I can’t quite get over Al being one of the most powerful alchemists in Amestris, possibly the world. Potentially there are others like Izumi, who have seen the Truth and just kept quiet about it? But…unlikely. Narratively speaking. And having seen the Truth automatically puts you several steps up over most other alchemists out there, so Al is, objectively speaking, in an elite club of four living alchemists right now, one of whom can’t practice alchemy anymore (hi, Ed) and so doesn’t really count. With flame alchemy, Mustang is another whole level of danger, but Al and Izumi are right there at his heels in terms of ability to Casually Wreck Your Shit. Yet there she is, a simple housewife, and there he is, a well-dressed young man with an eager smile who probably still picks up stray kittens whenever he finds them…who is, in a traveling party of himself and two superhuman chimeras, absolutely the most dangerous one. “Stop right there, or the prettyboy gets it!” snarls a bandit with a knife to Al’s neck. “Please stop,” says the prettyboy anxiously, and presses his hands together. A fist of earth knocks the sword from the bandit’s grasp, and another his feet from the earth. “I don’t want to hurt you.” If he didn’t just sweep the man’s feet out from under him with a well-placed kick - you know he trained that old body right back into the shape he’d had his metal one in. He looks like the sort of young man you would be delighted to bring home to your mother. He could probably level a city, though it might take a couple hours. Second only to his teacher (maybe) and the Flame Alchemist himself. I love Alphonse Elric.
interesting how wrath was able to completely take over the entity that was king bradley to the point where bradley was no longer sure of the person he was before or how much of his humanity was still intact, while ling was able to not only accept greed (and vice versa) but communicate and get along with him just fine and even lead him to the right path.
Something I really love about fmab is just how the characters age slowly within the series, and you don’t even notice it at first until you compare how ed and winry look at the start of the show vs at the end of the show. and it does facial proportions really well to showcase how they grow, instead of that typical anime thing where they look the same until they turn 30 and then cut their hair or get white streaks or something (and also get taller). its so gradual but just look
like it wouldve been so easy to just make ed taller and basically only have 2 versions of him, one as a kid and one as a teen. thats basically what every almost other show does, but fmab really went the extra mile. and being able to actually see the characters grow up in-universe, even if you dont really realize it at first, just connects you to them that much more