Books: FMA 107

[nebroadwe]

And then there was one ...

I suppose I should admit up front that the whole "Everyone ... GET THE VILLAIN!" trope has been one of my favorites since I watched the climax of Filmation's Flash Gordon cartoon back in the Pleistocene. So watching the next wave of Everyone throw their talents at Father had me standing up in my seat to cheer, with a particular shout-out to Roy and Riza. Go, team! I loved everything about their little scene, from Roy smirking as he insisted on bringing her along to her utter calm as she called out firing (heh) solutions to Roy grumping about the unfamiliarity of clap alchemy. Whee! Canon 'ships rock!

I will now alienate half my f-list by admitting that I was pleased to see Greed win the argument to leave Olivier Armstrong behind. Her character just hasn't grown on me, despite her many virtues. (Strong female characters FTW, normally.) Some people groan when Mei walks into shot; my eyelids droop when Olivier starts going on about strength. With respect to Greed himself, I liked the idea of his argument with Ling -- that what he really needs to fill the emptiness inside him is not power, but love -- but I wish it had been expressed more metaphorically, as the desire to hear people calling his name with the same fervor they use to cheer on Ed. It's the writer in me. Then again, the fact that everyone cheering on Ed has nothing to do with Ed's own power-up is a delightful change to ring on that trope. Al trading himself for Ed was always in the cards (even the first anime saw that one coming), but his entire self for just one arm? Seems a little lopsided; you'd think our half-seen friend would have thrown in the leg. Ed, of course, would cheerfully trade his life for Al's in return, but Al wouldn't let him do that in any literal sense, if he could prevent it. I wonder now whether Ed is going to trade, or try to trade, Father for Al -- and what will come of that.

I still think both our heroes will survive, but I'd be willing to bet that Ed doesn't get his leg back. (With a side bet on Roy remaining blind. Arakawa is pretty ruthless.) I see no need to back off on my prediction of an epilogue featuring the Elric brothers, or at least Ed, at home in Resembool with Granny, Winry and Den, Cincinnatus-like, though. And I'm quite chuffed that my original prediction of ~100 chapters for the full story looks like being on the money. I knew Ed and Ling's underworld journey marked the story's midpoint. We English majors have a sixth sense about these things.

ETA: Oh, and Sig backing off without argument, asking only that Alex Louis look after Izumi? That's MANLY. :-) Those two totally have to be sitting down having a beer together (or flexing their muscles for the edification of the neighborhood together) somewhere in the epilogue, too.

One more month! [taps foot impatiently]

Comments

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

....Nnnngh at this point I was just gonna hold out and read it all at once but. Maybe I should catch up now?

[juxtaposie.livejournal.com]

YEAH MAYBE YOU SHOULD. WAIT DID YOU ALREADY? I THINK SO...

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

OKAY HEY WAIT LETS BE FAIR. I LITERALLY ONLY CAUGHT UP ON 107. LIKE THAT ONE COMPARTMENTALIZED CHAPTER.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Where'd you leave off?

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

*sigh* Roy went blind.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I suggest catching up. There's some great stuff in there, and then we can all gnash our teeth waiting for 108 together.

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm probably going to go back to like, 84 or 85 and start back from there and read in a large chunk what I'd previously only read one at a time. I notice things in the story better that way, and I think having things in one big chunk helps me gloss over anything I might not like as much (see: my general assessment that season 2 of Avatar is PERFECT NO SERIOUSLY ITS PERFECT and that season 3 has story telling issues, and however much of both opinions is true, the fact is I watched season 2 in one big chunk and season 3 one at a time, which I'm sure affected it.)

I ended up caving last night because juxtaposie was having a total freak attack over it and, well, it's not like I was getting anything else done THEN.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I prefer marathoning to chapter-by-chapter reading myself, so I can relate. (I just dropped back and am rereading from the Ishbal flashback, wherever that is, because I want me some deep context.)

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

I'm actually tempted to go all the way back to like chapter 70, because that's where I picked the manga up in the first place. Back in 2007. I still can't believe I've been writing FMA for three years, wibble.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

FMA being over is going to leave a void in my fannish life (not that the fandom will fold its tent after the manga ends, but there's a difference between fandoms that follow works-in-progress and ones that follow completed stuff). I wrote my very first 'fics ever back in the spring of 2006, for this very fandom, and met just about my entire f-list through it. Sniffle. I remember picking up the manga after I'd seen the first anime and discovering, first, that they stopped overlapping after a bit, and second, that Arakawa had a very headly approach to plotting that I liked an awful lot. I still enjoy the first anime (lovely pictures! great voice acting! fantastic soundtrack!), but I have to say that I think the manga's storytelling is superior.