FMA Brotherhood episode 53

[Arnold]

This is exactly what I imagined when I read this in the manga, and even moreso.

The animation was amazing, the voice acting was top notch, and it all looked so freaking awesome when...

Mrs. Bradley gave an interview over the radio.

Just kidding. Though I did like the "PR" elements of Mustang's coup, with the radio broadcast getting word out, and bringing favor to Mustang's side, even through using half truths.

The Envy flamerape was intense, even moreso than the battle with Lust. Envy is a total ***, even more than usual in this episode, and seeing him taunt Roy about Hughes' murder got -me- a little pissed, to say nothing about Roy, who somehow seems even angrier here than he did in the manga.

Roy is a fascinating character. He seems to be a cool and collected guy most of the time, but I think that he can be very much driven by emotion- like his decision to go after the furher's title after Ishval, how he's so disgusted with himself that he believes he should be in prison for his war crimes, and of course Hughes. All these emotions that have been bottled up are now exploding, and it takes what other anime might just make into a kickass fight scene and take it into a much darker place. This isn't Mustang triumphantly kicking ***, this is Mustang consumed by rage. It's at the point where the target would have to be a total asshat like Envy for me to not feel sorry for the victim.

[Sweet Dee]

Gah. Well the first part of this episode was pretty boring compared to the second half. Alls I have to say is do NOT f*ck with Mustang. I love it when Envy transforms, and to see Mustang so blind with hate and revenge was so awesome. The second half of the episode ended a lot quicker than it should have. Despite knowing what happens, it's so much more thrilling to watch it animated. :3

[Kizoku Keenan]

Badass Roy is never a bad thing, this episode was definetly one of the best yet, even enjoyed the radio broadcast, had my laughing.

[f2akid]

The pacing of this episode really bugged me. The first half of the episode went way too slow for my liking; instead of properly depicting the intensity of what's happening in Central they decided to explain every little thing possible and add a couple things that didn't need to be explained to stretch out that first half. It all feels a little light-hearted for some reason. Then we get to the second half and although I quite enjoyed Mustang losing his cool I just felt again the pacing was disappointing and they could have squeezed more material in there which would have made it better in my eyes. They were standing around deliberating a bit too much for me.

One other thing that bugged me this episode was how they changed Mustang's blast on the dolls. In the manga we get this wonderful shot of Mustang taking out the legs of all the dolls, showing us a glimpse of what he's really capable of but at the same time still restraining himself to an extent since the shot was so nicely controlled and precise. Whereas in the anime he just totally blasted them away and turns them to ash. This was a nice effect don't get me wrong but taking out only their legs the way he did and leave them crawling around uselessly in the manga got the message across clearer for me and showed us that Mustang has full control over his shots and can do whatever the **** he wants with it. He also seemed more badass for it in the manga because that blast in the anime was a bit cheap really.

Overall though it's not a bad outcome but at the same time not a great one either. I was expecting big things of this particular scene and was quite underwhelmed by it (same goes for Alphonse fighting with a Philosopher's Stone). This is the thing with bones - they rush through the good bits but then stretch out the bits that would be more effective at a faster pace, it's either that or I just read the manga too fast.

[Sweet Dee]

Originally Posted by f2akid

One other thing that bugged me this episode was how they changed Mustang's blast on the dolls. In the manga we get this wonderful shot of Mustang taking out the legs of all the dolls, showing us a glimpse of what he's really capable of but at the same time still restraining himself to an extent since the shot was so nicely controlled and precise. Whereas in the anime he just totally blasted them away and turns them to ash. This was a nice effect don't get me wrong but taking out only their legs the way he did and leave them crawling around uselessly in the manga got the message across clearer for me and showed us that Mustang has full control over his shots and can do whatever the **** he wants with it.

I get what you're saying. I believe, however, that his control over his power was displayed in the fact that it went around everyone else instead and got only the dolls. Sure, it was different than the manga, but it was essentially the same concept.

[f2akid]

Originally Posted by Sweet Dee

I get what you're saying. I believe, however, that his control over his power was displayed in the fact that it went around everyone else instead and got only the dolls. Sure, it was different than the manga, but it was essentially the same concept.

True but at the same time the fact that he completely took them out defeated the purpose of him standing there explaining that the injuries to the dolls remain but they don't die. At least in the manga he picked up on that point and his next course of action was to neutralise them in the way he thought was best (taking out their legs), whereas in the anime he scopes out the whole situation but reduces them to ash anyway which begs the question - why didn't he just take them out as soon as he realised they were enemies?

[Sweet Dee]

My only guess is that, judging from the page in the next chapter where the scene in 93 picks up, here, you can see that the dolls are rendered immobile regardless. Whether they were burned to bits completely or only rid of their legs, it really seems to be just a matter of taste. I don't feel that there was much wrong with the anime version other than the fact that Mustang did take a little long to actually do something about it, but that is just me.

Appeal to the masses, right? Not just the manga-readers. Why would just burning off their legs make much sense? For me personally I don't really care. It was the same concept. Mustang analyzed the situation and did what he thought best to 'neutralize' them, just in a slightly different manner.

[superplough]

I thought it was an awesome episode. xD