One's Dazzling Light - Ruikasa Week 2024
Day4: Fantasy
Rui always thought that the world was cruel. That happiness doesn't exist in his play of life. The curtain rose to reveal a dark wood where he lived since he was born. A poor peasant couple; the toy maker husband and the housewife. In a world where magic surrounded the air, what could a pair of magicless humans do?
Neither of them could raise a child of magic. Not just any magic; the Pure Darkness. A magic of jinx and curse. A magic that could bring ruin to the world.
A magic bestowed on the only son of the poor Kamishiro family.
His parents tried their best. They did. They loved him more than anything in the world and he lived him back. His father taught him about crafts and his mother taught him about flowers.
But Rui was a child. A lone child who only wants friends.
And yet no children his age wanted to step onto his stage. They shun him for having the cursed magic. He could count on one hand the children who eventually accept him the way he is; a shy mermaid named Nene who accidentally swam too close to the beach when he was practicing and a knight-in-training named Mizuki who had been outcasted for being too feminine.
Those four people are the people Rui kept close to his heart.
And the world decided to take them away almost immediately.
"I got accepted!" Nene said to him, happy tears streaming down her cheeks. "Phoenix Orchestra. I get to sing and travel the world."
He didn't have the heart to beg her to stay.
"I'm going to the Knight Academy next year," Mizuki said to him. "Do you want to join in as well?"
He just shook his head, knowing he had no place there.
"We'll be home in just a week, okay kiddo?" His father ruffled his hair.
"Don't forget that we love you." His mother kissed his forehead.
They never came home. Their carriage was attacked. It was not an accident, Rui knew that. The punishment of being the parent of a cursed child.
They tried to kill him as well, but a burning house could never hurt him. He sent it back to them, burning them to the bone. After all, Pure Darkness magic could increase misfortune. Perhaps he accidentally cast it upon himself. But he no longer cares.
If the world tries to kill him, then he'll destroy them first with his own hand.
"I understand you," the spotlight shone upon a lady in black with pink hair who smelled like death. She offered a hand toward him. "There are many who seek justice, to restart the world with a blank canvas. With your power, we shall bring salvation to those who seek."
"What must I do?"
"There are people who are the opposite of you; four people hold the power of Pure Light. Find them, bring them to me, and with the power of Pure Darkness, we shall create a Utopia."
Rui, who has nothing left to lose and a desire to see the world crumble, took the hand.
The title 'Alchemist' was bestowed upon him.
The world trembled before his title despite never seeing his true appearance for his illusion magic. In his search for those Pure Light, he brought judgment upon evil. Those who commit crimes will receive punishment from him. Those who wish for revenge upon their enemies, he shall fulfill it. The true Utopia may not come sooner, but he shall bring a little salvation to the people.
*****
In the small provincial town of Phenny, Rui had found one of the Lights. He had sensed a shift in magic the moment he stepped into the town. It was warm, inviting, peaceful... It was everything that Rui wasn't. A Pure Light, such presence they had.
It brought him to an inn. Rather crowded this late in the evening, filled with drunkards and knights off-shift. Rui schruched up hin nose. Could the Light possibly be here in this lowly place?
"Rui? Is that you?"
Rui turned toward the voice and saw a familiar pinknette, now dressed in a silver uniform. "Mizuki..."
"Hey, man!" Mizuki ran toward him, not hesitating to hug him. "It has been a while!"
"I thought you were still studying at the Knight Academy."
"I am. I'm in my final year, so we had a one-year service thing."
"Who are you servicing to?"
"Oh, just some guy." Mizuki didn't look at him as they waved their hand nonchalantly. A gesture of avoidance. They were hiding something and Rui had his guesses.
"Mizuki!"
There it was. A Pure Light walking toward them. Taking a figure of a young man dressed in simple, yet elegant, clothes at the same time; a suit, blue hat, a bow as a tie, and a coat over its shoulder with constellations. Hair as gold as sunset and eyes that shine with innocence.
The Light widened its eyes. "O-Oh. Hello! Are you a friend of Mizuki?"
"You can say that." Rui smiled just for pleasantry. "I'm Kamishiro Rui. And who might you be?"
"Tenma Tsukasa. But you can call me Tsukasa." It offered its hand and Rui took it. Such power radiated from that hand, sending shivers down their spines. "Are you a traveler?"
"You can say that."
It smiled. "Well, I hope we see each other around."
For a prey to invite its predator into its nest, perhaps the Light was more gullible than Rui thought it was.
*****
Passing Akito's room, he could hear the sound of him humming. It wasn't an unusual occurrence, the Wanderer is often one who announces his presence with either a whistle or a caw of his eagle.
This melody, however, sounded more cheerful, more passionate, and filled with excitement.
"What are you humming about?"
Akito raised his eyebrow from his spot on his bed. Book perched on a thigh and a pencil in his hand. "Why do you care?"
"Just curious."
Akito rolled his eyes and looked back to his book before writing something. When Rui thought he had decided to ignore him, Akito said, "It's just something Kohane taught me."
"Kohane?"
He paused. His gaze shifted to avoid Rui. "I mean, the Light."
Rui chuckled. "Oh, aren't you getting too chummy with it?"
"Shut up. It just happens we have the same interest."
He jumped off his bed and pulled his hood. "Where are you going?" Rui asked when Akito walked past him.
"Meeting-" He stopped himself. "I mean, keeping an eye on Kohane."
"Sure you are."
For a Darkness and Light to be friends...
How ridiculous.
*****
Phoenix Orchestra arrived at Phenny. It was said that this small town was the birthplace of the most well-known orchestra in the entire country. The same orchestra that Nene joined. Thus their reunion happened in Phenny.
"Rui!" Nene was never one with physical contact, but she leaped into his arms. Even in his cold heart, Rui couldn't deny returning it. "It has been too long."
"I'm glad I can see you again."
"Me too." Nene pulled back. "Oh! I need to introduce you to someone!" She pulled him toward a small pinknette with a smile so wide. "This is Emu. She's the daughter of the head orchestra."
"Hello!" Emu took Rui's hands and shook them hard. "It's nice to meet you! Nene told me a lot about you!"
"She did?"
"Yup! I would love to get to know you!"
Rui couldn't help but chuckle. "Likewise."
"Oh! Oh! Now it's my turn to introduce you to my friend!" She pulled them toward the inn where Rui was now staying. And upon entering, he could hear the sound of a piano. A beautiful melody; soft and inviting. The Light sat there, eyes closed and smiling softly. Fingers glided down the keys, foot pressed the pedal to a ringing tone. A harmony that left Rui speechless.
"It's just something Kohane taught me."
Was this what Akito felt when he met his Light? To hold a melody close to his heart and cause a change of heart.
When the piano stopped, Rui craved for more.
"Tsukasa!" Emu leaped into Tsukasa's arms, almost causing him to fall from his seat.
"Emu! I didn't know you were coming back."
"We'll be here for a couple of months! Keisuke is thinking of holding another audition soon. You should try in."
Light smiled and patted Emu's head. "I'll think about it."
"But you always said that!" Emu pouted.
"It's a hard decision, Emu."
"And why is that? If I may ask," Rui asked.
Light looked at him. His gaze softened and sighed. "I have a personal reason. I don't want to be a bother."
"You'll never be a bother," Emu said again. "Everyone will love you. I just know it! You'll be a star! Don't you want that?"
"I did." He sighed again. "But that was just a phase, Emu."
Emu stared at him with a slight sadness and Rui was curious about that answer.
Thus, when one night came as Emu, Nene, and Mizuki hung around at one table, Rui walked up to the piano where Light was playing once again. Even after a couple of times listening, Rui could say that he was quickly attached to Light's playing.
"What do you mean 'it was just a phase' last time?"
Light smiled. There was a hint of melancholy in his gaze. "I always know my time is limited. I can't let myself indulge in dreams." He glanced at him. "Aren't you here to take it away quicker from me?"
Rui hummed. "So, you know."
"Pure Light and Pure Darkness always resonate with each other. I've never met with you fellow, but I had sensed you the moment you arrived here."
"Are you going to fight me for your life?"
Light paused his playing. "Tell me, Rui." He fully looked at him. "Do you know what it means to bring salvation to the world?"
Rui didn't answer. The question haunted him in his sleep.
*****
"Rui, do you think we're doing the right thing?" Shizuku had asked him one day.
Rui turned to her. "What do you mean?"
Among the four of them, Shizuku had always been the most compassionate. She loves humanity, which includes her sister who she hadn't seen for a long time. The secret of her being the Pure Darkness was spoken and the guilt of leaving her sister behind always burdens her.
"Minori told me," Minori was the name of the Light assigned to her, wasn't it? "that maybe we're heading to a decision that we couldn't go back anymore."
"We are aiming for a Utopia. It's only normal that once the world is rewritten, everything won't be the same."
"I know that." She looked at her hand as Pure Darkness danced between her fingertips. "But still." She brought up her hand to her chest and smiled. It wasn't like the cold smile of the Songstress who charmed her victims. But it was Shizuku's smile; a smile filled with warmth. "I think I want to try to live in this world with her for now."
*****
The Light - Tsukasa - stood in the middle of the plaza, surrounded by children. There was a hint of jealousy blooming in Rui's heart. How funny that he hates the sight of children playing around him. He had gotten close these few days under a self-reassurance of building trust. His conversations with Tsukasa about their daily days were pleasant. In the evening, Tsukasa would play at the bar for his part-time job. Rui had asked once why he even bothered to have a job. Tsukasa just answered with, "I just want to experience life."
That was also a thing that Rui was confused about: the desire to live. Rui had given up on life for he had nothing else to do other than wait for salvation Lady Death would bring. Watching Tsukasa going on with his daily life (buying cute stuff for Mizuki with his own money, attending Nene and Emu's rehearsal, inviting Rui for stargazing), Rui wondered if he could do this as well in the new world. Perhaps, if he ever met Tsukasa again, they could live together and experience it.
...
What was that thought again?
"Do the magic, Big Brother Tsukasa!" One of the kids cheered. "Do the magic!"
Tsukasa giggled. "Alright, alright." Tsukasa looked up to Rui, smiling and offering a hand. "Come and give me a hand, Rui."
Rui frowned. "Me?"
"Yeah, come on." Tsukasa skipped to pull Tsukasa into the circle.
"Is he magic too?" One of the kids asked.
Tsukasa nodded. "Yeah, and a great one." He turned to Rui, still smiling at him.
"Are you sure?" Rui whispered. "Pure Darkness brings destruction."
"And Pure Light brings creation." Tsukasa opened his palm and Rui's keen eyes could see magic dancing on his palm. "When combine..." Tsukasa brought Rui's hand closer. "A miracle can be created."
Their hands joined together and Rui could feel their magic intertwined. It felt so right. The wind picked up underneath their feet, fluttering Tsukasa's coat and Rui's robe, carrying white and black feathers. The children cheered from the spectacles. When they reached for the feather, it burst into fireworks and bubbles.
It was beautiful...
A feather landed on Tsukasa's head and it burst into bubbles. Tsukasa giggled and Rui's heart skipped a beat.
*****
"Luka, I don't want to do this anymore."
Lady Death didn't even look surprised when Mafuyu stood up from her seat. The table felt so empty after Akito and Shizuku's departure, leaving only a pot of a single black lily in their seat.
"Kanade had told me everything. You lied to us."
"You trust the Light more than me?" Luka commented.
"You never told us anything about sacrificing us all!"
"What?" Rui looked between the two. "Mafuyu what are you talking about?"
Mafuyu turned to him. The Marionette had always been emotionless, but at the moment Rui could see the great anguish in Mafuyu's eyes. "In order to create a new world, you need to destroy the first world before creating the new one. If Pure Light is the power of creation, what is needed for the destruction?"
"Darkness? We already know that Mafuyu-"
"The Pure Darkness is tied with our own soul. The same goes for the Pure Light to Kanade's. Once magic tied with one's soul, it became harder to extract." She turned back to Luka, glaring at her. "Any attempt of extracting Pure Darkness or Pure Light won't only result in death, but also the erasure of our existence."
What?
"What... What are you saying?"
"We won't be able to enjoy this Utopia is we disappear for good!" Mafuyu curled her fingers into a fist. "The only one winning here is Luka! She's just using us to get all the Pure Light and later killing us to get the Pure Darkness!"
No...
"Luka..." Rui stared at her. "Tell me this is not true... We're not going to die, right?"
Luka never answered them. But her silence was enough.
"I don't want to die..." Mafuyu lowered her head. Rui couldn't see her face, but he knew the devastation feeling she felt. "I don't want to leave Kanade... She's the only one I have..."
*****
"Sacrifices need to be made to reach one seemingly impossible goal," Tsukasa said as they stared into the sunset from the hill of white lilies. It was a secret place that even Mizuki wasn't told about. And yet Tsukasa showed it to Rui out of all people. "Four Light. Four Darkness. For one utopia that we won't be able to enjoy. Is it worth it?"
Rui turned to look at him. "Are you saying it's better just to let evil roam around this Earth?"
"No." Tsukasa shook his head. "Evil can't roam freely if law and order exist is being held up high." He looked up to the orange sky. "If a Utopia is a paraside where people can do whatever they want, then what's stopping them from doing evil again? Light and Darkness, good and evil, will always be there. One cannot be there without the other. How can one judge that something is evil if good doesn't exist? How can you say you've done a good deed if you don't know what evil doings are?"
"So, what do you suggest?"
"It's a tough question." He reached to snap a lily of its stem, bringing it closer to his nose to smell the scent. "But I don't think bringing the end of the world is a good solution." He giggled. "I still love this world and the people in it."
Tsukasa looked at him with a smile as soft as the sunset as he tucked the lily behind Rui's ear. His fingers lingered on his cheeks for a second too long. Rui caught his fingers, pressing Tsukasa's palm onto his cheek as he kissed it.
"I don't want to die," Tsukasa whispered.
"I won't let you," Rui answered. He leaned into Tsukasa's face and pressed their lips together.
He understood now. He understood why Akito resonated with Kohane's music, why Shizuku wanted to live together with Minori, and why even the thought of leaving Kanade brought Mafuyu to tears.
Rui always thought that the world was cruel. But the simple action from Tsukasa, his Light, made him want to stay in this world together with him.
*****
The city was empty when Rui arrived and immediately he felt dread.
Luka is here.
No no no no no.
Rui ran.
She wasn't supposed to be here. She wasn't supposed to be here!
The inn was empty when he barged in. Not even the sound of the creaking window. The bartender who usually already working on his order, was nowhere to be seen. Rui could feel the darkness coming from upstairs inviting him, challenging him.
Rui ran up and slammed the door open.
There, under the moonlight that shone through the window, Luka stood in the middle of the room. With an unconscious Tsukasa in her arms.
"You really think I would let walk out of our deal that easily?" She smiled at him. "Out of all the Pure Darkness, you were the last person I expected to betray me. I guess all those big talks about hating the world are just for shows."
"Luka..." Rui knew he had the power and yet he felt utterly hopeless under the gaze of Lady Death herself. "Let him go."
"Didn't I tell you?" Luka glanced down at Tsukasa, eyes gleaming with greed. "We need the Pure Light if we ever going to create Utopia."
"But you also need us Pure Darkness."
"That's true. But you'll come." She stepped back, separating Tsukasa from Rui even further. And Rui couldn't even lift a finger. "You will all come. All of you are attached to those Lights. And I'll be taking everything."
A portal appeared as the wind picked up again. Rui could feel the world shift, returning to its original form before being visited by death herself.
And Tsukasa slowly opened his eyes, dazed. He didn't even register that he had been captured. All he knew was that Rui was standing there, just a few feet away from him. "Rui..."
He reached out for him. And Rui snapped as if a freezing spell was finally being lifted from him.
"TSUKASA!" He ran toward the pair, arm stretched to reach his Light. But before he could even graze a finger, Tsukasa was gone.
He's gone.
Tsukasa's gone.
Luka caught him.
He's going to die.
All because of Rui.
"Rui!" He didn't even realize Nene was there, clutching his shoulder and shaking him, because Tsukasa was gone. Luka has Tsukasa. He's gone. Rui couldn't stop her. She's gone with Tsukasa.
"We'll find him." Nene clasped his cheeks, grounding him. "We'll bring Tsukasa back."
Bring Tsukasa back...?
"We'll bring him back." Mizuki knelt beside him, hand on his shoulder. Emu gave him a determined nod. "Not just to stop the end of the world."
Right. They can Tsukasa back.
Rui looked at his hand. A hand that could bring disaster with his magic. But Tsukasa believes that he's a good person, even if his hand is cursed.
Rui would believe him. He clenched his fingers into a fist, feeling Pure Darkness flowing in him.
"Wait for me, Tsukasa…"
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Things I find are handled so interestingly well in the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist compared to Brotherhood:
Ishval! The true horror and terror of Ishval is handled so much better: it is the centre of the show’s thesis about the violence done against other people in the name of scientific progress and the empire’s violence
Speaking of: racism is handled better in this show too! The way that Ed and Al are so callous and dismissive about Ishval through most of the show, despite Marcoh’s warnings, and it really doesn’t hit them until they go there in person and realize that Rick and Rio have suffered just like them: in fact, Rick and Rio have suffered even more than them. Ed and Al can always go back to Resembool. Rick and Rio can’t. The casual racism of our main characters is really good! It’s very realistic that Ed and Al believe the racist lies about Ishval for SO LONG, despite rationally understanding the military is bad
Liore! Because Liore gets to have this back-and-forth with Ishval, you get this really strong empathy and solidarity between Rose and Scar, as this representation of Ishval and Liore: religious brown people versus the Empire coming to genocide them out of existence...the solidarity and love between Scar and Rose and the peoples of Ishval and Liore is really good!
Ed and Al really get to be kids and get to be wrong a lot? They get to be such unreliable narrators in a way that is so interesting! When they say something about alchemy or make comments on other characters, they’re often wrong and misguided! Ed’s petulance and anger and stubborn defiance and Al’s naivete and inability to question other people’s lies gets them in trouble way more often than it does in Brotherhood and it really emphasizes just how much he and Al are children out of their depth in a horrible system, in a way that Brotherhood often doesn’t.
The metaphor of alchemy: Alchemy IS science. For all its goods, it is all the evils and fallouts of unethical science: science that is done at the expense of people, science that is done in the name of greed, science that is done only in the name of violence, and with this strong metaphor, the Philosopher’s Stone as this pinnacle of progress that is built on the blood of common people is just a less complicated metaphor. Because Alchemy is science and FMA 2003 is a commentary on imperialistic, colonial science that is so directly commenting on the Gulf War, it gets to say things much more angrily than I think Brotherhood ever gets to?? You feel the anger about the lies of the Gulf War in FMA 2003 and how it parallels to WW2 better. The animators seem more angry and I enjoy that more!
(More about pacing, characterization and the overall tone of the show under the cut!)
Although the show ultimately whiffs it, the homunculi being the leftover remnants of human transmutation allows for so many climatic, interesting conflicts between both the homunculi and humans, but also between different humans! Ed and Izumi and their relationship in this show is defined by their fundamental disagreements regarding the role of alchemy and what to do with the homunculi: and it is SO good!
I love that the homunculi are resentful of humans for living and want the philosopher’s stone to be human again! I could do without them all being controlled by a mysterious entity who is so much more boring than all of the other homunculi, but hey. That happened in Brotherhood too, Father’s very boring.
Speaking of the homunculi: they are so much scarier and intimidating!! When they show up to a fight, pretty much everybody loses! It’s great! It’s not until the last 10-15 episodes of the show that Ed is able to actually put up a fight against them, so you really feel the stakes everytime they show up on screen. They kill Hughes masterfully, they beat the shit out of Scar, they beat the shit out of Ed and Al, they beat the shit out of Izumi--they’re genuinely scary and I love it! In Brotherhood, they are able to evenly fight them SO MUCH MORE QUICKLY and I think it makes them less of a threat than in 2003.
The main women in Ed and Al’s lives get so much more to do! Maria, Sheska, Izumi and Winry all have a HUGE amount of screentime compared to Brotherhood, where Winry is mostly just running around and has very little initiative to investigate the main plot! Here, she and Sheska investigate homunculi, participate in fights and really are emotionally impacted by events. Izumi barely shows up in Brotherhood ever, and she is a fundamental player in the game in 2003! And Lieutenant Maria Ross gets to really actually play the role of ‘first adult to be like CHILDREN SHOULDN’T BE IN THE ARMY’ which gives her genuine depth and emotionality.
Oh, Martel’s a real character too! She and Al are fun, I enjoy their banter and I enjoy that she gets to really emphasize to Ed and Al that Ishval was entirely a false-flag operation
Rose too! I love that Rose comes back as a real character and not cameo! I love that Rose’s rape too, is not just this moment where Ed truly and really realizes that the military does interpersonal violence, but also is something that motviates Rose herself! I love that moment where she screams at Ed to keep walking, just as he shouted at her at the beginning of the show. I love that her continuing on as a character means that Ed’s shitty speech at the beginning of the show gets to be recontextualized as a thing of strength again. I love her resilience, and I love her.
On the villain-side, at the expense of Greed being a character, Lust gets to be a very sympathetic character! I love her contemplations on why she wants to be human, I love her slow realization that she’s tired of the fight, I love her immediate betrayal of Dante once she realizes that Dante is just using her, I adore her and Envy’s petty bickering. She gets so much depth by being formerly human and being linked to Ishval.
Speaking of Winry: Roy killing Winry’s parents is just. So much better. I love how it immediately breaks Winry’s faith in the government entirely, I love how much it really and truly shows how the Amestrian military is evil. I love how it really creates this moment of weakness and vulnerability in Roy, which he doesn’t get nearly as much in the other show! Roy’s too cool in Brotherhood! I love how young, sad and pathetic he is when he kills the Rockbells, it really sells the horrors of war much better.
I really like getting to see Ed and El’s counterparts across all of the side characters: the characters that only show up for one or two episodes: everybody is brothers. Everybody is consumed by this burning posessive love. But nobody goes as far as Ed and Al are willing to. I love how they are confronted with their mistakes and failures everywhere they go! It really sets the tone of horror. It really sells Ed and Al as the protagonists of a dramatic tragedy. They made the mistake, and they will make it again, in the name of love!
A small thing: but I love that Izumi and Ed disagree with what the Gate is? I love that Ed thinks of the Gate as Truth. And Izumi doesn’t! Izumi simply thinks it is a horror. Izumi thinks that what insight the gate gave her was not truth but something else, and I agree with her. I love the idea that Ed’s conception of reality is based on him being Mr. Edgy Angsty Atheist! I love that the gate is silent in 2003, I like that there are very little answers. And I agree with Izumi! The answer to the question: what lies behind the ultimate taboo of science is NOT truth!! It doesn’t quite make sense!
Relatedly, I love that Ed learns all of his horrible communication skills and bottling everything up coping mechanisms from Izumi. They make all the same mistakes all the time! Izumi always takes everything on her shoulders even though she has help, as does Ed. Izumi never communicates her love and appreciation for the people around her, letting her actions do the speaking, as does Ed. They are terrible mirrors of each other, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
I like that Armstrong is not comic relief? He puts on ‘Mr Muscle Man’ as a facade about three times in 2003, and every single time, it’s a distraction, it’s supposed to make people look elsewhere. Most of the time in 2003, he’s incredibly solemn and serious, as he tries to endure doing the wrong thing in the name of duty. I love that he’s still suffering the consequences of being too kind in Ishval.
I like that Mustang, Hawkeye and all our favourite main characters put Ishvalans in trains and take them off to concentration camps. It’s not very subtle with its metaphor, but it shouldn’t be. If anything, Brotherhood deeply de-emphasizes the horrendous nature of the genocidal play of the army and the constant violence they partake in. Roy and his people are so heroic in Brotherhood, and I really like how much they are complicit. How much they are ultimately soldiers who are ‘just following orders’ in a genocidal regime.
I like that they don’t turn to act for the side of good until the very end of the show. I think it highlights the stakes a bit more. I like that the show makes us doubt Roy for a lot longer before finally giving Ed hope! It’s far more cathartic!
I like that Paninya ISN’T ACTUALLY A THIEF???? I like that Paninya is just a gal who wants to make her adoptive dad proud and she steals Ed’s pocketwatch not for Winry to teach her a lesson about how ‘stealing is bad’ but that Ed gets the lesson that he’s not the only one that makes automail work for him! I love that Ed loses actually in 2003!
I really enjoy Fletcher and Russell. Fletcher especially is my good boy. He and Al should hang out more :)
I really like that Kimblee starts out as a fugitive in 2003! There is something so slimey in Brotherhood where the army just immediately takes him out of jail to track the Elric brothers: it definitely shows just how evil the Amestrian army is, but I think I prefer him being a traitor to Greed’s gang! I love how much more personal Martel makes her fury with him! I like how it takes a while for the military to take him back in here, mostly because it allows for Archer to be a character instead.
I think Archer being a character makes Kimblee more effective: Kimblee is not Ed’s enemy. He’s Scar’s enemy. And I LOVE that in 2003.
Archer’s initial attempt to do the right thing instantly being overtaken by craven greed is also a really fun arc! I just enjoy more military characters getting to be pieces of shit.
Scar gets to interact with more Ishvalan characters because he’s not tied down by far too large an entourage cast, and as a result, he is just. SO much better. I love that he and his mentor fight and talk and he ties himself to the refugees of Ishval in a way he doesn’t quite get to in Brotherhood. I LOVE his determination to make a Philosopher’s Stone out of the military’s lives. I love that he has no hesitation about it either. This is praxis!
I love that Ishvalan people’s legacy is alchemy too! I like that alchemy is the lost art, the old art, and not something that missed Ishvalans by entirely! Although I do like that Scar’s brother in Brotherhood is trying to combine alchemy and alkahestry, I LOVE that 2003 is simply him going back to Ishval’s ancient history. It makes the science metaphor more interesting, especially when you see that apparently the ancient Ishavalsn found out how to make a Philosopher’s Stone and then rejected it and alchemy entirely as a result. I think it’s really interesting worldbuilding!
I love that whole sequence where Ed kind of makes Wrath’s hatred of him worse? I love how mean and obsessive Ed can be in the show sometimes, I love how flawed and interesting he is. He really feels like a teenager lashing out against the cruel world, and it emphasizes the tragedy of it all.
I love that Hohenheim’s immortality is NOT an accident. I like that he actively did evil things to gain immortality and I like that now his is a story of regret! I think it makes Hohenheim so much more compelling when he is a man seeking repetence for an actual sin instead of being tricked? I think it’s more compelling that he has the same sins as his sons. I like that he was the first to do human transmutation and the first to make a Philosopher’s stone, and that these are Ed and Al’s legacy?? It’s so interesting and fun!
The slow pacing really allows for the tragedy to actually build! I love how slow yet purposeful all the episodes are! The only truly filler episodes are the weird episode about the sexy female thief that keeps tricking Al because Al is too horny/naive, and the Mustang Team’s side adventures. Every other filler episode is doing important work for building the themes of the show! And even the two filler episodes are doing importent things re: characterization!
Shou Tucker is such a CREEPY minor villain that is used to perfection in 2003. I love how he keeps showing up, I love how awful he is, and I love how much more significant he and Nina are to 2003, because Ed and Al spend four episodes with them instead of their story being wham-blam-ka-blam like it is in Brotherhood, where everything with them happens in 1 episode.
Laboratory Five is SO MUCH MORE DEVASTATING as a dramatic tension point for Ed! I love how much more evil it is! I love how much more hopeless the situation is. I LOVE the dramatic irony of Ed almost killing hundreds of people because he believed Shou Tucker, despite everything. It’s so good. It makes Brotherhood’s Lab Five Arc pale in comparison.
Hot Take: I kind of love that Ed goes to Nazi Germany by going through the Gate xD They don’t spend nearly enough time on it, but I kind of adore it anyway. FMA 2003 said subtlety is for cowards, and they were CORRECT!
Things I think weren’t as good but still interesting
Brotherhood really went off with making the homunculus the root of the nation-state of Amestris. I love that in Brotherhood, the state was founded for the explicit purpose of genocidal violence, and the homunuculus as simply the underside of the genocidal turn, the secret police that make the state violence seem legitimate. The hazy relationship between the military/state and the homunuculus muddies the otherwise clear message that 2003 is going for re: state violence and the role of science in perpetrating/continuing violence.
Dante’s bad. Not that Father is GOOD, not in any way, but Dante’s plan is very stupid and is very underexplained. Why do Trisha and Bradley still follow Dante when she clearly reveals she’s just using them to prolong her own life and has no intention of making them human? Why do they not immediately just turn traitor like Lust does--the show never builds any real loyalty between Dante and the other homunculi, which makes for a rushed climax, alas. (I do LOVE her and Hohenheim’s bodies physically rotting, that’s some really fun body horror! And I can’t help it, I love exes who were evil scientists and one continued to be evil, and one repented. It’s a fun trope and it was DEEPLY underutilized, alas)
I’m sad Scar died! 2003 obviously has an incredibly high body count and I defend all of them, but Scar dying is just kinda sad! I like that he has to live with himself in Brotherhood and make Ishval again.
Greed doesn’t get to do much at all, and his weird acceptance of his own death is VERY strange compared to his own acceptance of being a man so greedy that he wants everything. Although I ended up liking his role as Ed’s first murder, I think Greedling is SUCH a highlight of Brotherhood, that its absence felt jarring.
May Chang and Ling are such good characters, and I miss Xing! I think I really end up liking 2003′s laser focus on Ishval more, in the end, I think it does a better job of focusing on genocide and racial violence as the catalyst for the state’s and science’s expansion. But May and Ling are such lovely characters and I missed them.
Al’s angst about maybe not being a real person goes on for SO LONG. I forgot it’s like a full four episodes! It’s the one emotional stake that doesn’t quite feel as impactful as the rest of the show.
Sloth-Trisha had so much potential that was squandered, I loved when she finally became a fighting antagonist, but I wish they’d spent more time on Ed and Al arguing about her and what to do with her/what she means. I mean, it tracks with them both: that Al instantly goes ‘oh, homunculi are remnants of human transormati--OMIGOD MOM’S OUT THERE’ and Ed’s like ‘i refuse to think about this until the last possible minute’ it’s very in character, but it means they never get to really fight about killing Sloth-Trisha, which is a shame!
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