Looks like May isn't the only one who's crazy for Al.
Summary:
On the surface, Father tries to take the souls of several Briggs soldiers, but he is interrupted by Hohenheim and the others. Hohenheim confronts Father for being good for nothing but destruction, but Father responds by releasing some of the souls (including King Xerxes and other acquaintances of Hohenheim) in his body into human form. Hohenheim and the others and sickened by the display. Just as Ed arrives on the surface, Father releases a powerful energy blast to blow away all of "humans" he just created and also Ed, Hohenheim and allies.
Alex Armstrong, a guy who knows how to shine in any situation.
Underground, Greed and Ran Fan join up with Alex Armstrong's group. On Greed's recommendation, Olivier, Jerso, Sig, and the other Brigg soldiers stay behind while the others head up towards the surface. After Alex's group leaves, Olivier sits down near Wrath's body after remembering that Buccaneer had helped soften up Wrath.
I wonder why Father didn't take Hohenheim's Philosopher's Stone.
Boom Headshot!
On the surface, most of Central HQ has been blown away by Father. May wakes up and discovers that Al had shielded her from the blast, while Ed and Izumi discover that Hohenheim had blocked the blast for them. Father appears and tosses Hohenheim away to go after Ed and Izumi, but he is interrupted by gunfire from Brigg soldiers. While Father is held back by the attacks, Ed, Izumi, and Hohenheim are carried away by soldiers led by Lt. Henschel. The attacks from the soldiers appear ineffective against Father's defenses, but soon Mustang and the others from underground join the fray. Mustang (with Riza serving as his eyes and using clapping transmutations), Alex, Ran Fan, Zampano, Darius, Izumi, and the Brigg soldiers combine their efforts, but they are unable to penetrate Father's defense. Greed also joins in but he is snared by Father who wants to absorb Greed's Philosopher's Stone. However, this falls right into Greed's plans as Father is left open for Ed, Izumi, and Alex. Father fends off the attacks with alchemy and destroys Ed's automail arm, but he is forced to block Ed's kick with his arm. All of the previous attacks have worn Father down and now he can't control his powers, and as a result Father releases a big shockwave that sends everyone sprawling.
Blind, but still hot and lethal.
Gotta be hard to dodge when some guy's arm is stuck in your eye socket.
After the shockwave, Father desperately tries to find souls to use as energy, and he sets his eyes on Ed whose arm is pinned to a wall by a piece of rebar. Seeing Ed in trouble and realizing that his soul seal is about to crack, Al tells May to help him with a transmutation. May uses her daggers to make transmutation circles around Al and near Ed's missing arm, and Al transmutes himself despite Ed's protests. Al is immediately sent to the Gate of Truth to rejoin his real body. Afterwards, Al is met by Truth who wonders if Ed will come back for Al. Al believes that Ed will come back for him, and Truth wonders what Ed will sacrifice next time as the right arm he received from Ed fades away.
Possibly the most pivotal transmutation thus far in the story.
Back in the real world, Ed has his real right arm back again. Ed quickly frees himself and pummels Father with a variety of attacks while everyone else cheers him on. From the sidelines, Greed watches the fight and realizes that all he wanted was to have friends like Ed and the others.
Closer... closer... closer...
...and POW!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The final battle isn't over yet, but it's close to being done as we can see by the lack of a cliffhanger at the end of this episode. This episode was excellent. I was actually surprised by how good this episode was, because I had my complaints about the manga chapter (107) that this episode was based on. While this episode followed the manga 95% of the time, it was just better... perhaps by the sheer fact that it was beautifully animated with a matching score. When I read the manga, I thought the part where Al traded his soul for Ed's arm felt tacked on. This was partially because I initially didn't realize that Al's soul seal was breaking, but I was in a nitpicking mood and thought the other characters (they weren't all knocked out) could have done something before Al had to resort to such a high risk maneuver. This episode however made me forget about those slight lapses in detail because the animation and music drew me into the emotion of the moment. The scene really highlighted the trust and love Ed and Al had for each other, and the final battle needed a scene like this. The action was of course brilliant, and it was good to see all the capable good guys working together to defeat Father. The violence was surprisingly brutal too especially near the end when Ed was pummeling Father. The show did go into the shounen cliche at the end with everyone else cheering Ed on while doing nothing themselves, but I'm just going to enjoy the ending and not care about these little things anymore.
With Father on the ropes and Ed getting his second wind, the outcome of that particular battle seems to be going to good guy's way. The main problem left for the next episode will probably be how to retrieve Al from the Gate of Truth. As Truth said in this episode, we'll have to see what Ed is prepared to sacrifice in exchange for his brother. There are two episodes left to cover the last chapter of the manga. The final chapter of FMA was massive, but I don't know if it has enough material for two episodes. My guess is Bones will probably add a bit more to the fighting as they did in this episode in the scene when Ed attacked Father (in the manga, only Ed attacked after Greed was caught). It all ends in two weeks.
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