Fullmetal Alchemist, Chapters 62-72
May. 2nd, 2014 06:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnChapter 61: The Hero of Ishval, outtake
-I originally read this chapter online on mangahere. I am going to be extremely flippant and note that I thought the outtake where Scar is bellowing "You thought I'd lay down and die / Oh no not I / I will survive!" was utterly hilarious, though a lot of that might have been released hysterical tension from reading the chapter.
Chapter 62: Beyond the Dream
-I'm going to be way more flippant about this chapter, okay?
-I… kind of now totally and forever ship Roy/Riza, but somehow in a not-very-romantic way that makes me want to write dark fic about all the horrible ways it could end with (at least one of) them keeping the faith but not actually kissing. (I may, uh, have been outlining this fic in my head while I was supposed to be working on my church lesson.) I almost feel like they have shared too much of each other for romantic involvement to work… I don't even know! In any case I seriously do not support there being any overt physical involvement, at least at this point in the game. (I guess… I still have more than 40 chapters to go…)
-ahhhhhh KNOX
-"She'll probably hit us." HA. Yeah. She will.
-OMG everyone is going north no NO STOP
-THE PROMISE. AHHHHH.
-Roy, alone in that room…
-"Excuse me, please ignore that alien over there." Ha.
Chapter 63: The 520 Senzu Promise
-oh Roy and Edward, I love you guys so much
-"Even though I let you stay here for so long I'm not a kind person at all!" We all TOTALLY BELIEVE that one, Knox.
-Dear FMA, I realize you are trying to make points about the horror of war and doing terrible things and also about how no one is safe and people are dying like flies, but IF YOU KILL KNOX'S FAMILY IN FRONT OF HIM WHILE THEY ARE HAPPILY DRINKING COFFEE LIKE HE IS FEARING, I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU
-Kimbley is not only a sociopath, he is also a cruel practical joker? Ugh.
Chapter 64-65: The Northern Wall of Briggs/The Ironclad Rule
-Here is where my print version came and I started reading them, hence I will be talking more about the volumes as a whole.
-Also, it seems a little… flippant… to be doing these recaps after Ishval, doesn't it? When has flippancy ever stopped me, though! But I'm realizing it is throttling my output of cheerful rambling, some.
-Heee. I was actually spoiled for the Major-General's existence, but it was still surprising because a) I think the thing I read gave her name as "Olivia," and b) the way the art artfully covered her face when Major Armstrong talked about her. Anyway, WELL PLAYED.
Volume 17 (Chapters 66-69)
-It's very interesting to me here how Olivier says things like "We'll do anything at all to protect our border," while of course we're still reeling from learning about Ishval, and what happens when you do anything at all… It's just interesting, is all.
-On the other hand, I totally love how Falman's like "How could they take hostages??" and Olivier's like, "Yeah, that's the smart thing to do. I'd do that too."
-I also totally loved how when Raven is trying to feel her up, Olivier's all WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO IS RIP HIM APART BUT I HAVE TO WAIT FOR FIVE MINUTES TO KILL HIM UGH.
-I also also loved how she was all "Yeah, I've heard of Hawkeye and Havoc, it would be a shame to lose them. Mustang? Who cares. No wait, it would be great to engineer his downfall!" FORGET ROY. FORGET ROY/RIZA. RIZA/OLIVIER FOREVER. CLEARLY. I would so read fic where Riza and Olivier bantered and fought crime together and Olivier ordered Riza around and Riza stubbornly called out Olivier when she was being idiotic! JUST SAYING.
-HOHENHEIM. I still want to know what's up with him!
Volume 18 (Chapters 70-73)
-Oh MAN, Pride would have been a REVEAL if I hadn't been spoiled. It was still pretty fantastically CREEPY. (Also, Mrs. Bradley… that just seems… *shiver*)
-Aaaaaand all my Roy/Riza super-romantic feels just went way up again and I want them to be happy and get married and have ridiculously good-looking babies. And I've already outlined this super-depressing fic hmm.
-Although it is also super hilarious to me that Roy's thought process goes something like, "Hmm, I seem to have bought a whole cartload of flowers for underhanded reasons! HERE RIZA HAVE SOME FLOWERS BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEM." Smooth, Roy!
-I also find it hilarious that Roy seems to vaguely want to cultivate a reputation for being a total womanizer, and yet everyone around him notices that girls appear to keep rejecting him… (And he seems to be totally fine with that as well, like when he told Mme Christmas that "another man" took "Elizabeth" away. Although of course that was meant to communicate something else. But in general he doesn't seem to be particularly taken aback by people commenting when he gets rejected. I suppose he's meaning to cultivate a reputation as a failed womanizer. It's just funny.)
-I still feel like Winry's character is, in general, my least favorite part of FMA — not Winry herself, whom I love, but the way that she just… kind of… goes along with everything. (Literally, in this chapter.) I just wish she could do something because SHE wanted to do it! (Not surprisingly, I do love the parts where she gets to do engineering, because those are fantastic.)
-There's some very interesting stuff here, though, in relation to Winry and Edward and how they deliberately make the opposite decisions than (say) Roy and Riza, in the face of the same kinds of pressures… but of course informed by the choices that other people have made…
General observations on translations:
The translated paper manga is much easier to read, and I hadn't realized how much it adds to actually have the sfx rendered in English. But sometimes… I prefer the online scanlations. Basically at least half the things Knox says are way snarkier and awesome in scanlation ("I can't die in these completely random monster battles!" >>>>>> ""), and then there's in Ch 47 Edward's speech to Winry, "They are the hands that save people's lives" (scanlation) vs. "These hands were meant to save people's lives" (paper) which… there's a gradation of meaning there where the scanlation is way more moving to me. Because Winry has already saved lives! And the biggest one of all for me, in Chapter 48, Winry and Havoc: "So I'll endure" (scanlation) is way, way, way better than "So with everyone's help, I'll pull through" (And this even has resonances with Volume 18, so I don't even know why they translated it that way! Okay, I do. BUT STILL.)
Occasionally there's a complete difference of meaning: in Volume 17 the paper has Edward saying to Olivier, "Would you be willing to con Raven?" and the scanlation has "Would you be willing to bare your sword at Raven?" Both of them work in terms of the plot… but they mean something totally different!
On the other hand, the paper manga tells me that Knox told Lan Fan his family left him (not died like in the scanlation), so I guess that was a translation error and/or original inconsistency, which is nice to have fixed, because it was really bothering me and I was wondering if it was ever going to come up again. Guess not.
-I originally read this chapter online on mangahere. I am going to be extremely flippant and note that I thought the outtake where Scar is bellowing "You thought I'd lay down and die / Oh no not I / I will survive!" was utterly hilarious, though a lot of that might have been released hysterical tension from reading the chapter.
Chapter 62: Beyond the Dream
-I'm going to be way more flippant about this chapter, okay?
-I… kind of now totally and forever ship Roy/Riza, but somehow in a not-very-romantic way that makes me want to write dark fic about all the horrible ways it could end with (at least one of) them keeping the faith but not actually kissing. (I may, uh, have been outlining this fic in my head while I was supposed to be working on my church lesson.) I almost feel like they have shared too much of each other for romantic involvement to work… I don't even know! In any case I seriously do not support there being any overt physical involvement, at least at this point in the game. (I guess… I still have more than 40 chapters to go…)
-ahhhhhh KNOX
-"She'll probably hit us." HA. Yeah. She will.
-OMG everyone is going north no NO STOP
-THE PROMISE. AHHHHH.
-Roy, alone in that room…
-"Excuse me, please ignore that alien over there." Ha.
Chapter 63: The 520 Senzu Promise
-oh Roy and Edward, I love you guys so much
-"Even though I let you stay here for so long I'm not a kind person at all!" We all TOTALLY BELIEVE that one, Knox.
-Dear FMA, I realize you are trying to make points about the horror of war and doing terrible things and also about how no one is safe and people are dying like flies, but IF YOU KILL KNOX'S FAMILY IN FRONT OF HIM WHILE THEY ARE HAPPILY DRINKING COFFEE LIKE HE IS FEARING, I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU
-Kimbley is not only a sociopath, he is also a cruel practical joker? Ugh.
Chapter 64-65: The Northern Wall of Briggs/The Ironclad Rule
-Here is where my print version came and I started reading them, hence I will be talking more about the volumes as a whole.
-Also, it seems a little… flippant… to be doing these recaps after Ishval, doesn't it? When has flippancy ever stopped me, though! But I'm realizing it is throttling my output of cheerful rambling, some.
-Heee. I was actually spoiled for the Major-General's existence, but it was still surprising because a) I think the thing I read gave her name as "Olivia," and b) the way the art artfully covered her face when Major Armstrong talked about her. Anyway, WELL PLAYED.
Volume 17 (Chapters 66-69)
-It's very interesting to me here how Olivier says things like "We'll do anything at all to protect our border," while of course we're still reeling from learning about Ishval, and what happens when you do anything at all… It's just interesting, is all.
-On the other hand, I totally love how Falman's like "How could they take hostages??" and Olivier's like, "Yeah, that's the smart thing to do. I'd do that too."
-I also totally loved how when Raven is trying to feel her up, Olivier's all WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO IS RIP HIM APART BUT I HAVE TO WAIT FOR FIVE MINUTES TO KILL HIM UGH.
-I also also loved how she was all "Yeah, I've heard of Hawkeye and Havoc, it would be a shame to lose them. Mustang? Who cares. No wait, it would be great to engineer his downfall!" FORGET ROY. FORGET ROY/RIZA. RIZA/OLIVIER FOREVER. CLEARLY. I would so read fic where Riza and Olivier bantered and fought crime together and Olivier ordered Riza around and Riza stubbornly called out Olivier when she was being idiotic! JUST SAYING.
-HOHENHEIM. I still want to know what's up with him!
Volume 18 (Chapters 70-73)
-Oh MAN, Pride would have been a REVEAL if I hadn't been spoiled. It was still pretty fantastically CREEPY. (Also, Mrs. Bradley… that just seems… *shiver*)
-Aaaaaand all my Roy/Riza super-romantic feels just went way up again and I want them to be happy and get married and have ridiculously good-looking babies. And I've already outlined this super-depressing fic hmm.
-Although it is also super hilarious to me that Roy's thought process goes something like, "Hmm, I seem to have bought a whole cartload of flowers for underhanded reasons! HERE RIZA HAVE SOME FLOWERS BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEM." Smooth, Roy!
-I also find it hilarious that Roy seems to vaguely want to cultivate a reputation for being a total womanizer, and yet everyone around him notices that girls appear to keep rejecting him… (And he seems to be totally fine with that as well, like when he told Mme Christmas that "another man" took "Elizabeth" away. Although of course that was meant to communicate something else. But in general he doesn't seem to be particularly taken aback by people commenting when he gets rejected. I suppose he's meaning to cultivate a reputation as a failed womanizer. It's just funny.)
-I still feel like Winry's character is, in general, my least favorite part of FMA — not Winry herself, whom I love, but the way that she just… kind of… goes along with everything. (Literally, in this chapter.) I just wish she could do something because SHE wanted to do it! (Not surprisingly, I do love the parts where she gets to do engineering, because those are fantastic.)
-There's some very interesting stuff here, though, in relation to Winry and Edward and how they deliberately make the opposite decisions than (say) Roy and Riza, in the face of the same kinds of pressures… but of course informed by the choices that other people have made…
General observations on translations:
The translated paper manga is much easier to read, and I hadn't realized how much it adds to actually have the sfx rendered in English. But sometimes… I prefer the online scanlations. Basically at least half the things Knox says are way snarkier and awesome in scanlation ("I can't die in these completely random monster battles!" >>>>>> ""), and then there's in Ch 47 Edward's speech to Winry, "They are the hands that save people's lives" (scanlation) vs. "These hands were meant to save people's lives" (paper) which… there's a gradation of meaning there where the scanlation is way more moving to me. Because Winry has already saved lives! And the biggest one of all for me, in Chapter 48, Winry and Havoc: "So I'll endure" (scanlation) is way, way, way better than "So with everyone's help, I'll pull through" (And this even has resonances with Volume 18, so I don't even know why they translated it that way! Okay, I do. BUT STILL.)
Occasionally there's a complete difference of meaning: in Volume 17 the paper has Edward saying to Olivier, "Would you be willing to con Raven?" and the scanlation has "Would you be willing to bare your sword at Raven?" Both of them work in terms of the plot… but they mean something totally different!
On the other hand, the paper manga tells me that Knox told Lan Fan his family left him (not died like in the scanlation), so I guess that was a translation error and/or original inconsistency, which is nice to have fixed, because it was really bothering me and I was wondering if it was ever going to come up again. Guess not.
