Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episode 59 Reaction

I would really love to see them react to FMA 2003! My best friend introduced me to FMA 2003 then we watched FMAB together (his rewatch both times, my first viewing for both). They are both in my list of favorite shows even though they are vastly different stories.

Ron B

That is not a spoiler for FMAB but its definetely a spoiler for FMA 2003, which they might want to watch someday

Link

And instead, Wrath in the 2003 FMA is an edgy teen with mommy issues. Great character design...

Joey Joseph Jojoson

If he bonded his soul to his body before coming out the other side then nothing would have been left behind as the armour represents his soul returning to the armour and dissolves if his soul bonds to his body. Long story short , the Gold-tooth Doctor technically paid the toll when he used the rejected Fuhrer candidates

Craig

It feels like it's more based on the first anime rather than Brotherhood. Keep in mind that there's a huge difference between Hollywood making a movie adaptation and Japan making a movie adaptation. For Japan it's about riding the coat tails of the anime and making a few bucks, so their aim is making something "good enough". Netflix has a similar philosophy (there are good netflix movies but zero great netflix movies). When Hollywood makes something they buy the rights and then twist it into their own vision and then invest tens or hundreds of millions of $ into it in the hopes of making hundreds if not billions of $ in profit. Anime movie adaptations I think get unfairly critiqued because Westerners will inevitably try and compare it to the Hollywood machine which is a different beast altogether. Is it the movie FMA deserves? No. Is the movie by itself ok? Yes.

Orr Malus

No, just a theory. Very hard to find lore about stuff like this because of the language barrier. I do like the idea of Wrath being a cool-headed happy-go-lucky kinda guy but this subversion of expectation of what the personification of the sin of wrath would look like does not apply to the other Sins. Wrath is the odd one out personality wise. Wrath's end is also the odd one out because he dies being defeated by a random ray of light. It's a very humiliating defeat and humility is the opposite of pridefulness. Whether Bradley is Wrath or Pride does not affect the overall so my guess is that the switch was an editorial decision to distance the author's story from the first anime.

Orr Malus

Is the FMA live action bad? I've heard some good things about it-

Multxverse

ok, I understand that they already finished the show, but hear me out… Netflix adaptation. We had a reaction to the cringe ATLA movie, and netflix films just live up to the memes. so i would watch your reaction on that def

Captain Thistle

I'm not sure why you think this, it's not true. For one, Arakawa had the story she wanted to tell very planned out in advance, but because the manga was still fairly early along told the people making the 2003 anime to do their own thing with the story. She told them some of her plans in part so they would do something very different. The only exceptions were the few early parts that were adapted directly from the manga. This is all stuff that's been pretty openly discussed in interviews. Secondly, Scar definitely killed people because of his anger, and used religion as a kind of extra excuse. His 'wrath' and desire for revenge has literally defined him as a character. It has nothing to do with pride. And Bradley exemplifies the idea of someone who is *always* angry, and it is simmering just underneath a surface of seeming calm.

cosmotron

Did the writer say in some interview they did that on purpose? I always had the impression that the anime jumped the gun and ended their own terrible way. Back in the day shows would just do what they wanted and ignore the manga...

Jarrod Clemens

This is not exactly a SPOILER but in the first FMA anime Bradley was Pride not Wrath, just like how you initially guessed. I believe the author changed him to Wrath in order for the first anime not to be a spoiler for the manga. I also believe Selim was initially supposed to be Wrath which is why these two sins are introduced as a duo in Brotherhood. If you think about it Pride is more appropriate for Bradley which (a) never loses his cool and (b) thinks he's above everyone else. This fits with why Scar is the one to have the final fight with Bradley. Scar is very prideful in his religion. He killed alchemists not because of anger but because his victims broke the tenants of his faith and therefore he had the right of life and death over them.

Orr Malus

But would his body have been stuck in there as the armour had already passed through?

Wanda Did Nothing Wrong

No, you can't destroy the Truth and you wouldn't want to either. The Truth is a part of yourself (in this universe), just like mind and soul. Also the Truth is not a single character, each has character that has opened the portal has met their own truth and have a different portal of truth

Link

The reason Al was able to get his body back here us because of a loophole created by the Doctor's summoning transmutation. Basically the subjects that were dissolved were the toll for the sacrifices to be pulled through the portal and Al could have used that loophole to fuse with his body while passing through

Craig

oh LM, please be so generous and bless us with more episodes this week!!

Joey Joseph Jojoson

To answer whether Al would have been able to leave with his body: the transmutation done by the gold-toothed doctor allowed for people to travel to where Father is, body and soul. At that time Al's body happened to be the armor, but if he took his original body instead and left the armor one in Truth's domain, I think it would have worked just fine.

cosmotron

He basically said "I thought you humans were pathetic, but then, there are you people who CAN learn and change, and that pisses me right off!"

Joey Joseph Jojoson

if Al accepted his body in this episode, he would return to the real world as skinny boi, because this sacrifice was made using leftover "Bradleys", so it was a full body for a full body exchange.

Joey Joseph Jojoson

I’m glad these girls are enjoying this show it puts a smile on my face. “Your lie in April” is also a show that would 100% make them cry especially since it’s so sad and mature at times, like this one.

Jay

DougRaw, here is the link of their Twitter post https://twitter.com/LMreaction/status/1579851212576677890?t=GCQEg62qPIztobbvgpMxtQ

Raziel_BBT

I thought they said they were watching up to 62... how do you know they finished it? I'm not saying they didn't btw, just curious.

DougRaw

What did Ed have to give up to get his leg back? And what was Al willing to do in this episode? The idea of giving more in return than an equal amount is what saved the day, and yet in Al's situation it's a bit of a paradox. My head canon is that Al was only able to get his body back at this moment because he was willing to give up the one thing he wanted more than anything for his friends: his body. Had he taken it, I think they would have been rejoined together, but Al's soul would never return to the living world.

Nathan Elkin

I wish I were able to explain why Al was allowed to get his body back in that moment because it's never addressed properly, but that's probably the biggest spoiler one could make for this show. I think it's even better writing than the situation Ed is going to find himself in, and Ed's moment is one of the most satisfying scenes I've ever seen. Likewise, I understand why you "hate" Truth, and I'm not going to try to explain the philosophy behind truth or the inspiration for his character because I doubt I have enough characters to write that, but saying you hate Truth is like saying you hate every positive thing at the max capacity it can be experienced while in the same moment hating every negative thing that exists. It's like saying you hate the tree by Winry's home or the swords Bradley uses or the rain that falls (water, not tears). Truth isn't evil or insane, and he isn't "like" the god of this world. Every depiction of Truth is a reflection of the individual who opened the portal, and it's like meeting yourself if your reflection knew everything about everything; you are One and Truth is All, meaning it sees the world from your perspective while knowing everything you wish you did. He smiles because he understands everything you think and want, on top of knowing everything else, and that leaves it in a state of enlightenment that makes everything seem absurdly amusing. Still, I find it completely valid and relatable to hate something like Truth.

Nathan Elkin

Melina saying that this episode is number 59 hit me like a tidal wave, like, didn't we just watch episode 50?

Jey Siksa

Dr. Banner

they already finished the show, so no spoiler here. I think that since this passage for the portal was made by the Gold-Toothed Doctor using some of the soldiers as toll for the transmutation, Alphonse could have gotten his body at this point. But there is no way of knowing for sure, so any theory is valid. If you know for sure the answer, please share it

Raziel_BBT

Not sure you want to be spoiled or not, but we do know the answer to that question.

MaxVSTheGames

Can you believe the worst and best is yet to come?

Herbert Anungazuk

knowing that theyve finished the show already i wanted to mention theres an interview with hiromu arakawa (the author) where she expressed that she was unsure about how much punishment to give roy for his role in ishval. ultimately i think she made the right choice for the tone of the show but i think its interesting that roy’s fate (and perhaps eyesight) was something arakawa was undecided about until the end

Sebastian

Mustang doesn't need regular eyes, he have a Hawkeye

Raziel_BBT

This reaction's about to be painful

mykanike

Bradley is an easy top 3 character for me. As a villain, I thought his character was definitely better than Father. His origin, strength and conviction were all things that made him great. His actions were evil and yet there is that silver lining of sympathy we feel for him because he was never given another chance to live a life of his own. He was so twisted and morphed to follow the orders of Father because that was the entire purpose of his existence. Denying it and going against Father would mean to deny his entire life til now, the pain that he suffered wouldnt have any meaning. The man was also an absolute madlad in battle and was no doubt the most powerful being other than maybe Pride and Father. But in a way, he was far more impressive since his powers come from pure physical prowess and decades of experience and training. Overall, a great villain and character and to see him weakened, yet still standing strong is honestly inspiring in a way.

Danny

Finally, one of my favourite episodes!! Roy is one of my favourite characters, but I think he would 100% deserve to remain blind as punishment for the Ishvalan war. Especially by the logic you guys were discussing where scar would have to die to atone for his sins of murder. On the other hand, being forced to open the portal and hearing a psychopath trying to justify his actions by saying that this what humans "deserved" for trying to play god was infuriating and really sad.

Harfie

If he had chosen to accept his body at that moment, do you think he would have been trapped in the portal or would he be able to return to the real world with his real body?

Raziel_BBT

That Al scene makes me weep every time. It's such a culmination of his character and his journey. To see him standing in front of literally what he wants most, and to turn away from it...ugh, he's so good. <3 Also, that music during the Scar/Bradley fight is *beautiful*.

cosmotron