Episode 31, "The 520 Cenz Promise"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Edward meets up with Alphonse after leaving Lt. Hawkeye's apartment and the brothers discuss their plans for the future. Edward tells Alphonse what he learned about the time that they couldn't use alchemy, and they look around for Mei, who has already left Dr. Knox's house. Roy's team leaves to their new posts, and he decides to visit Madame Christmas, a woman who runs a brothel, who contacts Lt. General Grumman for him. Ed and Al take Fu to see Ranfan, and he refuses their offer to fit his granddaughter with automail, not wanting to involve them any futher. The two Xingese leave for their country, with Ranfan vowing to return. The next day, Zolf J. Kimbley is let out of prison, it turns out, from Envy, who contracts him to bring back Marcoh and kill Scar. Scar, with Marcoh, plans to head north, where he hid his brother's research notes.
Comments:
Much like episode 29, a lot of this was an episode with a lot of exposition and things moving behind the scenes, out of the sight of the brothers Elric. There was one notable event, however— the release of the Red Lotus/Crimson Alchemist, Zolf J. Kimbley, from prison. It looks like a confrontation between him and Scar is not far off, with the Briggs arc starting either next episode or the following.
Alphonse, you dog. Saying you want to taste Winry's apple pie. Let Edward have some of that first. There's plenty of pie for everyone. (Yes, innuendo is in full effect for this part of the review.)
The scene with the chess pieces was sort of cool, recalling Roy's game with Lt. General Grumman. I liked seeing which pieces represented which member of his team. Poor Fuery, relegated to pawn! It was also interesting to see that Grumman was sort of in the know, or at least suspected there would be a time when Roy might need his help. We'll see more of this in the next episode.
For those of you wondering, Madame Christmas is a figure of Roy's past. I was disappointed they cut down the bit with her and the girls at her establishment. In the manga, Edward and Alphonse witness him picking up one of her girls right after he drops them off and it makes them wonder what sort of person he is. This happens right before they return to find Fu in their room, which makes it more of a surprise, because they were busy talking about how they would never grow up to be like the colonel and then get a shock.
Speaking of Fu, and Ranfan, and Doctor Knox, I really don't give a damn. That whole bit with Fu crying over Ranfan's arm (which is her own doing, so the later blaming of Bradley is just sour grapes for them just not being good enough) didn't affect me at all. And Knox hasn't been in the story long enough for me to care about his family returning. When I first read it in the manga, it felt like Arakawa was just trying to wring a few extra tears from me, and it didn't work. It's too bad we won't be seeing Knox anymore, though. He was a decent enough character, even if I don't care about his family situation.
The highlight of the episode, though, was obviously Kimbley, and his conversation with Envy. But first we got a nice bit of a flashback that should have occured in the previous episode. It was noteworthy that they removed the part where one of those officers ended up being Envy, who praised his work. Just another piece of volume 15 haphazardly spread to another part of the show. It would have been better in the longer flashback.
Kimbley is extremely wicked in the manga. In the first series, he's just a psychotic bomber, dangerous, a little cunning, but otherwise, no huge deal. A secondary antagonist and one that just sort of samples the sort of people they give State Alchemist titles to and sent into Ishbal. Here, you'll find him being a bit more smooth, which lends more to when he really does cut loose with insanity. You can never really tell just what he's going to do.
I like Envy and Kimbley sort of trying to out-crazy the other while in the car. Both of them are damn creepy.
Speaking of cars, what was with the art in this episode? In one hand, you have them getting Riza Hawkeye's eyes correct the whole time. In another, for some reason, Roy Mustang's car increases in size over time. When Ed enters the car, he climbs in like it's just a regular car. When he leaves, the car door is way bigger than he is. Did the car grow or did Ed shrink? What the hell? Somebody needs to fix that for the DVDs.
I'm really looking forward to the Briggs arc. It's strange, though, that the next episode is called "The Fuhrer President's Son". An episode dedicated to Selim Bradley? Huh.
Overall Score: 3.5 out of 5
