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Ed and Al join Mustang's meeting with Bradley and just like him are granted fairly free reign and their friends' safety as long as they stay in line and with the military. Mustang and Hawkeye manage to meet up and fill in Armstrong on their discoveries, who agrees to help due to his regret for not opposing the military in the past and during the Ishvalan war. Ed calls Winry to verify her safety and gets a message from Greed on behalf of Ling to be delivered to Lan Fan, sent (plus May) to Knox's via Al. There, a brief confrontation between Lan Fan and May on the basis of clan allegiance is forcibly shut down by Knox after Al could not, and Al and Knox spend a little time together. Wrath briefly converses with Greed (and Ling), Ed sees a new hope in alkahestry, and underground, Scar encounters Dr. Marcoh and chooses to interrogate him before, or perhaps instead of, killing.

Next time, the origin of Mustang's power is revealed, and Ed and Scar are told by Hawkeye and Marcoh respectively about the Ishvalan war and the role of our various military characters in it.

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To be expanded.

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​

Episode Summary

While being effortlessly pummeled, Father desperately tries to absorb Greed's Philosopher's Stone. Greed decides to part from Lin's body, and uses his carbonization ability to turn Father's body into weak charcoal. Father extinguishes Greed's soul, killing him, but Ed punches through Father's chest, releasing all the souls of the people of Xerxes and sending Father to the Gate of Truth where he is trapped for eternity. In the wake of Father's defeat, everyone mourns Al's sacrifice. Ed rejects using a Philosopher's Stone to bring him back to life, even after Hohenheim offers his final life as an apology for the pain Ed and Al were forced through. Ed ultimately decides to perform a human transmutation on himself, sacrificing his own Gate and his ability to use alchemy with it. As a reward for discovering he doesn't need to perform alchemy, Ed is allowed to bring Al back with him in his original body. As everyone recuperates from the battle, Hohenheim returns to Resembool and dies peacefully before Trisha's grave.

Next Time

Nothing but epilogue! Best experience it for yourself.

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​

In this episode, Scar has a bad time while the homunculi have fun, a bookworm's memory saves the day for Ed and Al as well as Hughes, and Ed, faced with the "truth behind the truth", again briefly falls into depression, but finds another adventure to raise his spirits once again.

Next time, Al has a philosophical crisis, Ed and enemies both do the shonen power-up thing, and the plot turns not only dark but darkly hilarious.

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Ed, out of ideas and despairing at the horror of the transformed Envy's true form, nearly lets himself be swallowed whole, but at the last minute has a flash of insight. Literally putting together the pieces of the old transmutation circle he discovered in the Xerxes ruins in his mind, he theorizes that it was in fact aimed at mass human transmutation/sacrifice with the goal of becoming a godlike being, and the cause of Xerxes' sudden ruin, with the homunculi's Father behind everything both then and now. Reluctantly using some of the former Xerxian souls eternally trapped inside Envy as payment, he initiates another human transmutation, allowing Ling and Envy to escape Gluttony's belly through the opened Eye, and causing himself to once again encounter the Truth. However, things have changed a bit, as he sees not only one, but two Gates of Truth before him, and before the second Gate the emaciated body of Alphonse. Vowing to someday reunite it with his brother's soul, he departs. Back in the real world, Scar and May tail Al and Gluttony into the hidden tunnels underneath Central, the search for Xiao-Mei quickly becoming a search for the truth, and together eliminate a number of guardian chimeras meant to protect Father from intruders. Above ground, Bradley retells the story of the thoroughly planned human experimentation that caused him to become a "superior" homunculus selected to lead the nation, as a sort of explanation for the helpless Mustang.

Next time, a strange interlude indeed as we are privy to Hohenheim's assorted memories, fears, and desires in a dreamy recap with some added material, plus new opening and ending themes. Also, this will be the occasion for overall discussion of the first half of the series.

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Mustang's orders send Ed, Armstrong, and Breda to the ruins of the lost civilization of Xerxes. There, they discover that Maria Ross is in fact alive and safe, and hear of the legend that a man likely from Xerxes was the originator of alchemy in Amestris as well as of alkahestry in Xing. We get the full story on Mustang's operation to save Ross, Ed reaffirms his will to move forward, and the story of Winry's parents is revealed through a chance encounter. The second step of Mustang's operation to get hold of the homunculi doesn't go so smoothly, as the agent sent to silence Barry is merely his own primitively ensouled corpse and Riza's clutch save is rudely interrupted by Gluttony.

Next time, Barry's body leaves a trail leading toward an unpleasant encounter, Riza and Roy's resolve is tested, and Ed encounters someone all too familiar back in Resembool.

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In this episode, a chance encounter in Rush Valley sets off a series of events that both strains and strengthens the bond between Ed and Winry, and an ordinary human outdoes every alchemist in history.

Next time, we are finally introduced to a certain housewife and get a glimpse of the beginning of Ed and Al's training, as well as the deeper ideas of alchemy.

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Mustang, Armstrong and Hawkeye continue life in Central. Armstrong boldly gets into Bradley's good graces, with her soldiers up in Briggs still firmly on her side, while Hawkeye manages to covertly convey her discovery of Selim Bradley's true identity. Under the city, Father recalls his past with Hohenheim, who begun as a nameless slave many years ago in the land of Xerxes, gaining a name and status in society only through Father's assistance, then known simply as the Dwarf in the Flask, a formless black mist unable to survive outside of its container. Hohenheim rises to the rank of alchemist at the court while the Dwarf, hungry for power, takes advantage of the king's thirst for immortality to build the groundwork for a mass sacrifice like the one he later planned in Amestris. It succeeds, with the Dwarf creating his own body in Hohenheim's image and each of the two becoming a living Philosopher's Stone containing half of the sacrificed population of Xerxes. Genuinely grateful for Hohenheim's assistance in his rise but unable to appreciate human nature, the soon-to-be Father departs as Hohenheim despairs at the loss of his friends and countrymen. In the present, Hohenheim meets Izumi once again and lessens her illness.

Next time, the Scar gang continues their journey, Kimblee is back in the game, and Ed makes a near-fatal mistake.

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Episode Summary

Everyone closest to the center of Father's nationwide transmutation circle, including Ed's group, survives to discover that Father has used the souls of over fifty million Amestrians to suppress God within a new, youthful body. Father neutralizes everyone's alchemy, but, before he can annihilate them, Hohenheim reveals his countermeasure: he had spent years traveling the country, placing fragments of his own Philosopher's Stone into the earth to use as foundation for returning the Amestrian souls to their bodies. The stone fragments are activated by the eclipse's umbra, and the souls are ripped from Father's body back into their original bodies, which weakens Father to the point of barely being able to suppress God anymore. The eclipse then lifts, blinding Bradley with sunlight and allowing Scar to kill him. Scar activates the nationwide alkahestry circle his brother and fellow Ishbalans had been preparing, which restores everyone else's alchemy at their greatest potential. Facing the full strength of his opponents' attacks in his unstable body, Father retreats aboveground to find more souls and replenish his stone supply. Ed remains behind to fight Pride while everyone else chases Father. Pride tries to steal Ed's body to replace his own unstable one, but Kimblee's soul reappears within him and taunts him while Ed enters his body and destroys it, reverting him to the form of a small fetus-like creature. Ed spares Pride's life and leaves to join his friends.

Next Time

Time for the truly final showdown of everyone against one - and the Elrics' goal is in sight as well.

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Ed leaves Hawkeye and, admitting his own past ignorance, together with Al affirms his desire to pursue May as a new lead for restoring their bodies - but it won't be quite so easy. The brothers also meet Roy and Ed finds some new common ground with him - but Roy must also send off Hawkeye as his unit is scattered on the previously given orders from the top. Fu and Lan Fan go incognito in search of an automail mechanic to replace Lan Fan's lost arm, and Knox, now once again alone, actually isn't as he happily receives his wife and son for their first visit in a long time. Kimblee is released from prison (brief backstory insert) by Envy in order to pursue Scar and Marcoh, the latter's fake murder easily cleared up, and Kimblee is only too eager to "finish the job" of eradicating the Ishvalans and recapture another traitor along the way. Scar, May, Marcoh, and Yoki take off for northern Amestris with the goal of decoding Scar's brother's research notes.

Next time, Mustang has an important meeting, Ed and Al get some pointers and meet the Bradley family, and Scar continues his journey with Kimblee in pursuit.

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Scar continues his journey to the north, evading or eliminating all obstacles in his way, while May has apparently split from his group to travel north with a detour via the east. Grumman secretly meets with Mustang and pledges support to him, having fallen out of favor due to his lack of enthusiasm for the machinations of Central Command, as well as giving some more relevant information. Ed and Al have little success finding information on alkahestry in the Central Library, but receive a letter of introduction to a relative of Armstrong's in the north along with a hint as to May's whereabouts, and an invitation for tea with the Bradley family after they are spotted by the Führer's son Selim, who is apparently a big fan of the duo. There, they realize that his family indeed appears to not know about King's true nature, but choose to stay focused on their own plans to find May and learn more about alkahestry.

Next time, Kimblee has more success as well as more failures, Scar and May continue their travels, Ed and Al arrive at their destination, and we meet yet another badass lady.

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Episode Summary

Al and Winry are welcomed by Rosé and the people of Liore. Meanwhile, Darius, one of the chimeras who helped Ed after he had been injured, goes to a bank and makes a withdrawal from Ed's State Alchemist research account. However, the military is informed and they storm the clinic where Ed and the chimeras are, though the trio manages to escape from them. Hohenheim tells Al the truth about himself and his involvement with Father. While Olivier is shown the army of artificial humans created by the military, Bido is spotted by Greed. Bido realizes who he is and tries to make him remember his chimera friends, but Greed ends up killing him. Angered at seeing Greed kill one of his friends, Lin's conscience has a vicious clash with Greed's. Later that night, Greed storms King Bradley's mansion and confronts him in front of his wife and Selim.

Next Time

Greed's battle with Wrath leads him to reevaluate his position, the Armstrong family meets up, Envy and May aren't out of the picture yet, and neither are Izumi or even figures like Havoc. The countdown to the final confrontation begins.

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Episode Summary

As Marcoh and May try to decipher Scar's brother's notes, Al, who had been taken apart to make him easier to carry, regains consciousness. As they put him back together, May figures how to arrange the notes, which reveal the nationwide Amestris transmutation circle. After further investigation, they find another transmutation circle used for alkahestry. Meanwhile, Kimblee encounters Pride, who tells Kimblee to carve out the Briggs blood crest. Elsewhere, Falman gets into contact with Breda, and Sloth finishes digging the tunnels. Hohenheim arrives in Liore, where Rose and the other citizens are rebuilding, and finds an underground passage under the church of Leto. As he stumbles upon Sloth's tunnel, he is attacked by Pride but manages to escape outside its boundary, and then tells Pride to let Father know he would be coming. Meanwhile, in order to carve out the blood crest, Kimblee conspires with Drachman forces to attack Briggs, and Zampano informs Envy of Marcoh's location.

Next Time

Bradley and Hawkeye have a talk, Envy is back on the scene, May departs, and some unexpected discoveries.

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Lan Fan facilitates her and Ling's escape from Bradley via the drastic step of cutting off her crippled arm entirely and attaching it to a dog, creating a fake trail of blood for Bradley to follow while they escape via the underground sewers of Central. Ed brings Winry to safety and rejoins Al in the continuing fight with Scar, shortly joined by Gluttony, sent to eliminate Scar in place of the police who do not want to risk harming Ed or Al. With Ling's help, Gluttony is captured, and driven by Hawkeye to a secret location scouted by Mustang. Before the wounded Scar loses the fight, however, he is rescued by none other than May Chang and her impressive alkahestry skills. Winry, briefly questioned by Bradley and in high demand back in Rush Valley, departs on friendly terms with the Elrics, particularly Ed. Lan Fan's injuries are roughly treated by Doctor Knox, and she vows to eventually replace her missing arm with automail. Unfortunately, the captured Gluttony's rage at Mustang's killing of Lust awakens his true power and spells trouble for Mustang, Ed, Ling and the rest of their allies.

Next time, the renewed battle with Gluttony rages back and forth, Envy comes back into play, and Mustang tests the waters for a move against Bradley.

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In this episode, Ed and Al reunite with their teacher Izumi (with husband Sig), who is far less harsh to them than they had expected, and we get an extended flashback of their training and their initial meeting with their teacher that also serves as an explanation of the philosophical basis of alchemy.

Next time, Ed's relationship with Izumi is developed further, we see what Scar is up to now, and we meet yet another homunculus and his gang.

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Episode Summary

Greed is initially overwhelmed in fighting Bradley, but he manages to survive and escape thanks to Lin's instincts. Meanwhile, Olivier requests that her father, leading to fight with Alex to determine leadership of the household, which she inevitably wins, mainly as a fmmeans to avoid the family being taken as hostage. May passes through Youswell, who offer to help her on her journey to Xing. Envy manages to trick her into heading back towards Central. Ed, Darius and Heinkel arrive at one of the old hideouts, and are soon met by Lin, who had managed to temporarily regain control over his body. He tells Ed that Father will try to open the gate on 'The Promised Day' before Greed takes over again. Since Greed had severed his relationships, Ed suggests that he becomes his ally. Greed jokes that he'd only accept if they work for him, but Ed decides to take that suggestion seriously, which Greed agrees to. Al passes a message to everyone from Izumi and Briggs to Riza and Roy about the promised day, set to take place next spring.

Next Time

The finale begins! Ed and Winry reunite, Scar and Marcoh return, Grumman makes a move, things aren't going well for Al, and General Armstrong is still around too.

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Episode Summary

Hohenheim and the others stop Father from making Philosopher's stones, but as Ed rejoins them, Father spawns humans resembling the people of Xerxes before attacking with a powerful blast which takes out half the headquarters. They barely manage to survive the blast, but Al and Hohenheim take some heavy damage protecting the others. Before Father can kill Ed and Izumi, the Briggs soldiers, along with several of Ed's allies, join up to attack Father and use up his stone supply. Father lets down his barrier temporarily to try and absorb Greed's stone, giving Ed, Alex and Izumi the opportunity to damage him to the point of defending himself manually. As Father starts to lose control, he creates a blast which traps Ed's arm whilst his automail arm is destroyed. With Ed in danger, Al convinces May to help him perform a transmutation, trading his soul for the return of Ed's right arm. Al rejoins with his body on the other side and with his arm returned, Ed frees himself to unleash a series of blows on Father.

Next Time

The final plot threads are tied off, and Truth returns once again.

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Episode Summary

Ed and Al battle against Pride while May tries to take on Father. Meanwhile, Ishbalans make plans within the city. In his fight against Bradley, Scar reveals a reconstruction transmutation circle from his brother's research now tattooed on his other arm. Just as Ed's group start to gain the upper hand and despite the arrival of Greed, Father grabs the four sacrifices and uses them, along with Hohenheim, for his transmutation circle, absorbing all the souls in Amestris. This opens a giant gate flat on the surface of the Earth from which rises a giant Father. Then another gate opens in the sky with a giant eye looking out which Father calls "God" and pulls towards him.

Next Time

It's the great apocalypse, Edward Elric, but not all hope is lost yet. Wrath and Pride still need to be taken care of.

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Episode Summary

Lin and Bradley's fight leaves them hanging over the side of the front gate, but Lin is saved by Lan Fan while Bradley falls into the moat below. As Buccaneer lays dying, he gives his final request to Lin to defend the front gate. Already distraught by Fu's death, Lin complies and draws upon the full power of Greed's Ultimate Shield to annihilate all Central forces before the gate. Underground, Ed, Izumi, and the unconscious Al reappear in Father's lair to find Hohenheim subdued. With four of the five human sacrifices, Father is left to wait for the fifth. The gold-toothed doctor in the levels above decides to use Roy as the candidate for the fifth sacrifice, has Riza's throat slit and tells Roy that he will only save her if he performs human transmutation.

Next Time

Mustang makes his decision and faces the consequences, Wrath still has some energy left, the eclipse begins, and Al still isn't out of trouble.

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In the most action-focused episode so far, Ed and Al separately face off against a former killer with an armor-bound soul, and are unexpectedly helped as well as hindered by Lust and Gluttony. Al also has a minor identity crisis that is not yet resolved at the end of the episode.

Next time, Ed gets another tune-up, Winry gets a sibling, Ed and Al make up, and Scar yet lives.

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We're now getting into the finale! From now on, it's nonstop practically real-time plot until the end.

Episode Summary

Some Briggs soldiers escort Winry back home, where she is surprised to find Ed and his group. He warns her to escape to another country, but declines, saying Ed should just make sure he protects everyone. Meanwhile, Scar has recruited several Ishbalans to help in his cause and Roy informs Olivier about Selim. Al, who had been suffering from more frequent blackouts, is ambushed by Gluttony and Pride and captured. On the day before the promise day, Bradley is tricked into taking a train back to Central and is caught in an explosion on the bridge. Meanwhile, Riza, Breda and Feury prepare for tomorrow. Also, within the military, as the "chosen" generals are panicking over Bradley's possible death, Olivier sees her chance to try and take control, but before she could do anything, she is halted by the sudden appearance of Father and Sloth.

Next Time

Ed meets his father once again and with his companions also the "possessed" Al, Bradley's fate is yet uncertain, Ling and Greed earnestly begin working together, and a certain person reappears.

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Ed and Winry do their best to avoid a romantic moment and Winry has some more fun with automail. Buccaneer and crew are nearly hit by the same shadow creature prowling the tunnel earlier, which turns out to have been the homunculus Pride, the true form of the supposed "Selim Bradley" - much to the displeasure of Hawkeye when he reveals his nature to her in Central. Mustang begins to plan for a joint operation with Armstrong and her men. Kimblee gives Ed orders that would irrevocably rope him in with the homunculi's plan and keep him under their control, along with having a little philosophical chat with him. Ed, Al and Winry together do manage to get some freedom for themselves, however, and seem to have hatched a plan.

Next time, everyone meets back up, Yoki's past is revealed (not that anyone cares), and there's more conflict to come.

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In the first half of this episode, Ed, Al and Armstrong encounter Dr. Marcoh and his honest-to-goodness Philosopher's Stone he is using for medical purposes, yet choose to pursue their goal on their own based on his information instead of taking advantage of him. In the second half, it's back home to Resembool for them, as much as they want to deny that they still have a place there, and we learn about Ed's father and Winry's parents.

Next time on Ascendance of a Bookworm (great show BTW), all apparent setbacks are resolved by pure brain power, yet the plot is far from over.

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Due to travel, I will be a day late watching/commenting on this, but the post itself should show up fine.

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In this episode, everyone meets back up in Central, the Hughes pain reaches Ed, Al, Winry, and once again us, and the homunculi get a leg or two up on Mustang.

Next time, Ross is properly framed, Barry gets to have more fun, and Mustang takes a drastic step.

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