FullMetal Water Cooler (FMA chapter discussion)

[Fantasy Dreamer]

[spoiler]
As for Kimbley, I imagine he's a bleak pragmatist, so saving the world and yourself is simply unthinkable. He has a useful habit of surviving near death states though, so I won't count him out till Heinkel actually finishes him off.

As a side note, I wonder how Scar would take Kimbley's death. He already spared Envy (who should not exist right now in my opinion, but I'll save that for another post), which is fairly different than what I had expected from him.
[/spoiler]

True.

[spoiler]Kimbley is annoying like that I guess, surviving death when all odds are stacked against him. But Al pretty much has to win this match... or at least in such a way that he can get away, wouldn't you think?[/spoiler]

[MasterDias]

[spoiler]Sloth's speed was sort of random, but pretty amusing anyway. Not every day you see someone break the old "speed vs. strength" law.

I sort of doubt Kimbley is dead here. It would feel slightly anti-climatic to me.
[/spoiler]

[ich1990]

[spoiler]I sort of doubt Kimbley is dead here. It would feel slightly anti-climatic to me.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I agree, it doesn't really "feel" like he is going to die. All the same, it would feel like a cop out if he didn't die. I mean, there doesn't seem to be any physical way for him to save himself. Him surviving at this point would require some sort of Deus ex Mechina plot device that is usually reserved for lesser manga. Of course, I could be missing some other sort of variable (hidden powers, illusions, allies, etc.).[/spoiler]

[uc pseudonym]

I wasn't going to comment on this chapter (fun as it might be), but now I'm going to jump in with one bit of theorizing. As far as general comments go, this chapter is an example of how much of shonen needs to get its act together.

Now responding to ich1990's most recent spoiler:
[spoiler]There is the possibility that Philosopher's Stones allow individuals to use alchemy outside of their normal abilities. For example, Mustang seemed to have this expectation during the battle with Lust. Specifically, he thought that getting it would allow him to heal, whereas normally he just makes explosions.

It's a close parallel. Though Kimbley does seem to have taken a major/fatal wound, it is possible this could be healed via alchemy before he falls unconscious from blood loss or shock.[/spoiler]

[ich1990]

Now responding to ich1990's most recent spoiler:
[spoiler]There is the possibility that Philosopher's Stones allow individuals to use alchemy outside of their normal abilities. For example, Mustang seemed to have this expectation during the battle with Lust. Specifically, he thought that getting it would allow him to heal, whereas normally he just makes explosions.

It's a close parallel. Though Kimbley does seem to have taken a major/fatal wound, it is possible this could be healed via alchemy before he falls unconscious from blood loss or shock.[/spoiler]

Sorry, I missed this earlier.

[spoiler]I forgot about Mustang hoping to heal Havoc. That an excellent point. I can't really think of any other instances that would support it, however. Kimbley has used his stones solely to increase the powers of his explosions. Alphonse has used his solely to increase the power and speed of his transformation abilities. Granted, both are offensive abilities, which is all that they have really needed until now.

Perhaps different stones hold different types of power? Remember that Pride could not use the sense of smell, even with his philosopher's stone, until he consumed Gluttony. Did he need two stones worth of power to get the sense of smell (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense (har har)), or did the different stones offer different types of powers? If the latter is true, it is possible that the homnoculi's stones offer generic healing powers (hence their regenerative abilities), but Kimbley's stones do not.

So, yeah, considering we don't know a whole lot about philosopher's stones' mechanics, it is quite possible that Kimbley could save himself. [/spoiler]

[Fantasy Dreamer]

[spoiler]
I sort of doubt Kimbley is dead here. It would feel slightly anti-climatic to me.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler] it would be a bit anti-climatic. Considering who he is, and how he's fought in the past, to die from a surprise attack would be almost disappointing. Though I don't like him very much (as a person, he's great as a bad guy), so for him to die isn't at all a diplorable thought for me. But he at least deserves a nice death scene I suppose.[/spoiler]

[Sheenar]

Any thoughts on Chapter 93? Lots of awesome stuff, there.

I'll post my thoughts when I'm not super tired...

[Fantasy Dreamer]

I might post more later, but for now...

I hate Evny even more now... With the burning passion of a thousand suns. The thing is, I love to hate him. He's one of my 'favorite' villians in FMA. *sigh*

[ich1990]

[spoiler] Cheers first of all to Arakawa for killing off a fairly main character in a totally non-poetic way. Second, goodbye Envy (and good riddance). Third, Pride's cunning and absolute ruthlessness are rapidly making him my favorite character in the series. Fourth, I hope a character on the "good" team dies soon, because they are getting the upper hand in this war a little too easily. [/spoiler]

[Fantasy Dreamer]

[spoiler] Cheers first of all to Arakawa for killing off a fairly main character in a totally non-poetic way. Second, goodbye Envy (and good riddance). Third, Pride's cunning and absolute ruthlessness are rapidly making him my favorite character in the series. Fourth, I hope a character on the "good" team dies soon, because they are getting the upper hand in this war a little too easily. [/spoiler]

[SPOILER] I would say too soon, I mean, its taken them this many volumes/chapters to start getting an upper hand. XD Besides, theres bound to be something to throw a wrench in their gears along the way.[/SPOILER]

[Fish and Chips]

Chapter 94.[spoiler]People who dislike Envy are going to enjoy this chapter.

Arakawa can still throw some pageturners our way. Roy and Riza actually make a pretty good team. Unsurprising really, but this is considering how most protagonists seem to act facing this sort of thing.

Not a lot else to comment on, really. Opening couple pages were nice.[/spoiler]

[MasterDias]

[spoiler]I was a bit surprised that Envy was basically getting knocked around by Roy that easily. Nice to see Hawkeye get some action. I liked the bit where she faked Envy out.[/spoiler]

[Fantasy Dreamer]

I must say, I liked this chapter. And I must say, Roy is not disappointing in his action scenes. He is awesome, and he's proved it. Also, Riza=the bomb!

[SPOILER] So Roy beating Envy around was awesome. I mean, yeah, maybe too easy? Probably not considering he's been waiting for quite a while to get revenge on the person who killed his best friend. He finally met the person and all that pint up rage and anger just boiled over I guess. Though, like Scar warned, he's going a bit too far. At first, when Riza pulled the gun on Roy to stop him from killing Envy, I was like "Aww, man, no! Let him kill Envy for good already!" But Roy is going a bit overboard. He's consumed by his revenge, and that's never a good thing. It truly would be a bad thing to let him go any further, so I commend Riza for stopping him. It wouldn't be good for him if he did. I just hope he doesn't go crazy on Ed and Scar. And if he does, I hope Riza or someone knocks some sense back into his head. XD

His fighting technique (small burst with one hand and big blasts with the other) though is just amazing and very affective.

And when Riza tricked Envy like that, I had to laugh. Yeah, Riza rocks! She is by far one of my favorite female characters (along with Olivier and Izumi!)[/SPOILER]

[ich1990]

My only fear is that somehow [spoiler]Envy will live through this.[/spoiler]

[Fantasy Dreamer]

My only fear is that somehow [spoiler]Envy will live through this.[/spoiler]

I know, right? XD

[Fish and Chips]

[spoiler]My only problem is I'm pretty sure Riza never knew Envy's true form. Did she plan on stopping Mustang after Envy's body started deteriorating? The only excuse I can really think of is before it was revenge, but once Envy was reduced to this state, it just became malice, but that's a bit thin considering Mustang's attack method isn't exactly honorable here. Not that Envy really deserved anything less, but still.[/spoiler]

[Fantasy Dreamer]

[SPOILER] I never thought it possible, but when Envy killed himself, I truly felt sorry for him. As much as I hate him (and he's my favorite villain so I loved to hate him), as horrible as he was, and with all the things he did to everyone, I really felt sad and had pity on him in the end. I didn't think it possible, because before this chapter I was rooting for him to die already. It truly attests to Arakawa's story telling ability since she got me to feel sorry for a character I hated so much.

I really liked this chapter. There were some good things there with Riza and Roy, and even for Ed, with how he understood Envy, and I think he too felt a bit of pity for him once he realized his state of being.[/SPOILER]

[Fish and Chips]

Chapter 95.[spoiler]Well that relieves Ich's fears, I suppose. Envy's dead.

The whole revenge sequence was handled a lot better than I was callously thinking it would, no grand monologue about morality, just group realization. Mustang's mood was pretty well done, though for some reason some of the facial expressions in the first couple pages bugged me.

Seems all the original sins have died by now. Lust, Gluttony, Envy. It's been clear Arakawa's been wrapping things up for several chapters now, but now it just feels a lot more close to home. I don't think Sloth is going to last much longer though, with Armstrong being completely awesome, so that just leave Pride, Greed somewhere, and Wrath who I foolishly hoped would be back this chapter (Arakawa why do you do this to me). Izumi's pretty good too though.

Though I have to wonder when we're getting back to Father and Hohenheim. I trust Arakawa not to pull a Tite Kubo on us at such a crucial juncture.[/spoiler]

[ich1990]

Chapter 96: No Tite Kubo here.

[spoiler]I was surprised that the two Armstrong siblings couldn't beat Sloth by themselves. I had calculated them as being stronger than that. With Sloth out of the picture I expect that a new villain will show up fairly soon. So, who is it going to be? I am guessing that it will be Wrath because weaker enemies generally die before stronger ones. I guess Wrath could be stronger than Pride, but given the sheer number of philosopher stones that Pride has I am guessing he is the stronger opponent. I am also betting that Greed is going to show up later considering he is a psuedo-protagonist. To keep the fight balance he should probably show up when the good guys are losing. Also, it looks like the Hohenhiem fight will be more based more on mind games than fighting, which is good. [/spoiler]

Chapter 95.[spoiler]Well that relieves Ich's fears, I suppose. Envy's dead. [/spoiler]

Yes, as usual Arakawa handled the situation very well. I have to admit that the method caught me totally by surprise. I like being surprised.

[goldenspines]

Chapter 96:
This one keep me up until after midnight last night. Thank goodness it didn't disappoint.

[spoiler] Like you, Ich, I thought Louis and Olivier would be able to take Sloth no problem (besides gaining a lot of cuts and bruises along the way), but I will admit it was nice to see Izumi and her husband again.
And the two men fighting together through the friendship bond of unusually large muscles was a nice touch.

So, what's the homunculus count now? We have Pride, Wrath, and Father left, right? Did I lose track of Greed in there? I forgot where he was. Last I saw of him, he was with Ed...
*will have to look back a few chapters, probably*

And, of course, yay, Hohenhiem and Father battle; or at least a taste of it. I hope Arakawa won't disappoint in this. I have little doubt of it though, considering the results so far. [/spoiler]

[Fish and Chips]

Chapter 96.[spoiler]Lust, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth dead. Just leaves a couple more Homunculi, though I highly suspect by this point that Greed might survive the series.

Actually I don't think it's a problem of the Armstrongs not being strong or cunning enough, just neither of them has fought against a Homunculus for a prolonged period (or at all, rather), and didn't know how long it'd take. Also, they're both close quarters; so far, the rest were all taken down mostly by ranged opponents. Judging by when Izumi and Sig stepped in though, they whittled Sloth down a fair ammount, just enough for a Super Special Combo Finishing Attack.

I keep feeling sorry for all the higher brass characters getting killed off pages after their introduction though. Most of them aren't even named. It's almost tragic.

And finally, Hohenheim vs. Father. Can't comment much except to say I'm really looking forward to where this is going, especially concerning Hohenheim.[/spoiler]

Chapter 96: No Tite Kubo here.

In the next chapter Father suddenly produces four heretofore unknown Homunculi, Sorrow, Decadence, Regret, and Clive.

Also:[spoiler]I've been pretty satisfied with how Arakawa's handled most of the Homunculi's ultimate defeats, except for Gluttony. That always felt a bit too standard Shounen-esque to me.[/spoiler]

[Fish and Chips]

Chapter 97.[spoiler]This entire chapter could have been about anything leading up to Bradley just appearing on the last panel of the last page, and I would have been satisfied.

But no, halfway through, one single sword and stielhandgranate, takes down a tank and downs Buccaneer in the space of a few pages. "What need has a king to enter his own castle from the back door?" Arakawa I forgive you for everything.

Also, Father is one of the Anti-Spirals?[/spoiler]

[goldenspines]

Chapter 97 (Finally. How did you find it so early, Fish? I searched after you posted and could only find the RAWs).

[spoiler] Bradley: 1
Tank: 0

King Bradley seemed to be losing his cool a bit and getting more extravagant with his attacks (Taking out a tank? Really?). Bradley was awesome before, but maybe the getting thrown off a bridge in a train made him a little mad. >_>
Yet, he's still classy enough to say "What need has a king to enter his own castle from the back door?", as Fish mentioned. That line really made the whole chapter. XD

I'm happy to see Greed back though. Out of all the homunculus, I like him the best. Plus he's still half Lin Yao and Lin is great. [/spoiler]

[ich1990]

Hurrah! More reasons why this is the best shounen series in existence (that I have read).
[spoiler]Both Wrath and Greed showed up right on cue, excellent.

Hohenheim vs. Father is also gearing up to be even better than I expected, given this new addition to the world mechanics. I am glad there is a good reason for him to be wandering around in the desert for years.

Bradley is flipping awesome as usual, and according to my estimation is clearly more powerful than Greed, even with the latter's ninja friends. I wonder who else will have to step in to help take down Bradley? I am still holding out hope for a Gen. Armstrong vs. Bradley matchup, but I am pretty happy with Greed given that he also has a sword. [/spoiler]

[uc pseudonym]

[spoiler]Bradley is clearly the highlight of the chapter, but I think Hohenheim speaking with all the people composing his Philosopher's Stone is probably the highlight of the (theoretical) volume. I like that. It's a shame he's destined to lose, but I'm curious to see more about the true form of Father/Flask.[/spoiler]

[ich1990]

Chapter 98 wasn't quite as awesome as its predecessor (no Hohenheim, unfortunately), but it still had a few awesome moments[spoiler]like Chainsaw-arm using his stomach muscles to disarm Wrath and Wrath going all Rambo on everybody.[/spoiler]

It seems FMA is getting decidedly more fatal as this final story arc draws onward.

[Fish and Chips]

Chapter 98.[spoiler]Bradley is God Tier.

Not a lot of actual plot advancement in this chapter, but I'm a sucker for anytime Wrath does just about anything so I'll let it slide. This is Shounen after all, and we've got almost all our power players in Central (excepting Al and Pride).

I was interested to realize though, rereading earlier volumes, that every high ranking general we've seen reduced to pulp over the last couple chapters has actually been aluded to in volume 13, where you can recognize all of them sitting around the table in high command. Most of them remain nameless aside from General Raven, unfortunately, but they're distinctly drawn, so it's not just random Grand Mook Generals getting killed off left and right.

I wonder where Hakuro is.

Also, while I usually enjoy keeping tabs on minor characters, Doctor Golden Tooth at the end there came as a surprise. I had completely forgotten about him.[/spoiler]

[Lady Kenshin]

I missed Hoho-papa this time around... but I dance because I finally caught up!!! ^_^

Hm... and Wrath is awesome.

[Lady Kenshin]

Hm... double-post, but FMA 99...

Dear...

Oh my.

[spoiler]At this point, I guess only Hoho can save us. As I recall, he said something to the effect that he was able to counter the reaction, but hoped that he wouldn't have to. I sure hope he comes through, because it's obvious at this point that we can't count on Edward right now... I am very concerned.[/spoiler]

[blkmage]

Yeah, that was a pretty intense chapter. I am looking forward to the Ran Fan and Ling/Greed beatdown very much. This week's anime episode was a reminder of how awesome they are.