I liked the sequence of Mustang contacting each subordinate. Definitely a sort of "rallying the troops" or "getting the band back together vibe". I think Mustang engineered the Fuery phone situation as well, he's been known to have a flair for the dramatic and having him fix a phone just so Mustang can call him is kind of funny.

@etheri0n959

Ай бұрын

Lol. I guess I can imagine him doing that. I still think that sequence was kind of a waste of time though. Like, the most positive thing I could say about it is that it was there.

I don’t think the episode is so much about Chico the cat and feeling sorry for it as much as the cat and conversation with the girl being there mainly to hint again a how Izumi’s philosophies and how she feels about death after her transmutation attempt and death of her son, as well as show a softer side to her. She tells it to the kid straight but is oddly kind and sort of nostalgic about it as the kid expresses her feelings. It’s a little different compared to her reaction from what happened with Ed and Al admitting to committing the taboo and disrespecting the law of death, but you can’t help but wonder if the brothers had stayed with Izumi and fully took to heart the lesson she was teaching to this kid, and if they opened up about their feelings then about their mother’s passing and struggling with it, that she could’ve possibly comforted and felt for them as she did here, and possibly prevented them from committing the taboo in the first place. They had someone right there in their life who understood better than anyone, and could’ve been there to work them through the grieving process, if they had only not kept people out. So it’s not exactly the cat dying or the kid being sad that’s tragic to me, but the way we see what Ed and Al could’ve had in a stable support / parent figure if they had simply stopped focusing on what they had lost and took time to actually learn that lesson from Izumi.

@etheri0n959

Ай бұрын

Okay, now that you explain it like that, I can see it. I still wish they had tightened up the writing during that part of the episode. The way it played out still feels really jarring to me, but I like looking at the role of Chico the way you described it here.

13:26 not only does it benefit Izumi’s introduction, it improves 03 Ed’s characterization and his tendency of trying to avoid confronting his problems. It also just makes the series feel less like it’s hit a dead end and instead a continuous progression with an unexpected detour forced by external means. This is necessary for 03’s structuring as it is a character driven plot that is doing character study of Ed so it can’t be derailing itself with a save the world plot structure like the manga does. It really helps everything have a nice chain of causality that works in a really great way with how everything ties back to the very first episode.

@etheri0n959

Ай бұрын

I didn't even think about how it characterized Ed in that moment. But now that you bring that up, that is very true. Same with what you said about the flow of the story benefitting from this change from the manga

Greed in 03 was the best arc

15:29 mustang is a true strategic mastermind, he predicted exactly how long it would take Fuery to fix the phone.

I agree with basically everything you said about episode 26. Glad we see eye to eye there. I gotta say I'm surprised you didn't like the cat scene in 27 tbh. Love these episodes. I'm hyped for when you do next do these cause man so many of my favorites are coming up.

@etheri0n959

Ай бұрын

I'm pretty sure I liked the cat scene when I first watched the show, but coming back to it again, I guess something about my taste must have changed. And can't wait to cover those episodes when I get to them. A lot of my favorites are coming up too.

Admittedly its been a while since I watched these episodes "thanks to there being no streaming service with the series available anymore, I should really try to get a physical copy of the series when I can" Tangent aside, I didn't really mind the cat's death, due to its symbolic purpose. It is both a parellel to Ed & Al being children living on with a dead mother, but also Izumi who was in the reverse situation of being a mother who lost their own child, in childbirth. I also do think the suddenness of the situation sort of brings the point across that life is cruel and bad things can happen out if the blue. Considering the deaths of Izumi's child & Trisha were both caused by natural things such as disease, and being still born, I find it it apt that the cat Chio died giving birth, once again nature can be cruel and take lives. Also the clip you showed of the cat being fine earlier in the episode, does show visible breast, and a larger belly which naturally implies rhe cat is pregnant. I don't remember if Chio being pregnant was ever mentioned in the episode before their death, but it seems it was at least visually foreshadowed. Great vid as always, well right now we are approaching my favorite stretch of the series, and also the part people claim it got bad because it stopped following the manga. I look forward to these episodes being covered, I love what we learn about the Homunculi in the upcomingepisodes along with the characterization Izumi gets, making her my favorite mentor in anime.

@etheri0n959

Ай бұрын

I'm excited for that part of the show too. It honestly might be my favorite part of the thing. The cat thing I'm thinking back on and I don't think I expressed what I felt very well as the suddenness is definitely a part of the point, but when we get to that scene, I just get distracted by a bunch of other details like the dog barking at it. I don't know im probably being overly harsh though

@R0-83-RT

Ай бұрын

@@etheri0n959 again I add the the addendum, that I haven't seen the episode in a while, and can't really pop it in real quick to cross reference, so I could be forgetting context of the scene. Anyways thanks and I look forward to the next vid.

Off topic before I truly put in my comment on this episode, but I've been planning on making a youtube channel that discusses various writing techniques, and explaining what exactly is wrong with modern cinema from a writing standpoint, cool facts about history, and you've inspired me to also make videos about the 2003 adaptation of fullmetal alchemist, as studying the 2003 version is really what taught me how to write and analyze works. I really enjoy Maes hughes death and this series as a whole, not just because it's darker, but because it feels incredibly grounded, when a character achieves or fails something, it often doesnt feel contrived, nor do do you often see the hand of the writers unless you view it with a careful eye. This show isn't afraid of showing characters fail, or mess up, and have to deal with it often alone, it shows how bitter such failures can make one become, but I also love how it distinctly shows how someone can move on and grow from those failures in an organic way, wheras in brotherhood I feel there is a distinct lack of compelling or believable failure. I love how alive it makes the world feel through its various characters, not every villain gets punished, not every good guy gets what they want, and if they do, it's not always how they desired it to be, but it tells us that regardless of these failures life is beautiful, and worth cherishing and living, and it really shows you how not to give up, even when the goal doesn't even seem to exist. I love how raw, and emotional the show is, and how it's not afraid to take moments to let sink in the magnitude of what has happenes, or to just let the characters rest, rather than just bouncing to the next plot point until the big boss battle (which is a huge problem I have with modern cinema). I cannot properly put into words just how impactful this show is, and what emotions I feel when I see for example Ed and Al's backstory in ep 3, the nina scene, Al becoming a philosophers stone, or the ending (I know alot of people hate it, but I personally really love it despite and for its flaws) The only other show I've seen pull off this sort of stuff is Naoki Urusawa's Monster, which likewise for a while was borderline forgotten media, and also torn down by other fanbases (more specifically the Berserk fanbase, though they have a MUCH better claim to being better, than fmab has to fma2003 but I digress). You can now watch it on Netflix thank god. I don't like begging youtubers to make videos about this sort of stuff, but if there's anyone who I think can do a review of this show/manga justice it's you. I hope someday fma2003 gets the proper respect it deserves, similar to what happened to Monster. It would be a shame to see this show disappear from the face of the earth completely

@etheri0n959

Ай бұрын

Damn, this comment is really appreciated. It's super falttering to hear praise like this and I genuinely hope youtube works out for you. From how you express your opinions, you seem like a really smart person and could probably do a lot better than me in all honesty. You broke down what made FMA so special and pretty accurately described what I loved about the show as well. And I can't guarantee that I'll cover monster, but if I ever do, hopefully I can make a good review of it like you want. Thanks again for the comment! It makes me love doing this even more than I already did.

@sageof6pandas233

Ай бұрын

@@etheri0n959 Thanks, this really means alot to me, if my youtube ever does work out, I'll be sure to try and contact you for a collab lol, really can't wait to see more of this series.

@sageof6pandas233

Ай бұрын

@@etheri0n959 Tomorrow at #:15 PM Pacific Daylight time, my first ever video will upload, it's from a new channel I made called writingonathinline, and is called "The Failures of Modern Representation" I thought a controversial subject like that done in a mostly unbiased way might grant me a decent start to my youtube channel. Thank you, you really inspired me to go through with something I've been wanting to do for a very long time.

Probably a hot take but I prefer Broho's version of Hughes's funeral & Izumi's hug in ep. 27(Cuts out the cat girl stuff thank god) over 03. Not to say 03"s version of these scenes is bad it's just that Broho made those scenes more emotional to me. The island flashback though while I don't dislike ether anime's version of it I prefer it in the manga since that issue you mentioned on how the Elrics and Izumi met flows more naturally. One thing I'll never understand is why broho cut out the Masked man in the flashback he shows up in both 03 & the manga so it made no sense to cut him out considering him almost killing the Elrics is vital to how the lesson Izumi wanted to teach them was learned.

@etheri0n959

Ай бұрын

Yeah, that decision will never not be a baffling one to me. I don't even think cutting him out saved them that much time at all. It was just really strange.

@dracmanish

Ай бұрын

@@etheri0n959 Which is why it pains me how Broho's first 13 eps. were adapted from the manga. Sure there's still some good stuff in that portion but the fact Bones decided to just rush that content cause they already did it in 03 will never not keeping being baffling to me.

The jabs at Brotherhood are the best part, although Hughes funeral is for some reason one of the only scenes which make me more emotional in Brotherhood, so I disagree there and with Chiko. The cat was bitten by a dog, so she climbed to the roof where she gave birth due to stress. I don't see anything illogical there.

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Now that I think about it, I do agree with your opinion on the cat scene, given that we don't know these characters and the whole moment seemed pretty contrived. I don't have the same view of the funeral scene, though. Elicia is a 2-3 year old girl and her being confused about her dad's sudden death and not having the proper capability to control her emotions at this age is pretty realistic, imo. It would be pretty difficult to explain what happened to him exactly to such a young child as well, it's not like the reason for his death was an illness or old age, so perhaps Gracia didn't have the time or mindset to properly inform Elicia on what happened to Hughes (or make up a fake story, so that she wouldn't have to think about things she's not supposed to think about). Whenever I rewatch this episode I do snap and ball my eyes out at this exact moment, so i guess I'm pretty easy to manipulate😅

@etheri0n959

Ай бұрын

Lol. Yeah when Elysia did it, I didn't have too big of a problem. It's something that slightly bothers me, but at the end of the day, like you said, it is realistic of her to act in this way during this scene, plus the drama in that scene outside of that one element works really well.