Xebek’s Blog

Hawkeye attempts to restrain Mustang’s anger which has been unleashed upon Envy.

Impressions:

It might be repetitive to some, but wow this was a great episode. This series is just bringing the quality right here going into the end. The emotion, animation, and story are just holding up great. The end of the Mustang vs. Envy fight was pretty incredible and worked out better than I had expected it to.

But have to give Hawkeye some credit for some great gun fighting in this one. I feel for her since guns really aren’t as effective anymore in that universe. Even with that she still managed to really hit Envy with some solid attacks. The best was at the start when she tricked him and then shot him in the head. She took some damage, but really all the shooting was a great signal for Mustang. He was already enraged at Envy, but attacking Hawkeye just earned him instant death. Once Mustang was done fooling around he just unleashed endless attacks. That has to be a horrible experience and a serious downside to quick healing. I really wondered how this was going to turn out for a while.

It was probably for the best for Ed and Scar to show up on the scene. No matter how many terrible things Envy has done it’s not worth Mustang losing himself to revenge. If he kills Envy in that state then he will be Envy’s final kill. Hughes wouldn’t want him to get overwhelmed by hate and revenge over his death. Of course the murder of a best friend isn’t something anyone can just let go of. Even at the end Mustang probably would have been alright with dying if it meant avenging his friend. But the line was clearly drawn when Hawkeye would kill herself after killing him. His life is one thing, but he can’t let her die for his sake. It was a pretty emotional scene with Mustang trying to reign in his anger and firing that last shot down the empty passage. Of course I can understand Hawkeye’s point of view as well. She isn’t lacking anger at Envy for what was done to Hughes. But at the same time she can’t let the person she loves destroy himself and sacrifice all he’s worked toward. We already knew how strongly the two felt about each other and it was just reaffirmed in this episode.

The end of Envy should have his fans pretty satisfied. Got a bit of development at the end and brought up how he was jealous of humans. Of course those who really hate him over Hughes’ death should also be satisfied. It was a pretty pathetic end for Envy. He got owned over and over again by Mustang until he was back in that little form. Then he gets pitied and dies alone after crushing his own stone. It wasn’t the slow and cruel death I’m sure Mustang had in mind, but it was pretty fitting. In the end Envy was a character that did a lot of terrible things during the series. There was no way he was going to walk away from this. Tricking May to come back to Central was his undoing.

I have to give credit to Alex for another excellent battle in the second part of this episode. He took quite the beating there when Sloth had the advantage over him. Things turned in an entertaining direction when he blocked that strike to get his shoulder back in place. Plus they turned up the music for an excellent comeback. Things really turned against Sloth and that finishing blow was perfect. Nothing better than when he gets going about his artful alchemy and muscles! Of course also shows the faith Olivier had in him knowing they had different roles to play. She had to focus on the Immortal Army and trust in her brother. Really there was nothing she or the others could do to help considering Sloth’s durability anyways.

Really things continue to get better and better. The housewife has arrived on the scene! Briggs is moving nicely forward through the city and the military battle seems to be moving well in their favour.

Of course the end was perfect with Hohenheim making his way to Father. It seemed clear he was going to make his move alone. It’s time for the two of them to settle things once and for all. Of course Pride is still around and you just know Wrath isn’t going to just vanish. Not to mention Greed is lurking around somewhere as well. Still for the moment it looks like a one on one battle. I’m a little worried since this is going to be pretty dangerous. Hopefully Hohenheim knows what he is doing. I’m sure part of the motivation is to keep his sons safe and end this thing himself. I just wish we could get each episode faster. Things are getting better as we move towards the ending.