Thoughts of Something or Other

gamel reminds me of gluttony

impulse problems, attached to one of the others in the group (mezul), seems off compared to the rest…

fullfrontalalchemist:

jellyjay:

shadows-of-flames:

People like to talk about reading too far into things, but I think it can be interesting (and even telling) to see what you can find if you only pay attention. When I first joined fandom for FMA, I noticed that people (for every ship) liked to go back to the Japanese raws and dissect the original language. After all, lots of things are lost in translation - one of which being the Japanese honorifics/social hierarchy/pronouns. In these cases, there are literally 10 or so words for the word we just call “You” and it matter who says them, what word it is, and to whom they say it.

In this case, blink and you’ll miss it. Hell, unless you knew Japanese, there was no way to read this English scene as anything other than exactly what it says. “Not again! You need to worry about yourself! Your eyes—”. But in Japanese, Riza says something with an entirely different flavor. This is in fact, the third time she’s addressed Roy without formality and directly. Riza uses “貴方” (あなた/anata) to address Roy. Which, if Roy said that to Riza, it would sound completely fine - he’s her superior officer, it would sound formal/normal. But “貴方” used by a woman to a man is anything but formal: Anata is commonly used by women to address their husband or lover, in a way roughly equivalent to the English “Dear” or perhaps “Honey”. In fact, we see another couple use the shortened (even less formal) version of Anata, Anta: Izumi addresses Sig by “あんた.” which is more like “Hon”. These are always intentional with Japanese authors and they always mean something. Izumi using Anta lets us know she’s a casual sort of person, openly affectionate with her husband. Riza uses Anata three times - twice in Chapter 95 and once in the above moment where she’s reunited with blind Roy.

Those moments:

“You only want to kill him to satisfy your own hatred!”

And:

“Please Colonel…Don’t you go where I can’t follow.”/”…Don’t you fall that way.”

Incidentally, after she addresses him informally twice, he also drops his formalities, and uses “君”/”きみ”/kimi instead of “Lieutenant”. Kimi is less telling than anata, but still: “It is informal to subordinates; can also be affectionate”. Given the context Roy uses Kimi in, informality and affection makes sense:

“What will you do after I’m dead?”

“Unacceptable. I won’t lose you, too.”

You’re right. In the English version these two call each other Colonel and Lieutenant, breaking it once for Elizabeth and Roy. They address each other as “You” which only has one connotation ever. But in Japanese where you need no subject in a sentence for it to make sense, and thus no pronoun for a sentence to make sense, the use of informal pronouns (commonly used by lovers/wives) is a really big deal with she puts a gun to the back of his head, and starts to beg him to not continue. It communicates, A.) The relationship is equal (otherwise it would be extremely rude and presumptuous of her to use it to someone above her in rank and status), B.) She feels the need to address him on a personal level, and C.) Would imply to someone watching that they have a relationship where she has the privilege of calling him so informally/affectionately. When Roy asks her (also informally) what she’ll do after she shoots him, and then continues on to say that he won’t “lose you, too [in addition to Hughes].” using kimi it means A.) He’s returning the relax of formality B.) Is further implying affection towards her, who just stated that she will kill herself after losing him.

If you wanted to know what reading deeply into something looked like folks, that’s it - and not that many people do that. Everything else is just for funsies and character development. And really, what does it hurt? Bet you even learned something about the Japanese language!

shadows-of-flames - did you enjoy discovering the underlying meanings of this text by critically analyzing the Japanese and comparing it with the English translations? Did you feel intellectually satisfied with both yourself and the text and did you find the process of taking these scenes apart stimulating and enlightening?

If the answer to any of the above questions is ‘yes’, that is the pleasure of the text. This is why we do it.

It’s not all about shipping.

Also, I’d like to take a moment to thank shadows-of-flames for being the awesome human being they are for not only bringing this up with evidence in a show of intelligent discussion, but for also bringing this to light because I don’t read Japanese and didn’t know this until just now.

YOU ROCK, MAN.

If anyone needs me I’ll be over here in this corner dying.

I knew this all already but GODDAMN ALL THE FEELS.

(Source: colonel-mustang)

↵ Originally from colonel-mustang

↵ Reblogged from avatarsnowy

# fma

# royai

# fullmetal alchemist

# GAH WHY IS THIS WEEKEND FULL OF FEELS

31 Days of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Top 30 Most Badass Moments in Fullmetal Alchemist

d0cpr0fess0r:

NUMBER 1: The Punch Heard ‘Round the World

ALRIGHT. HERE WE ARE. Number one. End of the list.

I’ve been waiting for this. This is a long time coming.

I really could’ve put the entire fight in this as number one, the whole last battle of the entire series with Father, but this scene really just sells the whole thing. Have you ever seen a more perfectly executed left hook in your life? That is a work of ART, my friends. They should put that in a museum, it’s that good.

There’s a lot more going on in this final battle than just everyone pooling together their strength to take Father down. I mentioned a few days ago that the homunculi are not as deep as the rest of the characters and I want to follow up on that. One of the primary themes in Fullmetal Alchemist surrounds the concept of humanity being able to unite, to support one another. FMA has a very “fuck yeah humans” feel to it, sometimes stated explicitly (the reason Envy killed himself) or somewhat obscured (this final battle).

The final battle with Father isn’t Ed and Al fighting Father, with other people’s support. It’s a fight with EVERYONE against Father. Mustang and his troops, the chimeras, the Xingese, Izumi, Briggs troops. Everyone is pitching in. Every single person there has come together, putting aside differences and conflicts, to fight this one target. Throughout all of FMA, we see it happening. Ed and Al gain new allies and friends, bonds are formed, connections are made. There’s an intricate web of communication that Mustang runs secretly through Central. The entire six-month timeskip that takes place near the end of the series was spent calling in favors and uniting people to a common threat. This all serves the message of humans being able to accomplish anything because they’re able to rely on each other.

Compare this to the villains, the homunculi. Hohenheim calls Father out for creating a family, even though it ended up being a mockery of one. That’s why the homunculi are so shallow! This was on purpose! They were designed to be pale imitations of human beings, only the most surface, base emotions put into them. The homunculi never worked together, never cared when one of their own fell. Pride absorbed Gluttony without a second thought, Wrath captured Greed just for deciding to leave. These aren’t your typical uncaring villains, they literally don’t have the mental capacity TO care about their own. Father just wanted to create a family because he was jealous of humans. But it wasn’t real, there were no bonds between them. Compared to the humans, who have so many relationships of all kinds. Friends, family, lovers, coworkers, rivals, mentors, students. I love all the different ways the cast of FMA is connected to one another.

This is a serious contrast from FMA03, which didn’t have a real climactic battle like this one. The bonds weren’t really there, not nearly as strong as they are here. There was no sense of triumph or accomplishment at the end of the first anime. It sort of sputtered out. Compared to the manga, though, just look at it. That single punch alone just makes you feel GOOD. It feels SATISFYING. I think endings need to have that. Not everything needs to be sunshine and rainbows, but the ending of a series needs to FEEL satisfying. It needs to feel like this is the only way the series could have ended.

So there you have it, folks. 30 days of Fullmetal Alchemist. The 30 most badass moments in the entire series. But we aren’t exactly done yet! Stay tuned tomorrow for a bonus day of the five moments that didn’t quite make the cut!

If I might add in here… You don’t really seem to be pointing out another portion of why this moment is oh-so-epic? You have the point of why it feels good to get rid of the villians, why they have to fall, but not so much why this moment is so very, very perfect.

I mean, just look at the image there. Edward is punching Father. Edward, who just lost his brother for the second time. Edward, who just got his arm back. Who was barely holding keeping alive a minute ago. Who is full of this pure rage at the injustice that this one being has caused, from Xing to indirect harm to the Elrics, from murdering family men like Hughes to causing a years-long genocide.

Edward, who just got his arm back and is in both physical and emotional pain and probably damn close to running on empty after a relatively long fight, is punching Father, who is pretty much the one that has caused everything in the history of this series.

And again, we see Arakawa’s realistic dodging of poetic-ness. Yes, the expected conclusion would have Edward using his right arm, the one that Al just sacrificed himself for, to take Father down. Instead, even if not consciously, he knows that that arm is weaker from years of misuse (like Al’s body, kept in the Gate), plus it’s probably got a lot of damage from having scraps of automail embedded in it from when it reformed. Even though he’s probably used to throwing harder punches with his right by now, since a metal hand would do more damage than a flesh and bone one, he uses his left to deliver most of this beatdown.

Ed’s instinctively applying logic to this, showing just how far he’s come since the fight with Greed where he needed to let himself get beat up for a minute so he could think about a strategy.

↵ Reblogged from d0cpr0fess0r

# i just have a lot of feels k

Drinking Buddies

Fandom: FMA (Brotherhood)

Rating: Let’s say T for rating/tears (if I wrote this right)

Summary: “Their father was an old drinking buddy of mine.” One that caused quite a lot of issues for Pinako.

A/N: Kinda scared for ICness here… sorry guys! But I hope it works.

——-

31 Days of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Top 30 Most Badass Moments in Fullmetal Alchemist

d0cpr0fess0r:

NUMBER 8: Ed Takes Down Pride

People might disagree with me, but I really think one of Ed’s strongest points is his desire not to kill anyone. Several times throughout the series, characters comment on how he and Al have taken the harder path by choosing not to kill. They have such strong resolve, and have never taken the easier way out. Even for someone as vile and cruel as Pride, Ed won’t break his oath not to kill. Instead he chooses to spare him, give him a second chance at life. It says a lot when even Kimblee, the psychotic killer, gives Ed credit for his resolve.

Ed once again shows his intelligence while fighting, utilizing his knowledge of the Philosopher’s Stone and human transmutation as a weapon. Transmuting himself not only takes the willpower and strength, but also the intricate knowledge of humanity that only someone like Ed can understand. This is exactly the kind of thing that sets him apart from other shonen protagonists!

Something I never thought about before! But Ed really doesn’t ever kill anyone does he?

Has anyone ever called Ed not-badass because he adheres to no killing though? Idr.

But it’s interesting to point out OH HEY ABILILTY TO KILL =/= BAMFNESS

↵ Reblogged from d0cpr0fess0r

# got it atla fandom?

# aang is not a wimp just for not wanting to kill

31 Days of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Top 30 Most Badass Moments in Fullmetal Alchemist

d0cpr0fess0r:

NUMBER 18: Izumi Tells Greed What She Is

You don’t stand in front of a mom trying to get to her boys. You just don’t. Especially if that mom is Izumi Curtis. (And don’t try to tell me they’re not her boys)

In case you haven’t been reading this list, let me just tell you right now that there are so many badass ladies in Fullmetal Alchemist. There are badass soldier ladies, there are badass mechanic ladies, there are badass ninja bodyguard ladies, there are badass parkour thief ladies, the list goes on and on.

And sitting at the top of that list is Olivier Armstrong. But occasionally Izumi will sneak up and throw her and the chair off the edge of the list and park herself up top. Especially in moments like this. She’s right, you know. She is a housewife. She is an angry angry housewife looking for her stupid brat of a student and she will eat you if you try to stop her. They say every Briggs soldier can kill a bear by themselves. But you mention the word “housewife” around them and they start shaking.

“In case you haven’t been reading this list, let me just tell you right now that there are so many badass ladies in Fullmetal Alchemist. There are badass soldier ladies, there are badass mechanic ladies, there are badass ninja bodyguard ladies, there are badass parkour thief ladies, the list goes on and on.”

“In case you haven’t been reading this list, let me just tell you right now that there are so many badass ladies in Fullmetal Alchemist.”

“there are so many badass ladies in Fullmetal Alchemist.”

“many badass ladies in Fullmetal Alchemist.”

“many badass ladies”

GET IT FOLKS?

↵ Reblogged from d0cpr0fess0r

# beautiful commentary is beautiful

# srsly so glad i'm never that involved in fandoms

# the sexism is kinda nrgh

# especially with love interests

# even bamf ones like katara or winry

THOUGHTS THAT SHOULD NOT BE (a possible series of posts)

So this came to me while sitting up at 3 am trying to go to sleep even though I was sweating too much to really be comfortable (DAMMIT SCHOOL TURN ON THE A/C)

But um

I think the Armstrongs would be good lovers? They’re in control, Olivier can take all the subs that like women and Alex can go with all the doms that like men. I imagine Catherine’s a good switch.

But then I got into fridge logic because

# THOUGHTS THAT SHOULD NOT BE

# i am a horrible person

illfollowyouintohell:

meggannn:

climbingonroofs:

clewilan:

Which arm does Edward offer to Alphonse, back in the body they fought for? The one Alphonse just sacrified himself for.

!!!

During the last con I went to, someone told me they were kind of disappointed to see that the arm Ed used in his final punch to Father wasn’t the one Al gave him back -which wouldn’t have been very practical since it was still weak, but could have been a great symbol of that sacrifice.

But then, this scene.

Does a certain line about hands made to help people, not to destroy them reminds you of something?

#Every single move of his right arm probably hurts a lot #he doesn’t care #in front of him is sitting the brother who sacrified everything to save the people he loves #and he’s going to help that brother stand again on his own legs

biggest feelings attack ever going down right now.

dfkjsdbfksdjbfs

SRSLY SO MANY FEELS

KAYA WHY DID YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SEPARATE FMA BLOG I AM JUST NOW FINDING

AND LOOK AT HIS SHOULDER

LOOK AT IT

YOU CAN SEE THE AUTOMAIL SHREDS STILL IN IT

↵ Originally from clewilan

↵ Reblogged from illfollowyouintohell

# fma

# fma: b

# fullmetal alchemist

# brotherhood

# spoilers

# elric brothers

# thatsocialjusticebitch

Played 20 times

So this song. ;A; “Resembool Lullaby”.

I just get all sorts of feels from this!

Like….

It starts sounding kinda more like a dirge than a lullaby, and then… It gets sweet, but the violin comes back, and I’m just ajfbasjkfbajksba

And it makes me realize just how much HEARTBREAK those of Resembool goes through.

First apparently the town was ruined at some point from the extension of the Ishval Civil War, so everyone has their share of misery.

Then you got to figure more than a few people had been in the military during that time.

Then there’s the Elric brothers, obviously.

Hohenheim, while not a native, did stay for more than a few years. He had to watch his wife getting sick and try to stay distant from his sons because of his self-loathing. He had to watch his old drinking buddy grow old, and probably deal with some rage from her.

Winry lost her parents, and her two best friends almost died and then took off with very little concern for her. Even though she supported them, them never writing or calling or anything must have had the twinges of betrayal at times. She would know they’ve got to be busy, but couldn’t they throw her some sort of bone?

Winry’s parents died while trying to do their jobs as doctors, after promising their daughter that they’d only be gone for a short while.

Trisha had to deal with her illness while raising two young boys on her own. She’d tried to support her husband while not being able to understand what he was going through (probably without even knowing what made him hurt so much). She had such a kind heart, but she couldn’t help the one closest to her. Then, she died without seeing him again, and leaving her two children behind. I always think she must’ve felt guilty, even though she absolutely shouldn’t have.

Pinako… Nrgh. Pinako’s actually been through so much, hasn’t she? Her old drinking buddy stayed the same age over the years. She probably resented him for that, at least when she first realized it. She also probably opposed him and Trisha, considering that Trisha had probably been Pinako’s children’s playmates. I mean, would you support the union of someone you saw through all stages of life and someone who was older than you when you met him before that person was born? And she was still there to support Trisha through the end. Then her kids, brilliant doctors, decide to go help in the war. She has to take care of her granddaughter and the sons of that union she opposed. She finds out her children died at the hands of one of their patients, and then sees one of the boys she’s been taking care of missing two limbs while the other is suddenly in a suit of armor. She has to bury the monster they created just because they were scared, foolish children who wanted their mother back. She had to watch them leave, see the damage that happened to them, and see the torment they put her granddaughter through.

Seriously, living in Resembool is like the universe decided to say “Yeah, no happiness for you.” Also Pinako is a very underestimated HBIC.

# i have a lot of feels k

# fma

# fma: b

# fullmetal alchemist

# kat rambles about her feels

# tv thoughts

# literary kat

# kat is way too attached to fictional characters