Monday, October 23, 2017

Episode 5 - Rain of Sorrows

This was the episode that made me fall in love with Brotherhood.

I'd like to say that this is unrealistic and that people wouldn't fall to violence so easily, but the more I see of the world, the easier it is to find this believable. 

And we see that the happy healthy Cornello was a fraud (of a different kind), and the homunculi are the ones really calling the shots and inciting the violence. As much as I dislike what they're doing, I can't fault them for their derision of humanity. I promise I have always been this cynical, although working at the 9-1-1 call center has probably not helped.

Discussing Scar... Scar is without a doubt equal to any of these characters when it comes to combat. He is probably better than any one of them on their own. That's my opinion. Mustang is advised to lay low, as he's the only State Alchemist of note in the area. Oops. Forgot about Ed. I like how there are clean narrative transitions. The conversation naturally built to move to Ed, then cut to the next scene with Ed and Al.

So usually people have something else in mind when they say depression kills. Here it's more not being aware of or caring about your surroundings, especially not noticing the mass murderer in front of you. That kind of malaise is clearly bad for Ed's health. 

I like that Ed does recognize that he doesn't try to avoid making enemies with the implication that his personality and behavior could be abrasive enough to create serious enemies. Ironically, this is probably one of the few times where Ed is legitimately not responsible for Scar's enmity. Is my bias showing? Ed isn't really one of my favorite characters. 

Al's down. Ed's next. So, generally it's a good thing that Mustang remembered Ed and decided to go check on him... I sometimes wonder how Mustang would have reacted had he either forgotten Ed, or had Ed not been there, and therefore not been a concern.

Lol. Love this scene. <3 Riza so much. 

And Armstrong sparkly muscle. Because I can. XD

This was one of the first places I noticed that whoever choreographed the combat put some effort into differentiating fighting styles. Armstrong fights using boxing stances and strategy, which really suits his build and combat style. For me, details like this are big. 

Du-duh. Foreshadowing. So, just to note, although I will try to avoid spoilers, I'm going to assume that most people reading this will have seen the '03 anime, and knows where Hughes's story goes. If not, ready any part referencing him at your own risk, because there are indirect spoilers. Hughes should take his own advice. Getting messed up with this pack of superhuman freaks will be bad for his health. Interestingly, he's referring to alchemists, but that statement could just as easily apply to the homunculi.


Extra special freak show and it's only going to get worse from here. Take my advice: just go home. But then he'd feel bad because the extra crazy ones are just a pair of kids, and if he went home, it would make him look bad. Sometimes people can be so irrational. There's nothing wrong with turning tail when you're dealing with something beyond your means to handle. 



Backstory/exposition time. I like the muted tones added to the flashbacks to the war. I like that generally. I'm not sure I like the color differentiation with the red tones for the Ishvalans and blue for the Amestrians. On the one hand it does serve to clearly show who's on which side, but I also find that I don't like the red for the Ishvalans. Clearly they are set up as victims, and red is the color of blood--and their blood flowed freely during the conflict. However, red is a color traditionally associated with evil. So, I think they should have all had purple eyes, and used purple colors in the back stories.

Again, discussion that transitions to the next thing. This time, it is Ed discussing fixing his arm (and Al), which means, it's time to visit Winry. I wonder if she got one of those chills that means someone's talking about you somewhere... or someone's walking on your grave... 

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