FMAB 21 Full Reaction
Added 2025-07-14 19:00:05 +0000 UTCFull uncut reaction to Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 21
Comments
Love when a show is so good at representing the source material that it makes you want to revisit it!
Bethany and Ken
2025-07-17 18:32:43 +0000 UTCThis episode makes me want to read my fma manga's again!
Asuka Yousei 妖精帝國
2025-07-16 18:18:11 +0000 UTCAgree
Zit20x6
2025-07-16 07:08:53 +0000 UTCJust an observation based on the comments I've already seen both here and on YouTube. Be extremely careful reading any comments on your videos for this show, whether here or on YouTube. While I know you guys like to read a lot of the comments and reply to some, I'd highly recommend leaving any comment reading and replies for this one to be done after you've finished the series - this show has a lot of fans that get overly excited and want to share every bit of information, often spoiling things without realizing they're doing it. You may have questions, but this show does a fantastic job of answering those question in due time, so enjoy the ride. If you do want to read and reply to comments, I strongly recommend having a friend who's seen the series before go through the comments first to help you avoid spoilers. Some people drop hints that they think are subtle (they aren't), some people try to explain everything in the series without realizing that the show frequently leaves things unexplained in order to reveal them later, some of them even think, "the manga revealed _____ by this point, so it's not a spoiler," even though the anime holds the reveal until later. Comments for this show on any reaction channel always become a minefield and it's only a matter of time until something gets spoiled by someone who means well, but isn't thinking about what they're posting. I did comment moderation for theduckgoesmoo while he was watching this series and swept the comments daily - by the time he was half-way through the series, I was having to mark 5-6 comments as hidden every day to keep it spoiler free, and only 1-2 total were ever people intentionally trying to spoil things.
Inifus
2025-07-16 02:26:12 +0000 UTCFun (or scary) Fact: When Ling asked Gluttony "How many people are inside of you?" This isn't elaborated in the anime but in the manga it is. He's not referring to people Gluttony's eaten (he wouldn't have known that anyway) It's because he and his bodyguards can sense chi (life-force), the Homunculi are made from Philosopher's stones (as their core). They can literally SEE all the wailing/agonizing sacrificed souls inside the stone that's used to create their bodies.
Dorian Cantu
2025-07-15 06:56:40 +0000 UTCDr. Knox is a hugely under appreciated character, love him and where he ultimately ends up.
Hell Yeah Gaming
2025-07-14 20:32:54 +0000 UTCAlrighty, with the announcement of Ken’s flu I will err on the side of caution and not reference anything that happens in the next episode. That said, time for another Hell Yeah Gaming novel length Full Metal Alchemist comment! Starting on the humorous side of things, there’s actually a reason that this story is obsessed with Ed’s relationship with milk. See, the mangaka, Arakawa, was raised as a traditional farm girl on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido. Rural farm values are what she was raised on, and she *adores* cows. Her author avatar is even her as a bipedal cow in panties. XD That’s also a big part of why a lot of this series takes place in wide open fields and why the Elric brothers’ hometown of Resembool is a small rural village amidst rolling grassy hills. And with that the humorous portion is concluded. There’s a distinct parallel between how Ed and Al are treating Winry with the identity of her parents’ killer, and how they were treated by Armstrong and Mustang regarding Hughes’ death. They think they’re providing a kind mercy, but hiding the knowledge will inevitably just hurt her more in the long run. You would think they’d recognize the irony that they’re now doing the exact same thing that was done to them, but hey, they’re still teenagers and they were basically raised together. It’s natural to have an emotional blind spot regarding the people you love. Mustang and his men are such a treat to watch. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, it’s not hard to see why Roy has inspired such incredible loyalty in his men that they’re willing to commit high treason on his behalf, no questions asked. I also like the chess parallels that get drawn between them, harkening back to how Mustang would play chess with General Grumman all the time. Hawkeye’s and Jean’s assessments of him as a naive idealist is partly correct, but he’s clearly not *that* naive. He has been jaded by the system, and had to live through being a human weapon ordered to commit genocide. It’s exactly because of the awful system he’s part of and the trauma he’s endured that he has set his sights on toppling the regime and changing things. Idealism born out of horrors. “Don’t you ever give up on living.” The way Roy says that to Hawkeye sounds like it’s something he’s had to assure her of before. Like it’s something she struggles with, and may have to struggle with again in the future. As soon as she thought he was dead, she crumbled like a soggy house of cards. It’s almost as though Mustang is the one pillar holding her up. That following his vision for the future, and watching his back to ensure it happens, is the sole reason for her to keep living. I shudder to imagine what would happen if she ever lost him, or he lost his way. Jean Havoc’s situation just sucks, but there’s a humorous interpretation. One might say he likes big boobs so much he was paralyzed by them! XD (I can relate, pal)! In all seriousness, it’s hard to watch. Like the rest of Roy’s team he willingly threw himself into the line of fire, effectively committing high treason, knowing the potential consequences in hopes he could help uplift Mustang. I get the impression that Jean wouldn’t have any regrets dying for the cause, but being forced to sit out and watch from the sidelines, powerless? Like Bethany says, the fact that he instantly jumped to thinking “what CAN I do?” is very telling. As Breda said, “retirement doesn’t suit you.” He can’t stand to be out of the action. He likened himself to a “pawn that can’t move,” but he isn’t Roy’s pawn at all. He’s clearly the knight. The most agile piece, able to “jump” enemy pieces to get into the fray, always at the center of the action, and frequently paired with the queen to create the most optimal strategies (the queen in this case obviously being Hawkeye). Of course, we already knew that sending Breda to find Dr. Marco to cure Havoc’s paralysis was futile. After all, in his introductory episode, after Ed and Armstrong leave, he was located by Lust… So there was some very telling dialogue between Wrath/Bradley and Envy this episode. When asked why he didn’t kill Mustang to avenge Lust, Wrath replied he could be useful, to which Envy clarified “you mean opening the portal?” Previously, they referred to Mustang as a “potential sacrifice candidate,” while confirming Ed, Al, and Izumi are sacrifice candidates. What do those three all have in common? Envy just spelled it out for us here: they’ve opened the portal/gate to Truth. And they’re considering Mustang a potential candidate to open the portal. That means the homunculi’s plans somehow involve sacrificing alchemists who have performed human transmutation. Why? How? To what end? The mysteries keep building… I love Ed, Al, and Ling’s plan to lure out a homunculus for capture. Yes it’s a gigantic risk, but the potential reward is huge. Ed is great putting on a show for everyone, hahahaha! Fun bit of trivia, there’s a reason he sneezes immediately after that montage, and that sneeze confirms that his plan is working, believe it or not! See, there’s a Japanese superstition that says that when you sneeze, it’s because someone is talking about you. It’s similar to the western expression about how if your ears are burning then someone is talking about you. That little sneeze is basically telling the audience that people around the city are talking about state alchemist Edward Elric, meaning word is getting around and sure to attract Scar’s attention! And of course we see that it does work, as Scar does attack, which leads to two homunculi coming to protect their “precious sacrifice.” Which leads to Ling encountering Gluttony just to ask, “How many people are inside you?” You guys watch Dragonball, so you’re familiar with the idea of sensing chi/ki/qi, which is basically just “life force” energy. I love this line because it does two things. 1) it reminds us how homunculi are made using a philosopher stone, which itself is made by mass human sacrifice. Ling is detecting the concentration of human life bound to Gluttony. 2) it shows us how Wrath/Fuhrer King Bradley is distinctly different from his siblings, because Ling does *not* detect him the same way. He’s the only homunculus who ages, and the only one Ling doesn’t immediately clock as being unnatural. So why is he so different??? Last section of my comment. In the previous episode comment I mentioned that there is a scene from the manga about Hohenheim that was, for some inexplicable reason, completely cut out of the anime. Well that scene takes place now, as Bradley begins fighting Ling and Lan Fan. It takes place as Hohenheim takes a carriage out of Resembool. During transit, the carriage is attacked by bandits demanding everyone’s valuables. Hohenheim steps in to resolve the conflict, but they shoot him several times in the chest. However, Hohenheim doesn’t seem to react at all. He is completely unharmed, save for a few holes in his shirt. Terrified, the bandits ask him what the hell he is, and he looks at them with a sorrowful expression, face riddled with pain, and answers, “A monster.” The bandits flee, leaving everyone else unharmed (nobody else witnessed what happened as they stayed inside the carriage).
Hell Yeah Gaming
2025-07-14 20:29:46 +0000 UTCPretty great episode but poor Havok :( Side note: Looks like you got your question from before answered for how Mustang got around Maria Ross's dental work on the fake body. He actually didn't fake her teeth but instead was old friends with the person who did the autopsy, Dr. Knox. He lied about the body being Ross to help out Mustang.
Kami_Psy
2025-07-14 20:20:47 +0000 UTC
