Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – 23

Summary:

Ling manages to escape temporarily from Wrath and Gluttony, but they’re still following his trail. Knowing that she’s useless now and wanting to ensure Ling’s survival, Lan Fan realizes that she has to make a sacrifice. Meanwhile, the battle between Al and Scar heats up, and Scar again questions Al’s belief in alchemy. Al responds by reaffirming his belief in the possibilities of alchemy, and fortunately for him, Ed arrives to help him after leaving Winry in the care of the military. Before they can do anything though, Gluttony also shows up, having been sent here by Wrath. Scar has a hard time trying to fight Gluttony, but he doesn’t have to for long because Ling suddenly appears as well and shoves a grenade down Gluttony’s throat. Ling had escaped earlier from Wrath after Lan Fan had cut off her arm and tied it to a dog. With Gluttony now regenerating, Ling has Ed create some strong wire to bind the Homunculus, and Hawkeye then drives up with a car to take Gluttony away in.

The operation to capture a Homunculus is thus a success, but this still leaves Scar to deal with. Having been injured by a bullet to the leg from Hawkeye, Scar is at a disadvantage against the Elric brothers, however he’s saved by May Chang who kicks both brothers and helps Scar get away. Hawkeye meanwhile unwittingly drives past King Bradley, and he recognizes her as Mustang’s subordinate. Even though Scar got away, Al somehow got his hands on May Chang’s pet panda, and he brings it with him when they go to see Winry. The brothers are surprised to find King Bradley keeping her company, but King Bradley takes his leave once they arrive. Winry then has Ed tell her everything he knows about her parents, and afterward, she feels that all she’s able to do is wait. However, when they return to the hotel, Winry gets a phone call from Garfiel back in Rush Valley, and she hears all the people who are waiting for her to return to fix their automail.

Winry thus decides to return to Rush Valley, and at the train station, she thanks the brothers for stopping her. In return, Ed promises that the next time he makes her cry, it’ll be tears of joy. As the train pulls away, Winry watches Ed walk away and realizes that she fell in love with him. Outside the station, Ed and Al are picked up by Mustang who also goes to get Dr. Knox, and he brings them all to a cabin outside of Central. He needs Knox to operate on Lan Fan after she cut off her own arm, and she’s okay only after a grueling surgery. Once she regains consciousness, Lan Fan compliments Ed on the decoy arm he used against her since she had in turn used the same against Wrath. Given how she needs an arm now, Ed promises to introduce her to a good automail technician.

In the meantime, Mustang and Ling formally introduce themselves to each other, and they discuss Gluttony and the Homunculus. Ling surprises everyone by revealing that King Bradley could be a Homunculus, and he tells them everything he found out during the previous battle, including how King Bradley’s atmosphere feels more like a human than a Homunculus. As they start to argue about what to do with Gluttony, Gluttony himself hears Mustang’s name come up, and that triggers an angry reaction because Gluttony knows that Mustang killed Lust. This causes Gluttony’s stomach to open up, and the subsequent explosion blows away part of the cabin.

Preview

There was plenty of action this week, but it wasn’t quite as intense/gripping or emotional an episode as last week’s. The first half was pretty much non-stop fighting, and they’re setting up for more of that next week with what happens at the end. It’s a shame that Lan Fan had to lose her arm, and I’m a little surprised that it happened to a fairly cute, Mizuki Nana-voiced female character like her. But I guess she’s still alive at least, and it was nice to see her take a page out of Ed’s playbook. It was also nice to see Winry acknowledge her feelings for Ed, but since she’s left the story for the time being, I guess nothing will develop along those lines for a while.

Speaking of Winry, it was rather creepy to see King Bradley with her when the brothers went to pick her up. It seemed to send the message that he can be anywhere hurting their loved ones if he wanted to. I also assume things will get really serious now that they know that King Bradley is a Homunculus and now that King Bradley knows that Mustang is working against him. King Bradley might not need to make a move though if Gluttony can do some damage with his new form. He looks pretty gross in the preview, and I wonder why he appears to have that truth gate eye in his stomach. It looks like Marcoh might finally be back next week too, and I’m looking forward to finding out whatever happened to him.

45 Comments

  1. penguintruth

    Maybe Ranfan can take Ed’s real arm! (I wonder if anyone will get that one.)

    Speaking of arms, I didn’t realize until they pointed it out, the parallel between what Ed did during his fight with Ranfan and what Ranfan ended up doing.

    Looks like next week they’ll FINALLY bring Marcoh back. They’ve cut enough scenes with him as it is, I would be pretty angry if they continued.

  2. @penguintruth: Just noticed that too. I guess Ran fan learnt a few things from Ed.

    P.S I liked Gluttony better with his mouth shut. He looks so uncute in his enrage form.

  3. kokweng

    next epi seem to be alot of action and creepy

  4. Izaak

    That’s because Gluttony is an artificial gate or something.

  5. Siddharth

    Great episode by the looks of it. I’ve read the manga, so no surprises for me here!

  6. ciq666

    even though I know what going to happen from the manga, this is still extremely exciting πŸ˜€

  7. Oohhh… we are already at this point in the story? πŸ˜€
    Plot will go ballistic in the next few eps. πŸ˜€

  8. Rei

    Ran Fan!! ;A; ~~~~
    Love seeing this part of the manga being animated!! Still more exciting things to come~
    And I still hate Gluttony.

  9. bgi

    plot will go ballistic much later. shit hits the fan in the latest chapter… and here i thought that the ending will be completely happy.

    finally gluttony will show us what is he trully capable of πŸ˜€

  10. LoL

    The reason of Gluttony having a truth gate inside him is:

    The truth gate that Gluttony has in his stomach is a false one, a failure of Father’s research. It brings to a an alternate world where the sky is pitch black and the ground is a sea of blood. Also there is all the things that Gluttony ate before, so you can expect some surprises.

    And I can’t say anything more without blowing the plot πŸ˜€

  11. Schmell

    You really did not read the manga?

  12. izumo

    O.o this ep will be amazing once it’s subbed…. I can tell… even if it’s just the screencaps and a small amount of knowledge in the manga

  13. megalith

    OHHHHHHHH SHIII—–

    Ran Fan’s arm… That was only shocker I needed to make me want to watch this ep soooo badly!

  14. Ando

    Thanks again omni for the screens!
    Wow, this episode really impressed me! The scene where Ling jumps out of the sewers and ties up Gluttony is awesome. I also really love how they made Mei’s alkahestry look and Glutonny’s transformation at the end is wicked.
    Now, as for the next episode…
    Glutonny’s stomach! One of my favourite part! And Ishbal afterwards! And the Briggs arc! (with Olivia, Kimblee and Pride!)

  15. mads

    its goin to get crazy now….XD

  16. Womie

    Beautiful. I love the EdxWin scene πŸ˜€
    And .. I can’t wait for the next episode. I have read manga and I really want to see 24 episode xD

  17. CHIBI

    OK K-ON! SPECIAL 2 IS OUT.

    Someone blog K-ON! 1 and 2 specials

    If you don’t, in 7 days a dead kid will crawl out of your tv.

  18. megalith

    Ok…… I Just watched the RAW and all I gotta say is… F*CKING EPIC!!!!! Exploding gluttony scene up to the way he was tied up was awesome! That bit of animation was really outstanding! Also I lol’d out of the blue when Ling lifted gluttony. Can’t wait for the next episode!!!!!

  19. UnknownVoice

    @CHIBI
    New K-ON?

    O great, more material for KGB to use for prisoner torture!

    Give it up. No one watches that moe blob shit πŸ™‚

  20. Chakra

    hope they shooting for a 3rd season because there just too much action going on now gluttony is proving to be very stubborn that fat baby just wouldn,t die to make things worse he’s totally lost it
    to say the least next week should be breathtaking.

  21. TJ

    Finally we get to Gluttony’s true form. Looks like we are in for another episode of crazy action.

  22. Cornwiggle

    Too bad Ran Fan doesn’t come back for like….40+ episodes after this.

  23. Camille

    Wow, they did the scene at the train station very well, very true to the manga. EdxWin fan is feeling very happy! πŸ™‚
    I love the way Ed makes a promise to Winry, looks so much like a confession. Well, maybe next time he confesses to her, it will look like this too. xD
    Excellent ep, btw!!

  24. Zero

    Lol. Wait till you see Envy. That’s disturbing.

  25. Leah

    waiting for Eclipse to release it…

    but yeah, I figure this episode’s just a warm-up act for the next few weeks’ shenanigans.

    SPOILER

    I can’t wait to see a certain somebody’s body. Tee hee.

  26. Steve Keys

    So glad they kept the food-chain part.

  27. damian

    No Havoc scene?

  28. sean

    i need this subbed now……. -_- its been killing me all day

  29. LoL

    @Zero

    Yeah, the Envy from the manga is way more better than the emo Envy from the first anime. This Envy makes the Gluttony from the film look like a puppy. And the return of Greed…

  30. Schmell

    So, still no subs and even raw…wtf

  31. Raithos

    since gluttony is one of the 7 deadly sins, the truth gate in his stomach would be the true awakening of his power emphasizing the magnitude of the sin that he bears, that is “true gluttony”

  32. Guardian

    I love Mei saving the day for Scar with her LOLI POWER! She has some badass moves with those kuroi.

    Wonder what the holdup is for the subs … I couldn’t wait and watched it raw but I would like to have more than a vague notion of what they’re saying.

  33. Ayelen

    O-M-G!!!!!

    Totally Awesome!!! Winry finally said she was in love with Ed… now letΒ΄s wait if Ed says the same xDDD [anyway i know it hasnΒ΄t already apperared on the manga sooo… xD]

  34. sunji

    SUBS WHERE ARGH

  35. TakashiD

    This episode was Sweet! May finaly showing her moves with those knives, Lan Fans hardcore decision to cut off her own arm,Gluttonys true form( it only gets better from here!) and everything else. i am so glad they decided to keep that “Al at the top of the food chain part!” with mays panda, that was one of my favorite scenes in the manga. cant wait to see the next episode! soon we get to some of the best parts!

    P.S. FINALY THEY BRING MARCOH BACK!!! they cut so many of his scenes all i can say is its about damn time! they better show a flashback of the scnes they cut out, because last time the aime only watchers saw him was about episode 4 i belive, right after he went home from meeting Ed and Armstrong and found lust waiting for him.

  36. Kinny Riddle

    So Marcoh is still alive. The way the first series just killed him offscreen by having him being eaten by Gluttony was just lazy writing, IMHO, since Bones has no idea where he’ll fit in their original plot.

    @penguintruth, when you say Ranfan taking Ed’s arm, do you mean the one that was taken in the Truth Gate? Well, that was his right arm, Ranfan lost her left arm, so they wouldn’t fit.

  37. treble89

    Finally,the panda girl show up,it does took her long enough. Glad that Winry turn out all rite,can’t bear to see her sad scene again. (sigh)need to wait another week for the next episode

  38. I really liked the direction this week. The fighting this week is more exciting than I expected it to be because BONES translated it to fluid motion so well with lots of cool/interesting angles. Also, Lin is all kinds of GAR in this episode.

  39. Void

    They need to back up and do some of the explanation for the scar/mei chan/ yoki trifecta. She just kinda came out of nowhere during this ep. Doesn’t help that they skipped Yoki’s story earlier.

  40. Chibi-Chan~

    O: amazing. I just watched it.
    I see Envy is in the next one! >;3 im excited for that. xD
    Needs more Envy action, really. And Marcoh. Jeez, thought he died. XD

    The EdwardxWinry scene was really cute. I’m usually not a fan of that pairing.. but I might be now after that. Edward was just too cute.
    And Gluttony is really scary. . _ .; Can’t wait for the next episode! <3

    <3’s Garfeil ;D

  41. UnknownVoice

    @Kinny Riddle
    ITs a reference to a certain character in FMA1.

    That certain character shares the VA with Ran Fan πŸ˜‰

  42. Kensei

    @UV:
    You mean that emo little bastard with the hair? Dear God I hope not.
    Anyhoo, this episode is fuckin’ awesome. just watched it for the third time today.
    I Hate Gluttony.

    @Zero at 191439SEP09(Lol. Wait till you see Envy. That’s disturbing.)
    We already have – Envy’s true form is partly shown in OP2, just like Gluttony’s πŸ˜‰

  43. Lily

    It was all kinds of amazing when Ling jumped out of the sewer! And I didn’t even realised, reading the manga, that Ling was without a shirt! πŸ˜› Now I couldn’t help but notice *.*

    I also love the food chain-pyramid and Bradley with Winry was c-r-e-e-p-y!

    and, apperently; staring=love.

    I always loved
    http://images.randomc.net/Fullmetal%20Alchemist/Fullmetal%20Alchemist%20-%2023%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
    and
    http://images.randomc.net/Fullmetal%20Alchemist/Fullmetal%20Alchemist%20-%2023%20-%20Large%2031.jpg

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