Monday 19 October 2009

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 28

Having effectively taken a break last week on account of the recap episode we were regaled with, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood seems determined to make up for lost time with its twenty-eighth instalment, bringing us more important goings-on in a scant few minutes than most anime would manage in a single episode.

It's pedal to the metal right from the off this time around, with Alphonse coming face to face with what seems to be his father, right before Ed, Envy and Ling Yao make their reappearance from the bowels of Gluttony in spectacular fashion.


So, is the father of the Homunculi really Hoenheim? It appears not, but that still begs the (as yet unanswered) question as to who (or perhaps what) this man is. Whoever he may be, he clearly has the power to use alchemy without equivalent exchange, and also seems to have the ability to stop others from using alchemy in certain circumstances at will. A formidable opponent indeed.

While Ed and Al's place as "human sacrifices" rotects them somewhat, Ling Yao has no such luck, and although he is saved from death it appears that he suffers a face far worse than that when confronted with a chance to snatch the prize he came to the country for in the first place. Add the appearance of Scar and May Chang to the mix, and you have yourself an episode of utter chaos within the lair of the Homunculus.

But what beautiful, breath-taking and action-packed chaos it is too... In fact, breath-taking probably isn't the word for it as I have a distinct feeling that I probably forgot to breathe while watching this instalment. There was simply so much of it to take in, all of it important and all of it absolutely compelling viewing - This is how anime should be, a not particularly subtle but perfectly balanced blend of gore, violence, intrigue, mystery, comedy, suspense, excitement, action... the list goes on and on, and right now Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. If I had to sum up this particular episode in a single word, that word would be - Wow.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

All I have to say to this 'review' if you can even call it that is 'wow'... in the how can you be so suckish at writing reviews sort of wow.

It's like you have reversed the whole, one paragraph summary, the rest your opinions. If you want more people to read your blog then you should really think about how you actually write each post.

Ok, for starters, the fill in episode was rather epic in itself, and people shouldn't have ignored it, it added something nice to the series and if you were a true fan you should have watched it.It annoyes me how many comments/reviews that completely hated that episode when really, it was well thought out... i mean sure it came at an annoying point in the series especially since everyone wanted to see what happened to the main characters but never the less it shouldn't have been ignored/ridiculed like it was because it was a re-cap. Personally, the end made me cry... even if it was only made for anime.

Now as for episode 28, you should have a lot to say about it, I mean yeah reviews are difficult; I hate doing that sort of thing for school... but if it's something you really like then there should (in theory) be less of a problem. Considering this is a hobby of yours (or whatever) one would think you'd put a bit more effort into it. Make it ore informal as well... it will make it much more interesting.

Hanners said...

Well, I can only assume you've entirely missed the point of what I do here... This isn't the place for long, verbose essays de-constructing every single scene of an episode, it is (as you have so astutely noted) primarily here for my own opinions, a simple stream of consciousness from me immediately after watching any given episode of anime.

If you don't like it, then quite simply (and no offence to you) this isn't the 'blog for you.

As for being "more informal", if anyone ever catches me using LOL or OMG in the body of an entry here - Please come and shoot me immediately.

Flick said...

Oh Hanners, you are awesome.

Haha, just popping my head out of lurkage to LOLOLOLOL for you, since we know you shan't go there. ^_^

Hanners said...

OMG LMAO EPIC WIN SOMEONE LOVES ME!! <3

Oops... :p

Anonymous said...

Okay... so I was kinda harsh, this is your blog. (Now that I am aware that I'm harsh, I'm finding it really difficult to say something nice...)

I was taking my annoyance (of some other stuff) out on your blog, I do like it.

Just to clear one thing up, by informal, I meant... uh... more personalized? Like quirky comments, or whatever, that you may have thought about as you were watching a particular scene or something.

I was actually rather disappointed by the fact that you didn't do a review of the re-cap... the way they did it was so awesome, it was like they shoved all the most important (to the story) scenes in your face... and smooshed them around so you couldn't breath. With other re-cap episodes for any other program, they just come of as being cheesy, but this one was really very well done... and you should watch it eventually.

But what do I know, still being in school and all. :P

Hanners said...

Heh, it's okay, I can take criticism. ;)

If you hunt around I do get pretty quirky in my commentary on some shows when there's enough of interest to say (i.e. make fun of, more often than not), but to be honest Fullmetal Alchemist is of such high quality that there isn't much I can say about it without playing it with a straight bat.

I did cover the recent re-cap episode though, not sure why you're thinking that I didn't?