Fullmetal Alchemist - Episode 05 Review

Episode 5, "The Man with the Mechanical Arm"

It wasn't until an hour later that Al remembered he can't eat. "No problems, sweetie. I'm sure I'll survive this entire series."

*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: The Elrics get on a train bound for Central, but it is taken by terrorists. The brothers get the help of Maes Hughes, a member of the state military, to help them fight off the terrorists. The leader of the terrorists, Bald, also has an automail arm, but it is weaponized. However, Edward overcomes him and the terrorists are defeated. Once in Central, Roy tells the boys that they can take the test to see if they can become State Alchemists.

"My hero!" *SWOON*Cue Bullet Bill!

Comments: This was an improvement from the previous episode. Still not as good as the ones before it, but the action was pretty decent and we got some new characters and situations injected in the mix. It was pretty impressive how Ed and Al used both alchemy and physical attacks to take on the terrorists. This episode introduces a character named Maes Hughes, a colleague and friend of Roy Mustang. He seems like a funny guy, obsessed with his pregnant wife, tying up the lines when he should be concentrating on his work. But when he does spring into action, it's pretty cool. He sends one of those little knives of his through one of the terrorists hands and that has got to freaking hurt. He even manages to catch Edward when he's falling off the roof of the train. We see a lot more of him as the story goes along. The other new characters, like Falman and Hakuro are a little bland. They come off as serious military types, sort of like Roy, but without that extra spark. Of course we learn that Hakuro, despite coming off a little sympathetic here because of his family, is really quite an asshole, and possibly worse. And speaking of spark, Roy demonstrates his own alchemic talent at the end of the episode. Fire alchemy is pretty neat. But it really looks like he did a number on that head terrorist. I'm sure nobody's complaining, but jeez, it looked a little excessive. And the way he manipulated the brothers when they already thought they were going to take the test before shows that Roy is a crafty, manipulative guy.

If he had his red coat, this would be over already. Slightly less painful than the previous episode.

Overall Score:

3 out of 5


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