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fma03envy · 11 months

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Rewatching CoS for the first time in like 2yrs, here's my stream of consciousness thoughts as I watch:

The steampunk aesthetic at the beginning is neat. Also a fan of this guy presenting his life's work to Al, who goes "that's the worst idea ever We Are Not Fucking Doing That" in his polite little way and then just starts walking away

The animation is immediately noticably higher quality than in 03 proper. I like the normal animation by this is also neat :)

The fact that physicist dude whose name I've already forgotten was actually capable of getting as far as the gate when human transmutation is funny to me. How do you have more willpower than Shou Tucker

The concept that CoS!Ed and I are the same age is just so much. Idk whether I should find you hot or gender sir...

Last time I saw this movie and Edward driving (poorly) I remember thinking about how I'd soon learn to do that too. And Then I Didn't™ (I'm autistic and it's scary etc)

This sub appears to be spelling Heiderich's name like Alphonse and I really wish it wouldn't

The Noah fortune telling thing is one of the parts of CoS that's like, I'm aware it's for plot armor but that still doesn't excuse the premise. The fact that they're establishing that no other magic-adjacent fma stuff (not just alchemy but also Envy's shapeshifting) even works in this dimension, but they still give their main Romani character magic fortune-telling/mindreading powers (and never explain why) is shitty

The opening credits art style is really pretty, even if I this gets to me:

Ed you are not that tall we all know you're not

The subplot about one of Noah's companions selling her out is also at best unnecessary

Glad to see that even without his alchemy Edward is still perfectly able to fight with what he has, i.e. explosives, steaming hot metal, and fucking up his automail (come to think of it, these were all tactics he also used when killing Sloth specifically, but I doubt there's any intentional parallel there)

I like how there's a lot of little characterization details early on. The parallel of Ed and Noah's quiet depression, his earnestness to tell anyone he thinks will listen (see: Alfons Heiderich) about his world contrasted with her interest in learning about it...

It was kind of funny though seeing Ed (resident science nerd and Shit From His Dimension Enthusiast) happy that Noah was curious about his prosthetics, before realizing that he also didn't really know how they worked

The Bradley/Lang thing is one of my other most serious problems with this movie's writing. Like. I know Lang canonically isn't Fuhrer Bradley's doppelganger but that of the human Bradley was, and I do think the writers made that clear so it would seem less like they were comparing the two. (And ik homunculi can be very different from their sources in terms of beliefs, see: Trisha being the Rockbells' friend and not liking to see Amestrian soldiers in Resembool vs. Sloth being the Fuhrer's secretary). But even given that, it still feels way too close to equating Bradley to a Jewish man (who's also an actual irl person, not just a character they made up for the movie)

Envy vs. Edward fight 2: Ed has a gun this time

I think Envy's serpent/leviathan form is sick actually. Look at this shit:

Just wholesome sibling bonding moments

The "Envy gets captured by the Thule society" subplot is the third main writing decision in CoS I take serious issue with. Like I do see why the writers could hardly redeem Envy (they'd never help Ed), but also couldn't make them a main antagonist (they're a kind of campy (? not exactly right the word but you get it) villain, and so it would be in really bad taste for them to be too relevant in movie where all the other villains are literal Nazis). But the canon solution of "we don't know what to do with Envy's character in this movie, so to avoid having them make real plot decisions, they're going to get imprisoned and experimented on by Nazis and then killed off" is so awful? Especially with them trying to escape and getting hunted down again. It's a horrible writing choice to make for plot armor

The pose/lighting we first see Hohenheim in here mimics the one we see Ed coming out of The Gate in at the end of 03. Wonder what it means

I'm trying so hard to like Winry's CoS clothes but I still don't really. Tragic that the most masculine outfit we ever get to see her in is this, the one choice that looks weird to me for no reason. I think she deserves a vest like Ed

The animation on the soldiers sucks so the animation everywhere else can be good. Equivalent exchange

The thing of Al being polite but clearly not recognizing his old allies is so. God. Drives me insane. Alphonse my sonnn

Thank you for saving Al Rose, it's clear which of you had the braincell on that one

The bit where Noah basically asks Heiderich if he's working for Nazis and he goes "I just want to build rockets :)" as if to distance himself from responsibility for his actions... Hm. I have thoughts on his characterization and the thematic point of him but they'll be easier to articulate when I'm further through the movie

Ed talking quietly to himself as he skulks around and looks at the transmutation circle... Edward ily I hope you know that

Elric brothers back together babey!!!

Ed's little smile about having seen Al and Al waking up in his world and starting to cry.... Argh you can't do this to me movie...

This movie needs more Wrath. Maybe that's just me and my thing of caring a lot about the timeskip between 03 and CoS but I want to know more about what's going on with him

The fact that when we first see him he's just sitting defeated at Izumi's graveyard and has let his automail break down rather than reach out for repairs. And that once Winry fixes it for him he immediately goes off with Al on what for him is a suicide mission... Wrath how are you coping with it all buddy

The bit where Ed stares at alternate Lyra and she turns up her nose at him is so funny to me I'm sorry. Lyra my friend, even aside from my aro Ed HC someone with your face is the last person to be his type ever. Just trust me on this one

The entire conversation with Lang is another "I get what the writers were going for but still" moment

The. The bit where Sheska tells Winry she'll show her where the underground city is after they visit the cemetery. Feels like dramatic irony

I don't think I was able to see as well before how big the underground city is...

Two well adjusted, mentally stable young fellows competing to see who's more suicidal:

"He's like me- a monster!" I know it might be different in the dub translation, but Wrath. Wrath :(

Ed I really doubt you'd survive a fall from that height irl

It's sad that Noah never got into Ed's world imho. Like I get why thematically it wouldn't really work but still

With his hair flowing like that underwater, Wrath almost looks like his mother (Sloth). Ofc that's partly just fma03 typical sameface but

The Gluttony vs Wrath fight is sick, though I do feel a bit bad about Gluttony's fate

*Guy who isn't big on the idea of Wrath forgiving Izumi and also doesn't want to think about the fact that he just died voice* This isn't how the gate works. The only other times we've seen dead people's souls in the gate was when they had literally just died. That's why Al at the beginning and Ed at the end didn't come back as homunculi, because it had just happened. So there's no reason Izumi would still be in the gate

Hohenheim's death is the only CoS writing choice involving Envy that I really like. Envy, whose main goal in life was to kill Hoheinheim for failing him as a father. Them ultimately being forced to do so by Hohenheim himself as a way of helping Edward, Hohenheim's other child, is just. Hollowest victory possible isn't it my friend

Now that Alfons Heiderich is dead and we've seen everything of him that we're going to I'm trying to gather my thoughts on how he's written. I've talked about being ambivalent with how his characterization is before and I guess I still am. But it's feeling more and more like "I really dislike this guy as a person but might (?) think he's well-written as a character".

One criticism of his writing I've had is that he isn't a good representation of Alphonse Elric, as I feel like *gestures at all of fma03* kind of demonstrates that Al ultimately wouldn't act like this in Alfons's position. But on rewatch, I kind of feel like Alfons's final speech about how he was real and not part of Ed's dream feels partially like a message to the audience not to view them as synonymous. Given that I do think the whole doppelgangers premise is weird but like. I'll take it?

Anway, for Alfons himself. A core message of fma03 is that harming others cannot be justified in the name of chasing one's own hopes and dreams. This is relevant to basically every subplot where the philosopher's stone is important (Lab 5, Dante's actions, etc), to Mustang having to put aside his ambitions before he can actually make a positive change, "even when our eyes are closed, there's a whole world that exists outside ourselves and our dreams" (i think that's the line), etc. And imo this premise is crucial to understanding Alfons Heiderich. The EXPLANATION for his behavior is that he's a slowly dying scientist desperate to make something of his life's work, and that he wants to help his friend get home. But neither of these facts is an EXCUSE for his willingness to help Nazis in order to achieve his own goals. I think his writing tracks on a thematic level

Winry and Sheska also def couldn't have survived that fall

The truth gunk on the ships is weird and totally not how the gate has worked before but I kind of like it

Ed's confrontation with Al about him opening the gate is so good arghhhhhhh

First time seeing Mustang in two years and he and Ed are already at each other's throats with Al apologizing for his brother, same as it ever was

Last Ed vs Eckhart conversation did seem a bit on the nose/unsubtle but I liked the fight choreography

The ending makes no sense on a ton of technical levels (you're going to. Destroy The Gate. The interdimensional gate where people's souls go right after they die that opens when you try to bring them back. Full of weird silhouette unrealized homunculus hand blobs. Containing all human knowledge. You're destroying it. How™) (and what happens if they succeed? Is human transmutation impossible to try now?) but I get what they were going for on a thematic level

Hiiiii Scar and Lust

Well that was CoS ig

#fma #fma 03 #fma cos #fma rewatch #racism mention #nazi mention #antisemitism mention #suicide mention #adrien says stuff #sorry if my thoughts seem distracted I'm literally just about to graduate high school (like. in the car to the ceremony as I type this)#I'm glad I achieved my “rewatch all of fma03 before that” goal #fun fact we could choose red or yellow gowns and I chose red primarily bc of Ed's jacket #headcanons analysis au ideas and such

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