This episode aired exactly 13 years ago here on July 4th, what a coincidence for me. Well, it's July 5th right now I guess, didn't realize it was already 3am. Anyway, what a good re-watch of MAL's forever #1 anime. Started late April, so dang, took me nearly 3 months and a half to finish. I did slow down around the middle, watched a lot at first, and have just recently sped run this final arc within a few days because it got so good. Now just for some quick thoughts before deciding my final score:
I totally forgot that Mustang regains his sight, and that Havoc gets his legs back as well- with the power of a philosopher's stone which Dr. Marcoh reveals that he has. The philosopher's stone is FMAB's fix-everything trinket it seems- although not without coming with a price. I guess the question is, do you believe that it isn't immoral to use it for such and such a reason. The Elric brothers always chose not to use one because it would be for a selfish reason, one to fix their own mistakes. Mustang here seems to hesitate at first, but Marcoh convinces him it will be for the greater good of restoring Ishval, which that particular stone was made of: Ishvalan lives. Mustang eventually agrees to this, and off-screen gets his sight back. I wonder if those Chimera guys would readily accept its powers to get THEIR original bodies back. Although they do see them as handy, and plus the two with Alphonse (and just quickly about Alphonse, if they're going to keep him with that little boy voice, why do they make him look like he could be Edward's dad??) seem to be going with him to Xing to maybe perhaps learn of a way to get their bodies back too without a stone. There's some room for more story and more adventures, but I'm glad that it all ends here, all nicely tied up.
Speaking of, they really did tie up everything really well, no complaints there. However, I would like to note some very minor things that I wish were addressed before the credits rolled: and first and foremost, did Mustang ever get his 520 cens back?? We are not shown Edward eating Winry's ass- er I mean pie, but she did make some in this episode so we're just supposed to assume that it was a nice scene where he was finally enjoying her pie. Also they didn't show him returning her earrings to her, I thought that for sure would be at least a short little scene in this final episode. Also, they no kiss, too bad. At least they go out of their way to show us a photograph of the family that they have raised later on. Other than that, yeah, quite a beautiful epilogue-style episode to put an end to it all.
Now I don't want to ramble on for much longer, I'd like my quick thoughts to be actually quick. I love just about all these characters. Some are just throwaway comic relief or whatever, but the ones that do matter are freaking great. I have no favourite character. I like them all. The music? This aired over a decade ago, so it's understandable, but it feels outdated, and their limited number of tracks feel overused. You could say the same for pretty much anything else, such as HxH, but I think they did a better job matching their soundtrack to their scenes a bit better. Here, sometimes it just felt like they pulled out one of their 5 soundtracks out of a hat and put it with a scene. Other than that, technically, solid animation, above average I'd say, looked clean and just pretty great at times. Story? Quite superb. 64 episodes, doesn't feel too long and overstay it's welcome, and doesn't feel too short either. No episode, heck no scene feels wasted as far as I remember. Everything matters. It's a self contained story from start to finish, one that develops well and is interesting, and that was always my biggest praise for FMAB, and why I think that despite everything, I think it fully deserves it's top spot on MAL, for as long as it wants to be.
Now my opinions on it haven't REALLY changed from since I last watched this a few years back, but I definitely do like it more on second viewing, and having seen much more anime. I had initially left this with a 6, thought about it at one point, changed it to a 7, then later to an 8. And I considered this being a 9, which is partly the reason why I wanted to re-watch this, to see if it deserved a 9 in my eyes. And my final verdict is..... close, but not quite. A high 8/10 for sure. It's just for me, it doesn't exactly have that wow-factor to propel it to a 9. This is simply a very good anime, with moments that made me go "damn." However, something like AOT, which I HAVE given 9/10's to, is just... MORE, and has moments that make me go "HOLY SH*T WHAT THE F*CK". Now if AOT were put all into the same entry instead of divided into separate seasons, that would easily be MY pick to sit on MAL's #1 throne (although we'll have to see about that ending first, you know). But it's not, FMAB is, and thus is overall the more solid package. Just a small technical thing, but it matters a little bit. Anyway, my quick thoughts have turned into a wall of text, so I'll end it here. A good re-watch. This anime slaps.
8.7/10
edit: also forgot to mention the 'humour' which plagues this show, especially in the earlier half or so. Some will find it funny for sure, but I could've done without it. It IS actually funny sometimes, but most of the time I could've just done without it. Most of it revolves around Edward giving 'funny' reactions after being called short. At least it isn't demon slayer-level of obnoxious.
Oh also I watched it subbed this time. The first time I watched on netflix where it's easy to change in between languages, and I preferred the dub at the time (I never watch anime dubbed, I could count the number of anime I've watched dubbed on one hand, MAYBE two). I think this is a rare case where it works equally as good both ways. I think I actually preferred the dub just a little more maybe. Anyway, that's pretty much it. See you guys around. |