Yeah, I didn't see any big shut-off of streaming this month, so perhaps it's a more gradual phasing-out of availability in how many episodes are left on each service.
I've been watching FMA:B for the first time (my first anime too) and in the middle of episode 23 I got the urge to start something like liveblogging about it. (Only like liveblogging, because if I remember right livebloggers don't pause what they're watching or edit their observations. I've edited, but not enough to remove all the annoying all-caps.) Mind if I post the stuff here?
Watching FMA:B episode 23 - “Girl on the Battlefield” (the observations on the first part of the episode will be out of order because I have a faulty memory)
Wait … Lan Fan? No, DON'T COMMIT SUICIDE!
Al's so good at alchemy I'm almost scared of him now.
And the building explodes right before we see her do the deed. This is like when we thought Maria Ross was dead. This is going to be all right.
“I need some strong cords!” So Edward tears up a railroad track.
Um, that's the most disturbing way you could possibly think of to secure Gluttony.
Riza Hawkeye!
Lan Fan CUT OFF HER OWN ARM AND TIED IT TO A DOG ONE-HANDED TO FOOL FUHRER BRADLEY and escaped through the sewers by herself.
Riza, listen to Ling Yao and go pick up Lan Fan. She cut off her own arm and tied it to a dog one-handed to fool Fuhrer Bradley and escaped through the sewers by herself, she deserves a car!
MAY CHANG.
I don't think she notices she just kicked the Fullmetal Alchemist in the face.
I don't care what side she's technically on, she's so awesome I'll never mind anything. (The sides in this show are confusing.)
Smokescreen, and then holds Scar's hand to lead him away from the Elric brothers. Cutest villain pair, 10/10.
Heals him by alchemy again.
Oh hi, Yoki. I'd been hoping you just dropped out of the show. (Who is he and how is Scar his servant, anyway? Did I listen inadequately to some scene that explained it?)
OH NO, MAY CHANG IS STAYING BEHIND BECAUSE PANDA PAL IS MISSING.
OH GOSH, ALPHONSE HAS GOT PANDA PAL.
“First stray cats and now this!” FIRST STRAY CATS AND NOW THIS. WHY DID WE THE AUDIENCE NOT SEE THE STRAY CATS?
“Look, she's so sweet and gentle!” *gets bit* *doesn't mind because is strong armour person* Um, Al, I'm not sure Ed is able to be as unfazed by the mini-panda as you are.
AL AND MAY CHANG VERY OBVIOUSLY SHOULD BE FRIENDS and co-gush about pandas. People meet up fortuitously all the time in this show, it's not like it's impossible for him to return Panda Pal to her original owner. (Of course then he'll notice she's the person who kicked his brother in the face. But this'll work somehow, it's too logical not to work.)
Fuhrer Bradley drinking coffee with Winry, this is going to end in disaster.
“As such a close friend of such a good alchemist, she deserves every courtesy.” SO CREEPY.
“THAT”S A NICE HONEST FRIEND YOU”VE GOT” oh no.
NO IT'S NOT SELFISH, WINRY.
“Waiting. That's all I can ever do.” Those are Winry's arc words, aren't they, the same way “Keep moving forward!” and suchlike things are for Ed and Al?
Winry is immensely valued in Rush Valley and things mean stuff.
“I'm sorry. I'll be back home soon.” Home? Rush Valley? (This is just like that earlier surprise for me, when Al referred to the Rockbells' place as “home”. People changing, people growing up.)
Oh gosh Ed, so sappy.
“My wife and I split up not long after I came back from duty in Ishval.” That makes sense. :(
No anesthesia in Amestris, it seems. This is stressful.
Wait, isn't this the sexist coroner? Hi sexist coroner! The split-up makes even more sense now—okay, sorry, that was cruel. It's not like I hate you completely, sexist coroner. You're our ally and you've got some impressive loyalty to Roy Mustang (but then most people do; what is the guy, magnetic?).
LAN FAN NEEDS AN AUTOMAIL ARM. Rush Valley Rush Valley just bring her to Winry. I mean they'll obviously be best friends, so.
Ling Yao being an illegal immigrant and escaped fugitive doesn't seem to be a thing now. At least to Roy Mustang …
Gluttony is creaking. Poor cannibalistic abomination. (Fullmetal Alchemist: where disturbing things happen to disturbing people and all you feel is bad.)
“Just some, you say? It goes far deeper than that!” How does Ling Yao know this?
OH RIGHT HE SAW KING BRADLEY'S EYE.
Wrath adopted a son? I am curious. (Is he his mother's biological son, so Wrath's stepchild? Why did he marry in the first place? There has got to be story.)
Roy happy about this new ease in removing Bradley from power.
Riza Hawkeye just being sane and guarding the house while everyone's fighting. (Now Ling Yao is an illegal immigrant …)
Gluttony is gnawing on the ropes. On the one hand, he'll be able to eat anyone in this distraction. On the other, at least he doesn't have to be captive. If anyone had a homunculus captive all they'd do would be 1) Joseph Mengele experiments or 2) execution, which you can't do to a homunculus except in extremely long-drawn and twisted ways.
TEETH uh TEETH SHOULD NOT BE PRECISELY THERE.
AND THIS IS WHEN THE CREDITS ROLL.
The would-be novelist
This sounds like the Mark Watches FMAB blog (check it out), which I like.
Non Indicative Username
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
How was the doctor guy sexist, again?
edited 31st Aug '16 1:48:01 PM by KarkatTheDalek
Oh God! Natural light!
More posts in this thread already!
Oh dang, trying so hard not to read R Bomber's spoilers ...
About the coroner being sexist: I'm not being entirely serious, but I got that during the episode where it looked like Maria Ross was dead, when he said it was a shame Roy had to kill "such a beauty" or something along those lines. It ends up looking like (a less dramatic version of) the "women are our angels", "privileges for beauty" kind of sexism that you find in Arthur Conan Doyle stories.
edited 31st Aug '16 2:38:19 PM by Elisabel
The would-be novelist
Funny that Ross (Marvel pls sue) is rather average looking.
edited 31st Aug '16 2:44:06 PM by flameboy21th
Non Indicative Username
She has a Beauty Mark, that's a ten-fold attractiveness boost.
all year!
And hey, the series was taken off US Netflix early this month, but it's still letting me watch The Sacred Star of Milos at the moment, so I'm gonna savor that as I have time.
Watching Episode 22
Starts out quiet. Chimera dogs (you can tell because of the partial squares on them, as if they're made of subtle tiles under their fur).
DR. MARCOH IS A CANDIDATE FOR SACRIFICE oh no.
I like Dr. Marcoh's voice, by the way. Like a less scary, altruistic Tom Waits.
“Agree to work with us, and kill everyone in this country, or refuse to work with us, and watch everyone in your beloved village die.” Envy doesn't make a good advertiser. Maybe he's not trying to get Dr. Marcoh to cooperate. Maybe the first things he thinks to say are the things that hurt people most.
Just – just go away, Envy. (Also he stabbed a steak with a butter knife. That's how you can tell he's superhuman.)
Giant transmutation circle. I'd got a spoiler that ... something resembling that? ... might happen? ... but it turns out Dr. Marcoh isn't entirely right! Hm.
“Inside the Belly”. OH RIGHT THERE IS THIS THING WITH GLUTTONY oh man.
Echoey high-pitched voice talking to Wrath. What?? The nearest voice I can think of is Alphonse's, and he doesn't know quite enough yet to call Fuhrer Bradley Wrath and commiserate with his contempt for humans.
Oh wait is it “the truth”? This would make so many connections to puzzle at.
No, this creature follows Father too. I bet it's a Deadly. Sloth? (Nah, he looked too big in the two seconds we saw him to talk with that voice.) Um … what else was there … oh! There's only Pride left. Which (in the Catholic ideas I grew up with) is the worst of the lot, so makes sense that he/she is a creepy child and revealed last.
Riza Hawkeye being sane! Hi Riza Hawkeye! I'm not sure even she could make this situation good, though.
Aaand Colonel Mustang threw a panda.
And the first thing Mustang thinks to do is burn Gluttony. It's about the only thing you can do and fire is his trick, but will anyone ever think of a way to kill a Deadly that isn't disturbing as a foretaste of hell?
Eats fire. Has eye in mouth in belly. What.
AL? “Or we could just leave you behind, Colonel”? AL?? I'm worried for you. (Okay, actually it's good and realistic that he has snarky moments.)
“Spread out!” No don't spread out, don't spread out …
Mustang collapses because remember? He's actually wounded and he's not Lan Fan. I will forgive you collapsing after you're wounded if you're not a fifteen-year-old fantasy-Chinese girl.
Knox not quite running away to leave everyone behind. I like you, sexist coroner!
Ah, another of those “Don't leave me behind while you fight monsters by yourselves! Morons!” “Well you would just get in our way! Moron!” moments. (They happen a lot here. I've built up a tolerance to them.) I'd been wondering how everyone would fit in the car. Are Ling and Lan Fan in there??
“You dumbasses!” Yup, this scene is full of the height of good will.
Lan Fan's in the car but Ling's staying.
Al's just going to take Xiao Mei with him on the battlefield?
And Hawkeye gives the Elric boys a weapon. For killing people. “Yes, but it's also a weapon for protecting their lives.” You couldn't kill Gluttony with it, anyway. Al, remember your fight with Lust? (Actually don't remember your fight with Lust unless you want to. That's a thing you should be able to choose to forget. That's a thing I should be able to choose to forget …)
And they take it but it's hard because there was this distressing thing with a gun just last episode. Or, or two episodes ago. Gosh this show is so fast.
Lan Fan being distressed that she can't bodyguard right now. :-(
HE SEEMS TO BE A BIT ANGRY. Thank you, Ling Yao.
The dog we saw looking at Ling and Lan Fan earlier. “Stop it! Now, Gluttony!” oh um …
Oh hi, Envy. Go away, Envy.
Wait, Envy's … calling Gluttony off and saying he doesn't want to fight Ed. Envy? Yeah there's a plan, but I'd thought of Envy as the one who'd go off track the most in pursuit of pain. (Other people's pain, I mean.) But nope, he's calling off Gluttony from avenging his sister.
Shouldn't one of the Elric brothers be with Ling against Envy? Maybe? Then each Deadly would be fighting against someone they're not allowed to take or kill. Ling Yao could use some unkillable help, I'm pretty sure.
OH NO. FUHRER BRADLEY'S … having dinnertime conversation with his family oh gosh so creepy.
“Yes. It was the best paper in the class. He wrote about you, actually.” You know, if your student's the son of the militaristic Fuhrer and he writes about his father for class, I don't think you're going to grade him too badly. But Selim's admiration for Bradley is tragic and adorable and I like the idea of him being a budding writer and alchemist.
The voiceover of Selim's painful little essay on his dad's virtues playing while the boys flee from his dad's siblings. (Wait, was Lust his … aunt and he has five or maybe six uncles? I bet he hasn't met them, though.)
“And that is why ... Ilovemydad theend.” (The dub got a really good actor for this kid. I wonder how the original actors of all the characters compare?) What is Wrath feeling at this moment? Does he think he's like that?
I knew there'd be shapeshifting in this battle. Not on the level of that Tam Lin fairytale or Mad Madam Mim, but oh well. (Hey, I like shapeshifting battles. Sorry. It's not like I'm rooting for Envy anyway.)
HAH LING YAO NEEDS NOTHING RESEMBLING HELP.
what
n
nuh-uh
…
“Idiot girl! What can you do in your condition?” I hate this but … sexist coroner is right just for now, Lan Fan, I'm pretty sure. But don't worry! You'll be a badass again as soon as you recover! And Ling Yao will …
uh
“It's taken long enough, and I think I might finally begin heeding his advice.” Mustang doesn't have to specify who he is. (Also I keep forgetting Mustang is wounded, because it happened several episodes ago. Sure, Dr. Knox said his wounds “hadn't begun” to heal yet but I think he's probably in a better state right now than Lan Fan, so it's not bothering me that the story lets him get up and do things while she lies in bed.)
So dramatic, Mustang.
“That was an order!” “One that I cannot obey.” I love these people.
Wait, what was the high-ranking person's name (and rank??)? He looks very likeable.
Lieutenant-General Raven, from Central. More ruthless at chess than Mustang.
“From what I've heard, he'll even tend to his wounded men himself, leaving the whole line of command in disarray!” Oh okay, I guess I misheard Grumman's comments about ruthlessness? (also: awww, I was right about that guy.)
Roy is smiling while Raven rages. Kay then.
Um, can Raven just appear in every episode and do every thing?
“Scar was spotted feeding a stray cat, immortality's been discovered, Fuhrer Bradley is a homunculus …” Can't trust these citizens at all, can we Raven?
So Roy's test … worked, I think? If Raven doesn't know about it—then on the one hand, he hasn't been employing five people (or one Hughes) at deducing things for six months (or one month, in the case of a Hughes) to find it out. But OTOH, he isn't in on it in the bad way either! So when Roy informs him perhaps he'll be on his side.
Hi, unexpected crowd of military people!
Oh. Um. Okay. (And RAVEN WAS SO COOL FOR FIVE MINUTES. YOU'VE BETRAYED ME, RAVEN, AND I HOPE YOUR DEATH IS IMPENDING.)
“… landed ourselves in the pit of hell.” You don't know just how literal you're being, Mustang. But I do, because this show is being very kind and showing ...
ED. HE'S NOT COVERED IN DIGESTIVE JUICES. This is good! But the material that's there instead is ... all right then.
Oh fck. Gluttony is an evil evil TARDIS.
Pretty credits sequence.
edited 31st Aug '16 4:52:24 PM by Elisabel
I finally watched Sacred Star of Milos, it wasn't half bad.
Although I couldn't resist making jokes from time to time with my brother as we watched it. Did anyone else think it had a bit of a Ghibli feel to it at times?
edited 31st Aug '16 8:00:37 PM by diyedas
![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
◊ are spoilers,
◊ of course.
◊
Watching Episode 25 (these keep getting longer, this one's three pages on Libre Office, could someone tell me if I should split these in half in the future?)
Why is there fire in Gluttony's stomach? Ugh, Ed has to wade through blood … (better than digestive fluid, but still)
Ling lit a torch with this fire. What … what did he get to make a torch out of? (A BONE. OKAY THEN.)
No, this Edward is not a fake. Ling is smart. ^^
“Doorway of Darkness”. Ourobouros pattern on the title card. (I haven't been paying attention to the title cards before, do they have transmutation circles on them generally?)
WHAT there are walls in Gluttony's stomach.
Let's just follow Ling through this whole episode, he's making so much sense. Does Ling ever not know what to do? (And of course that was Roy's fire that Gluttony swallowed. I am obtuse …)
“Then he's safe. :-) :-( He's gotta be freaking out wondering where we are now.”
UHH … “Yeah, good luck with that.” <3
MAY CHANG. At first I thought she was in the stomach. Never mind what sense that'd make.
“Maybe she got eaten by a stray dog or something.” Thanks, Yoki. Why do you exist again? (At least he's not doing that thing of “keeping bad news from people to protect them”. But taking pleasure in bad news is almost as annoying, though not quite.)
“I couldn't help but identify with her.” May Chang is eloquent. Also she just went out into the wild and tamed a panda. She is boss.
Tamed a POINTY-MOUTHED panda.
With super strength.
And martial arts.
Yoki just barely saving the fire and burning his hands. Should I be feeling this satisfaction?
They are saying good things about Scar that are maybe actually true while also never mentioning his serial murders, and Scar just keeps walking majestically away because can you imagine how awkward that's got to be? Staring majestically into the distance is about all you can do (cf. Thorin from the first Hobbit “movie”; I didn't watch the second or third, by the way).
“As soon as we're out … I'll let you order anything from room service.” So sacrificial, Edward.
Oh gosh is Ling Yao's collapsing a real unfeigned thing?
“I'm seriously leaving you here!” I believe you, Edward! Someone in the world has got to, after all.
Fullmetal Alchemist: People angrily saving people and being angry friends. (Well I don't know if Ed and Ling are friends precisely. But Roy and Riza are at least angry friends! At the least.)
“So hungry. I wish we could find something to eat.” Why isn't Edward saying this too? It's like “One Is All, All Is One” when Ed and Al were stuck on that island, and of course Ed would be hungrier, but he seemed to be the only one hungry at all. Same situation here. Ling Yao has a bigger appetite than anybody, but Ed's isn't small. Illogic aside, I hope there's some equivalent in Gluttony's stomach for the handy ants.
They non-metaphorically cook Ed's shoes. (Oh gash Ed is going to walk through blood in his socks. Not that it'll make any difference, since his shoes were already full …)
Oh hi, Envy.
“BECAUSE THERE IS NO EXIT.” OH. OH OKAY.
“Just ask the pipsq—just ask the alchemist. He should know what this place is!” What? Why? Should I know??
THE TRUTH? I BET IT'S THE TRUTH. So that was the eye behind his rib-teeth! … ew no.
Yup. It's the Truth dimension, but without its creepy proprietor, who is the one who lets people in and out.
Why does their Father keep wanting these things? Did he originate all the filthy experiments the State carries out (Barry the Chopper and so on)? Some of them I didn't see how they could benefit the State, anyway.
“Between reality and truth”? … What's your definition of these things, Arakawa?
“All we can do is wait here and die.” This is so weird, Envy being in the same predicament as Ed and Ling. I hope he doesn't decide to see them as a food source. (I know, that's Gluttony's trick, but when you're starving and evil and don't want to become one of the skeletons we saw in here …)
“What is Al gonna do?” What's he even doing now? Fighting his second Deadly? Oh man I hope he's okay …
“Your father! It's Fuhrer Bradley, isn't it!” Doing pretty good with the information he's got.
Envy found “Ishval” (you know what that means) enjoyable. Go away, Envy.
Envy's been making good use of his shapeshifting for a long time. Well, when I say GOOD …
Again the especial highlighting of red and blue eyes. (EPISODE 22 WAS AMAZING, BY THE WAY.)
What an … accident … ugh ugh no why.
Ed looks like he's going to get violent on Envy. Thank you Ed. (Not that this is good for your health or safety, Ed.)
“I don't think I'll ever get over of how easily manipulated humans are!” says Envy as Ed wades toward him. I think he wants Ed to attack him.
Oh damn oh damn what is happening. Ling Yao noticed how Envy's footsteps dug into the ground last episode. (I saw but I didn't conclude anything from it because I'm stupid. Ling Yao is the most observant person in the show probably.) He's got lots of mass, handy for a shapeshifter who doesn't want to be limited to human-sized or smaller things …
OH OKAY.
Th-the faces …
“They're supposed to be artificial humans, right?” How did I never think of this?? Of course a shapeshifter doesn't really have one species. What was Envy originally, a bucket of gold goo?
Al. Shao Mei. A bird. Gluttony's gone.
Oh. Never mind. (Al is sitting being introspective and Gluttony's sane enough to be a distance away and only look at Shao Mei. I mean not only is Al a hero kid cinnamon roll who deserves introspection when he wants it, he's also fought a Deadly before.)
“What should … What do I do …” Oh right, the Dad of the Deadlies isn't going to be happy about Gluttony eating a saved sacrifice. (And he didn't even get to eat the one that incinerated his sister.)
AL AND GLUTTONY ARE JUST HAVING A VIOLENCE-FREE CONVERSATION. AL YOU HERO, AL YOU ASTONISHING CHILD.
“Gluttony, will you take me with you? Will you take me to meet your father?” Al's just figuring everything out and being decent to the person THAT ATE HIS BROTHER because he's calculated it might not be permanent (I agree, we've heard what Envy says but there are so many episodes left to this show!).
“I guess so! He'll be happy since you're a human sacrifice!” “Uh—oh! Right, that's why he'll want to meet me!” Trepidation but Al's doing it anyway.
Oh man, the military high-rankers aren't just in on Bradley being a homunculus, but also on the sacrifice bit. If the Deadlies' Dad decided today is the day to sacrifice Al, the whole military can make him cooperate.
OH, so Mustang was transferred to Raven's jurisdiction (however you're supposed to phrase that) so Raven can … make him a good candidate for sacrifice? Whatever the heck that entails? (And if I remember right, didn't Mustang think it was his idea? Dang.)
SINCE ITS INCEPTION what what.
Go away, Bradley. (And Mustang, his hands could have been trembling 'cause he was trying not to laugh.)
Anger. Anger?
“Selim? He's more well-behaved than that.” Too well-behaved to cry if his dad died? Hope you're proud. (Actually he is to all appearances proud. Okay. What's up with Selim, then?)
“I know exactly who to use as your weak point.” Hi, Riza Hawkeye.
Hi radio guy! (Master Sergeant Kein Fuery, yes I know, but he was Radio Guy to me for a solid while before I knew this.) Why's he being transferred? Actually we can guess why.
Everyone's being transferred. All of the supernaturally-loyal Team Mustang so of course Riza's looking shocked. I'd say “Well that's how the military works, isn't it?” but you can just tell this isn't for the usual military necessities.
Fuery being proud that Hawkeye's to report to Central Command Center. FUERY NO.
Back to the stomach where the faces … are dropping off of Envy … um. And … screaming. UM.
“With this ocean of blood, there's plenty of iron to work with!” Fullmetal Alchemist: where the first thing to give the heroes hope, and thus make things slightly less disturbing, is an ocean of blood in an inescapable void.
“You have the tackiest sense of taste.” Skull on the handle. I actually laughed (second time while watching this, after May Chang's entirely accurate daydream of Edward in ep. 15).
“He is a giant monster.” Ling Yao making everything almost comfortable by reminding us of how many giant monster stories we've seen before. “And on top of that, I think he cracked two of my ribs.” Oh, um.
And AL AND GLUTTONY and AL REALIZES WHAT CENTRAL IS and then credits. Hi, credits. You are so convenient and not at all frustrating, credits.
edited 1st Sep '16 10:30:06 AM by Elisabel
The would-be novelist
The would-be novelist
Happy October 3!
Non Indicative Username
The would-be novelist
Oh and Crunchyroll finally streams FMAB dub and Sub. You need membership for that, but signing up is free. It has all episode (cough... Netflix... cough).
edited 3rd Oct '16 6:28:37 PM by flameboy21th
Non Indicative Username
Signing up is free, but being able to watch the episodes isn't unless you do a free trial.
The would-be novelist
It is, I watched episodes 1 and 2. You just had to skip a LOT of ads.
edited 3rd Oct '16 7:55:14 PM by flameboy21th
Non Indicative Username
Episodes 1-16 are free, but once you get to 17 it asks to sign up for a premium membership. You can tell by the orange crown.
The would-be novelist
Hey, that's right!
Why are 15 and 16 free though? Not that I'm complaining but they are the odd ones out.
edited 3rd Oct '16 8:09:47 PM by flameboy21th
Non Indicative Username
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
What's right?
The would-be novelist
That ep 17-64 are premium.
Yeah, it's unfortunate, but makes sense. They do that with new shows, the ones still airing and even completed ones that are new to the site at least.
And they'll be letting more of the episodes be available for everyone as time goes on. :)
Potentially. It all comes down to how negotiations go once the current streaming license expires.