Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi (Fullmetal Alchemist) Ep 21 - Akai Kagayaki (The Red Shimmer)

Al is affected by Number 66's words about him not being in existence from the beginning. However, the taunting does not stop and they both see someone jumping over the wall into the 5th laboratory. Number 66 goes to attack that person who turns out to be Scar! He destroys Number 66's metal arm and the latter happens to see the drawings on his right arm. Scar questions Number 66 on what he knows about the drawings and while pretending to think about whether to tell Scar about this, Number 66 presses a button in the wall which causes an explosion. Al uses his body to block the impact of the falling debris and tries to stop Scar from heading into the laboratory to look for Number 66 but to no avail. As such, he has no choice but to follow Scar.

Meanwhile, the explosion results in Greed being freed from captive and he remarks that it's been 130 years since he tasted freedom. He goes to the prison and asks the convicts whether they wish to come with him to create havoc or stay as experiment subjects...

Ed and Number 48 are inside the laboratory and the latter informs Ed that there are lots of explosives around to destroy the evidence when required. The younger brother of Number 48 tells Ed to kill him but Ed refuses to do so since he regards their spirits as human beings. To the brothers, they will be executed even if they regain their past bodies so it makes no difference whether they remain in this stage or go back to being humans. The younger brother destroys his alchemy sign and the elder brother promises his brother that he will follow him once he directs Ed to the entrance of where to find Kenja no Ishi.

In the prison, the guards hear a series of explosions and one of the convicts, Kimberly remark how nice the explosions sound. It seems that Kimberly used to be a national alchemist too...

At the same time, Lust and Gluttony are waiting for Envy to come by and bring the elements for the Kenja no Ishi creation ritual when they discover a huge depression. Lust realises that they have to hurry now that Greed has been released...

Ed brings Number 48's head and walks along a corridor as directed. Suddenly, there are a number of kimeras coming after Ed and he is almost attacked if not for someone who stops them. Ed is shocked to find that Tucker is still alive and now takes on the form of a kimera himself after he was taken away by the millitary.

Al and Scar are searching for Ed and Al asks Scar to let Ed off but Scar refuses to do so. Al explains to Scar that they are after Kenja no Ishi just to regain their bodies and not to kill mercilessly. In actual fact, Scar's brother was obsessed with experimenting with alchemy during the Isbal war as he wanted to resurrect his dead lover. Even though Scar had tried to stop him, he lost his senses over this and was eventually killed in the war. At this moment, Lust and Gluttony appear before them and try to kill Al and Scar who identifies the two as those from the Homcrest tribe...

Tucker brings Ed to the experiment facilities and shows him that he has been trying to resurrect Nina with human alchemy but failed thus leading to his current state. Ed is in shock when he sees the huge tank containing the red water and Tucker tells him that the creation of Kenja no Ishi has not been successful so far due to the lack of a powerful alchemist. Ed says that he is no ordinary alchemist and makes his decision on something...

Some new characters and return of familiar faces. Suwabe Junichi-san's voice as Greed just reminds me of Atobe-sama so much but his appearance was kind of brief in this episode. And we have another mysterious alchemist called Kimberly who's in prison but no reason was given. The return of Tucker was a surprise though and I gasped when I saw him in that kimera form. He's still trying to resurrect Nina which either means that he's remorseful about what he did to her or he's just aiming to achieve his aim of doing human alchemy.

Scar keeps thinking of some woman by his brother's side whenever he sees Lust. As she's not human, could it be that she returned to life in another form but was actually acquainted with Scar and his brother in the past?