#they are a harrowing duo of contradicting ideals who all the same server on the sameside and aren’t all that fundamentally different

[fumifooms]

Kimbliza crumbs in canon

The ship of Solf Kimblee and Riza Hawkeye (kimbliza) is a rarepair, unsurprising since they share only one interaction and scene. That’s not to say the ship has 0 canon basis, however, and this masterpost is me just compiling things that makes me go “oh yeah, kimbliza”. I go over the iconic scene they have together first, but then I delve into more obscure bits and details that I haven’t seen others point out. This is meant to act as a masterpost of sorts. Under a cut bc this’ll be decently long. These keep me up at night 

Manga

Let’s first of all go over said scene they have together. Very similar in Brotherhood and the manga, but the manga is much easier to showcase here.

Nothing short of Kimblee’s most iconic quotes being addressed to her! Their first and only interaction, quite the icebreaker. The first thing to notice is that he’s quite directly answering a question she asked, definitely didn’t ask him, but he all the same heard and wanted to tell her what he thought about it. Second is that he singled her out, even if he had been addressing his speech to the whole group. Third is how he was able to read her, it’s one thing to guess she dislikes her “job”, but another to assume a part of her would take pride in her skills which we’ll assume is at least partially right due to her reaction (It’s mostly simple philosophy/logic rather than him reading her well specifically, but still fun to point out). Most importantly is how impactful this interaction was for Riza. This interaction is clearly one that she remembers even now still (which can be assumed, for one, by how the Ishval scenes are contextualized by Riza talking to Ed about her experiences in Ishval) and that affected her a lot, both in the moment as seen with her frequent and intense panels in the scene and later on through the wake-up call she needed. It’s honestly not something you can say every day, that a character changed another’s perspective on such a topic like this.

Moving on, this impact can be seen quite clearly here.

Kimblee spoke of orders, and where blame should be held, in the one who orders or who obeys. Riza in the first scene was horrified at the war she was participating in, no doubt feeling extremely guilty, but she was still somewhat talking about it like some tragedy happening around her instead of something she was actively and willfully participating in. Of course Riza’s retrospective and growth on the topic can’t all be attributed to what Kimblee said to her, but it’s a direct link drawn that Kimblee made them all question themselves and shift their perspective. She went from “How is this all so messed up… Why is the military like this?” to “but we were the ones who carried it out” and remembering the dead and wow, way to say Kimblee’s words have left a deep impact on her omg. (These scenes are like 1 chapter apart btw so like mentioned, the link drawn between them isn’t hard to miss at all) 

Now! Unrelated but oh so relevant: Kimblee liking/being interested in people with strong wills is an ongoing theme and big trait of his character, constantly praising and respecting those who he deems to have strong convictions they stand by, and his whole interest in battling and conflict being framed by wanting to see “a battle between strong wills”. This bit is one such moment:

(manga cap taken from @everykimblee​ ) 

He is here talking about Winry (next panel is him saying she’s too young for him at Edward’s judgy gaze, no worries), but. His type is one that works hard and is serious/passionate about her work?? HMM GEE I WONDER WHO FITS THAT BILL!

Last but not least story-wise… Isn’t it kinda weird that Kimblee received a fatal would to the left side of his neck… Like Riza later received a fatal wound to the left side of her neck? If not character foils then how come their deaths directly parallel each other hm? I’m kinda joking but that is such a specific thing, how even…

Alas this is it for the manga portion, the veterans don’t ever mention Kimblee and Kimblee likewise never talks about them, and they don’t have other interactions together. 😔 The rest of this post is all about details and less plot points/character analysis

Anime

If there’s one thing Riza and Kimblee share beyond this sort of composed and regal air, it’s fashion sense. I MEAN EXCUSE ME??

(One of her few Brotherhood out-of-uniform outfits, as seen in the scene where she meets up with Rebecca at a cafe. Also depicted in other scenes and official artworks, often with some minor variations)

White + lavender is Kimblee’s whole scheme in the anime, and Riza is sporting that? White coat??? With lavender accessories?? Now now, this isn’t at all a point you can make for the manga verse, and the Brotherhood artists sure do seem to love their purple for some reason, but omfg. Do I truly need more to consider this a crumb? No.

Official art

(For Brotherhood. She’s wearing lavender 🥰)

(For the 2003 anime. Still a white coat :] )

End

Listen. I could try and analyze what their dynamic would be like based on canon. Do I want to here? Not really, so the post ends here until I find more to add onto it. But the crumbs sure are yummy!