Fullmetal Alchemist (Volumes 22-27)

[cahn]

I FINISHED IT. *flails madly*

YES, wow, very tightly plotted, that... had about the highest ratio of truly stupendous plot (and/or character) twists to actual text that I've ever seen, and I am in love with all of the characters, and now I'm afraid to read any more manga because that one was so good, ha.



-I never figured out why "Father" had all those tubes on him. Because he was feeding the homunculi through them? Because they all seemed to come out once he came to Central..?

-OMG the plot involved EVERYONE DYING (but then they didn't, whew)

-So let me get this straight... Ed was able to come back, when he went for Al, because Al was an alchemist and brought them back. This is why Roy couldn't take that route, because there would be no one to bring him back...?

-It's still... sort of... interesting, that Roy accepts the Philosopher's Stone to pay the toll, whereas Ed and Al utterly reject it. I would love to know what Ed and Al thought about that. (I like how Ed and Al are on the idealistic end of the spectrum, the homunculi are on the other end, and everyone else is in between... Olivier is in the middle somewhere, and Roy is between her and the Elrics.)

-Olivier is still MY FAVORITE. ALL THE SPARKLY ARMSTRONG FAMILY SHENANIGANS EVER.

-GREED ALL THE GREED/LING EVER I MISS YOU GREED I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SAY THAT

-I was so glad to see Knox again at the end! As well as really happy that Lan Fan learned from him.

-I totally love that Roy didn't end up as Fuhrer at the end. Also I totally loved Hawkeye pulling a gun on him. FANTASTIC.

-Although, I mean, I gotta say that I thought it was totally okay to kill small little homunculi objects.

-Speaking of which, do we really trust reborn!Selim? (Although his comment about the bird was very sweet.) I suppose Mrs. Bradley will keep him in line!

-...do we really think that no one is going to go around making Philosopher's Stones anymore? Seriously? I mean, Our Heroes aren't, of course, but man, quite a few people figured out the secret, or had clues to it, by the time the Promised Day was over. And it seems like there is no overt cost to making a stone (in particular as opposed to paying the toll)... I guess it seems to take a lot of expertise and possibly a concerted effort by a group of people (?), which might slow it down for a while.

Comments

[genarti]

YES YES YES TO ALL OF THIS. :DDD

I am always deeply interested, yes, by all the different choices people make about moral grey areas like accepting the already created Philosopher's Stone. There are arguments to be made for various approaches, but it says a lot about the characters what ones they accept and what ones they reject.

I think it's ambiguous whether we ought to really trust reborn!Selim, but I think it's quite clear that many of the characters are NEVER GOING TO NOPE. Probably from a distance however.

For Philosopher's Stones... I guess the idea is that Our Heroes know what to look for now, and it's kind of hard to conceal THAT many murders without the machinery of the state behind it...? HOPEFUL YET WORLD-WEARY GRIM OPTIMISM, I guess.

Also I can finally use this icon. :D

[luzula]

now I'm afraid to read any more manga because that one was so good, ha

May I recommend Nausicaa by Hayao Miyazaki? It is really good, I promise!