FMA 108 - THE END.
You know, I think this is one of the first times that I've ever come away from an ending of a series and felt satisfied.
I never have been a big fan of the Ed/Winry pairing, I was always more of an Al/Winry fan then anything, but still... I LIKE the way it progressed in the manga. I like Ed's way of proposing to her (because it was SO VERY EDWARD), I like how the family picture in that final picture collage of Al, Mei, Ed, Winry and the kids mirrors the one that Trisha had taken of her, Hoho and the kids, and is making me want to write Ed/Al/Winry/Mei Chang like burning.
Hoho going home to die with Trisha only to realize that he still had something to live for made me wibble, yet he still went with a smile on his face. The fact that he was tempted to offer himself up to Ed in order to get Al back from the gate was something that didn't surprise me (we had been speculating that he would do so), and the fact that ROY of all people was explaining Ed's reasonings behind what he was doing.... although, I do think that this scene right here highlighted the differences between the first series and manga quiet beautifully. At the end of the first anime, after Alphonse sacrifices himself to bring Ed back (and uses up the stone in the process), Edward turns right around and does the same, bringing Al back and flinging himself over to our world (and setting up for the movie), in the manga, Roy very explicitly states that Ed wouldn't sacrifice himself to bring Al back, because 'he knows the fear and despair of being left alone. He wouldn't put Alphonse through that.' I don't even remember if that crossed Ed's mind in the original series.
And the toll Edward paid for his brother? His ability to do Alchemy, by giving up the Gate inside of himself.
This whole chapter, all 100+ pages of it, made me realize just how much I enjoyed this series. And why, even after falling out of it some years back following the movie, I came back for Brotherhood. Of course, now I wait for THAT ending, to see how the animated it. The last episode of that will be July 4 and I hope that it leaves just as much of a satisfying feeling as the manga did.
I never have been a big fan of the Ed/Winry pairing, I was always more of an Al/Winry fan then anything, but still... I LIKE the way it progressed in the manga. I like Ed's way of proposing to her (because it was SO VERY EDWARD), I like how the family picture in that final picture collage of Al, Mei, Ed, Winry and the kids mirrors the one that Trisha had taken of her, Hoho and the kids, and is making me want to write Ed/Al/Winry/Mei Chang like burning.
Hoho going home to die with Trisha only to realize that he still had something to live for made me wibble, yet he still went with a smile on his face. The fact that he was tempted to offer himself up to Ed in order to get Al back from the gate was something that didn't surprise me (we had been speculating that he would do so), and the fact that ROY of all people was explaining Ed's reasonings behind what he was doing.... although, I do think that this scene right here highlighted the differences between the first series and manga quiet beautifully. At the end of the first anime, after Alphonse sacrifices himself to bring Ed back (and uses up the stone in the process), Edward turns right around and does the same, bringing Al back and flinging himself over to our world (and setting up for the movie), in the manga, Roy very explicitly states that Ed wouldn't sacrifice himself to bring Al back, because 'he knows the fear and despair of being left alone. He wouldn't put Alphonse through that.' I don't even remember if that crossed Ed's mind in the original series.
And the toll Edward paid for his brother? His ability to do Alchemy, by giving up the Gate inside of himself.
This whole chapter, all 100+ pages of it, made me realize just how much I enjoyed this series. And why, even after falling out of it some years back following the movie, I came back for Brotherhood. Of course, now I wait for THAT ending, to see how the animated it. The last episode of that will be July 4 and I hope that it leaves just as much of a satisfying feeling as the manga did.