Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episode 18 Reaction

Don't know why people seem to think that criticizing/analyzing characters to better understand them - or just for fun - somehow steps on their enjoyment. This strange separation of characters from their actions - actions that are directly vilified by the story - was all over AoT as well, and I never got it. It literally makes them more interesting, more layered. And some people wanna ignore it, or at least not openly discuss it. I don't get it. Roy and Riza are just lame soldiers without that character depth...

Derrick C. Shields

To be fair it was a pretty poor effort from the show to make people believe that Mustang killed Ross. At the very least to add a couple of second of flashback to Roy in the war following orders or something. I think that could have gone a long way to make people believe it. So far it has been a couple of seconds during 16 episodes, so it's obviously fair not to remember it. So I think me and the others just tried to remind you to , just in case you didn't remember, that from what we knew, Mustang will kill if ordered to do so. He even said that to Ed as well in Ep. 4, and that he may need to do it himself too.

Soma Zöld

yes, and the blue pants of the uniform + black shirt and the shoulder gun holster... i am weak

sand_fl

That's cute, but I don't think your excuses for genocide hold up very well, and I'm fairly sure these characters would agree with me on that. (being younger or being ordered to). He also been shown to act before thinking or planning when he wanted to fight Scar in the rain. Yeah Mustang wants to rise to the top, but nothing so far showed that he would disobey a direct order from a superior officer. In fact you could think that he would obey an order just so he doesn't jeopardize his rise to the top. We've seen nothing to the contrary so far. My point is that it is not unimaginable why anyone could think that Roy killed Ross. I think LM didn't think Roy would kill Ross simply because they like him. That is supported by them not for a single moment thinking Roy killed her when seeing the burnt body. Or that instantly thinking that Knox is with Mustang when he verifies the teeth marks. Or that they wouldn't change their opinion after being reminded what we've seen so far from Roy in the war. Or that they would think that Roy is called hero because he stopped the war. I think these mean that their reason was emotional, not intellectual. Which is fair Roy is an awesome character and obviously written to be likeable. But by saying it was the wrong reason, I meant that they clearly had confirmation bias. (And no I'm not calling them stupid because I say their reason wasn't intellectual. They understand the story far better then me when I first watched it.) Also I think that saying it's 'their interpretation' doesn't mean anything when they admitted that they don't remember Roy's involvement in the war. Which is fair for a first time watcher when it's like six seconds in 16 episode, but it still means that 'their interpretation' can be wrong. That's why me and some other people wanted to remind them of that. After that it's up to them work it into their interpretation. Which they did and so we move on.

Soma Zöld

Something that the original anime has over Brotherhood is Black Hayate's story arc.

Orr Malus

I don't see how you can say that LM reactions interpretation of Roy based on the first 16 episodes are incorrect. Even without the 5 or some clues you mentioned me and many others came to the exact same conclusion that Roy didn't murder Ross immediately just based of the character that has been set up by Arakawa. The girls state in this very video that they read everything everyone tried to remind them about regarding Roy, and it still didn't and wouldn't have changed their opinion. You mentioning that Roy was a part of genocide on the command of a superior officer during a war doesn't make his murdering of Ross in an ally on his own accord any less believable. He just hasn't been shown to be that guy presently. Mustangs whole deal is to rise to the highest position of power in the country to change things. A goal that came to be based off the regretful actions he's had to do in said war. Even if he was told to murder Ross at the command of Bradley himself he still wouldn't do it. He doesn't even trust his own government currently. These are all details the show has made a point to make very clear. Another thing. Mustang has been shown to be a character that plans, and puts all the facts together before acting on anything. The Roy you are refering to was a very young, and inexperienced soldier that had no idea what he was getting himself into.... So no. They are not right for the wrong reasons. It's their interpretation Soma.

Kamina 1

Oh come on, you sound like you want to be offended both for your own and their sake. I know they are very smart, that's part of why I watch their reactions. I comment under their videos to interact with them. You commented yourself, you wanted to communicate with either them or the community yourself, possibly influencing the reactors. And I'm not telling anybody to agree with me, I am just sharing my own opinions or making a remark/a joke, whatever. I also don't think that voicing my own take on something means that I am patronizing anybody. Also, I said nothing about whether you enjoy the story more than me, I can't possibly know that, because I am not in your head. I just didn't like what you said about fictional characters, because I don't think they should be judged in a different way from real people just because they are made up. I still can empathize with them and I can still judge them, I just need to treat the story as if it was real, which is really the point, in my opinion.

Nikodem

It is pretty obvious, there were like 5 different clues at least that Roy did not kill her. Starting with the thing being pointless because Ross was as good as dead at this point, freeing her to kill her is pointless. But while there were clues, Roy's set up is not one of that. If you pay close attention to the last 16 episodes we do know that he's been part of a genocide (ep. 5 & 10), where he was titled a hero. He also acknowledges that a state alchemist sometimes has to kill without question (ep. 4). So yeah they were right but for a wrong reason.

Soma Zöld

I simp for her no matter the outfit x) but gotta agree this one is definitely nice and one of her top outfits

RemielEgis

Exactly. Let the reactors come to their own conclusions. Stop pushing things at them and let them experience the story how they want to experience it.

With the amount of people reminding them of these things it just feels like people want them to feel certain way about Roy etc. which kinda feels like backseating a reaction (as weird as that sounds, it happens nowadays lol). All I can say is people clearly feel very strongly about this and how others feel about them like you said x)

RemielEgis

And its okay if you hate my opinion. I don't really mind. I just enjoy the reactions. I dont feel the need to condescend the reactors. And to think that just because I don't feel the need to constantly bring up things Roy did, that I don't enjoy the story as deeply as you do is equally as patronizing. I never said don't analyze characters critically. Or to only enjoy surface-level things. That's completely misrepresenting my argument. I said don't constantly bring things up and let the reactors learn things on their own. You don't catch EVERYTHING on a first watch and that's okay. Its annoying to be constantly "reminded" of things as if you are a child.

Just feels like theres a lot of weirdly placed anger towards anyone who likes Roys character, and a lot of insulting people's intelligence when it comes to the things they did in the past. These ladies are smart and can put together pieces of a story without reminding. Idk it comes across as patronizing

so far they only spoiled a few seconds, so not the end of the world. It is a little annoying but still better than no subtitles at all. Since this is the only sub that matches the English dub, there is nothing to be made about it

BBT

Those sub-titles are lowkey spoiling, they really didn't have to add Ross name when she first called out Ed's name, it gave it away before we saw her, same thing when they revealed that the girl Roy was talking on the phone was Hawkeye instead of us finding that out by ourselves.

Markub El Jaden

I hate this opinion that because a story is fictional, it can't be treated (or treat itself) seriously and that you shouldn't judge the characters as if they were real people. What's the point then? I can't image following a story as good as FMAB only to get some kind of primitive gratification from action, ships or cuteness. I love Mustang just like you do, because he's a complex character. He deserves to be called out for the horrible stuff he did in the past, but he's still very likeable. Don't treat every negative comment about the Colonel as if it was a complaint for liking him.

Nikodem

Even if Ed figured out that Scar killed Winry's parents, I don't think he would ever try to kill him for it. Ed absolutely despises the idea of killing people, no matter who they are. He probably wants Scar to be held accountable for other stuff that he did as well, like Nina and any members of the military who weren't involved in the war, including Ed himself, who Scar still tried to kill, but not by personally murdering him for revenge.

ArtficialFlvrz

Yeah the show does a good job of it, i'm just not gonna make a big deal out of it if others do wanna talk about it too cuz it's like, one of THE things the show wants to have a discussion about. All the "main party" are likeable, i think Armstrong was my fave as a kid, Roy is goated now that i'm an adult tho.

Kyan

The show reminds you of it at every chance, so it's not necessary. And Roy is supposed to be likable. He's a well-written character who has committed atrocities but his storyline is thematically very important to the show as well as his endgoal.

april 🍏

I don't disagree with you but like the characters themselves are always criticizing their past actions and involvement in literal genocide so it's fine if ppl just wanna talk about it imho. It just adds more depth to the characters.

Kyan

There's a group of people that will constantly complain if you say anything nice about Roy because of his past. Its completely okay to like Roy as a character. Some people forget that its a fake story meant to be enjoyable

I need the next 4 episodes at the same time 😆

Jafeth Díaz

It was pretty obvious Roy didn't kill her. I'm 100% with LM reactions on this. If you pay close attention to the character that has been set up for the past 16 or so episodes i don't know how anyone could assume Roy actually executed Ross in a damn ally. Also it was off screen...

Kamina 1

next two should be released at the same time

Nathan Elkin

LMAOO best thumbnail yet

gloomi

look, while i LOVE these episodes i have to say that the highlight is hawkeye's in that outfit + the headphone thing + the rifle i'm a simple lesbian, i do simp for hawkeye looking like this. probably the most attractive a character has looked/will look in this entire anime... and i'm not one for simping for animated characters lol i mentioned this before but the reason i immediately liked annie as a character in AOT is because she kinda reminded me of hawkeye i don't think you've missed anything about the war, but at this point it's safe to assume that most people who's been in the military for years might have participated in the ishvalan war really REALLY exited for the following episodes, ngl

sand_fl

"I'm not so sure, there is an emperor there". Well, and here in Amestris we have a Fuhrer. No country is perfect

BBT

Yeah, Hughes before he dies correctly calls what they all did in Ishval “genocide”, so the few details we have gotten definitely hint toward really bad things.

cosmotron

+yeah i guess it's easily missable but episode 10 starts with Roy just straight up blowing up Ishvalens

Kyan

It’s true that the show hasn’t gone in full details about the war at this point. But keeping your hands clean is a luxury that you can’t really afford when you are a soldier in a war so it’s pretty much safe to assume that mustang ( alongside all the other like Armstrong, Hawkeye, even Hughes) aren’t angels and have done at least some morally questionable things in the past. Roy being considered a hero of the war support this idea as well since we know that in the end, the goal was to wipe out all the ishvalans (it was mentionned in ep 5 I believe) so in this context I’ll let you imagine what a soldier has to do to be considered a « hero of the war ». However these kind of nuances are one of the reasons why this show is so good and it’s a good thing that the author wasn’t afraid to dive deep into these kind of subjects, since she chose to make the military one of the main focus of the story.

Pkiu

As for the bad things Roy did during the war, you’re right that there’s a lot you don’t know yet, but more has been implied that you might be forgetting. In episode 5, when we first learned of the war, Roy described alchemists being used as “human weapons”, and his words were overlaid with imagery of other alchemists (and himself) killing civilians. It was a while ago, so I’m not surprised you didn’t remember that specific part, though again you’re also right that there is a lot you don’t know about the war yet. So that’s all I’ll say on it for now!

cosmotron