Was going to put up a special spoiler warning, but since the English translations are out you guys can go read the massive 112 page finale yourselves.
Never thought the final battle would come down to a bout of midget boxing.
Summary:
Ed socks Father some more with his bare fists, knocking Father to the ground. Father has trouble holding in God and lets out a shockwave. Using the shockwave as a distraction, Father stabs Ling/Greed with his hand and tries to absorb Greed's Philosopher's Stone. Ling tries to hold on to Greed but his own soul is being pulled towards Father as well. In order to save Ling, Greed lies for the first time that he'll fight together with Ling, but instead he breaks his connection with Ling and is pulled into Father. Greed's last act in Ling's body is to call for Lan Fan who severs Father's arm with her automail blade. With the link between Ling's body and Father severed, Ling regains control of his body and notices his Ouroboros tattoo disappearing. Meanwhile, Greed struggles against Father despite being absorbed and he turns one of Father's legs to graphite. Father snuffs out Greed for good, but the struggle allows Ed to come in and punch Father through the chest. After Ed's blow, black hands emerge from Father's chest wound and pulls Father into the portal inside the chest wound. Father (in his original black sphere form) is transported to in front of the Gate of Truth, and he is greeted by Truth who is in a similar small spherical form. Truth laughs at Father's effort to steal God/Truth's power and as punishment, Father is sent back into the Gate to suffer despair for all eternity.
Back into the dark closet you go.
Back in the real world, Ed and company are in no mood to celebrate Father's defeat as Al did not return to the world. Ling offers up his bottle of Philosopher's Stone to Ed for bringing Al back, but Ed declines, stating that he had made a promise with Al not to use Philosopher's Stones to regain their bodies. Ed tries to think of another solution but can't come up with anything. At this time, Hohenheim offers his own life to Ed to bring back Al, but Ed refuses this offer as well and calls Hohenheim "father" for the first time. After having a look at his comrades, Ed gets an idea and draws a human transmutation circle around himself. Ed declares that this is his last act of alchemy as the Fullmetal Alchemist and transports himself to the Gate of Truth. At the Gate, Truth asks what will Ed be paying to save Al, and Ed states that he will pay with the Gate. Truth states that if Ed pays with the Gate then he can no longer use alchemy, but Ed is fine with that, stating that he still has his friends. Truth smiles and tells Ed he has answered correctly before disappearing with the Gate, and Ed spots Al sitting in front of the back gate. Reunited once again, the two brothers travel through the gate and back to the real world.
Ed: I'm so glad that you aren't taller than me, Al.
Back at Central HQ, Al wakes up in his own body and is greeted by May, Hohenheim and Sig. While the others are celebrating and cleaning up, Hohenheim wanders off on his own after borrowing some money from Lt. Henschel. Meanwhile, Olivier and Alex take charge of the clean-up and rescue process and Olivier secretly sneaks Scar away from the scene disguised as a wounded Briggs soldier. Later, Ed arrives at the radio station to hand Selim to Mrs. Bradley. Radio Capital then broadcasts the message about the battle which pins the blame on the Central top brass, and that the Fuhrer and Selim were killed in the chaos. To help spin the story, Mustang's group will use Riza's status as the Fuhrer's aide to make a deal with the other aide Storch who was captured during the battle.
At a makeshift hospital, Mustang contemplates what he can do now that he has lost his sight, but Knox brings Marcoh to the tent. Marcoh will give his Philosopher's Stone to Mustang if Mustang promises to make Ishval a better place and let Marcoh become a doctor there, and Mustang agrees to the deal. Nearby, Lan Fan spots Knox and remembers what he said about not wanting to see children fight. Lan Fan goes back to Ling to ask him not to punish the other houses if he becomes emperor, and Ling agrees. Ling approaches May to tell her that he will protect the other houses, and the three Xingese visitors depart for their homeland with the bottle of Philosopher's Stone in tow.
At the Resembool Cemetery, Grandma Rockbell discovers that Hohenheim has passed away with a smile on his face in front of Trisha's grave. Meanwhile, Scar wakes up at the Armstrong manor under the watch of Olivier. Olivier explains that she kept Scar alive because she wanted his alchemy, but now Miles wants to take Scar to Ishval to help revive the region and its inhabitants and Scar gladly agrees to help. Back at Resembool, Ed and Al arrive in front of the Rockbell house and are greeted enthusiastically by Winry and Den.
Two years after the big battle (when Ling has become emperor and Brigadier General Mustang started rebuilding Ishval), Ed and Al decide to it's time to leave Resembool. At Central, Fuhrer Grumman visits Mrs. Bradley for tea, and the toddler Selim is playing nearby. Grumman is still a bit weary of Selim and wonder if human and homunculus can truly coexist. Meanwhile, Al visits Gracia and Elicia in Central and tells them about he and Ed's plans to learn more about alchemy. Afterwards, Al meets up with Zampano and Jerso and the three of them decide to head to Xing to learn more about Xingese alchemy. With Al himself heading east and Ed heading west, Al hopes that the two of them can learn enough to help those suffering because alchemy. In the meantime, Winry is seeing Ed off at another train station. After awkwardly confessing to each other, Ed tells Winry that he'll overturn the law of equivalent exchange and boards his train.
THE END
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Fullmetal Alchemist, one of the most popular manga series in the last decade, has finally come to a conclusion. Looking at this final chapter, it was a tad predictable and a little too sweet and happy given the setting. Most of the chapter was spent on the "epilogue" rather than the final battle. I'm a fan of happy endings, but I thought Ed got off easy when it came to getting Al back. Not being able to use alchemy is very inconvenient, but it seems like a small price to pay to get back a loved one. I think the story could have created a better moment if Hohenheim sacrificed himself to bring Al back as his final act as Ed and Al's father, but I'm not the one writing the story. Hohenheim ended up dying anyways though. Mustang getting his eyes back using a Philosopher's Stone was also a little too convenient. I liked Greed sacrificing himself to save Ling and deal another blow to Father though. The greedy one finally learned to not just think for himself and received a fitting ending.
Onto the other characters, I have no problems with Father getting his just desserts and everyone else receiving their happy endings, including even Selim. Selim is being raised by Mrs. Bradley again and that's the way it should be. Ling became emperor thanks to his bottle of Philosopher's Stone, but it's a little sad to see the Lan Fan is still a bodyguard (bottom left of Ling's portrait at the end). One of the biggest winners out of the conflict is Grumman, who became Fuhrer despite doing the least during the final battle, but perhaps it's because his limited involvement at the end that allowed him to ascend to the top post. Mustang and Olivier did kill and injure a lot of Central soldiers during the battle. It probably took a lot of spinning for these two to keep their posts. Mustang is back together with Riza again handling the east, although we still have no official confirmation of romantic involvement between the two. At least we have baby pics at the end for Ed and Winry even if those two failed to ever kiss during the entire series. Lastly, I'm not surprised that Al got together with May, but I'm pretty surprised that May has grown taller than Winry.
Although I have my grumbles about the action in the final chapter, as a whole FMA was still an awesome series. Ed and Al have taken quite the journey to regain (most of) their body parts, and along the way they managed to save their country and perhaps the world. While FMA is shounen at its core (especially during the final battle), the series touched upon a lot of serious and dark/disturbing issues, and Arakawa-sensei managed to weave a compelling narrative and create a cast of characters that's worth caring about. There were a lot of great moments of shock and triumph and it was a very entertaining series to follow. A big thank you to Arakawa-sensei for providing such a series. Now that the manga version is over, I'm looking forward to watching the ending in animated form via FMA:Brotherhood.
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