Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Never Heard That One Before

edited 26th Feb '17 4:28:23 PM by RAlexa21th

It's kind of amazing how even though that plot point is (relatively) small in the grand scheme of things it's by far one of the most well-known and repeated parts of the story. And I totally get why, since it was VERY dark and upsetting.

Icing on the cake is that we see multiple successful Human-Chimera later on, so Tucker's experiment is not only needlessly cruel, but it accomplishes less than nothing

I think that one is less that Tucker's chimera where bad, so much as he tried to make his chimera much lighter on the human so he can pass it off as an all animal chimera with near human intelligence.

I always thought it was a case of Tucker just barely scraping by, turning in just enough to work to keep them from firing his ass, but none of it high-quality enough to justify bringing him on to the real stuff.

Well he became a State Alchemist by presenting a Chimera that can speak out of seemingly ordinary animals (Of course one of his components was his wife as we know but the state did not know that), but his research was a dead end and he wasn't able to replicate his success with a speaking chimera in years so he was going to get his license revoked.

edited 28th Feb '17 12:00:23 AM by lycropath

In regards to Tucker, I wonder if he would've joined the bad guys had Scar not shown up and killed him. The Central Branch had done worse, so I doubt they would've punished him if they felt they could use him.

Speaking of villains, I love how Envy hates being seen in his two true forms, only not freaking out about his appearance when he's disguised as a human. He even calls that form cute.

I'm just starting Brotherhood, can someone tell me when I'm supposed to watch the OVAs and the movie? I heard somewhere that the movie is chronologically set in the middle of the show, should I watch it then or leave it until after? And if I leave it until after, should I watch it before or after the OVAs?

Most of those short stories are prequels to something... Uh, I once had this crazy idea that you could watch both the first one and the movie after episode 20, then watch another short every eleven episodes or so. Somebody here probably has a better idea.

the movie is filler at best.

Recommended OVA watching.

1: after episode 3

2: after episode 6

3: after episode 35

4: after episode 30

edited 3rd Nov '17 6:50:09 AM by RAlexa21th

Interesting, thanks. I'll update my watch order for that. Filler or not, does the movie come at any specific point?

I know for sure it's after episode 8 and before episode 35,. The Wiki says it's in the middle of Episode 21.

I just watched this show. Couldn't help but binge. Teared up at many, many points. Cried at several. And at Hohenheim's end... I sobbed.

This story. Why is it so powerful? So heartwarming?

It has some really good characters and the plot puts those characters through some interesting endeavors, all of which feel rewarding in the end. It's truly a great anime.

Now allow me to shit on it for a bit.

The themes of this series don't make sense. Not when you stop to think about them for a moment or two. The most obvious example — why is human transmutation bad? The only reason it damages people is because of Truth arbitrarily deciding that he doesn't like it, so shouldn't the characters try to find some way to trick or outright defeat the Truth instead of declaring the process impossible and immoral?

The Elric brothers go on about what a terrible thing they did by trying to bring their mother back from the dead, but really, they should blame Izumi for not warning them of the actual threat. I feel "Hey, there is a jackass deity who will mutilate you if you try to transfigure that specific thing of all matter in the universe. You might wanna hold on performing human transmutation until you find a way around that" would have worked as a warning better than "Just don't do it because reasons" which I think she gave them. But somehow, she is supposed to the wise one here, in a similar way Edward is portrayed as wise when he gives up alchemy near the end. I mean I get it, he wanted to save his brother... but how is that a noble act? How is giving up a superpower that has countless good uses a good thing in of itself? The reason Ed gives is that alchemy is overrated because it can't do anything, like save Nina or presumably ressurect the dead, but that seems weird considering that what he's doing at a moment is functionally ressurection and Alphonse later decides to study alchemy to find a way to save people like Nina, so Edwards statement is more about his own ignorance than anything about alchemy itself... Yeah, I don't get it.

The most troubling thing I find about this message is that Alchemy is supposed to be a form of science. It doesn't seem like science, since no alchemist is shown actually using scientific method, but we are supposed to believe it's science. Why would science stray from a specific kind of activity like that? There is no Jackass God who will punish us for trying to achieve things, or at least it doesn't seem like it. Did the message only concerned that specific branch of science that alchemy supposedly is? If so, would the Truth approve of humans messing with life and death using actual science? I mean, if all the author wanted to say was "That specific use of the kind of magic I invented is bad" then I don't really have a problem with that, but if there was some deeper message to that plot, then the story failed to deliver that message in a way that gives it sense.

it also fails to give a value to human souls, even though we know they are used to allow Philosopher Stones to seemingly break Equivalent Exchange, which means that the soul is definitely exchanged for whatever material is used during the transmutation

The reason Human Transmutation is bad is because the Nature of it is to bring people back from the dead, and people should simply allow the dead to remain dead. And...while Izumi may or may not have been Specific, (And I say may or may not cause we don't see HOW exactly they were warned so they may have actually been told this) The fact it's "The ultimate Taboo" should have Been an indicator of "don't try this craps"

"but how is that a noble act? How is giving up a superpower that has countless good uses a good thing in of itself?"

It isn't a Noble act in of itself, it's a Noble act because hes deciding that his friends mean more to him then power.

"Edwards statement is more about his own ignorance than anything about alchemy itself... Yeah, I don't get it."

That's just It, The Scene isn't supposed to be anything about Alchemy itself. Its supposed to be about Specifically Eds situation.

The reason Human Transmutation is a taboo is unrelated to Truth. The State Military has that law because they don't want people to build an Artificial Human army.

Truth themselves doesn't even consider Human Transmutation a taboo, since there are numerous successful Human Transmutation in the series. It's people asking for dead souls that they object to.

I'd assume alchemy is a science because alchemy wad considered a science in the real world. They also do a ton of scientific research and understanding. Alchemy may seem like "magic" to us but it's a very cocrete thing, with very concrete principles, with very concrete limits in their world.

Also seem like some are intentionally missing the point about Ed's sacrifice. It's not that alchemy is bad or people can't do good things with it; that's never something the story claims The issue is that Ed, specifically acted like being an alchemist made him better than most people or infalliable (given enough time). So because he learns some himility he's willing to give it up.

Edited by LSBK on Jul 8th 2019 at 8:53:19 AM