Thursday, May 18, 2006

Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi (Fullmetal Alchemist) Ep 42 - Kare no Na wo Shirazu (Not Knowing His Name)

Al is horrified to see his body turning black slowly as Kimbly declares to make his death a miserable one so as not to go against his name as a bomb expert. The explosion takes some time to happen as it's absorbing oxygen slowly. As Kimbly breathes his last, Al finds himself getting weaker and being unable to move freely. Scar warns him not to move unnecessarily and is looking for a way to save Al when Lust appears. She tells Scar not to touch Al with his right hand which bears the alchemy motifs since he is only capable of destroying things but Ed may be able to change the composition of Al's body with alchemy. Lust tries to persuade Scar to continue with the creation of Kenja no Ishi but he pushes her away, citing that she's definitely not his late brother's lover since that person would never leave anyone in the lurch for her own interests...

Meanwhile, in the underground tunnel, Rose's baby is crying incessantly which gets on the nerves of Wrath who's reminded of his past. As Rose sees Ed being frozen by the sight of Sloth who resembles his late mother Trisha, she tries hard to mumble some words. Upon hearing Rose's voice, Ed snaps out of his trance and manages to stop Wrath from attacking her in the nick of time. He then uses alchemy to trap Wrath's arm with a spear. Just then, Sloth uses the voice of Trisha to bewitch Ed into lowering his guard against her but the same trick doesn't work on him again. Ed reveals that he has always been wondering why Sloth resembles Trisha and now realises that she is the homculus which he and Al created years ago. As such, he deems it his own responsibility to destroy Sloth since she's the result of their sins.

Ed traps Sloth and Wrath under some rumble in the tunnel and gets Rose to run away with him. However, Lyra who has been waiting for them, tells Ed that this will not do since the Homculus will not be destroyed in this manner. Although Ed senses something from this remark, he chooses not to say anything and remarks to Rose that it's great that she regained her voice which helped him to turn the tables around just now.

At the military HQ, Archer is worried as he cannot contact Kimbly at all and that Tucker's kimeras are also nowhere in sight after they went to Rioru on King Bradley's orders. Mustang and Hawkeye suddenly appear before them and she gets a shock upon seeing Tucker since he has become a kimera himself. Armstrong enters the underground cellar and explains who Tucker is. Archer finds out that Armstrong was just a spy to find out about the corrupt practices within the military and the latter had no intention to be his follower in the first place. However, Archer has no intention of repenting and even traps the trio in the cellar by letting the kimeras loose as he prepares to be the hero in the Isbal war which is going to be launched.

Archer leads the troops to head for Rioru so as to take over the place by force. As King Bradley and Gluttony look on at what's happening from a window, they comment how silly these human beings are but this is still in line with their ultimate goal of getting Kenja no Ishi from Scar if he happens to be able to produce it. Thus, King Bradley has no intention to stop what Archer is doing.

Scar tells Lust that he has realised that she is not the person whom his brother had tried to resurrect but she says that she will become that person as long as Scar uses Kenja no Ishi to transform her. However, Scar doesn't feel this way since that wouldn't change Lust's character after all and people cannot be brought back to life as it's against the rules of nature. When Lust sees that Scar is trying to do something, she tries to stop him but he uses the remains of his brother's lover to keep her away. Scar then imparts the motifs on his arm to Al's body which results in his right arm being severed.

To stop Al from being killed from the bomb explosion, Scar chooses to sacrifice his arm and transform Al into Kenja no Ishi itself as that will increase his chances of survival. Lust asks Scar if he's serious about giving Kenja no Ishi to the Elric brothers and he says that it will be theirs to keep if the process succeeds. Lust wants to stop Scar but he says that if she kills him, there will be nobody to create Kenja no Ishi anyway. As such, Lust gives up the idea and decides to go along with what Scar has in mind.

Ed escorts the Rioru people out of the tunnel and tells Rose to flee with them immediately. As for himself, he will return to the town so as to stop Scar. However, there is a possibility that Scar may have to be handed to the military so that the Rioru people can be spared from more persecution. Ed promises that he will try his best to negotiate with Mustang on the matter. As they say their goodbyes, Ed tells Rose that this will be the last time they meet and proceeds on his mission.

Archer is waiting outside Rioru with his troops as one of them return to report that there is nobody in the city. Just then, they see Scar throwing Kimbly's corpse from a rooftop and Archer orders the troops to enter the city. As the men try to search for Scar, Lust remarks to him that the military shouldn't have been allowed to enter Rioru but Scar sees it as a fated development. When some soldiers spot them, they fire shots at Lust but Scar tries to block them for her. Given that Lust wouldn't die even if she was shot, Scar's action is considered silly and she kills the soldiers in retalliation. Scar admits that he knows the fact but he can't stop himself from trying to save Lust. This makes her realise that he has always been in love with his brother's girlfriend i.e. Lust.

Lust brings Scar to a house to take refuge as he tells her about his hatred for his brother who went against the teachings of the Isbal god to learn alchemy. As compared to the Elric brothers who live for the sake of each other, Scar can't bring himself to say the same of his own brother thus he decided to help Al to live on instead. Scar prepares to get the ritual ready when Lust asks for his real name. However, Scar says that he doesn't have a name anymore since the names of the Isbal people are given by God and he has betrayed his tribe through his actions. Lust mutters a silent goodbye to Scar as he leaves the house.

Just when Archer is gloating over the fact that he will soon be the hero of this war, Ed rushes to stop him from sending the troops into the city. However, Archer is blinded by his pursuit of fame and glory as he enters the city together with the remaining soldiers, leaving Ed to be restrained by his men.

Scar scrambles onto the streets and finally collapses in exhausation. As he's happy over the fact that he can get eternal peace, Scar uses his body to become the trigger for the alchemy ritual to produce Kenja no Ishi. The whole city is enveloped in red as the soldiers become the live sacrificial objects. To prevent the remaining soldiers from entering the city, Ed uses alchemy to form a protective dome around them so as to avoid being sucked into the reaction.

At the same time, Armstrong, Mustang and Hawkeye finally overcome the kimeras as their subordinates rush to save them. They report to the trio about what has happened.

After the reaction subsides, Ed is horrified to see the whole city gone before him and the vast desert appears in place of where Rioru should have been at. Ed then orders the soldiers to search for survivors as he runs around looking for Scar. However, he ends up finding Al underneath a pile of sand and wonders why Al is in Rioru. Al reveals what had happened which leads Ed to tell him to open the casing before his chest. They are shocked to see a red crystal lying within and realise that Scar made Al become Kenja no Ishi. Suddenly, Lust appears before them and confirms their deductions. She tells them to run away as far as possible before the Homculus and military come after that. Just when the brothers are puzzled over why Lust is letting them off, Al brings out the necklace bearing Lust's remains which Scar had attached to him earlier. The brothers are now lost over what they should do...

There goes another favourite character of mine, Scar who gets to take centrestage in this episode. The title is referring to him since till this stage, we are still unaware of his real name. It's quite sad when he told Lust that he doesn't deserve any name and the fact that he couldn't bring himself to love his brother like how Ed and Al does due to a lot of issues. He comes to a rather tragic end but if I consider the fact that he's at peace with himself and can get eternal rest, I think it would have been better for him in a way. I'm just quite upset over the fact that I can't hear Okiayu Ryoutarou-san's voice anymore. This is the second time when I'm so affected by a FMA character's death ever since what happened to Hughes.

Although I don't like Kimbly, I like his seiyuu, Ueda Yuji though so not being able to hear his voice anymore isn't what I expected. I know all baddies come to no good end but I didn't expect it to be now. Given that Kimbly appeared during the later stage of the anime, I would have wanted him to have more lines though.

Now that Al has become the Kenja no Ishi, everyone will be clamouring to grab hold of him. This will probably mean that the brothers become fugitives since the military cannot be trusted with King Bradley at the helm. The thing is, Mustang and his men are still unaware of what's going on so Ed and Al cannot really depend on them for support.

Lust seems to be undergoing a change psychologically after her interaction with Scar. There were early signs that she was deviating from what her counterparts were doing and by letting the brothers go now, it suggests that she might probably turn against the Homculus one day. Of course, the fact that Al has the necklace which holds her remains is another reason why she cannot deal with them alone. I guess the fact that she remembers snippets of whom she was supposed to be i.e. Scar's brother's lover has shakened her belief in what the Homculus have been doing.

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