Thoughts On The 2003 "Fullmetal Alchemist" Anime.

(Originally posted on 9-15-2010)

This is one of the nerdier, self-indulgent things I will post. Feel free to skip it.

So for some rather foolish reason I started watching the first 2003 "Fullmetal Alchemist" anime yesterday and I mostly regret it.

The reason it sucks is that it is only loosely based on the manga after only seven books of it had been released (there are 27 total) and then the rest of it is a completely different story. Also, because only a few books had been released, the majority of the characters have different personalities. Ed, Al, and Hughes are the only ones fully in character and even so, Ed doesn't grow up with the show like he does in the manga. And they all have an extra hint of emo.

It's like watching characters you know act almost like they are supposed to but something is really off. And they're doing things they never did in the book. And the art isn't as good as the art in "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood", the anime actually based on the manga released years later when the comics were finished.

The fact is I read the books first and I maintain that they have a better plot, more character development, and make more overall sense than this show. I heard someone say once that whether you prefer the first show in 2003 "Fullmetal Alchemist" or the second "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" is based on whether you prefer anime (television) to manga (books). I don't think it's that simple. It's not even as simple as "what you were exposed to first." A lot of people who first saw the 2003 anime will say they like both shows equally and some say they like "Brotherhood" better.

Either way, my opinion is clear.

Here comes ranting:

Opening: Crap song. Crap animation. Not enough military characters.

Closing: I kind of like the song. Inappropriate but cute. The animation is boring though.

Episode 1: Leto Priest episode. Mostly like the manga but there's enough strangely added in for me to be confused. And everyone in Lior is brown. Why?
I think they knew from the very beginning they would be making up their own plot semi-independent of the manga.

Episode 2: Leto Priest episode 2. Why two episodes? Mostly crap that didn't happen. Cornello made a sentient bird thingy to make Rose believe her dead boyfriend (sloppily named Kain; there's already a Kain in FMAverse. Fuery? Mustang's tech guy?) is alive. Envy is mentioned but not introduced. Lust is still awesome. She will get emo soon though, unfortunately.

Episode 3: Flashback episode. Why is Winry crying over her dead parents? Why did they actually get letters from Hohenheim and try to track him down? Why did Mustang show up for like, a second and without Riza? And mostly, WHY IS EVERYONE SO FREAKING EMO?

That's what's so ultimately unlikable about this show. In the manga the general idea of all the characters is "if something bad happens to you, get a little mad, maybe a tiny bit sad, and then get really ambitious." That's why everyone is so likable. If anyone complains, it's rare and deserving. In this show, everyone's a pansy.

Episode 4: Why is the story still in the past?
This whole episode was some anecdotal adventure that never happened in the books. Some chick-boy named Claus and some crazy alchemist named Majihal who dies. Who cares? Where's the plot anyway?

Episode 5: Train robbery episode. They didn't redo this in "Brotherhood" because it's not important but for some reason in this show it became a huge set-up by MUSTANG to get General Hakuro to allow Ed to take the alchemist test. Maes and Falman were also on the train. Why? How did Mustang arrange this? Did his men know? Why are we still in the PAST?
Also, ShortHair!Hawkeye is a Second Lieutenant at this point; not a Major. Idiots.

Episode 6: Shou Tucker episode. Kind of. They . . . study for the alchemy exam at his house? What? Wrong! Then they go to Maes' house and Gracia gives birth. Yep, still the past since Elysia is supposed to be three in the story, not just born. Also, never happened in story. Ed takes the test and passes. The test is very different from how it's supposed to be with a lot of alchemists taking it at once.

Episode 7: Actual Shou Tucker episode. Why are Hawkeye and Havoc the only ones shown to be working with Mustang? And why are they in the same town as Hughes? He's stationed at Central and everyone else in this episode is supposed to be in the East. I anticipate this getting even more confusing when Alex, Maria, and Denny come in. Maybe in the past Hughes was stationed in the East and that's the explanation.
Hawkeye is not so great with kids (and has had one line so far). Ed has a rather specific kind of dead mom PTSD. Basque Gran is alive and not a badass but a huge dick. Sheszka has a short premature introduction. Scar tries to break into a library? Why? He kills the Nina!chimera but Shou just gets arrested. More emo, less justice. Ed cries. Shit.

HEY, WHERE'S THE PLOT?!

I KNOW THESE ARE THE SET-UP EPISODES BUT CAN WE AT LEAST GET TO THE PRESENT?

Episode 8: Hawkeye gets more lines (her voice is too high). Ed cries more. Barry the Chopper is alluded to as a serial killer who cuts up woman and is confused for Scar. Mustang plays the Captain Bitter-Truth card. Bradley introduced. I'm starting to think this is the present and they're just running on a new timeline entirely on top of the new plot. Jeez. Also, why is Mustang drawn so feminine a lot of the time? It makes me uncomfortable.
Tucker dead by firing squad. Winry comes to Central(?) and is kidnapped by a human!Barry the Chopper (this is the PAST after all but they never knew Barry or even knew of him). Ed goes to save her. Action! Barry is caught because Hughes riddled it out. Ed cries again. Sweet Jeebus. Stop crying!
I hope that when Barry comes back as armor, he still gets a crush on Hawkeye.

Episode 9: Youswell episode. Played pretty straight although Ed has some more emo. I don't know why all super minor characters with no plot significance get names though.
Some chick named Lyra who I think is the "secret bad guy" Dante (and dresses like I did every Friday of my senior year of high school when she's not a maid) is Yoki's alchemist bodyguard/maid for reasons I don't understand. That was the only big difference.
Apparently, MUSTANG planned the whole thing . . . again . . . or something. Either way, he got promoted to Colonel, moved to the East (above question answered) and the time has FINALLY GONE AHEAD THREE YEARS. Jeez.

Episode 10: Why are they eating Japanese food in AU 1914 England?
Random filler episode about some alchemy using thief named Psiren in some water town they made up who Al is stupidly convinced has good intentions. What is with these made up filler episodes? They aren't even good.
Only notable thing? Accidental boob grab. There's something you won't see in the manga.

Episode 11 and 12: Psiren gave them a tip about some town called Xenotime that is working in Philosopher's Stone research. This show is really trying to base the whole plot around Ed and Al finding the Philosopher's Stone. Although that is the "premise", that isn't the focus in the manga at all.
Go to town. Two brothers (older one looks like he could be related to Riza) are using their names to do research with famous alchemist. Famous alchemist connected to Lust. Red water is making town sick. I check Wikipedia to see when an episode with stuff happening will occur.
I didn't really pay attention to these because Colin from Lego IMed me and we caught up.

Episode 13: Tip from someone in Xenotime leads Ed to search for Dr. Marcoh and he returns to East Command where a slew of state alchemists (more than there actually are and including Alex and lead by Basque Gran who is supposed to be evil, remember), the Fuhrer and his non-canon secretary Juliet Douglas/Sloth/EdandAl'sMomRemainder, and Hughes have shown up because Central has moved to Eastern. Just go with it because it's some actual PLOT. FINALLY!
There are also the side stories of who should take care of Black Hayate and the Fullmetal vs. Flame battle (both stories were random non-omake book extras so they count as canon). The battle is because Ed wants info on Marcoh (who is said to be hiding because he was a war deserter but I think he was just ashamed and avoiding the military in the manga) and wants to get rid of a cat Al hid in his armor.
Also, MINISKIRTS a.k.a. the omake that ruined accurate comprehension of Roy Mustang's character forever. That and anime bishie sparkles. And the stealing girlfriends thing which never happened in the manga at all. I do like Riza's "shit-why-do-I-work-for-you/trust-you/love-you" face when he says it though. And for some reason the battle ended in a stalemate (instead of Roy clobbering Ed) which really shows this anime's emphasis on Ed as the sole main character.
They tried to balance it with Roy having a PTSD moment and then telling Ed a little about the war. Why is emo the answer to balancing out silliness in this anime? Dumb.
Hughes and Roy drink (yay!) and Hughes says the reason they've relocated is to essentially hide from the state-alchemist-killer a.k.a. Scar. I DO appreciate the large amounts of Hughes in this anime compared to the manga.
But wait, does this mean Scar has been killing for THREE YEARS and no one has caught him yet? Fail anime. Fail.
Kitty gets abandoned in a stroller Ed made. *sad* But obviously Riza takes in Hayate. Awwww.
Best episode so far but the bar is pretty low. Still there was a lot I actually liked about this episode. I probably won't enjoy an episode this much until the cracktastic!ness of episode 37 which I kind of love.

Opening 2: "Ready Steady Go" by L'arc en Ciel. Good song; not great for the show. All these songs are too perky and optimistic but then again, this show isn't nearly as complex and realistic as the manga.
Way better animation. Military characters get their obligatory cool shots. Riza shot at the screen! See the rants about the "FMA: Brotherhood" openings for why this makes me happy.

Closing 2: Unnoticeable. Completely.

Episode 14: Lior is F'ed up. Thanks, General Hakuro.
Roy and Hughes finish drinking and talking about war/Scar. Hughes has awkward moment of thinking a waitress was hitting on him when she was giving him a phone. *smile*
Elric brothers are looking for Marcoh and being followed by Alex. Find Marcoh. Destroy wall of his house and find stone. Basque Gran breaks into his house and talks about the stone before arresting Marcoh (why? deserting? and were they stalking the brothers?). While driving him away, Scar destroys car and kills Gran. About to kill Marcoh. Ed and Al fight him and they get saved by Alex who says he was asked by Hughes to be their bodyguard. They win. Give stone back to Marcoh. Scar mentions brother/war.
Whatevs. Combining many different plot parts into one.
Next episode called "Ishvalan Massacre." *fingers crossed in hope for good episode*

Episode 15: Brothers escape from Scar; Alex encounters Mustang's team (plus Hughes).
Weird error in all forms of FMA: Why does it take forever for anyone to figure out Scar is Ishvalan? Do they just all assume he's either a light-skinned black guy or a tanned Amestrian until they see his red eyes? It's always Mustang who says it too. "Ah, he's an Ishvalan!" Congrats, Mustang. You're an alchemist and a colonel; that's supposed to imply intelligence.
Marcoh emos about the war and how he deserves to be killed by Scar. For some reason in this version of the war, ALL the alchemists used Marcoh's Philosopher's Stones to kill and not just Kimblee (who had a cameo). This seemed to be under Gran's order as well. I just can't imagine Roy and Alex being okay with this.
Also, Roy killed Winry's parents under Gran's order WITH A GUN! WHAT? Roy never uses a gun except that one time he borrowed one from Hawkeye (which happens in this eppy). So Roy shots them, emos, and is about to kill himself when Marcoh tells him to stop. I like the Scar-killed-them explanation way better.
Later MANGA!STUFF happens at the Mustang's team fights Scar part. Hawkeye's trip/useless remark is way funnier in "Brotherhood." Hughes' "you alchemy freaks" comment was just as funny though.
Marcoh lets himself be arrested. Or something.

Episode 16: Mustang makes fun of cripple!Ed for no reason. Ed and Al decide to go home to get fixed up/to Central to see Marcoh's research notes. Alex goes with them. Al is left at the wrong station and some kid steals him so he pretends to be haunted. Ed meets Ishval War vet. EMO. Elrics find each other again.
*speculation that Roy actually went to Pinako's house not to recruit brothers or their father but to apologize for killing the Rockbells DOEZ DAT EXPLANE DA EMO!?*
Meanwhile, Lust interrogates Marcoh. They actually cut that scene out of "Brotherhood" unfortunately.

Episode 17: Going back to Resembool to get fixed up episode. Al has doubts about his memory and emos. Ed calls Winry an automail otaku. Later she opens his watch and emos. The brothers go to where there house used to be and emo.

Episode 18: Tim Marcoh's Research notes episode with Maria, Denny and Schezka. Very canon. Scar rescued by the Ishvalan town.
Exception: Lust and Gluttony run into Scar at the Central library and they burned it down before the Elrics got there. Scar notices that Lust looks like his brother's lover.
Yay! Roy/Hughes phone call!!! "Get yourself a wife!"

Episode 19: Fifth Laboratory episode. What's with all the CANON lately? I'm liking it. Although I don't remember the lab being "Indian Jones"-style booby trapped and for some reason Greed was sleeping there and got woken up.
Also apparently homunculi have meetings in clock towers. How steampunk of them.
And Ed said, "Bingo da ze." Teehee.

Episode 20: Ed fights Slicer. Al fights Barry. Doubt about bro-love occurs. Anime goes slow.

Episode 21: One of the Slicer brothers kills himself in an attempt to match everyone else's EMO POWER. Ed encounters SHOU TUCKER?! who was not technically killed but ended up as a chimera while trying to resurrect Nina and has tons of unfinished P-stone at his disposal. Hello, irony! I guess CANON has left. Also, Basque Gran is still alive. Huh? Is this going to be one of those shows where no one actually dies?
Scar saves Al from Barry. Weird. They chat about Ishval and Scar has a flashbackening in which he has brown hair(?!) and his brother tried to resurrect someone (*spoiler* Lust's former self) with alchemy. Also, apparently his brother died naked, crazed, and tattooed all over his body. WTF? They run into Lust and Gluttony. Fight!
Greed awakens after being chained down in Lab 5 and gathers his crew (I don't think this happened in the manga but it's a very plausible story and the only thing I liked here).

Episode 22: HOLD THE MOTHERFUCKING PHONE! HUGHES HAS PINK PJS WITH CHICKS ON THEM!!! WHAT AM I SEEING?! DO I LIKE IT??!!
*ahem* Anyway . . . In some weird breaking-the-forth-wall moment, Mustang calls to mention that he and his team have not been getting enough screen time lately. The Fuck? Also for some reason, the Central crew is in the room with Hughes. Did Hughes wear his PJs to work or has his team invaded his home?
Some fighting and P-stone talk and HOLY SHIT! BRADLEY HAS LIGHT BLUE PJS WITH LITTLE WHITE FLOWERS ON THEM! OMG!!!! BUT WHERE ARE THEY?! THEY CAN'T BE IN HIS HOUSE COULD THEY?!!
Gran rounds up prisoners (including Kimblee) to make a P-stone. Kimblee breaks the cage. Gran was actually Envy. That makes sense but why do the homunculi want to make P-stones? Lust and Gluttony show up with Al sans extremities. Tucker is aligned with them.
WAIT. Lust says that their evil plan is to essentially encourage alchemists around the world to try making the P-stone because they want to use it to become HUMAN. WHAT!!!!??? That's so LAME!!!!! What happened to Wrath talking about homunculi pride?! And Envy's big secret?! And Lust's weird respect for Mustang?! This sucks. Is that really their ENTIRE plan? It can't be. We're only halfway through the show. What does Dante have to say about this?
Al's life is threatened so Ed will make a stone. Scar has a douche ex machina and saves them. Well, he turned good-guy really fast. Ed takes in stone or something and becomes super powerful/weak. Bradley sends in Central troops to get the Elric brothers. Maria saves Ed with a hug. . . Huh?
Greed and co. leave and Kimblee may be on their team.
LUST IN A MILITARY UNIFORM! AWESOME.
Why didn't Roy get a PJ moment? He probably sleeps naked.

And have I mentioned everyone's way less hot in this show than "Brotherhood" or the manga? It must be the quality of the animation.

Episode 23: Brothers-in-hospital-Winry-lovingly-kidnapped-by-Hughes episode. I guess canon is making a comeback. They cut Hughes' don't-touch-my-daughter gun cock though. Too bad. With all the emo, this show could use some by-the-manga comedy.

Episode 24: And canon leaves again. Al goes on an emo adventure and finds that Barry, Kimblee and some other crazies pretending to be military are terrorizing an Ishval ghetto for cash (I don't know; motivations are rare in this show). Izumi gets a voice cameo. The steering wheel of Scar's car (how did he get a . . . nevermind) is on the American side, not the English side. Odd. Sappy ending for two Ishvalan kids with mommy issues.
Crazies were hired by Juliet Douglas/Sloth who has somewhat revealed herself as not human (she mouth-rapes Kimblee with her water hand) but not yet been named.
[/Al's emo]

Episode 25: Hughes dies episode. Also, halfway through the show.
Flackback!Dream: Hughes visits Roy after the war and discovers that he has been trying to figure out how to bring people back to life with alchemy (Roy's war guilt FAIL). Hughes knocks some sense into him (literally) and they talk about how Roy wanted to kill himself but couldn't even try. Also, according to this, Hughes didn't fight in the war. Wrong but I love seeing scenes with them anyway.
Canon's back. Elric brothers and Winry leave for the South. You know what that means? Some episodes I really don't care about are coming up next.
Hughes learns too much about some kind of secret identity of Juliet Douglas (who supposedly died two years before the War as well as started and fought in it) and and his death progresses almost the same way but he doesn't get Roy on the phone! WHY!? Roy and Riza had already left for Central! Why were they going to Central? The whole reason they go to Central is for his funeral. Maybe "going to Central" is code for screwing in the break room. [/bad time for joke]
As Hughes dies he flashbacks to Roy saying he will become Fuhrer to change the country and him saying he will support him from below (which happened in Roy's apartment like the above scene and not on the battlefield; still Roy's war guilt WIN).
Ed sees Hughes' ghost (what?) and Roy has his tragic manly tears moment.
In spite of how sad this episode is, I can't not think of this: Cordeval: #79 FMA Funeral. As funny as this is, Havoc wasn't at the funeral [/Kay knows too much]

Opening 3: Never particularly liked this song. Animation is so-so. A lot of Ed fighting Greed's crew. ONE military shot of Roy and Riza in his office (Riza holding Hayate) and the other military characters in the window outside.

Closing 3: Someone at Bones likes Winry and wanted her to have an ending to herself. Blah.

Episode 26: Rush Valley episode with Izumi and Sig showing up at the end after searching for the brothers. Roy investigates Hughes' murder and General Hakuro is a dick to him because he's jealous of his quick movement through the ranks. Roy acts submissive when his transfer to Central is threatened.

Episode 27: Izumi drags the brothers back to Dublith where talking about past stuff happens. Mustang gets his transfer and all the funny parts got cut out (Havoc's "But I just got a girlfriend!" and Grumman's "When are you gonna marry my granddaughter?" were gone).

Episode 28: Izumi strands brothers on island she stranded them on during their training to make them think about their human transmutation mistake. Training flashbacks. Wrath is there (who is a small goth child and not King Bradley in this one) and shows himself to them at the end.

Episode 29: They take Wrath home. He needs Riddlin and does some weird accidental alchemy. Ed discovers that Wrath has Ed's arm and leg that he lost. What sense does that make? Izumi goes back to the island where there's transmutation circle remains (*spoiler* from when she tried to bring back her dead child).
Roy doesn't have the guts to go into Hughes' house and say hi to his wife so he sits outside in the car until Scheczka comes out of the house and bitches him out for not investigating Hughes' murder and caring only about being promoted. She throws books at him that would give him info on what Hughes was looking at before he died. Man, Roy has been having a bad week.
OMG! BREDA DRESSED UP LIKE ALEX AND SCARED EVERYONE INTO THINKING HE WAS THERE TO HUG EVERYONE OR SOMETHING! AWESOME. I have to say though, it's weird how this anime cuts out a lot of the funny manga jokes and inserts these crazy different jokes.
Riza mentions that Lt. Col. Frank Archer (anime-only!character) is taking over Hughes' job at the Court-Marshal Office (I thought Hughes worked in Investigations?). Falman said he's a man dedicated to his job a.k.a. he likes war. Shit.
We are now stuck between the "throwing-a-bone-to-manga-fans" episodes and the "here's-our-version-of-the-plot" episodes.

Episode 30: Yoki is bumming around in the Ishvalan ghetto and calls in a tip on where Scar is. Mustang and team are send out to get him. Odd choice.
Alex and Archer go searching for the Elrics in Dublith and Alex and Sig bond over their huge muscles which Winry described best in the English dub with, "That's just odd." Ed sits with Wrath before Alex and Archer find them and Archer shows Ed the Ouroboros tattoo on Wrath's foot before stealing him. *gasp*
Also Bido is trying to get the brothers to go to the Devil's Nest after a tip from Shou Tucker that they could help Greed with . . . something. Also, Kimblee has teamed up with Greed and Co. (Dorchetto, Roa, and Martel were all present) for some reason.
Izumi is revealed to lack internal organs which means *gasp* she performed human transmutation! Seriously, alchemists are supposed to be smart. It took a doctor's explanation to figure it out. Then Izumi destroyed the Southern Command Center and beat up a bunch of soldiers to save Wrath from experimentation as Sig explains in a voiceover that he is their child, sorta. As she's escaping Kimblee and Bido, King Bradley, and Alex and Archer all show up to try to take the boy.
A word on the guys in this episode: Hm, between Archer's oppressive sexual energy (really it's more creepy than sexy), Greed's total pimpness, the fact that Kimblee is actually attractive in this anime (in spite of his weird almost-mullet hair), and a brief cameo at the end of Mustang where he looks more like he does in "Brotherhood" (a.k.a. hotter), well, this was a nice collection. Very nice.
I find I have less to complain about now that there's A.) plot and B.) no attempt at canon and therefore no way to mess up canon.

Episode 31: Trying to Explain Homunculi Episode.
In the end, Envy gets his hands on Wrath and feeds him little P-stones which turned him into . . . well he was already a homunculus so an evil homunculus? A full homunculus? Either way he gets those red lines on his body and black, tight clothes.
Izumi is going to kill him before he kills her (on the island now where she had tried to resurrect her son) but Ed, Al, and Win show up and in the end Wrath (with new P-stone knowledge) explains that homunculi are created when a human attempts human transmutation but the result is just a body and mind.
Envy hunts down Greed to lock him up again and Sloth joins too as backup to retrieve Wrath. Greed gets away. According to Envy there was a previous Lust and this is the first time all seven of them are around at once (so does that mean there can only be seven? Are those P-stones they fed Wrath special? Does this mean there are other homunculi who are just minds in bodies that eventually just wither and die without a life source like the stone? Does the tattoo occur on all homunculi or just ones who will become sins?). Wrath explains that his "mind" (had to be his mind since they don't have souls) was waiting and growing beyond the gate and that he essentially stole Ad's arm and leg to help grow and become more human (this also gave him the ability to do alchemy).
I'm writing this down now because this is plot stuff I will forget. It's really convoluted. I hope it will eventually all make sense because at this point there is a lot about their version of homunculi that I don't fully understand. They seem to be like the ones in the manga but their bodies and minds are from leftover human transmutation instead of made from just matter. Also, if they eat P-stone to fully develop or whatever, why are they looking for P-stone to make them human? Is the stone they eat unfinished stone? It must be.
So many questions.
I could use episode 37 right now. I need something un-confusing.

(Just a reminder: when I say P-stone in these posts most of the time I mean fake P-stone since no one had made a real one in this anime except perhaps the weaponized ones during Ishval.)

Episode 32: Wrath can do alchemy by putting Ed's stolen limbs together but he can only really change his own body. I guess that is his homunculus power.
Bradley and Sloth run into the Elrics on the island since they came to retrieve Wrath from crazy!Izumi. Apparently Al is the only one who notices that Sloth is identical to their mom. She's hiding Wrath in her watery chest. Her powers make no sense. Everyone goes home.
In Ishvalan ghetto, Mustang and co. and trying to relocate everyone to nicer places in the south after inspecting the area for Scar (who is currently yelling at the alchemist dude who made his brother crazy or something). Out of nowhere Yoki gets shot and everyone starts firing randomly because somehow Lust and Gluttony made them. Uprising!
Ed and Al go to Dante, a pharmasist/alchemist/Izumi's former teacher who lives in the woods, to get meds for a sick Izumi. Lyra is her maid who is staying there to learn alchemy from Dante. They ask about P-stone before Greed and co. break in and Greed fights Ed for no reason, leaving him unconscious, and everyone else fights Al.

Episode 33: Canon-ish!Greed episode. Martel snakes into Al's armor (bad pun) and takes him to the Devil's Nest so Greed can ask him how to gain eternal life by transmutating his soul into an object. Izumi finds out what happened from Dante and goes to save Al. Greed is snarky and honest but Izumi picks on him anyway and they fight until Ed shows up to "help." I always felt like the fight with Greed was so unnecessary. The good guys went in guns blazing when Greed just wanted to ask a question. "Kill Bill"-esque music plays.
The military shows up to get Ed and bring him to Archer. They found them because Kimblee betrayed Greed, I think. Does this mean the military forgives Kimblee if he will fight on their side? Greed and co. escape with Al.

Episode 34: Kimblee and Tucker WERE working for Archer. Shock.
Greed and Co. try to run away with Martel still inside Al's body. Al and Martel end up in the woods alone and Greed goes to Dante's house where he is held captive by a transmutation circle activated by Lyra and the fact that the bones of who he was as a person are in the room (apparently, that weakens these homunculi). Dante's death is dropped calmly.
Ed, Izumi, and Sig escape from Archer's holding and Ed finds Greed at Dante's house. They fight. Ed wins and kills him (WTF? It takes forever to kill a homunculi and he's no Roy Mustang; I guess it's the bones thing) but he reveals the above bones plot point because he wants to help Ed kill the other homunculi. Ed emos because he will use any excuse to.
I still don't exactly get why the homunculi are such a problem. They want to convince an alchemist to make a P-stone to become humans. That's all. It's not like they are underlings of a Big Bad who wants to kill everyone in the country *cough* actual story *cough*.

Episode 35: Filler Episode. So this episode starts with Lust, Gluttony, and Envy IN A RESTAURANT! (haven't used caps in a while). This is absurd. Lust is the only one of the three who actually looks like a normal person. How could Gluttony and Envy get in without people being like, "What's with the transvestite with the green hair and S&M clothes and the fat baby with blood on it's arms?" It's not believable. Maybe if this was 2010 P-town or something but not a country that (in this anime at least; not the manga) is based off of WWII-era Germany.
Lust runs into an alchemist, Lujon, who she seduced/encouraged to get him to work on the P-stone to save his village from some crazy disease the homunculi inflicted in the first place. She has flashbacks of Scar's brother I guess because both guys are cute and nerdy alchemists. On the day of Lujon's wedding to some chick she catches him HUGGING Lust and flips (because in FMAverse HUGGING = PRACTICALLY MARRIED as I established in the "You Stole My Quiche" post above). He ended up leaving the village to find Lust. They go back so she can help him make a new P-stone to cure the village since the old one no longer works and Lust kills him, calling him her "one small blemish." His former fiancee dies next to his body from the disease. I guess Lust liked him a bit because he reminded her of Scarbro(?)

Episode 36: Elric brothers run into the train taking the Ishvalans to the south (run by Mustang and Co. remember) and they meet up with the two random Ishvalan kids from before and go in Winry's refurbished tractor to find the old guy Scar was yelling at in #32 in Kishua because he was the last one who saw him. They discover that the old guy, Scar, and his brother are outcasts marked by facial tattoos because they used alchemy which is against God.
Right before this ED PUNCHED OUT FUERY. Why?! Fuery's so small and helpless. Riza got payback by firing into a tent they were in to scare them. This anime!Riza is kind of gun happy. They talk to Riza and Breda about the random shooting situation in #32. Apparently Yoki was "shot" by Lust extending her fingers really fast. Fine, let's go with that. Also Roy and Falman went back to Central.
Another Weird Thing About This Anime: I hate how stuff happens and then they explain it like, four episodes later. Sometimes in the manga stuff would happen that would be explained later but usually immediately after. It's just too damn confusing this way.
At the end, the brothers decide to go to Ishval to find Scar.
While this is happening Winry discovers from the two Ishvalan kids that Roy killed her parents. She decides to go back to Central with Riza so she can see Gracia and Elysia and while on the train Riza and Winry have the conversation they should have had four years ago when Roy went to recruit Ed. It's slightly different because Riza is talking about how she hates the military but joined to protect Roy and Winry is horrified instead of impressed/intrigued. When she gets to the Hughes' home, she is even more horrified to see pictures of Roy and Maes on display because they were BFFs. Apparently, she has decided that in spite of the fact that she doesn't know the full story, he had no choice, and there are tons of respectable people who believe he's a really good guy and want him to become fuhrer, Winry has decided Roy is a total monster.
Oh jeez.

Episode 37: OMG FAVORITE EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm totally serious about that by the way. If you like Mustang and Co. half as much as I do (I have a picture of them on my wall) it is worth watching along with "Brotherhood" but nothing else in this fucked up series. Let me explain why with bullet points:
* They changed the initial title to say "Flame Alchemist" and the lame opener about alchemy that Al always does was done by Riza and was about Roy and Co. instead.
* The cold open is about how Havoc is asked by Internal Affairs to keep a log on what Roy does throughout the day to make sure time is being managed effectively. This anime!Roy is kind of lazy and procrastinates his paperwork by trying to feed Hayate, reading the paper, and washing his windows. In the evening he goes on a date (unenthusiastically, might I add; he wishes she was Riza) with a girl Havoc was pursuing and he emos but in a FUNNY way.
* Havoc's ineffectiveness is becoming a problem so Roy orders Falman to find him a girlfriend. He asks Schezka for help (and accidentally offends her) and Alex overhears and says that Havoc should meet his younger sister. Havoc goes to the Armstrong mansion and finds his sister to be really cute but she turns him down because he's not muscular enough. Havoc spends the rest of the episode as a puppet who gets dragged around.
* In the second half of the episode Falman and Fuery are walking back to the dorms when they see the "Haunted Warehouse 13" which is supposed to appear only at night (by the way, I don't think manga!Falman would believe it but manga!Fuery totally would). They freak out and tell Breda who totally believes it too. Riza thinks they're insane. Roy says it's illogical. Somehow this turns into Roy having to go with them to prove it's not real and they find that they had mistaken a Warehouse B for 13 but then they find bones on the ground and think someone within the military was murdered. Roy orders that they dig for evidence but while digging, Hayate walks in with a dog bone, buries it, and walks out. Haha. Fail.
* This episode is also famous for the "Riza moaning in bed" scene which is exactly what it sounds like. Essentially, fangirls and fanboys squeed at the prospect of Riza being in bed with Roy only to find that Hayate was licking her feet while she was asleep. Still, she very clearly had a sex dream and I bet anyone could guess who it was about. Seriously, this IS the most sexual thing that happens in the entirety of all incarnations of "FMA." Second would probably be Winry's underboobs/Ed-you-perv-get-out-of-my-room.
* At one point Riza is driving Roy home (Why? Car pool? Both Roy and Riza have their own cars. I know because in the manga Gluttony eats Riza's car.) and she stops in front of the Hughes' because she could sense he wanted to. Aw. He knocks on the door and says hi to Gracia and Elysia (who gets shy) and Gracia offers him in but he sees Winry looking down at him from the window above and declines. Roy doesn't know she knows he killed her parents.
* Roy slaps Fuery on the back of the head twice. Why is Fuery everyone's punching bag in this?
* In the way of PLOT (but who cares because this episode is so fun!): Archer asks Schezka to give him all the documents on the research of Gran, Marcoh, and Tucker and after reading them, commands that she burn them even though they are official military documents and he doesn't have that power. After finding out about all the P-stones and chimera and lab shit, he goes to Fuhrer Bradley and says that they should weaponize all the research (To quote Adam: "All great technology is used for either sex or killing people"). Bradley says it's illegal but clearly agrees and has probably already done it. Then Roy, Alex, and Archer get sent to the east for . . . damned if I know why. They just do.

Episode 38: Ed and Al break Winry's tractor and have to walk. They argue over nothing and go in separate directions. Al runs into Martel who wants revenge (against the government, homunculi and Kimblee who fucked over Greed). Brothers make up and hitch a ride with Martel on a motorcycle. Badass.
Winry and Schezka run into each other at Hughes' grave and decide to do investigative work on his murder by wiretapping Juliet Douglaus' phone. Sloth tries to attack them as a person-shaped water thing but Maria and Denny find them before she can do any damage. Schezka thinks Juliet is an alien. Also, WINRY IN A MILITARY UNIFORM. What is UP with the costumes on this show?

Episode 39: Winry goes back to Resembool with Schezka for reasons unknown.
Mustang and Co. plus Armstrong and Archer are on a train with Kimblee WEARING A MICHAEL MYERS MASK AND HUMMING "ODE TO JOY"?!?! Somehow Kimblee's extravagant crime records has been fudged to "false charges" and both Kimblee and Archer have been promoted. Roy is RIGHTFULLY PISSED that the crazies are taking over the military.
Once in Ishval(?/Somewhere Outside of Lior(?), Martel reveals that she and the rest of GreedCo. were part of a military-run task force that stopped supposed pre-War Ishvalan terrorist attacks (with bloody murder) but when the War started, they were arrested and experimentally made into chimera. Honestly? This backstory is awesome.
Those on the train run into the Elrics and Roy tells Ed about the canon!mess that happened in Lior after he left and shows a noncanon!ariel shot of the town revealing a symbol like one on Scar's arm drawn in the sand. Ed investigates undercover and alone and finds that Rose is now a holy figure and he bumps into Scar.
Al bumps into Kimblee and Martel, who had been hiding in his armor, attacks him.
Also, Archer asks for Ed's watch before he goes to Lior and ends up giving it to Tucker who performs some kind of "amplification" work on four alchemist watches (Ed's, Roy's, Alex's, and Kimblee's, I'm guessing).

Episode 40: Ed vs. Scar. They stop fighting because Rose a.k.a. The Holy Mother says so through Lyra who is now HER aide and voicebox since apparently the military kidnapped Rose and when she came back, she was mute. Also, she has a baby. WAIT, RAPE?! Scar tells his story which is similar to canon!story but that his arm is infused with incomplete P-stone and the whole thing with Lust and his brother. The reason Scar WAS in Lior was to make a P-stone to "complete his arm" but he actually was going to vacate the villagers before the military shows up to "restore order" and then make a P-stone with the soldiers. HOLY MORAL CONUNDRUM, ED!
The fuhrer comes to whatever town the main military characters are chilling in and essentially tells Kimblee to kill Ed in Lior and make it look like a reason for the military to attack the citizens (I think he wants to make a P-stone too and wants to do it before Scar or something). Martel overhears and Bradley kills her in the same way as the manga (stabbing her through Al) after revealing to her that he's a homunculus. Damn, she was cool. I wanna be half snake.

Episode 41: WHY IS ROY BUDDY BUMPING EVERYONE TODAY???
Martel told Al Lior is going to be another Ishval and that Bradley is a homunculus before she was killed. Al tells Roy and Co. and Roy gets a letter from Ed explaining the situation with Scar which halts military activity. Kimblee goes in early anyway with chimera and starts blowing shit up. Scar and Kimblee fight and then Al joins in to stop Kimblee and reason with Scar. Scar loses an arm and almost kills Kimblee but Kimblee crawls over to Al to turn him into a bomb. Cliffhanger #1.
Sloth and Wrath thwart Ed, Rose, and Lyra's attempts to get everyone out of Lior. Ed finally realizes Sloth is his mom!stuffs and Wrath apparently is weakened by crying babies because there are no body remains of him. He goes to attack Rose's kid. Cliffhanger #2.
Meanwhile, Bradley a.k.a. Pride (not Wrath) tells Lust and Gluttony that he won't move the military into Lior because you-know-who (VOLDEMORT!) said not to. Lust gets pissed because Scar is going to go exactly what they want, make a real P-stone, so she says Eff This and bounces. Cliffhanger #3. I think a big reason why the homunculi want P-stone to become humans is because this anonymous person (*cough* Dante who's now Lyra; I remembered this from the last time I saw this show over three years ago) has power over them and they want to be independent. I guess I can accept that.

When I'm done with this (10 episodes and the movie), I'm going to make a list of all the stuff I put in all caps. I bet it will be funny.

Opening 4: "Rewrite" may be the best opening song of the four for this series. As much as I love "Ready Steady Go", this one's just more appropriate.
Image-wise, the first half has the five main characters looking reflective: Ed stands in field, Al stands in field, Roy sits in office (DRINKING WHISKEY!? I thought this was a fanfiction trope but apparently he really does), Winry looks out the window, and Riza looks down at her dog. Then FIGHT SCENES WITH HOMUNCULI! I dig it actually. I'd say it's my favorite opening.

Ending 4: Song blows. Images fairly unnoteable.

Episode 42: Ed walls up Sloth and Wrath in the sewers and he, Rose, and Lyra escape and go outside the boarder of the circle.
Scar saves bomb!Al by having him absorb his P-stone arm (leaving Scar armless) and giving him his brother's locket that had his lover's hair in it to protect against Lust.
Archer goes against orders and brings troops into Lior anyway, seeing Kimblee's dead body and using it as an excuse to attack. Before he does, he locks Roy, Riza, and Alex in a room with some hungry chimera (Riza also panic!shot at Tucker and had to have Roy tell her to chill). He must seriously underestimate them because any one of them could take the chimera on alone.
Lust shows up and she and Scar have sexual tension (he was probably in love with her human counterpart and took some bullets for her unnecessarily)/reflection before Scar goes out to activate the transmutation circle. Scar and soldiers die; Archer gets injured (*spoiler* although I remember he comes back as the terminator). Al lives and when Ed opens him up, he's got real P-stone in him. Lust tells him that everyone will be after him now (but she can't because of the locket).

Episode 43: Winry and Schezka bump into Hohenheim at the train station and he mistakenly calls her Sara (her mom's name) then goes to her house to ask Pinako where his house went (it's burned up, man). Winry's pretty egotistical in this anime. She and Hohenheim emo in the graveyard. Apparently Winry has decided that she thinks Roy is a good man but that she has a beef against him regardless.
Lust has been stabbed to a wall by Pride, Sloth, and Wrath. I guess she's a traitor now.
Bradley tells Mustang and Co. to search for the Elric brothers who have run off. Camera angles make it look like Roy grabbed Riza in the crotch. Haha.
Maria and Denny show up at Winry's (Denny was hoping they were going on a date, aww) to warn Winry that the military is after Ed for "conspiring with the masterminds behind the revolt in Lior." Co. catches the Elrics in Resembool nearby but they get away. ROY STEALS INJURED!HAVOC'S CIGARETTES? WHAT?! They end up catching Winry and Schezka as hostages and the two girls badmouth Roy until Riza gets protective. They run into the brothers and it's Roy and Alex vs. the Elrics. Roy uses Havoc's matches to win after getting wet. Ohhhh. When it looks like Roy's about to go flame happy, he tells the story about how he was made to kill the Rockbells and then says he was chasing after Ed not because he was ordered to but because he was pissed Ed didn't go to him for protection. Oh, Roy.

Episode 44: Ed, Al, Win, Mustang and Co. go back to Winry's house where Denny's crying because Hohenheim is HITTING ON Maria. Roy's reaction: "Good for her." Haha.
Hohenheim has an expository conversation with Mustang revealing that homunculi can age until they are fed the stone which gives them their powers/invulnerability. He also confirms that they are being controlled by an alchemist.
AWKWARD TRANSLATION: (Al to Ed) "Brother, I'm sleeping with father!"
Ed finds out Hughes is dead and Schezka and Winry realize that Roy has been putting aside the desire for revenge on Hughes' killer for the greater good. Seriously, how many "Roy is a good man" revelations does this show need?
Lyra takes Rose to an old church where Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony, and Lust (still propped up on the wall with swords) are chilling. Hohenheim enters and reveals that Lyra is Dante and that her body is decaying (that's why she and Hohopapa need to douse themselves in perfume) and he knows how to stop it.
Ed digs up his mom's grave to prove a point and emo.

Episode 45: Dante and Hohenheim were lovers 400 years ago who made the real P-stone and use it to go from body to body to live forever. Ishval = Failed stone attempt. Lust is HORRIFIED/STILL A WALL DECORATION. HohoPapa sees Sloth and FREAKS. Also OMG "FMA" SHOWED NAKED HOHENHEIM AND TRICIA IN BED TOGETHER! Does this beat Riza moaning in bed? That would never happen in the manga. Lyra activates a transmutation circle on Rose's baby to send Hohenheim into the Gate. Dante tells Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth to get Al. Lust asks if Dante will really make her human and she says if she feels like it. Lust and Gluttony EMO.
Apparently King Bradley DOES have his table of Generals which somehow includes Grumman. He also has SPOTLIGHTS so he and Roy can have a dramatic talk about how the Elrics have escaped to Drachma (which is a lie) and Juliet Douglas was involved in Hughes' murder.
SUPER AWWW MOMENT! When Roy leaves the room he's all nervous and Riza wipes off his forehead for him.
Havoc falls for his nurse (he broke his arm or something fighting Ed). She forgets about him when she sees Roy. Roy doesn't care.
Ed goes to find Izumi for advice and Al goes to Tucker to ask how to use the P-stone. The ultimate goal I think is finding where ever Dante is.
Also, Roy and Alex are being sent to the North to get out of the military's way but I could have read that wrong.

Episode 46: Tucker will teach Al to use the P-stone if he can use some of it too. Bad idea. Apparently the P-stone's use requires a separate transmutation circle or something. Izumi shows Ed a love letter from Hohenheim to Dante that was written 400 years ago to help explain stuff. Talk about awkward stuff you don't want to read.
In some side note, Roy and Alex have been promoted. Also, silly scene where Roy claims Fuery has athlete's foot that spread to his brain so he will have to stay in the hospital and keep Havoc company. Then Roy randomly takes Fuery's glasses off, puts them on Riza, and says, "Not bad." WTF? Did they just need a reason to take the Riza-in-birth-control-glasses image from the manga and use it and throw in some Roy/Riza while they were at it?
According to Dante, Envy is going to be the one fighting/killing everyone in the north for the sole purpose of getting them out of the way/covering up Hughes' murder. Envy is Hohenheim's son. Just go with it.
Lust and Wrath go to kill Ed. Lust is willing to make a deal with Ed to be human. Wrath calls her a traitor so she stabs him and escapes with Ed. Lust says the reason she wants to become human again is the same reason Ed wants his limbs back; she wants to go back to what she once was. Makes sense actually.
Tucker steals stone from Al (SHOCKER) and then Sloth shows up to point out to Al that the stone is eating away his armor. Shit.

Episode 47: Wrath had no JUNK! But I guess that's not shocking. It's a constant question in my mind if any of the homunculi (in the manga) have junk/can take off their clothes. I imagine most of them don't/can't exact maybe Lust and Greed; Lust because it would well, help her purpose, and Greed because he wants women and probably couldn't keep them around very long without it. But I digress. . .

Sloth and Al find Ed. Apparently Al's armor is being eaten because of equivalent exchange (which makes no sense because the P-stone ignores that rule; that's it's point, ERROR). Ed freezes Sloth with a circle and dead-mom-parts. Lust helped. Al catches a stupid and throws the mom-parts out the window to free her. Ed goes to get them and runs into Wrath who thinks of Sloth as his mom, steals the parts, and attacks Lust for attacking Sloth.
IN A FIT OF IRONY, Lust says the SAME line to Wrath about killing him as many times as it will take that ROY says to LUST before he kills her in the manga!!! WHAT?! Wrath traps Lust, makes her vomit P-stone and then offs her with sword!arm right after she realizes that she wanted to become human so she could die like one. WHOA. EMO!LUST.
Sloth invades Al's armor, attacks Ed a bit, freezes (literally), and flashbacks to her homunculus!creation/human!life. She decides to kill Ed so she won't flashback to her human!life anymore. Wrath comes in an joins himself to Sloth with alchemy and the mom-parts. MOTHER ISSUES, MUCH!? 'Course now Sloth can't move because of the mom-parts so Ed kills her. Wrath is a dum dum.

Episode 48: The military group to be sent to the northern border (to die) tells everyone else to STFU because we're taking over Central. That's the spirit, Roy! Alex is the one doing the talking though while Roy sits in his tent with his officer hat down low. Brood, much? I think it goes without saying that this government takeover was one million times smoother in the manga.
Wrath cries over dead Sloth. Winry shows up for no reason and confesses her love for Al. Haha. It's Envy come to take Al to Dante. Wrath punches Ed and Izumi shows up and he runs away. Izumi points out that there are four homunculi left and that Ed has grown up.
Tringham brothers show up from Episode 11 and get arrested after calling themselves the Elric brothers. LOL, Justice. Maria and Denny broke them out to save them from execution. Ed and Izumi break into Central to find the Fuhrer is at home (fail) and run into the four of them. Terminator!Archer attacks them. HOLY NARM, MUSTANG! Izumi says she'll handle it and everyone else leaves. Bad idea?
Apparently, the military plan was actually to buy time/distract because HAVOC WAS POSING AS ROY and FUERY WAS POSING AS RIZA. Seriously. Costumes galore up in this show. Roy was posing as Havoc in the hospital. Insert Riza (dressed as a boy) pulling gun on crushing!nurse's head. Slight discussion about jealousy ensues. Roy/Riza-ness! Roy apparently had some dude build underground tunnels in the fuhrer's house. Elaborate!plan. Ed runs into Riza and Roy's car leaving Central, gets in, and they reveal their Roy's-going-to-kill-Bradley plan even though it may fuck up his Roy-becomes-fuhrer plans. Ed reveals his kill-you-know-who-and-destroy-P-stone plans. Respect!moment happens as they part ways to kill bad guys.

Episode 49: Whoa, Selim looks even more like the offspring of Roy and Riza in this anime than in "Brotherhood." Apparently, it's his tenth birthday, hence why the fuhrer went home.
Tringham brothers tell Ed that they discovered in their father's notes that there is an underground city under the church where Dante lives, stowed there to hide the fact that everyone in it was used for P-stone. Ed goes in alone.
Inside, Dante creeps on Rose (she's going to go into her body next . . . that sounded super dirty) and Wrath comes in still crying over Sloth.
Ed hears music coming from ballroom in underground town and sees Rose in fancy clothes dancing with herself (again, dirty sounding) so he dances with her. Dante comes in pretending to be Lyra but Ed knows better. Dante says they take the stone (fake and real) away from humans to keep them from doing stupid shit. Gluttony comes in flipping a shit over Lust's death. This part always made me feel kind of bad for the fatty. Ed and Dante do a lot of philosophizing. The trans-circle on Rose's baby that sent Hohenheim away sends Ed away . . . TO WWII-ERA LONDON! "Toccata en Fugue" plays as they try to escape an air raid. Time to jump a shark!

Episode 50: Hohenheim explains that in this world, on the other side of the gate, they developed mechanical tech over alchemy. RIIIIIIGGHHTT. Atomic bomb reference. Thanks, Japan. Jeez. Hohenheim says we all have a small gate in our hearts or some puke-inducing BS like that as well as father/son crap they needed to clear up. He explains that Ed's body is stuck in the gate and his mind and soul are possessing this world's!Ed. Hoheheim's body already passed over and he plans to die in London (guessing this is cause his realworld!self probably died 350 years ago).
HAVOC GUNNING DOWN CENTRAL TANKS!
Archer hears about trouble at the Fuhrer's house and gets distracted from fighting Izumi.
Al is tied to a trans.-circle and Wrath is sent to the gate to die because he's annoying.
ROY LEPT OVER A HUGE GATE TO GET INTO THE BRADLEY'S PLACE, WHATTTTT? Riza beat up some guards and went to the front door claiming Mustang is after Bradley to distract them. Bradley seals himself in a wine cellar where Roy was hiding. FIGHT!
Germany!Ed dies (a flaming zeppelin lands on him) and Ed is passed back into the ballroom. Envy uses psychological torture to fight him by changing into Marcoh, then Hughes, then Sloth, then Roy. Then he changes into his human form, the son of Hohenheim and Dante and first homunculus. It throws him for such a loop that Envy is able to mortally wound him.

Episode 51: FINAL EPISODE.
Riza is being driven to prison (for false information or abandoning her post or punching guards) when Archer stops the car on his way to the fuhrer's house and tries to kill her. I guess he heard about the kill-fuhrer plan. Maes Berthold Mustang Selim Bradley who was in the car following it, runs out.
Bradley is winning and about to kill Roy when Maes Berthold Mustang Selim comes in with Bradley's skull which weakens him so Bradley strangled him. Roy not too mad that his son has been killed picks up the skull and draws a trans.-circle on it in blood to kill the shit out of him.
In the ballroom, Al breaks out of the circle and goes to help Ed. Ed and Envy are stuck before the gate and Envy jumps into it to find Hohenheim. Al sacrifices himself to bring Ed back and then Ed sacrifices himself to bring Al back.
Gluttony eats Dante. Well, that was easy.
Roy carries Selim's body out of the burning house (proving rather easily that they really look like father and son even though Roy would have had to have had him when he was 20) and encounters Archer on the front lawn. Riza comes up behind Archer and kills him but he had already hit Roy. AND HOLY SHIT, RIZA CALLED HIM "ROY MUSTANG!" AND CRIED OVER HIS BODY!! SADNESS!
Schezka voiceovers the new state of the nation. Apparently "the Assembly" has taken over the government. Since when are they NOT a military dictatorship?! Policies on Ishvalans have changed and the exiled ones are allowed back in.
HOLY ROY/RIZA MOMENT. Eye-patched!Roy is lying in bed while Riza is talking about how she didn't arrive fast enough. Roy says something about the world being imperfect and therefore beautiful while stroking her hair. Riza kills moment by shoving an apple in his mouth. Later it shows them grocery shopping together. Even in this anime, those two seriously just needed to get together already!!! They need to go actually make a Maes Berthold Mustang.
Al comes back (having not aged) and can't remember anything. He hangs with Winry, Rose, Rose's baby, Izumi, Sig, Mason, and Pinako. Al is determined to study alchemy and find Ed again. Apparently, Wrath is still alive too but missing Ed's stolen limbs so Winry gave him automail. Where he is now doesn't get mentioned.
Hohenheim has joined a magic cult in 1921, Munich. Ed lives there and is something of a rocket scientist since he can't use alchemy. Nerd! He doesn't know why he isn't dead or what happened to Al. He is trying to get back to Al too.
Ambiguous ending!


CONCLUSION ON ANIME:
Well, that was . . . weird. It had it's good moments once they stopped using filler episodes and trying to follow the manga but the series really loses with the ending. That alternate world crap is just not at all consistent with the previously established ideas about the purpose of the Gate but the plot was really working for me until that point. Also, I may have to go back and reread this whole thing to really see if it makes sense. There were a few clear mistakes in logic and plot holes but overall the explanation they came up with wasn't bad. The emo was awful but mostly dominated the beginning and get less as it went on and the use of costumes as humor was really strange. The manga is just funnier and more powerful. Also, disliked the attempts at morals because sometimes it made the show seem really preachy.

Dislikes:
* The "real world" on the other side of the gate. The gate is rather clearly this spiritual "oneness" from the beginning so changing it makes the human transmutation/seeing the eye thing not make sense. This was my biggest complaint.
* The emo. Especially in the beginning. Some people like emo but I prefer the characters how they are in the books: when they emo it's meaningful because they mostly just put on a strong face.
* The fact that they often explained things long after they happened so it made the logic harder to follow than it needed to be (especially with character motivations). I think the purpose of this was so create intrigue but it actually just means I will have to reread this whole entry to make sure the show made sense.
* The fact that they over-explained some things (like the brother's past) and under-explained others (like what happened to Rose/her pregnancy). Also, who were Gluttony and Pride in life? They felt the need to give all the homunculi backstories but them. And what happened to the still living homunculi anyway?
* The fillers. Boring. Except episode 37.
* The huge emphasis on Ed. Not even the brothers; just Ed. In connection with that, I hate everyone else's significantly reduced roles:
* The fact that they made Al a stupid child and pretty much just a thing Ed luges around with him.
* Roy stealing Havoc's girlfriends never happened. Hell, it technically didn't even happen in this show. Why does everyone think it did? More importantly, the fact that Roy was stripped of most of his badassery so Ed would be cooler. In the manga, Roy is definitely stronger than Ed.
* Riza's badassery is also reduced a freaking lot and quite a few times I remember thinking she was behaving less like a soldier and more like a stupid woman. The show really lacks strong female characters by making all the women have to depend on the men.
* Terminator!Archer is pure ridiculousness and not time period accurate in any way. Why did this occur?
* Winry is an idiot but thankfully has less screen time to accommodate. Also, her whole purpose revolves around "Roy killed my parents" which is a plot idea that A.) I don't like and B.) reduces her to even more insignificant than she is in the manga. At least in the manga she also functions as a love interest and a hostage and has moments where her emotional strength is tested. This is more of that "Reducing the female characters' importance and strength."
* Hohenheim is a plot point and not much more.
* Why wasn't Tucker just offed? He contributed nothing to the plot but continuing to exist.
* Rose never stopped being annoying/a prop.

Likes:
* I actually think the creation of the homunculi explanation is quite clever but a few times they really needed to flesh out the details more.
* Seeing more Roy/Riza moments that don't happen in the manga, some of which were even more telling than some of the manga moments.
* Episode 37.
* More Maes Hughes screen time that was much needed.
* Lust's different personality. I love Lust how she is but I'm actually rather fond of this interpretation of her too.
* The story of Greed's chimeras and in particular, Martel's character development.
* Denny/Maria and confirmation of Denny's feelings (it's interesting how most of the main character's have such limited and reduced development but minor characters actually gain a lot more).
* The costume humor was actually quite entertaining sometimes. I loved Hughes' PJs, Lust in a military uniform, the Roy-Havoc switch, and Riza's newspaper boy get-up.
* The slightly more frank approach to sexual matters.

The lists look unbalanced but I stand by what I said in the first conclusion paragraph.


If you are familiar with the manga (in particular but "Brotherhood" too) you could actually get the entire gist of the show by watching just these episodes:
8 (skip-able filler but interesting if you like Barry The Chopper), 13-15, 21-22, the last 5 minutes or so of 24 and 28, 29-32, 34, 36, 37 (filler technically but it's my favorite episode), and 39-51.