#pit: 26

[docholligay]

Reminder for your thoughts on the dub massaging Hughes’ speech

I have NO IDEA if I'll trip onto anything that might involve later episode, but to this point I ahve only seen up to episode 26 of the original, none of FMAB, and none of the manga, PLEASE do not spoil me in any way big or small!

God I'm so glad I don't watch this show at speed because I worry Hughes' stupid little speech in 23 might have dulled my sorrow at his death, I was so fucking annoyed--at this point I knew he was marked to die, but I thought it was going to be much later than it ended up being, and after this episode I WAS READY TO BEAT HIM TO DEATH MYSELF.

This episode like, sucks. ahahahah. As far as doing the things that really fucking annoy me in FMA, a show I ostensibly love but also infuriates me. Speedrunning the way Ed's fucking attitude sucks and ruins things with the people he loves. ANYWAY.

My big hate in this episode though, is Hughes fucking "boys will be boys' speech to Winry at the party. I went over why I hated it so much while I was doing the episode, but YOU'LL HEAR IT AGAIN! Not only is it lazy-ass early oughts shounen bullshit, but coming from MAES???? HUGHES????? Girl, what? "Men don't ever talk about their feelings" he says, describing to Roy in detail how Gracia is so sexy and he can't keep his hands off her. Is the emotional reserve stored in the giant billboard of your daughter you forced an entire base of men to stare at before they could get their stupid wizard battle? I swear the only man it makes possibly less sense to have give this speech is Armstrong. Hughes is a stupid character to have saying this unless we believe he's an idiot. Roy? Outside of the fact that I don't think he would give a shit if Winry was sad, sure. "It's very manly to be a withholding asshole" is the kind of thing Roy could get behind. He's a prick. I even floated the idea of having Hawkeye give this kind of bullshit advice, though admittedly I removed the weird gender element.

Anyway. One of the the things I adore about the dub is the way it makes an extraordinary effort to remove the sexism from the anime. And WOOF did they have their work cut out for them.

It is incredible the magnitude of difference changing it to "Guys LIKE THEM" from #yesallmen makes in the tone of it all. It makes it so Hughes is talking specifically about Ed (And Al presumably, but let us all be SO for real here) and what Ed is like. Ed does NOT talk about his feelings, he plows forward in everything he does because he would rather fucking kill himself trying to fix it than apologize.

When I did this episode, I was trying to wind this around to make it work for me and one of the things I put forth is that some of this is about Hughes' guilt at not telling Roy what the fuck is going on, so he is a little defensive here, like, "hey just because someone doesn't tell you something doesn't mean they don't love you!" And the dub really leans into that, with him going, "They like people to be happy, they do dangerous work and don't want to burden them with their problems" and even just the inclusion of wanting people to be happy makes the reading of it as being about Hughes and Roy so much easier, which makes it make more sense to the character.

Even the end point, where instead of "give in and complain" he says, "When the pressure valve breaks" and, "You're the one they can count on WHEN THEY NEED TO" has this sense of, "When they are at the end of their rope, you are the one they trust" rather than "Lol but they think it's fine to dump on you" which if I'm reading this with my own take is also about Roy, but I'm not going to assign that to the text it's just what I know is true in the core of my soul, but it's just these small changes that do so much to reinforce how much this is not about a men v women thing. This is a "Sometimes loving a difficult person is hard, but it says something that they rely on you, because they trust nobody else in that way" thing. (This is also about Roy, I don't care if Winry is in frame and thinking of Ed lalalalalalala)

Now, we still have the "You have to be there and be strong" thing but I'm actually fine with a character giving shitty advice (Though I would argue the show is not holding it up as shitty, just me) as long as it's not insanely sexist unless the character is supposed to be sexist.

ANYWAY LONG LIVE THE DUB WATCHING IT IS ALWAYS MY PRIZE.

[docholligay]

I think Scar is also a prime candidate for that post.

This post

I have NO IDEA if I'll trip onto anything that might involve later episode, but to this point I have only seen up to episode 26 of the original, none of FMAB, and none of the manga, PLEASE do not spoil me in any way big or small!

Oh absolutely for sure. I actually think what I find so compelling about the show when its at its best, is we have three guys, all of whom are desperately trying to somehow unmake a thing that was done, and all of them are going about it in ways that are completely fucking unhelpful.

Roy and Ed are just specifically making things worse, I'll give Scar a little bit of lead because he's not really making things worse but he's not making them any better--actually I take that back, I think his being Ishbalan and setting out on this whole alchemist killing thing is probably not a great PR move. But everything the three of them are doing FEELS like the natural and logical thing they should do, all of them are reacting SO humanly to the problem.

Because, "The best thing you can do is walk away" is fucking IMPOSSIBLE as a person. Especially as the hyper-intense insane types they are. Roy would be doing more for the world by quitting and dedicating himself to teaching Ishbalan children in the camps fucking math. Scar would be doing more by being a leader and protector WITH his people (and it seems like right now that's what he's doing so good job you. I don't know if I believe the narrative will let you just do that but congrats on being better and smarter than Roy and Ed.) Ed is going to fucking end up enabling the creation of a super weapon because he can't fuck leave well enough alone.

But all of that FEELS shitty. "Stop fucking up" does not feel like a solution. So they continually dig themselves deeper and deeper, and it makes THEM worse, and it makes the WORLD worse, but you see the internal logic. G O D. I give this show a lot of shit and mostly it has it coming, but this is, I think, its real strength. You can't dig out of a hole, but digging feels more satisfying.

I think the three of them are such an interesting case study in dealing with trauma and moving forw3ard--or fucking failing to! And honestly the reasonable narrative conclusion is for them all to die in the attempt (and I do want that for Roy specifically above all others, Scar is probably the last place for "I want him to die in the attempt" but I wouldn't complain.) I don't know how much I trust the show to go there and I can be written into something I wouldn't go with initially, so we'll see how it goes.

[docholligay]

I'm really enjoying you're FMA Liveblogs! So happy to have come across them, the fandom ain't exactly in full swing. I first watched the show a decade ago, and it's become my favorite show of all time, but there are things from my first experience I'd totally forgetten and that your blogging has jogged. Like, I used to hate Ready, Steady, Go! I'd completely forgotten my hatred of it back in the day, it's grown on me so much lol

I have NO IDEA if I'll trip onto anything that might involve later episode, but to this point I have only seen up to episode 26 of the original, none of FMAB, and none of the manga, PLEASE do not spoil me in any way big or small!

This was so nice to hear, thank you so much!

I know that it's sometimes hard to tell me things, because I try SO hard to keep from being spoiled for anything at all, I love to guess and theorize and be surprised, and I am so thankful that people on the vast whole try really hard to preserve that for me (I assume also because it's fun to see "watch an English/History major try to red string out this fucking 20 year anime she didn't even absorb any cultural knowledge about" (True story, gun to my head before I started liveblogging this I could not have told you Ed's NAME) But also it sometimes can be lonely.

And it hit me so hard! I know some people ar elike, "I get a new hyperfixation every year" and I'm like, "wow, insane" because the last time a property smacked me like a mackerel was ten years ago, and here I am having to admit to myself "Oh I'm CRAZY CRAZY about this"

But yeah, it's wild that I'm basically evolving out here in Fandom Australia, I am becoming a kangaroo while everyone else is like, "Uh didn't we agree to be deer?' because I am SO removed from anything the fandom decided or considers settled law. I DESPERATELY long for fic and art but unless someone tells me that something is safe and specifically shows it to me I'm unable. I don't even google for reminder details, I keep a little notebook and have to go back to episodes otherwise, or ask @automatuck9 (who is awesome and loves 03 so much and is a great resource for 'is this a spoiler')

I haaaaaate ready steady ahaha. I like the third song so far, though I have to tell you my IMMENSE "what in the fuck" when I came into that cheerful little ditty right after MAES HUGHES WAS FUCKING SHOT IN THE DARK AND BLED TO DEATH ON THE CONCRETE MY GOD. My favorite I think is still the first one, even though I would broadly say the first quarter of the show is the exact opposite of my favorite ahhaha.

Thank you again, this was really nice!