I made a sun because I want a tan.
Summary:
The massive nation-wide transmutation is quickly over, and people lie all over Central's streets. Back in Father's chamber, Ed and company are still alive and kicking, but they realize Father has gotten what he wanted. From behind the smoke, Father explains that he needed the entire country for energy in his plan to absorb God, but he has succeeded and both God and the souls of all the people reside within him. Ed and company are then surprised to see that Father has taken the form that somewhat resembles Ed or a young Hohenheim.
This is what happens when a living god has an upset stomach.
After absorbing God and the 50 million souls of Amestris into his body, Father disables Amestrian alchemy in the surrounding the area and decides to form a miniature sun in one hand to blow all his enemies away, but suddenly he starts losing power. Hohenheim explains that the souls of the Amestrian people are still connected to their bodies and he has spread souls within his Philosopher's Stone around the country for this very moment. In one fast and spectacular reaction, the souls of the Amestrian people are sucked from Father's body and deposited back into the bodies of the people, and the people around the country start to wake up.
Cast Level 99 defensive spell!
Without the 50 millions souls, Father is having trouble containing God within his body and he calls off the attacks on Hohenheim and company. However, Father is not about to surrender and he fires an energy blast which starts to overwhelm Hohenheim and May. Ed and Al try to support their father from behind, but they know Hohenheim and May can't hold out for long and they need Scar to do his part. A few levels above, Scar and Wrath are engaged in a ferocious fight with the two combatants trading blows. As the solar eclipse is about the end, Wrath is momentarily blinded by sunlight, and this allows Scar to rip off both of Wrath's arms. However, before falling down, Wrath is able to inflict a deep cut in Scar's torso by grabbing a sword with his mouth. Lying down on the ground and near the end of his life, Wrath spots Lan Fan approaching. Lan Fan asks if Wrath has any last words, and Wrath answers no. Lan Fan asks about Mrs. Bradley, and Wrath states that nothing needs to be said because he had chosen her and she was the King's wife. Wrath then comments that humans have given a bit of meaning to his life before dying. After Wrath dies, Lan Fan retrieves the bottle of Philosopher's Stone from Wrath's body. Lan Fan helps Scar over to the human transmutation circle, and Scar uses his arms to activate the reverse transmutation circle around the city (which the Ishvalans have set up).
Couldn't find a good screenshot of Wrath stabbing Scar with the blade in his mouth, so this will have to do.
Back down in Father's chamber, Ed and company can use their alchemy once again, and Ed, Al, and Izumi combine their attacks to destroy Father's throne. Ed then declares that they are going to kick Father's ass. While Ed and company continue to battle Father at lowest level, Scar talks with Ran Fan and explains that his brother had designed his circle not only to neutralize Father's circle but to unlock the power within the earth (Xingese alchemy) in Amestris. Back in the lowest level, Ed is surprised by the level of alchemy attacks he is able to perform, but he, Al, Izumi and Hohenheim are still not able to even scratch Father with their attacks. Hohenheim encourages everyone to keep attacking as Father is having trouble keeping "God" contained. Ed and company try dropping a column and dousing Father with lava (from the tank that melted the first Greed), but Father fends off all the attacks and flies out to the surface.
Time for a shower.
It's Rocketman!!
Hohenheim realizes Father is trying replenish his energy by absorbing souls and suggest that everyone give chase. Hohenheim, Al, Izumi, May and Mustang head to the surface using alchemy, but Ed stays to take on Pride. On the way up, Izumi and Al runs into her husband Sig along with the Armstrong siblings, Riza, and the chimeras. Izumi leaves Mustang with Riza's group before continuing upwards. Meanwhile, without anyone to give him a ride, Greed is climbing up the hard way and he arrives at Scar and Ran Fan's level. Greed takes a look at Wrath's body and is not pleased with the satisfied look on Wrath's face.
There ain't a bigger psycho out there than Kimblee.
Back at the lowest level, Ed wonders why Pride even listens to Father given how little Father seem to care for him, but Pride refuses to listen to Ed. After tossing Ed around for a bit, Pride tries to take over Ed's body as his own body is no longer stable due to forcing Mustang to open the Gate. However, Pride's attempt is blocked by Kimblee's soul. Pride can't believe Kimblee managed to retain his existence, but Kimblee states that howls of anguish are lullabies to him. Kimblee doesn't like the fact that Pride is being a hypocrite by trying to steal a human body despite his despise for humans. Kimblee's interference buys enough time for Ed to clap his hand together, and using his alchemy Ed invades Pride's soul and reverts Pride to his embryo state. Instead of killing Pride, Ed leaves the homunculus and heads upwards to join the others.
OMG Ed is beating up a little kid...
...I mean: Take that you creepy homunculus!
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And so the counterattack begins. The big transmutation happened pretty quickly in the last episode, but the good guys brought Father back down to a beatable level (and temporarily saved the people of Amestris) pretty quickly as well. Luckily for the good guys, Father's transmutation didn't sacrifice any of the "sacrifices". It was a combined effort of Hohenheim and Scar and friends that leveled the playing field somewhat, and you have to hand to the good guys for planning out both of these extensive counters. Without the 50 million souls, Father is having trouble containing the power of God, but he is still a lot more powerful than any of the good guys so the battle is far from over.
Compared to the manga, the anime cut a few scenes of Father blasting at Hohenheim and company with energy waves. I suppose that was done to fit the Ed vs. Pride fight into the episode. I also noticed that the Father's young form in the anime is better looking than the manga version. The anime made Father look a little more like Ed whereas the manga Father had more-squinty, evil-looking eyes.
While the final battle versus Father still has some ways to go, two more homunculi are defeated. The Scar vs. Wrath fight concludes with Scar ripping Wrath's arms off, but Wrath cements his status as the most bad-ass character in the series by grabbing the broken blade with his mouth and stabbing Scar. No hands necessary. If Scar wasn't such a tough guy in his own right he would have died from that blow. A part of me always wished for Greed/Ling to finish off Wrath, but this was still an appropriate ending for Wrath. So Scar gets credit for the kill, with assists from Ling/Greed, Fu, and Buccaneer.
Moving on, Ed defeated Pride in the final match of this episode. Ed stuck to his "no-killing" principle and turned Pride into an embryo, which actually may mean that Pride will survive until the end of the show. That's a surprise given all the nasty things that Pride has done. Kimblee's interference was certainly unexpected, but in a way he was sticking to his (insane) principles. I think the mangaka Arakawa-sensei felt that Kimblee had a weak death, so she brought Kimblee back for one final moment in the spotlight.
This episode covered quite a bit of stuff from the manga. The animation quality was excellent as usual. The narrative this week wandered off from the big battle to cover Scar vs. Wrath and Ed vs. Pride, but next week should be all about everyone vs. Father. I am confused to how many episodes are left though. At the current pace two should be enough, but supposedly there are three more? We'll just have to wait and see then.
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