the world to watch it. Though I might, who knows?) skygiants hooked me by describing it as starting out about a couple of characters and their quest, but gradually widening out to where you realize the world and the plot and the stakes are way bigger than what you thought at first. Which is basically the way to get me to read/watch/consume anything, really. (If you have any other suggestions of things that are like this, besides Gunnerkrigg Court and Digger, both of which I think kind of also follow that pattern, please tell me!)

Also, I like Ed and Al Elric (okay, fine, I adore Al madly), but I really am crushing hard on Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Maes Hughes(!!), Maria Ross (!!) and, oh, Team Mustang in general. (I, uh, may have spoiled myself for several plot developments by going to AO3 and looking for Roy/Riza.)

Various reactions to Chapters 1-42:
-HUGHES. WAH. I was even spoiled for this, and it still was terrible. ALSO Gracia and Elicia broke my heart all over again. WAAAAAH.

-Izumi is pretty much Made of Awesome.

-I always cheer when King Bradley is around, mostly because I think he's totally hilarious. Also, his name is King!

-I have to confess that I was completely blindsided (and horrified, at the time) by Maria Ross's "death," even though at my age I should be ashamed to be taken in by the old "burned beyond recognition" trope. But dental records!! OH MUSTANG.

-Canons where people go around able to take on the appearance of other people really tend to confuse me. Which I guess is the point? But still, I appreciate being hit over the head with "This person is not actually the one you saw before!"

-Dr. Marcoh :(:(:(

-I'd prefer not to have spoilers, although cryptic utterances are totally great. I have spoiled myself for some plot developments (Hughes' death, which I'm glad I was spoiled for because WAH; Wrath and Pride (which I'm really unhappy I spoiled myself for), and some random backstory things), but I really have no idea where this is going in general.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

I still haven't read or watched it, FWIW!

[cahn]

Ha! I'm not the last! :)

[genarti]

Oh my god, I am watching this with my chin on my hands. I love this canon so, so much, and watching people discover the various plot reveals and awesome characters (THEY'RE ALL AWESOME) just makes me cackle gleefully.

The dental records really are misleading! I was wondering in a horrified grasping-at-straws way if there was some scheme afoot, and then Dr. Knox confirmed dental records, and augh. A+ misdirection, Arakawa. (Arakawa is really good at misdirection. This is actually an incredibly tightly plotted series.)

I am so waiting for you to get to some later developments, although I'm sorry you're spoiled for Wrath and Pride; those would've been among the later developments I was waiting to see reactions to. Still, there are other things to react to!

[skygiants]

WHAT SHE SAID. (Though I did guess at the misdirect with Maria, only because I was like "people seem to like Mustang ...? EVERYONE WOULD HATE MUSTANG WAY TOO MUCH IF THIS WAS TRUE.")

Maria Ross!! Dr. Marcoh!!! Izumi Curtis!!! Team Mustang!!! AL!! How is everyone in this manga so awesome

[cahn]

Heh, I was scrambling in my head for this one: "But... But I thought Mustang was supposed to be one of the good guys... but he did this horrible thing... maybe he's actually supposed to be one of those morally-ambivalent heroes-who-do-terrible-things... but people seem to like Mustang... but people in fandom like a LOT of people who do horrible things... but WHAT ABOUT HAWKEYE, you KNOW she could not have been involved in something like this... but maybe she just didn't know... but how could she have not known... but maybe she is morally ambivalent too, HOW COULD THAT BE."

Anyway. Um. Yeah. I was really upset about this, you can tell! :)

[cahn]

OMG THEY ARE ALL AWESOME.

Yeah, exactly my reaction: "Of course she's not dead, that burned-unrecognizably thing... dental records?? I guess she must be dead. MUSTANG WHAT HAVE YOU DONE. AUGH."

I've passed the point where Bradley was revealed as a homunculus, and I think (?) he was called "Wrath" then. So I think that one I'm not too unhappy about, or at least philosophical about it.

I've only seen Selim once, and there was no trace of his identity... he was really cute... that one I'm really mad about spoiling myself for.

I still have NO IDEA what is going on!
-I just got to Hohenheim... what is going on with him??
-What is "Father"'s deal? He's already... I guess... in charge of the country... does he want the world... or what? No idea what the homunculi are for...? What is Bradley trying to do...? Even knowing who Pride is, I have no idea what HE is trying to do...?
-Dr. Marcoh, <333, what is going to happen to him (before I averted my eyes, I saw a spoiler that he... and Scar... somehow... meet? Or fightgenerate crime together? Or something? bah! Just enough to be curious, not enough to actually know anything!)
-Speaking of Scar, what is his deal?
-There has got to be more with the Ishvarans in general...
-Mei Chan, what is her deal?
-I sort of know what Ling's deal is now (okay, Ling? So cute, in a "I just want to pat your head" kind of way), but what happens with him...?
-I'm sure there would be at least a hundred more questions here if I could remember all the questions I had...

[ase]

Have read (and capslocked), haven't watched (much). Like genarti I am watching with great interest.

[cahn]

I think you mentioned the rewatch that was going on a while ago? But I did not know at the time that it was so brilliant!

It looks like I'm a third to half of the way through, which happened, um, very quickly. I'll probably slow down after this, because I've got to do rarewomen and my church lesson at SOME point...