#fmaweekly

[liopleurodean]

FMAWeekly: Chapter 5

starting volume 2!

I love that Havoc is just sharing the methods of flame alchemy to random MPs. of course we the audience have to know how it works but it's really funny that Mustang allows this info to spread

OUGH. the dual shot of Mustang and Ed being called unhuman... incredible

Mustang is being incredibly hospitable too, all things considered

I also love how Mustang keeps trying to cover up Ed's taboo (and leveraging it against him) but Ed just tells pretty much everyone he meets

aw, Mustang is bragging about Edward. they're both such nerds

Tucker is so suspicious lmao. the manga does a great job with the ominous shading

aaaand I think Tucker always resolved to use Nina. before I had thought that the idea came to him later, but "there's nothing else I can do" implies he's already considered it

Ed and Al both know what it's like to have a father consumed by alchemy. they, Nina, and Hawkeye should start a club!

IT'S A TERRIBLE DAY FOR RAIN

that's so fucking creepy in manga panels

"and I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids!"

let's not make Al angry. I don't want to find out what that looks like

"Tucker's actions aren't so different from our own" hits so different when you know *exactly* what Mustang has done. even then, I would still argue that Tucker made that choice of his own free will, his own idea, whereas the State Alchemists were following orders given... though that doesn't excuse what they've done

Scar! what an entrance. a holy man, killing alchemists... another strange, conflicting view of alchemy in Amestris

[fmaweekly]

FMA Weekly Read: Chapter 5!

Hello everyone and apologies for the unannounced hiatus! Since there has been one dedicated person in the tag industriously posting their weekly notes, we will continue this week with Chapter 5 rather than picking up at Chapter 2! So let my liveblogging commence!

havoc's design continues to be so iconic, especially his tadame eyes...they do so much for him

roy: so you're interested in bioalchemy? i have just the person for you to talk to. he created a chimera that lived for like two days. i would trust him with your brother's entire body no problem!

tucker really does look so unassuming though. i find it chilling

god his chimera lab is Fucked Up i hope scar let all those creatures free too

cannot decide what is funnier: the fact ed is really throwing hands with a dog or the fact that he lost. badly

tucker handles deadlines like he's in someone's college group project

GOD!!! the way arakawa laid out That Page is so masterful and so chilling

"i hate perceptive brats like you," tucker says, referring to the fact ed managed to notice that nina and alexander have disappeared and a creature resembling both of them has taken their place. bro...

AND AL THREATENING TUCKER IS SO IMPACTFUL

my god. roy does not know how to interact with children

HI SCAR HIIIIII god this jacket look is so iconic for him. was arakawa following early 2000s manga character design conventions or did she DEFINE them

your face asplode :)

[liopleurodean]

FMAWeekly: Chapter 4

first of all. Ed asleep on his research notes. adorable

THE TRAIN EPISODE!! another that I wish was adapted in Brotherhood but was skipped for time

from what I remember Hakuro has an interesting personality. I can't really get a read on him. I do appreciate that he spent his vacation time to take a trip with his family though

MUSTANG AND HAWKEYE'S FIRST APPEARANCE!!!! the true stars of the show, lol. and what an entrance it is. we also get to see the rest of Team Mustang! except for Havoc, apparently

and, right away, setting up Roy's playboy attitude. Arakawa is playing the long game.

Roy's facial expressions in this scene are all just gold. we also get to see so many sides of him: the playboy, the joking insubordination, the military focus, the calm ruthlessness. it's a very dynamic scene for our newly introduced tritagonist.

I wonder if Ed sleeping here is an early sign of sharing his soul with Al's body

Ed's little faces. I love them

"You can't move forward if you keep regretting the past." it's a joke line but man is it loaded.

gotta admire Hakuro's resolve here

go train operators!

it's funny how terrified these guys are. Ed's like a goblin and Alphonse is hilariously intimidating even despite his personality

"floop..?" lmfao

all that badassery and then. hi Colonel!

Alphonse and Hawkeye being all adorable in the background while Ed and Roy have their beef. it also seems like Roy isn't trying to bait Ed yet, he seems to really want Ed to like him and cares for Ed's wellbeing.

"I guess you're as nosy as ever" Edward, he recruited you, of course he's keeping an eye on your progress. and you've made the news several times already

aaaaand our first time seeing flame alchemy. holy aura moment.

just casually telling this guy he'll cremate him in a calm military voice. Mustang is fucking scary

extra: the series will be retitled "Flame Alchemist". ngl I understand why this story is about Ed and Al, but I really would have loved more about Roy (and Riza, of course). they're just so damn interesting

and that ends volume 1!!! very exciting!

[liopleurodean]

FMAWeekly Chapter 3

once again, spoilers below cut

welcome to Youswell! this arc was cut from Brotherhood because it was in 2003, which is a little sad

I don't know if 2003 changes the spelling, but the disconnect between Khayal and "Kyle" is strong

idk enough about Amestrian cenz to say anything about the cost of this hotel but it's really funny that Ed is haggling even though later he throws money around like it's nothing

also, turning-stuff-into-gold foreshadowing!

another insight to Amestrian views on alchemy... this guy dabbled, and supports fellow alchemists, but hates the State program. I wonder if Liore was an outlier in not knowing alchemy

lmao Al ditching Ed for a warm bed, true sibling behavior

man, Yoki doesn't even have much power. he's an officer, but a really low-ranking one

and the truth behind the hatred! no wonder these guys hate the military

first mention of Izumi...

was he about to straight up murder that kid???

"gold watch." oops, not sure if that's a translation error or stylistic difference

poor Yoki thinks he can get an in with the Fuhrer... meanwhile this pipsqueak is the least patriotic member of the military and his leash is held by the guy who wants to start a coup

the mines are our homes... and our graves. Ed knows a thing or two about that

do you think Roy ever found out about this?

it's cute that Yoki thinks he can do anything to Edward, who's at least two (probably three) ranks above him and leeway to do whatever he wants

I wonder what the drinking age is in Amestris

[liopleurodean]

FMAWeekly: Chapter 2

*spoilers under cut!*

oh right, the taboo was chapter two! I always forget it's talked about so early

also a nice touch to show two sets of armor in the room, one which will later be Al's, to set the scene

interestingly, Rosé looks less scared of Edward as she does the story.

Father Cornello would get along well with the Iron Blood Alchemist, I think

ALSO, I just realized, we opened the story with a man calling himself "Father (Cornello)", and of course we'll end it with a man called Father. wonderful parallelism going on here

Ed has such amazing facial expressions

if that's Ed's pocket watch, it doesn't have the inscription in it yet. interesting

I also think it's interesting how Ed confirms that they did everything right. their human transmutation theory was correct, at least as correct as it possibly can be, but the act itself is simply impossible to perform

the little hearts in Edward's speech bubbles <3

the crazy thing is it's not a fake Philosopher's Stone. it's a real Philosopher's Stone, Edward just doesn't know enough about them to understand that yet.

and our first time seeing Lust and Gluttony!!! notably, Lust still says that the Philosopher's Stone was a fake—even though what likely happened is it ran out of souls. makes sense to keep Cornello in the dark, though

aaaaand hard zooms on the ouroboros tattoos. clues already!

next week on Fullmetal Alchemist: The Mining Town. something that Brotherhood didn't cover!

[liopleurodean]

Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 1

(cut for spoilers)

"I'm agnostic" says the kid who's literally met the closest thing to God in this universe.

I love how this guy in Reole clocks Ed and Al as out-of-towners and het still assumes they know about the Church of Leto. sorry buddy, your religion hasn't made it out of the boonies yet

(by the way I'm using the manga spellings per the 2002/2011 omnibus. little weird bc I'm used to Brotherhood (Liore instead of Reole) but I figure it'll be easier as we get deeper in the manga.)

IF YOU HAVE FAITH YOU'LL GROW TALLER FOR SURE Rosé hit him right where it hurts

it's also interesting to me that, Amestris is such an alchemy-heavy country, I believe they're called a powerhouse in that respect, and so many Amestrian citizens have no clue what alchemy is or how it works. they can't recognize it on sight. and this happens in isolated cases throughout the story but specifically in Reole it seems like no one has recognized Father Cornello's work. either no one in Reole knows anything about alchemy, or they did and left/got kicked out.

Rosé, girl, you're too quick to believe Edward. two seconds ago he called Cornello a fraud, that kid does not want to join your religion

"do you have the courage to face the truth" is such a loaded line. it's a shame comics and manga are written in an all-caps font, I'd love to see if Arakawa intended that to be capital T Truth or not.

an invincible army of fanatics with no fear of death... Promised Day foreshadowing?

Edward's spear has a dragon on it.

the anime makes Edward look so old when he tears his sleeve off, I like this much better. he looks like the young kid he is, even with all the scars and hubris.

[fmaweekly]

FMA Weekly Read: Chapter 1!

Today's chapter is #1: The Two Alchemists! Thanks to everyone joining us!

I'll put my liveblogging under a cut!

immediately i'm thrown back to may 2015 i can't believe i haven't read this in so long 😭😭😭

in all of the discussion about rosé i've never seen anyone address the whole situation where her name is actually ROSÉ and not rose...her katakana are rosé too and for some reason both english dubs call her rose. baffling

anyway rosé's design is soooo classic early 2000s manga

are we going to talk about the implications of the icarus mention?? what is the fma equivalent of greece? [i take a break from reading to google creta and find out it's apparently more switzerland vibes than crete vibes........?]

this guy trying to shoot al's head off is the funniest thing that could possibly happen here

HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THE CHIMERA

"this is what happens to those who tresspass in god's domain" followed immediately by the automail reveal is soooooo hardcore. this really is the epitome of 2000s coolness. it really is

[fmaweekly]

FMA Weekly Read begins in ONE WEEK! + Guidelines

We are just one week away from Chapter 1!

If this is the first you're hearing of this community project, you can check out our Q&A page here!

I'd like to lay out some guidelines for people to keep in mind while participating. Nothing too strict, just some tips to make sure we can all have a good time!

Use the #fmaweekly tag for your livereading reactions, art and other types of creative content, memes, discussions, etc. related to the current week's chapter!

Please be considerate of your fellow readers and make sure to tag your posts with ship names and content warnings wherever those might apply. This includes general N.S.F.W. tags.

Please do not post any generative AI content in the tag. This includes visual art, writing, roleplay chatbot content, and any other use of generative AI.

Please do not put posts in the tag with the intent of manufacturing or furthering interpersonal drama. This includes callout posts.

If you find yourself compelled to post a "hot take" or "unpopular opinion" type of post, try wording it in a constructive way that will encourage discussion and critical thinking rather than wording it in an inflammatory way. Critique of the story and characters (whether on an in-universe level or a meta level) is welcome, but please be mindful of how tone and framing can affect these discussions.

If your post contains spoilers for a chapter beyond the current week's reach, please tag it with #fma spoilers! We have some first time readers on board and I want to make sure they can experience the full impact of the story and character reveals!

If you have a question not covered by this post or the Q&A page, send it in! Anon is on :)