May 02, 2004

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 30

Fullmetal Alchemist

"South Headquarters Assault"

As is the norm on Fullmetal Alchemist lately, Mustang shows up for about five seconds and does his little one line thing, which is still too bad.

I was just thinking, while watching this episode, that the show is really pretty inconsistent about how exactly alchemy works. I don't think it really takes away from the show (let's face it, we're not watching to see the fundamental laws of alchemy), but it is sort of amusingly random. Obviously the one huge part of alchemy is narrative.

So, we finally get an explanation as to why Izumi keeps coughing up blood (other than being an anime character, which to me seems like a good enough excuse). They've dropped a few hints about what she may or may not have done, but it's nice to get the definitive answer. As that's really all her character had still going for her, I wonder if they're going to kill her off in the near future.

Speaking of the unbelievability of the show, Izumi's health problem is just another one of those ridiculous things you'll have to swallow. Also, in this episode, in a little mini-combat, an enemy takes Al's head (helmet) off pretty easily. From previous episodes, we know that this completely exposes the seal that keeps his soul in the armor, so this seems like a pretty huge weakness.

This is a good buildup episode, and I'm really curious to see what happens when it all hits the fan next episode, with a promised fight between Izumi, Ed, Al, Armstrong, the Mad Bomber, and (apparently) the Dopplefuhrer. Of course, being anime, it could all fall apart, but I'm hoping for a good fight.

Rating: A-

Posted by Kei at May 2, 2004 04:45 PM
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