FullMetal Water Cooler (FMA chapter discussion)

[Strafe]

Wow. That was great.

[Whitephoenix]

In the words of one Larry the Cucumber: "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob."

Well, actually I got misty-eyed, but that still counts!

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

The greatest journey I've made since I started watching anime, two years and a day ago.

Welcome home boys.

[goldenspines]

I laughed, I bawled my eyes out, and I saluted the brave heroes who brought us this far.

Welcome home everyone. We finally made it.

[Yamamaya]

[SPOILER]A lesson without pain is meaningless, for you cannot gain something without sacrificing something else in return. But once you have overcome it and made it your own...you will gain an irreplaceable Fullmetal heart.[/SPOILER]

An excellent ending. I feel melancholic after seeing the end to such a fantastic manga. As Mr. Anno would say, "Congratulations Ed and Al."

Also....[SPOILER]Al and Mei got together and Ed and Win had babies. Epic. [/SPOILER]

[Fish and Chips]

You will never read the continuing adventures of Alphonse and those two chimera guys.

Good end get, but I don't know what I'm going to think when July rolls around and there's no new chapter. Now we send emails to VIZ until they speed up the official English release.

[minakichan]

[SPOILER]Al and Mei got together and Ed and Win had babies. Epic. [/SPOILER]

The latter was obvious, but I totally did not get the former. Really?!
*Old lady voice* Heavens! What a scandalous difference in age!

You will never read the continuing adventures of Alphonse and those two chimera guys.

SPINOFF MANGA PLEASE.

(I'm sure it'd be better than Juushin Enbu)

[airichan623]

*Sigh* WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! IT CANT BE DONE! IT JUST CANT!!!
The message at the end was good, tho
[spoiler] I'm still bummed Ed cant use alchemy anymore.
But I'm so happy AlMei and EdWin had confirmation in the ending! XD [/spoiler]
But why nothing on Royai?!?!?!? Thats one of my favorite pairings! DX
I want a spinoff focused in the East with Al, the chimera dudes, Ling, Riza, and Roy. And Ed popping in and out. But it better be a good spinoff.

Arakawa-sensei, DONT EVER STOP DRAWING AND WRITING MANGA!

What are you talking about? Hohenheim has no relation to Envy.

[quote="Hohenheim (post: 1399256)"]He's right]

ah.....fudge muffins. my misread....shoot and i told a friend that too...

[Yamamaya]

The latter was obvious, but I totally did not get the former. Really?!
*Old lady voice* Heavens! What a scandalous difference in age!


SPINOFF MANGA PLEASE.

(I'm sure it'd be better than Juushin Enbu)

Didn't you see the family picture? And besides they aren't that much older than each other.

[minakichan]

Didn't you see the family picture? And besides they aren't that much older than each other.

I know that's why people are saying it, but I didn't get that vibe just from that pic though... Since when does being in the same photo makes you a couple...?

HOMG GORILLA GUY X LION GUY X YOKI = NEW OT3 FOREVERRRRRRRRRRR

Maybe they just need to have adorable Asian-white hybrid babies for me to believe it. (Al and Mei, not Gorilla Guy, Lion Guy and Yoki)

Yeah, I guess the age difference isn't high, but it SEEMS LIKE IT.

[ich1990]

Oh and Fish, I remembered another character that wasn't addressed in the ending:[spoiler]Roy Mustang's mother, Madam Christmas.[/spoiler]

But why nothing on Royai?!?!?!? Thats one of my favorite pairings! DX

Simply put: it wasn't necessary because they were already a couple on a much deeper level than most romantic relationships.

[blkmage]

I know that's why people are saying it, but I didn't get that vibe just from that pic though... Since when does being in the same photo makes you a couple...?

HOMG GORILLA GUY X LION GUY X YOKI = NEW OT3 FOREVERRRRRRRRRRR

Maybe they just need to have adorable Asian-white hybrid babies for me to believe it. (Al and Mei, not Gorilla Guy, Lion Guy and Yoki)

Yeah, I guess the age difference isn't high, but it SEEMS LIKE IT.

But why would Mei be in Ed's family photo after she went back to Xing if she didn't get wooed by Al and came back with him after he was finished his business there? ヽ(　ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ

[Yamamaya]

I think now Al and Mei can be added to Tvtropes "me love you long time" page.

Also I wonder if Al can still use alchemy or not? Ed was the only one who broke through the Tree of Sephiroth by denying alchemy(lol @ Japan's misuse of the tree).

[airichan623]

But why would Mei be in Ed's family photo after she went back to Xing if she didn't get wooed by Al and came back with him after he was finished his business there? ヽ]
yeah! dont you remember all the cute "ill protect you mei" "alphonse-sama" scenes! best wishes to the happy couple! XD
but other couple that was hinted but never confirmed LanFanXLing! Another fav couple!

Also I wonder if Al can still use alchemy or not? Ed was the only one who broke through the Tree of Sephiroth by denying alchemy(lol @ Japan's misuse of the tree).

Not sure what the tree of slfkshfife is but yea he still can... he's studying alkahestry, right?

PS. did anyone else notice that in brotherhood the door of truth has "adonai" written on it? (adonai is Lord and is in the Bible for Jesus)

[Yamamaya]

Not sure what the tree of slfkshfife is but yea he still can... he's studying alkahestry, right?

PS. did anyone else notice that in brotherhood the door of truth has "adonai" written on it? (adonai is Lord and is in the Bible for Jesus)

The Tree of Sephiroth is also known as the Tree of Life in Jewish mysticism(Kabbalah). It's very complex but it's root is from what Kabbalahist Jews believe to be the hidden meaning behind the Old Testament.

Here's another image of it.

[uc pseudonym]

So many things about the ending were perfect that I found myself focusing on a few points that I didn't like as much. That's a shame, given how good this manga has been and how well everything tied together. But right now, with 108 chapters behind me, I don't think I can bring myself to talk about any of that. It did end with a sense of weight and closure that I don't expect to get from many other shonen series.

May more authors follow in this example.

[minakichan]

But why would Mei be in Ed's family photo after she went back to Xing if she didn't get wooed by Al and came back with him after he was finished his business there? ヽ(　ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ

yeah! dont you remember all the cute "ill protect you mei" "alphonse-sama" scenes! best wishes to the happy couple! XD
but other couple that was hinted but never confirmed LanFanXLing! Another fav couple!

lololol.

But seriously, yeah, I still don't completely buy that interpretation. Maybe it's just because I've heard this kind of thing wayyy too much from my fujoshi friends. I honestly don't have the energy to start a shipping war, but I'll say that I don't think the evidence is explicit enough for various reason:
1) Visiting Ed and Al-- that's something friends do. You can be friends without being in lurve. (And I know blkmage is kidding.) Al went to visit Xing, it's a nice thing for Mei to return the favor.
2) We know that 13-year-old Mei has a light crush on Al. She also had a crush of similar proportions on Ed for a while-- a puppyish crush that has no depth (she thinks he's physically attractive). There's no reason to believe that Al reciprocated it at all, and older Mei seems to be less explosively adorably energetic anyway.
3) Pretty much all of Arakawa's other couples (EdxWinry, RoyxRiza, IzumixOvergrownBear, etc) are more interesting and, in a sense, deeper than the interactions we've seen with Al and Mei. And at any rate, many of them involve two people with a very strong personal bond far stronger than friendship, but that doesn't imply they are romantically involved (RoyxRiza, LingxRanFan)

I don't have anything against the pairing (it's better than Elricest), I just don't think there's any reason to believe they're in lurve, any more than a very strong, possibly touchy-feely friendly relationship. =/// I think the reasoning for this pairing is pretty weak, not really stronger than any of the uh, alternate pairings that we don't talk about on this forum. Subtext != well, you know.

[Hohenheim]

So many things about the ending were perfect that I found myself focusing on a few points that I didn't like as much. That's a shame, given how good this manga has been and how well everything tied together. But right now, with 108 chapters behind me, I don't think I can bring myself to talk about any of that. It did end with a sense of weight and closure that I don't expect to get from many other shonen series.

May more authors follow in this example.

I follow these same sentiments. FMA has been quite a ride, and the ending did not disappoint. Here is to hoping Arakawa's future works are just as great.

[Yamamaya]

lololol.

But seriously, yeah, I still don't completely buy that interpretation. Maybe it's just because I've heard this kind of thing wayyy too much from my fujoshi friends. I honestly don't have the energy to start a shipping war, but I'll say that I don't think the evidence is explicit enough for various reason:
1) Visiting Ed and Al-- that's something friends do. You can be friends without being in lurve. (And I know blkmage is kidding.) Al went to visit Xing, it's a nice thing for Mei to return the favor.
2) We know that 13-year-old Mei has a light crush on Al. She also had a crush of similar proportions on Ed for a while-- a puppyish crush that has no depth (she thinks he's physically attractive). There's no reason to believe that Al reciprocated it at all, and older Mei seems to be less explosively adorably energetic anyway.
3) Pretty much all of Arakawa's other couples (EdxWinry, RoyxRiza, IzumixOvergrownBear, etc) are more interesting and, in a sense, deeper than the interactions we've seen with Al and Mei. And at any rate, many of them involve two people with a very strong personal bond far stronger than friendship, but that doesn't imply they are romantically involved (RoyxRiza, LingxRanFan)

I don't have anything against the pairing (it's better than Elricest), I just don't think there's any reason to believe they're in lurve, any more than a very strong, possibly touchy-feely friendly relationship. =/// I think the reasoning for this pairing is pretty weak, not really stronger than any of the uh, alternate pairings that we don't talk about on this forum. Subtext != well, you know.

No 1: Passage of time Obviously a lot of time has passed since they took that picture. How can you say Al and Mei didn't get a chance to know each other well?

No 2: Main character status.(this is rather weak but I feel it had some..relevance) EdWin is the only other confirmed pairing frankly because Ed is the main character. Al also plays the role of the second main character(after all FMA's story revolves around these two brothers). If Ed gets a girl, why can't Al? Ling and Mustang are important characters but they aren't the main protagonists.

No 3: Confirmed "feelings" In FMA, Winry admits she is in love with Ed. Also Mei expresses that she has a crush on Al. Al is also embarrassed when Ed teases him about Mei. No other characters have this kind of confirmed "feelings." Riza and Mustang don't, Lan and Lin don't.

No 4: TEH PICTURE. Now why would Mei be in a family photo of Ed, Winry and kids, a photo that resembles Hohenheim, wife, and kids photo? There's absolutely no reason unless they had both gotten together. Also the argument "They're just friends" would make no sense in the context of the photo. The context is, "This is the future. Ed and Al have settled down and Ed has had some Ayran babies"


Sorry to get into a bit of a ship argument. I've always liked Al much better than Ed and I just think the dude deserves a little love after being in a suit of armor for many years.

[minakichan]

No 1: Passage of time Obviously a lot of time has passed since they took that picture. How can you say Al and Mei didn't get a chance to know each other well?

I don't think that they're NOT together, I just don't have any reason to believe that they definitely are. I think the AlxMei shippers are the ones with the burden of proof; I'm totally fine with the pairing, I just haven't seen evidence.

As for 2 and 3, I don't operate under the assumption that not having an S.O. is unfortunate, so I don't think that Al "deserves" a GURLFRENNN because it's really not that big a deal.

As for 4, still not sold. All the pics just show what's been going on in people's lives, and considering that the others don't have a portrait feel to them, I don't have any reason to believe that this one isn't just a candid shot that shows that Mei still hangs out with them. If Mei and Al had been closer and been carrying babies or whatnot, I'd deeeeeefinitely buy it. But if we're supposed to interpret that they are definitely in a relationship, why isn't that photo far more explicit about it? Furthermore, we know that Mei has a strong attachment to the Elric brothers and, yes, to Al, so I think that even if she wasn't dating Al, it'd make sense for her to be hanging out with them. What's the alternative of her aftermath? Being in Xing? We haven't seen her do anything interesting there, so it makes sense for her to hang with the Elrics.

Essentially, I think we're arguing two different things here. You're saying that there's not a zero percent chance that Mei and Al have something going on-- after all, they had some shippy subtext throughout the series. I agree with that. What I'm saying is that there is no explicit, hard-and-fast reason to believe that they officially got together and are engaged in a romantic relationship. I would say that same for Roy x Riza and Ling x Ran Fan, except I think that in their cases, it's more arguable because throughout the series, they've been shown to have deep, close, meaningful relationships, instead of cute puppy love. However, by the end of the series, I still have no reason to think that, for example, Roy and Riza are romantically involved, even though they have a picture to themselves and even though the subtext favoring that pairing is extremely high (much higher than Al and Mei's).

[Yamamaya]

Well pairings in FMA tend to have a logical plot driven purpose. There's rarely any pairing fanservice.

I happen to think the portrait is a bit more conclusive than that, mainly because I think we can say it IS a portrait(they're all posed and it's the same style as the HOHENHEIMU portrait). If we assume that it's a family portrait then we must ask what Mei is doing in it. Well if she's Al's significant other it would make sense.

Plus on a humorous note, someone needs to create the master race of Xing and HitlerBLONDE and Ed's short genes just aren't cutting it.
Also if FMA was real I assume you would go up to armored Al and say, "GURL you don't deserve no GURLFRENN":grin::lol:

[mechana2015]

Does it ever occur to you that making a bunch of nazi jokes are in bad taste in this thread Yamamaya? Or any thread?

I think my favorite pictures from that page is the black hayate one, and the one with Ed and Winry.

[goldenspines]

Are you guys seriously over analyzing that one page? The manga is over, does it matter what happens next? XD;
Man, people can't just be content with a happy ending or something, you have to make it complicated and twisted.

That is just my own opinion though. But really guys, the ending was epic enough without picking it apart. XD

[ich1990]

[quote="goldenspines (post: 1400355)"]Are you guys seriously over analyzing that one page? The manga is over, does it matter what happens next? XD]

I would keep your distance, goldenspines. It is dangerous to get between shippers and their prey.

[Yamamaya]

[quote="goldenspines (post: 1400355)"]Are you guys seriously over analyzing that one page? The manga is over, does it matter what happens next? XD]

SHIP TO SHIP COMBAT TAKES NO PRISONERS! THERE IS NO NEUTRAL PARTY.





Also Nazi jokes are necessary when you have an entire race filled with nothing but blonde people

[mechana2015]

Also Nazi jokes are necessary when you have an entire race filled with nothing but blonde people

You mean a country? You know... like Sweden? Or Norway? Or Finland?
Nazi jokes are never necessary, so how about you actually let people enjoy the ending instead of comparing it to a genocidal racist regime from 60 years ago.

[Yamamaya]

You mean a country? You know... like Sweden? Or Norway? Or Finland?
Nazi jokes are never necessary, so how about you actually let people enjoy the ending instead of comparing it to a genocidal racist regime from 60 years ago.

Yet those countries are not 100 percent blonde(i'm a dane btw) whereas Hohenheim's race is 100 percent blonde/golden eyed(which I find amusing).

I was making a joke about a small part of the ending. But w/e.

[KeybladeWarrior]

The ending was good, but somehow I felt like there should have been more to it. I wanted to see the characters grown up like in their 30s.

[Sheenar]

Yet those countries are not 100 percent blonde(i'm a dane btw) whereas Hohenheim's race is 100 percent blonde/golden eyed(which I find amusing).

I was making a joke about a small part of the ending. But w/e.

There were lots of characters with dark hair and eyes who were native Amestrians. Like Trisha. And Izumi and her husband. And many others.


But, anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this series. Fantastic ending. I knew Arakawa wouldn't let us down.

[Wyntre Rose]

Wow. That was amazing, touching, nail-bitingly suspenseful...just about everything I could have hoped for. Thank you Arakawa-sensei!! *bows*

Just a note on the pairings, now that I've had some time to digest it all: [spoiler] I'm completely content with Ed and Winry being the only canon pairing. They are the ones that were the most outright romantic - I believe they are the only ones that ever "confessed" love for each other, whether as monologues or to others (and now that I think about it, that may have actually been just Winry that did it at all) - and plus, it finally puts to rest the Elricest and EdxRoy pairings, canonically. Not that I ever for a minute seriously thought it would ever go there, but it's nice to have the possibility absolutely negated.

As much as the super-lovey-dovey-Anne-of-Green-Gables-esque-romantic within me would love a conclusive, absolute confirmation of both RoyxRiza and LingxLan Fan, I can certainly see why there is none.

In Ling's case, he's coming from a family where his father and mother married and had him as a political move, not because of love. I don't believe he ever said outright that he's going to change that system, either, though saying that he'd protect Mei, and would accept every clan, may imply that. Even so, I doubt Lan Fan, as empress, would be able to do what she really wants to do: protect her prince/emperor/husband/beloved. Especially once she gives him heirs. She doesn't strike me as the kind of woman that would hand her kids over to a nurse every time she has to be with her husband, keeping him safe, you know?

Roy and Riza are in a very similar position, though without the (possible) bigamy angle. lol. Would Riza really be able to continue as Mustang's subordinate as his wife? And what if they had kids? Again, I doubt Riza would want someone else raising her kids so she could cover Mustang's back.

So yeah, in both cases, I do believe that, if they can keep their hands off each other - and they have so far, I see no reason for that to change abruptly anytime soon - a platonic relationship may actually be the best, and oddly enough, the most romantic option. Now, does a part of me not absolutely wish that both couples could marry for love and live happily ever after? Oh, sure! But, as Ich1990 said about Royai, and I personally believe this applies to Ling and Lan Fan as well,

they were already a couple on a much deeper level than most romantic relationships.

As for Al and Mei...well, it's certainly a possibility, but there'd have to be more than just Mei's starry-eyed, school girl infatuation and Al's chivalry (which he extends to every woman) for me to believe it. Sure, that picture was taken several years in the future, so there's plenty of room for it, but I don't think it's the only interpretation.

*shrugs* Just my 2 cents. Not wishing to negate anyone else's views on the subject, I'm only offering this as my own thoughts on the matter. And hey, you have to give the fanfiction writers a little wriggle room for some things, right? lol.
[/spoiler]