Fullmetal Alchemist 15
December 18, 2007
Boo. This entire volume was a flashback to the Ishbalan War. While I like Mustang, and I like Hawkeye, and I like Hughes, I hated that we were separated from the current storyline, and I felt that this probably could have been condensed into two or three chapters. But, you know, even with a flashback that I didn’t really want to read, the series is still amazingly written, and there’s a lot of emotion packed into the total genocide of the Ishbalans. There’s a couple characters I have no recollection of, the Red Lotus Alchemist being one of them. I think he’ll come back next volume and we’ll hear more from him though, which is fine.
We learn a bit about Mustang and Hawkeye’s past, which is important. Their relationship is still very professional, strictly so, but it’s still nice to see them share moments.
At least the Ishbalan War is out in the open now, so the characters don’t have to hint darkly at it anymore. It’s one less thing hanging out in foreshadow territory, and while I think the series is far from over, at least this significant chunk of plot is behind us. I didn’t like sitting through it though, and it’s a shame one of the rare volumes of this series went entirely to the boring flashback, though. Hm, maybe not so rare? Is it quarterly in Japan? I know the most recent volume in Japan is 17, and it looks like 16 will be coming out here in March… here’s hoping for quarterly, but I suspect the gaps between volumes will be much, much longer from 16 on.
The most important thing we will get from this volume, however, is that King Bradley likes junk in the trunk. This is a direct quote. If my scanner wasn’t out of service, I would break my own rule and scan this panel, because the internet needs this image badly.
December 20, 2007 at 1:35 pm
[...] Connie checks out vol. 15 of Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 12 of Astro Boy, Silky Whip Extreme, vol. 2 of Iron Wok Jan, vols. 6 and 7 of Land of Silver [...]