#FMA meta

[fantastic-nonsense]

infuriating that it's been 15+ years and so many people still get Roy killing Lust wrong

"it's ironic that Lust was killed by a womanizer" "Lust was killed by a man who lusted after power" NO! Lust was killed by a man who did it because of love.

It's ironic that she was killed by a man who uses his (false!) public reputation as a womanizer to conceal the fact that he is one of the most steadfastly loyal people in Amestris. It's ironic she was killed by someone whose entire motivation revolved around gaining the power to help others. It's ironic that he killed her for threatening his people.

Lust was killed because Roy refused to let Havoc die, because he refused to let Riza throw away her life. He killed her because he refused to die without making sure the people he loved were safe. Lust was killed because of love. That was the point.

[weirdoldmanhoho]

I know it's kind of exaggerated as a joke to say that FMA ends with Ed "punching God" but it's actually really thematically important that Father is not, actually, a God

for all his power, for all of the souls he sacrifices to create Philosopher's Stones, he can never actually achieve Godhood and that's the point

in fact one of the BIGGEST themes in FMA is how ultimately impossible and also disastrous it is for mortal beings to play God, whether that comes in the form of trying to reverse death, using alchemy to experiment with and twist human beings, or seeking immortality

Ed and Al trying to reverse the natural process of death, Father Cornello making himself a god in the eyes of his followers, Shou Tucker playing with his daughter's life in the name of creating a new creature, the attempt to create life leads to the main villains of the series, the king of Xerxes's search for immortality leading to the destruction of his nation, Father's plan to create more Philsopher's stones leading to constant bloodshed, the implication that the emperor of Xing's search for immortality could do the same to Xing, etc. etc. etc.

every single character that tries to play God faces consequences - either for themselves or for others - and Ed is only able to reverse his and Al's consequences because he finally recognizes that alchemy can't ever make him more than human. "Well done, Edward Elric," Truth says after he expresses this - as a direct opposition to his introduction in the Cornello arc, in which he claims that alchemists are the closest thing there is to God

and Father goes through the exact opposite. Father ultimately doesn't fall to Ed but to Truth, because he NEVER gives up his arrogance, and Truth punishes him for it.

[qs63]

I don't know if this is common knowledge, but all of team Mustang's codenames are borrowed from girls working at Madame Christmas' bar.

This is Vanessa, the girl whose name was assigned to Falman.

That means there's an actual Elizabeth — with whom Roy would talk to over the phone, and go on "dates" with — who is not Riza. That's exactly what makes the codenames effective. At any point Roy can just go on that fishing trip with the real Elizabeth to throw off anyone suspicious.

Also, all the selected girls' names share one or more of the Japanese syllables (kana character) with the person they have been assigned to:

Name (Japanese spelling)

Riza (ri-za) = Elizabeth (e-ri-za-be-su)

Jean (jya-n) = Jacqueline (jya-ku-ri-i-n)

Breda (bu-re-da) = Braidykins (bu-re-i-di-ki-n-su)

Vato (va-to) = Vanessa (va-ne-s-sa)

Kain (ke-i-n) = Kate (ke-i-to)

Poor Breda is the only one whose codename is related to his last name instead of his first name.

[temsiik]

Someone probably already said something similar to this at some point, but I want to get this out myself: I feel like Roy and Riza not getting an on-screen happy resolution (and an obstacle in them getting it ever, though if they ultimately do is left to the audience's imagination) is not only not a flaw or something missing from the ending, but actually a good thing. Not because I don't like RoyAi - I do, but because it works thematically. This aspect I find interesting when contrasted with the other major couple in the series, Ed and Winry, who get about as definitive of a conclusion as you can get (and with the proposal scene, and the family photo in the montage - the EdWin "confirmation" is pretty much what caps off the series).

 When Riza tells Ed about Ishval, and her and Roy's plan to have those who carried it out tried as war criminals, she tells him to not worry about them, but be more concerned about himself. Basically: "your hands aren't stained with blood, go and be happy, don't get bogged down by those like us whose are". And I think this sentiment applies to the romantic couples: Ed and Winry are innocent, and get to maintain that innocence throughout the story (Ed held on to his principles, primarily about not killing, Winry didn't pull that trigger), so we see them get the happy ending. Roy and Riza aren't innocent, so they don't get that conclusion. I even like to think that that's why in that conversation Riza so casually brings up Ed loving Winry. Maybe she's seeing herself and Roy in them, but unlike with herself there's nothing stopping them from finding happiness together, so she wants them to. I'm looking at this through a shipping lense, because I enjoy examining this aspect from that perspective, but honestly this applies to the ending overall. Ed accomplishes his goals, and through the final episode/chapter we definitively know that he and the people closest to him (like Al and Winry) pretty much get to live happily ever after. Roy by series end hasn't yet accomplished his goal of becoming Fuhrer, his romantic arc isn't resolved, there's still that "tried as war criminals” thing they're planning looming over. His ending is a lot more up in the air. Team Mustang not named Roy or Riza actually do get happy endings via photos, and sure enough those are the ones who didn't serve in Ishval.

[guardianspirits13]

As an avid fan of Fullmetal Alchemist for nearly twelve years, I am intrigued by how differently the story hits me as an adult.

As a kid, it was a story about alchemy and homunculi and defeating the literal, physical evil of false humans named after the seven deadly sins.

Looking back as an adult, I am cognizant of the overt fascism present in the government of Amestris.

The fictional Ishvalan war was awful from any angle, but as a kid I saw it mainly as a backstory for character development. In the modern day, with all of the daily horrors shared from Gaza, I am striken by the reality of those scenes.

This show was one of the ways I processed my understanding of the world as a kid, and it is deeply engrained into my personality.

I say this to preface the horror I feel looking back on these scenes which were drawn from the author's culture, and the history of the Ainu Genocide.

I think of that panel of Major Armstrong crying and holding the body of a child, the panels showing piles of bodies barely covered by white sheets. And I see those same images in photos and videos from now.

In the same vein, I remember the discomfort I felt as a kid discovering that in the context of our world Maes Hughes, a lovable and popular character, would have been a Nazi, as depicted in the Conqueror of Shamballa.

At the time it was almost a joke, to say to friends who loved him "hey he's a Nazi in this movie!" and laugh at their surprise.

But as an adult, I understand why. The adults in this story are members of a fascist, militant government. They are lied to and manipulated, yes, but they also uphold the system. The important part though is that they come to realize this.

They look at Ed and Al, these young hopeful teenagers who are one bad day away from being coerced into enacting war crimes, and they do their research. They realize that the government is fucked up, and stage a coup.

Aside from all of the fantastical alchemic elements, it is a wonderfully grounded story that is painfully reflective of both historical and modern systems of corrupt power.

[crows-murder]

to me fullmetal alchemist is just about cycles.

hohenheim, 400 years ago, created the first homunculus trying to bring back his dead son. izumi curtis tried to bring back her own child. ed and al followed both their father and their mentor's footsteps and tried to bring back their mother. time and time again, it is always about love and grief, and you can never learn, because you can never stop loving. you can never stop fully giving yourself to someone and being willing to do anything to bring them back. maybe ed and al didn't know their mother would have lost something important, being brought back to life after death, but izumi and hohenheim must have, in the back of their minds, known, lost as they were to grief and uncaring for the consequences.

this show, to me, is a tragedy because it is driven by love. love turned to grief led ed and al to try and bring back a version of their mother. ed's unwavering love for al leads him across the country, leads him to doing whatever it takes to bring his brother's body back. love drives al to the same goal. this is the price we pay to love, and fma makes sure we know this, over and over. grief is the price of love. playing god, thinking you could outsmart unmovable forces, is the price we pay to love, to grieve love lost. after all, what made orpheus walk for days in the underworld only to turn back when he was within the sun's reach to make sure his lover was still there? what made him turn back, if not love? what made them all sacrifice everything, every painful part of them they had to give, simply to be able to hold the person they love again?

[ruushinynerve]

Some of headcanon thoughts

I think after all these adventures (horrors) Ed might have joint problems. Look, did he get a automail when he was ten or eleven years old? He had constant stress and nightmares. He was skipping meals and feeling hungry because of all this traveling and running around after the Philosopher's Stone and Homunculi. He was twelve years old when he took this path (even earlier, when he was undergoing automail rehabilitation). He was carrying heavy pieces of metal bolted to his bones and ran into the ground. There's no way that his body (a child's still-developing body) wouldn't be affected by this. When such a load pulls the body, pain in the back and joints and further complications arise.

Al always corrected Ed that they would get their bodies back, meaning the leg and arm, not just his body. And I'm sure Al would be eager to help his brother since Ed has apparently forgotten about himself after Al's body was returned. So that's why he studies alkahestry. For big brother. Everything Ed did he always did for Al, now it was Al's turn to do something.

[havemercyonmercury]

FMA and Restorative Justice

One thing I’ve been obessed with thinking about is how the concept of “equivalent exchange” pertains to Roy and Riza’s character arcs.

Riza mentions how her and Roy are working towards dismanteling the power structure of the Amestrian government and reconfiguring it into a democracy, part of which includes her and Roy facing punishment for the war crimes that comittted in Ishval. This new government, because it is a “just” government, will see them as murders. And what’s not included but implied is that Riza believes she and Roy deserve the death sentence for their crimes. We even see this implication mulitple times in Riza’s arc- when Lust shows up and Riza cries to Alphonse to leave her because she believes in a world without Roy, she deserves death. In “Beyond the Inferno” she echos this sentiment. 

Part of me believes that this is not just simply because of their bond. Yes, Riza doesn’t want to live without Roy. But she also doesn’t see her life as one that is worth living (at least for the most part), and her main objective, the main reason she hasn’t ended things, is because she justice to be sereved to her and Roy.

I’ve seen and heard people argue that Roy and Riza do deserve the death penatly for their crimes. But is that really what Hiromu Arakawa is trying to tell us? The story starts with equivalent exchange, but does it end with equivalent exchange?

No, it doesn’t. Alphonse mentions the new concept that him and Ed are trying to impliment- the “equivalent plus one” type of exchange. And really, what value would Roy and Riza’s deaths add? It would be equivalent exhange, but it wouldn’t be the “equivalent plus one” type of exchange.

The truth is that Roy and Riza have expressed the desire to recostruct Ishval, which is what the series ends with them doing. While they have comitted atrocities, while they have killed, if they die, there is nothing they can put back into the world. There is no more good they can do, and their world is in desperate need of the good that each of them provide. 

Even when Roy is injured after his fight with Lust, even when Riza says she’ll end her life without him, Roy never wants to see that happen to Riza. He chides her and enforces the belief that Riza can’t ever give into that sort of despair. The sort of despair that maintains the philosphy of “dying for someone”. Because what narrative does Arakawa really push? She pushes the narrative that living for someone is more powerful of the two.

And that’s exactly I think she tries to push with Roy and Riza. Dying for their crimes is less powerful than living for the people they killed. Restorative justice enforces this concept. It provides emphasis on accountability- punishment can only go so far when it comes to healing. True healing comes from empathy, community building efforts, supporting the victims, and cultural competence. And I really believe that’s what Roy and Riza ultimately end up doing.

[dairogo]

But in that first BH panel where roy is on the phone, he appears to be wearing gray suit pants though... so he would have to also put on his blue military pants in the car. (I have not checked the manga)

Looking in the manga now, and what I'm finding best is a clearer look at Riza's pants, while Roy's are in question a bit more. The thick lines usually down most of the thigh come from their little cape thing, not the pants, so we lose that recognisable indicator, but we're left with the belt.

Here are some terrible pictures I just took from Volumes 12 and 13:

Riza in definite uniform (putting on her disguise), and then fighting Gluttony in the pants she'd be wearing later in the "changing in the car" scene. Same belt, same pants, I think.

Here's the best I could get of Roy:

They have the flexibility of his uniform pants? But I can't see any defining features except the fit, the line ironed into the front, and the shading used. Those could mean different pants or same pants, but I think they've been busy all day.

I would find it hilarious for them to change in front of each other, but I do think it's just a jacket situation ;_; I'm going to content myself with them helping smooth out each other's creases in a too-intimate-for-coworkers way.

[zetalial]

Okay I was watching FMA 03's 4th ending, I Will, and naturally the comments pointed out something cool.

In this final part, Ed and Al are standing in a seemingly random room. (It's a Church.)

And as you can see they're on different sides of a gate. It's foreshadowing the ending.

--

It zooms in on Ed's face and you can see he's looking up at something as his expression changes.

Then we focus on Al, who has a pair of birds on his armour. (And there's Ed on the other side of the gate).

Then the birds fly off Al, and cross through the gate. We see the green one actually crossing through.

As it does so, Ed finally turns to look back towards Al, smiling brightly. Though we don't get another shot at Al.

And finally, both birds fly up towards the light.

Well, those Birds represent Ed and Al. The birds flying off Al, represent him finally leaving his armour and getting his body back from the other side of the gate.

When Ed turns back to smile at him, he's smiling in joy at bringing his brother back, the birds flying up to the light represent them chasing their happy ending, and its hopeful to see them flying together although Ed and Al might be on separate sides of a gate.

[a-mage-ing]

for new years i decided to treat myself by re-reading the fullmetal alchemist manga. so far i've finished the first few volumes. lately i've been more familiar with brotherhood, so it was refreshing to visit sections of the story that i hadn't seen for a few years!

but there was something that i noticed about volumes one and two that really intruiged me about arakawa's pacing and storytelling.

in brotherhood, before we even make it to liore- the setting for page and chapter one of the manga- we are immediatly introduced to the how's and why's of ed and al. we see what they attempted, how it shaped them and propels them and hinders them.

in the manga, we know far less about the elric brothers. we know that they are a strange pair, we quickly learn that they are scientists holding strong values. we then learn alongside rose, of the consequences of meddling with death and the world's natural order. we know that ed is down two limbs, and that al has been reduced to a soul in a suit of armour.

following these revelations we get to see the skill of ed and al- how they are cunning, intelligent, and martially strong beyond their academic intelligence. we see three concecutive showcases of their skill with liore, youswell, and the hijacked train. the first volume builds up the skill and power of our protagonists with three wins in a row. and like the people of amestris, we see the elric brothers as mysterious figures of inelligence, strong principles, and power.

and then volume two takes this version of the elrics that the first volume had built up, only to knock it down immediatly. we see them fail, see the limits to their abilities. we see these two boys break. they play and bond with a young girl, only to have her disfigured and murdered beneath their noses by the alchemy that they practice and believe in. and its then that we have hawkeye point out what the audience, the military, and amestris have been ignorant to in the face of ed and al's accomplishments and talents.

they are children. children with great burdens who have hoisted the world onto their shoulders. children that are hurting and in pain.

i think that the scar encounter that follows works so well because we have seen the brothers at a high and a low. they're human now, to the audience. fallible.

an integral theme of fullmetal alchemist is the hubris of man. the consequences of thinking yourself above god. for a story about science, it seems quite biblical.

volume one of fullmetal alchemist builds these brothers up- like some sort of celestial beings- while volume two humanizes them, and sends them crashing down to earth.

[lucky-me-envy]

What are your thoughts about the idea that the homunculi were raised in a cult?

Thank you for asking me this! It’s a topic I plan on writing about in length at some point and I really love having any chance I can get to talk about it! I’ve got an essay planned out to be written, but for now I’ll just write a few bulletpoints.

Before that I want to link to this addition as I thought @jupiterprincesshouou’s analysis put it very well!

Father and his seven children to me resemble a religious cult that each of the seven deadly sins homunculi were born into as. I do plan on researching more into cults when I write out my essay, though from what I know the manipulation tactics they typically use are all ones that Father utilizes as well. Here are a few examples:

•Religious Figurehead: Father has pretty much posed himself up as more of a religious figure to the homunculi rather than that of an actual dad. He genuinely does have substantial amounts of power, being literally able to control the alchemy of Amestris. As well he’s justified to his children that he is worthy enough to actually fully attain godhood, and that it is their purpose to aid him in this. He also has taught his children to reject any other belief system vehemently, and has sort of his own dogma the homunculi are meant to follow.

•Authority: We don’t see much of how the homunculis’ interactions with Father, but the ones we do see go a long way of showing how they view him as having unquestionable jurisdiction over them. I do plan on elaborating on this later.

•Deception: The homunculi have been taught by Father a grave amount of generalizations and falsehoods about those outside the cult, that being all of humanity. Lust, Pride, Envy, and Wrath often parrot these narratives they’ve been taught, but close to their deaths sort of end up contradicting those ideas. Again, I’ll write more on this in my essay.

•Isolation: We see this tactic mostly demonstrated through the killing of the original Greed. Father first asks Greed to come back, but of course Greed rejects this. He knows returning to the cult would mean being once again isolated from “outsiders” which is why he left in the first place. Which gets me into my next point…

•Severe Punishment: When Greed rejects Father’s demand for work for him again, Father has Greed painfully killed and humiliated, and when he does bring Greed back, Greed’s memories are purposely removed. We know Father has the ability to recreate the homunculi with their memories, as he does so with Gluttony. The difference being that Gluttony “died” still loyal to the cult, so he won’t be punished.

•Religious Ritual: Greed’s original death was heavily tied in with religious imagery, especially in the original manga where he is literally crucified. I can’t remember exactly if in the manga it was obvious that the liquid Greed was dropped into resembled lava, but it can then be viewed in two differing religious iconographies: if it were boiling water, then baptism, or if it were lava, then similar to traditional depictions of hell. When Father returns him to his body, it’s by drinking the pure form of Greed’s philosopher’s stone, which resembles wine. It’s very akin to a communion ceremony. As well, Father made sure to gather all of the other homunculi to be present, and praises them for their loyalty and dedication.

•Display of Power: The other homunculi being present also is significant, as them being there for Greed’s demise can be viewed as a threat for stepping out of line or failure. It’s Father’s way of both showing that what Greed did was wrong and deserving of punishment, but it also is a way for him to let the other homunculi know that should he so choose so, he can and will have them killed in the same way.

•Purpose: Father has taught the homunculi that they are especially unique, and they can all even see this for themselves. They’ve learned through him that they are supposedly “the next phase of human evolution” to loosely quote Lust. They also believe that it is their responsibility to aid Father in furthering his plan of becoming God, and that they should have no ambitions outside of this. Father hardly seems to view the homunculi as anymore than tools, and certainly not as individuals. In fact the homunculi demonstrating even having sense of personhood outside of him greatly angers Father.

I have a lot more points than this that I’ll go over and explain in more depth, and I’ll expand on all of these points as well. Honestly this could even end up being a series of essays. I’ll be sure to post what I’ve written once it’s all actually complete. Again thanks for sending me this, it actually helped a lot to get my thoughts all out on paper so to speak.

[qs63]

A fan's guide to the Fullmetal Alchemist Military

After so much research I've decided to compile all the information I have gathered about the amestrian military into 4 in-depth posts about its: 

Structure and organization 

Uniform

Real world influence

Possible training regime

Brace yourself, this is going to be a series of long posts filled with nerdy facts, sources, and images.

[cuchufletapl]

Thinking thoughts, I've said before that Ed and Al should've gotten to cry into each other's arms when they got Al's body back, and I've just remembered a half-baked Twitter thread I wrote over a year ago that illustrates some of my reasoning, so I'm just gonna copy-paste it here:

FMA: On the Elric Brothers and Crying

Al can't cry and Ed won't. Ed tells Winry that he can't afford himself to cry until they get their bodies back, but I think a better way to put this is: Ed will refuse to cry until Al is able to.

Their mutual emotional constipation stems from their unwillingness to share their pain with each other. Their sense of self is wrapped around the results of the human transmutation. And I think a very neat way to illustrate this is through their respective relationships to crying.

Al can't physically cry and he can't show expression. His pain runs deep and scathing and isolating, and yet his very condition renders him unable to express it in any way that is not through his voice. In a way, he is like a robot with a soul. Fully aware of that which he cannot do that is so integral to the essence of humanity. It's no surprise that he would question his realness so easily when confronted by Barry. To some extent, he probably doesn't feel human anymore. To be clear, I'm not saying that expressing emotions in a conventional way is what makes us human. Al's dettachment from his sense of self also has to do with the fact that he's been put through five years of massive sense deprivation. He can't sleep, eat, smell, or feel touch. His physical inability to cry is just another fucked up thing in the list of fucked up things that being literally disembodied entails.

But here's the kicker: Al won't say any of this, he won't complain, because he understands that Ed already knows. He doesn't know the extent to which his brother feels guilty but he knows enough not to want to burden him further. And so he can't physicially cry and he won't express his pain in any other way either. It's his own to bear. Nobody would be able to fully understand it either.

Now Ed on the other hand: he carries the weight of the consequences of his idea on his flesh and he walks beside the hollow body that he had to force his little brother into. Where Al isolates his emotions as his own to carry, Ed considers himself the bearer for both of them. It's not that he's deluded himself into thinking that if he feels bad enough about it he can spare Al some suffering, but guilt shapes Ed's very self.

He's the older brother. Bringing mom back was his idea. Their pain is his to carry. The right to heal from that pain is his to earn too.

So he won't cry for as long as Al isn't able to let out his pain that way, too.

[sassydefendorflower]

Nothing makes me as feral as the realization that one of Roy's worst moments was burning the tattoo off Riza's back (considering he didn't even manage to burn all of it off), while Riza probably considers that to be the kindest thing Roy has ever done for her.

Her screams of pain and despair and agony haunting Roy just as much as the screams of those he killed, while Riza remembers her own tears fondly because they meant she was finally free of the physical burden of carrying that secret.

Riza asking to be mutilated and Roy doing it TO HER being the biggest gift he could have given her - and yet he will never forgive himself for marring her skin.

He has only ever burned, killed innocents, and learned to torture. He cannot understand that him doing the same to Riza - to his Lieutenant - was a blessing. Mercy. A show of goodwill.

But I think Riza understands. And I think, just as she considered putting an end to him out on the battlefield in Ishval, she takes comfort in him feeling guilty for something she asked him to do. Because it is a sign that he can feel guilty for what he has done - and it is payback for the guilt she suffered after giving him the secret to flame alchemy and him then using it for the slaughter of hundreds.

She can only ever remember that pain fondly - and he can only ever swallow down his guilt.

And I think a small, dark part of Riza likes that.

[russenoire]

i just finished fullmetal alchemist 2003...

and i have words about this.

while both series have lovely scores, courtesy of michiru ooshima here and akira senju for FMAB, FMAB's OPs and EPs are almost all far too good to skip, ever. (if i have to hear pornograffiti's 'melissa' one more time, i will scream.) both series rely pretty heavily on slapstick humor to leaven the surrounding darkness, and the massive chip on edward's shoulder about his height, grating in brotherhood, also wears on my patience here.

i liked this story's approach to alchemy and how it works. but the creators' vision of homunculi here, where each homunculus arises as a result of a single alchemist's hubris and becomes their sin to answer for? i prefer it a little more than the admittedly more cohesive explanation of a single being splitting off aspects of himself.

we get to spend more time with scar and maes hughes (my favorite character; i adore his hazel eyes in this adaptation and hearing the late keiji fujiwara's silky pipes voice him twice is a joy). i still can't decide which kimblee i like best.

both fullmetals are examples of satisfyingly meaty storytelling and full of awesome animation. i suspect a dislike of canon divergence behind a lot of the hate for the first series, and a preference for deeper character study and pathos behind hate for the second.

i'm usually wary of adaptations continuing after creators run out of source material myself, but the story shō aikawa and seiji mizushima constructed out of whole cloth offers up a feast of philosophy, character study, mindfuckery and intricate military-political intrigue. and for the most part, it holds up under its own weight.

here scieszka, winry and rose are more instrumental to the story's plot. dante the cursed shapeshifting genius alchemist is a brilliant addition to the story, as is archer (more on him below). lust becomes an almost sympathetic character, what with having loved and lost multiple times as she manipulates mankind into seeking knowledge while being only a tool herself. alphonse is a formidable alchemist and a prodigy in his own right. here that's not just hinted at; both boys could have passed the state alchemist exam with ease. i loved seeing the elric brothers use alchemy to squabble with each other, not just fists and limbs. and edward... he's a double amputee, but his prosthetic limbs work well enough to rid him of any real functional impairment (bless winry's fantastic engineering!). i'm not going to get into the fucked-up implications of that in this post, but i will say that FMA '03 makes his disability much clearer. we see how painful attaching his automail limbs is, repeatedly. a character pries them off of him at one point and he's almost helpless until he can get them back. it's now obvious why he wears gloves most of the time.

the brutality and pervasive racism of the military dictatorship running amestris is given far more focus here. (edward himself gets checked on his own racist assumptions quite a few times.) we see more of the armed forces in the act of genocide, not just flashbacks in haunted soldier memories. officers openly call people savages; kimblee is sent in as an exterminator because of his amorality and solipsism; shou tucker's sick research is allowed to continue, even though the military already has a more efficient method to make chimerae. while making the situation the elric brothers left behind in liore worse, the shady lt col archer sustains what would have been fatal wounds. he gets rebuilt into some sort of robocop hybrid sentient killing machine with no qualms about gunning down his own men. rose is traumatized to mutism raped by the military for having led a rebellion and still leads her people.

whether this feels heavy-handed to you may depend on your tolerance for darkness and cognitive dissonance; i'm still processing how i feel about it. both takes on arakawa-sensei's story present their main and supporting cast as capable of cruelty and kindness, but FMA '03 foregrounds that evil a bit more alongside the good. it made the kindness less palatable for me, in a good way.

also i spoiled myself a bit by watching the conqueror of shamballa before finishing this series. when i learned that mizushima-san is a huge fan of hideaki anno's work, FMA '03's 'inconclusive' ending made even more sense.