*facepalm* It appears being observant isn't my forte. (sad part: i did read your post :S) So, thank you for your take on it Rubyman. I hadn't seen anyone else comment on this and I thought I may have gotten confused somewhere along the way.

I hate all the people who say that the chapter was boring

Indeed, there was no Ed, no EdWin (ugh), but it DOESN'T make chapter BORING. It was full of action, full of new content and important plot points. If you like FMA only because one character, pairing or action, leave now.

I LOVED how Izumi and Shig showed to help Olivier&Alex. Olivier, instead of being cocky herself, showed "some emotion", as Hoho would say xd Yay, they finally got rid of Sloth! 3 homunculi left, I'm right? (pun not intended'). It's ending and I'm somewhat happy - it would be great if Arakawa made all of us teary at the end, that's what I'm expecting from such a manga...

We've finally got to Father vs Van Hohenheim! I loved it a lot, the clumsyness of Hohenheim and successfully dodging Father's attacks As I said before, his style is much as Ed's and I love it (Ed, make up with your father plz ;;).

Unlike the previous chapters, this left me very satisfied, I'm curious what is Hoho talking about, but I guess we get to know this soon!

I finally got to read the chapter a while ago (since I was stuck on a plane for soo long). It was definitely NOT boring though, it had a ton of action and plot development. Sloth is down, so we've only got Pride, Greedling, Wrath, and Father left. I hope Hoho's okay, it looks like Father didn't manage to harm him. *whew* I did want to see some of Ed, Al, Roy, and Riza, but I guess they'll come back next chapter.

I thought this chapter was excellent and had some great highlights:

- Tag-team of Sig & Alex = sheer manliness!

- Izumi, housewife of the year, second to none & gets the job done.

- Ah Olivier, there's no keeping you down.

- Hohenheim v. Father was great and yes, it's pretty obvious where Ed's taste of transmutations comes from (Hohenheim transmuting the stairs and door was one of the best moments)

- Loved the line about how Father wanted a 'family'

Now the only thing that was lacking was Buccaneer getting to use his chainsaw against the puppets...

Isn't Buccaneer a bit big to be a new Ash Williams ?

Heck no! All he needs is a shotgun attachment and he'll have his own 'boomstick'!

Just so long as he doesn't read from the necronomicon, he should be fine.

guys sorry for saying this chapter is somewhat boring.
it's just because it was not so epic as the ones before.
and like I said there's no Ed appearance.
but it was still as great as ever...a total cliff hanger.



yeah. i also love that line.
and Hohenheim last line "A being with no feelings wont beat us so easily"
he's really like ED.

There's a plot point that has disturbed me for a while...
It's a question on where the zombie soldiers came from. Most recently, it was revealed that the Central soldiers could be zombified.
Now, suppose the military has been violating soldiers graves for the raw material? You know who I'm talking about...

Can I just say OH GOD to this? Just the thought gave me sudden and infamous creeps.
But... weren't the zombie soldiers created? Dolls + philosopher's stone = zombies? Or am I missing something about the Central soldiers?

Oh dear, squick levels going up. Claudius has a point in that Olivia does reference potential zombification of Central soldiers, but hopefully she's just trying to freak them out. These zombies have been horrifying me ever since we've first seen them (imagine them animated), and I want to think that they're mass-produced dolls. Not that it makes the situation much better, but at least no graves are desecrated in the process...

Claudius--Oh. Wow. Never thought of that until now.

The only thing that's making me inclined to say that we might never know about that particular case is that I personally think that it's been used all it can in terms of shock factor. It would just be too overdone to pull that one out again, and so soon after the last time.

Also, wouldn't they first use... material more readily available than that, as they did with making Philosopher's Stones in Lab 5? You don't need living bodies to make these guys, but it's certainly easier to take those who have not been buried than to go graverobbing. It would take too much time manually, and alchemy is probably too noticable.

Of course, this is all just speculation on my part.

Anyway, I certainly hope that's not the case. That would be more horrible than it already is, and I really thought it couldn't get worse.

My first impression is that to see the Hoho vs. Father fight animated will be interesting. I especially like when Father walls Hoho in and simply makes a door:
http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/96/36/


Here's a thought that has been bugging me, though. Forgive me if this sounds stupid. In this chapter Hohenheim discusses the releasing of father's emotions Envy, Greed, Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth leaving him emotionless. However, what about the positive emotions such as Love, Charity, Happiness and Selflessness (to name a few)? I guess there is the assumption that by ridding himself of the negative he is also losing the positive. But why is it that only the "sins" become homonculi and not the virtues?

Have you ever tried telling Chastity, Temperence, and Charity to go round up some human sacrifices for you?

Forgive me for adding insult to injury, but what if there was not an actual burial in the first place? We only saw a coffin being buried, not who was inside it. For all we know, an open casket wake did not take place, or some corrupt Alchemists made a good body-double...
Again, forgive me.
On the other hand: If we do have a zombie-you-know-who, wouldn't it give Arakawa the convenience of actually restoring him in the similar manner where Al gets his body back?

Hughes is dead, Al is not that is a huge difference. So no Arakawa will not be bringing Hughes back in a similar manner. Read Vol 11 when Ed digs up the thing that Ed & Al brought back that night and the implications of it.

Claudius--Undermined at every turn! Nah--you're forgiven. What you say makes sense, after all--we only saw the casket. Now I'm even more worried. I still want to think that it's been done too much to pull out again. Also, wouldn't he look like every other zombie, or are we theorizing about a zombie 2.0 now, where they look like the person? If not, there'd really be no way to tell.

As to restoring him, Kirara's right. His body is dead. Al's body is still living, as evidenced by that wild mane of hair and the growing skinnier when Al's body is finally seen, not to mention the theory that Ed's providing nutrition and sleep for the both of them.

EDIT: Kirara's other statement a few posts below this one also makes sense about souls vs. bodies. Either way, I still don't think we'll see Hughes again.

Yeah. Hughes is gone for good. I think the series will end soon, personally. I mean, after the "Promised Day" is over and Ed and Al get their bodies back, and Colonel Mustang becomes Fuhrer Mustang, (I think that's what's gonna happen.) There isn't much more story to tell. I mean, I think there's probably going to be more than 100 chapters, but the series can't last that much longer.

P.S.
I miss Winry! T_T

@ Claudius - I really like the sound of that theory O.O
I personally wouldn't doubt the possibility of Arakawa making something like that happen, since she's done a lot of stuff in the past that most people wouldn't expect.

And if it *is* true about what Olivia was saying about soldiers in Central becoming zombified...
There's another thing that's been bugging me for a while now actually, and this is probably the perfect time to bring it up concerning the zombie crisis in the manga at the moment.
( and it's probably typical for me...) than what about the bodies of Shou and Chimera!Nina? they may not of been soldiers, but their bodies would of been taken into the custody of the military too, wouldn't they? and we all know how corrupt the government is in this version.
( I've seriously thought about this since last year, and even now I still get chills down my spine just thinking about it ^^; )

Guh, Arakawa would be a complete hack to bring Hughes back in any form. I have a little more respect for her talents than that. I mean, really, that would just be abominable.

Please note that there is an important difference in HisshouBuraiKen and Tombow's translation in regards to what Olivier said about the zombies

Tombow's translation: "Ordinary soldiers like you would probably end up being used as souls to create those soon or later."

HisshouBuraiKen translation (what is posted on One Manga)-
"Eventually you "normal" soldiers would've ended up as one of these things, too."

Notice that Tombow's inclusion of the word "souls" changes the meaning of the sentence signifigantly. Based on what has been said before about the zombies I am going to say that Tombow's translation seems more accurate to me.

So it's not that the bodies of the soldiers are being used but the souls (P. Stone) of the soldiers are being used to animate the zombies. Hence I highly doubt we will be seeing the return to Zombie Hughes since it doesn't fit anything that has been shown in the series previously.

And this is why I also encourage people to read more than one translation if it is out there. No translation is perfect but you get a fuller picture of things if you read more than one.

The evidence of them NOT being used as the "BODILY ingredients" is actually in the bubble before that.... it's specifically saying that the way to make these zombies is... attaching human souls to "puppet body," NOT organic (but probably dead) human body. Although, that may not show up in English translation there as clearly or as strongly..but in raw it is very clear from that bubble that human body is NOT the ingredients. Hence, to avoid having anyone "potentially" mistakingly making any new theory that solders would be used as the "bodily" ingredients for these zombies, my translation has the extra clarifying word "soul" so that there would be NO misunderstanding on what that part of the conversation is. However, the word "soul" is NOT in the raw in that bubble. I have that one there to farther clarify so that there would be no misunderstanding as to what that bubble is talking about.

So, yes, Kirara is correct. If you follow my translation, the "possible" theory of soldiers' body being used as the material ingredients would not come up, because that's the very reason I added that extra word as the clarification to avoid the possible misleading/misunderstanding.

Thanks for clarifying Tombow. Honestly I think if you read the sentence before in HisshouBuraiKen translation:

An immortal army,
made by injecting human souls into an artificial container...
Soldiers who have no fear of death.

You can also tell that when Olivier is talking about the normal soldiers being used she is referring to their souls not their bodies from this preceding sentence. It's all about taking things in context.

Now I could be wrong but I think your translation comes off more literal and HisshouBuraiKen's translation feels more embellished to me. Like maybe if there is a joke that doesn't make sense in English you would most likely keep the original words for the joke and HisshouBuraiKen would change it so it fits better in English. Both approaches are fine but I definitely try reading both translations to get a fuller appreciation of what is going on. So I am glad you continue to add your translation.

@Kirara - Yap, exactly. And, yes, that is the bubble I'm talking about. ^^

And, as far as the difference in translations, it's all about difference in goals. I think (if I may venture out and guess ^^) HisshouBuraiKen is making his to be a fun reading when made into scanlations, whereas the reason I post mine is to generally show forum members what's in the raw for the discussion purpose. And, that means I try to keep mine as boring literal as possible, and as free of any of my own added jokes, or "plugging the holes with some American jokes" (which I generally try to avoid) ...trouble with this is that then many of American/English readers literally believe that's what Arakawa-sensei actually wrote >.< ... or generally avoid adding my own fabrications such as, making Rose say, "that's my own recipe!" when nowhere in the raw is such entry. >.< (BTW, that was from old scanlation with some unknown translator.)
Sure, scanlations with these might be more "fun" for reading, and/or with more memorable lines, and I hope you guys enjoy reading them, as long as you know that's not the actual content of FMA manga chapters you're reading.

I was lucky that I read this chapter right before the internet died for a few days...otherwise...well, I would have died as well!

Sloth is FINALLY dead! It's about time...

Izumi tossing Sloth = EPIC

Izumi and Olivia working together = EPIC

Hoho's door of win = EPIC

Armstrong and Sig moving in synch: XDDDDD

I want the next chapter to focus on FatherDude and Hoho again, and the alchemists making their way into FatherDude's lair. Oh, and I wouldn't mind something on Ran Fan/Ling, it's been too long!

Hey, checked out what's next for Chapter 97:


(Taken from here)


表紙&巻中カラー

「鋼の錬金術師」　荒川弘

ホーエンハイムの運命か!?　
お父様の計画か!? 次号衝撃の巻中カラー!!!



Google Translator Translation:

Cover & Color in the Volumes

"Alchemist of steel" Arakawa Hiromu

HOENHAIMU or destiny?
Is your father or the plan? Color impact in the volume of the next issue!




BTW, these are, of course, not perfect translations, so don't rely fully on these until Tombow or others talented in Japanese have given their official translation.

@DistantBlue - Nice find! ^^
Yes, that is the preview of the next month's Shounen GanGan mag.

According to that, FMA is on the magazine cover of the next month's Shounen GanGan mag, and the inside color page seems to feature Hohenheim and Father, and the caption reads: Is this Hohenheim's fate?! Or, Father's plan?! Shocking color graphic inside the next issue of Shounen GanGan mag!!!

And, BTW, for the next month, the magazine is coming out on July 10th, not usual 12th (as I already stated at the end of my chapter 96 translation.)

OT:
Also, the magazine comes with special DVD with interview vid of the VAs of FMA:B, etc. But, this is FMA:B anime and off-topic here, so if you have comment on this, please post on FMA:B Official JP site watch & news thread.

Which means the chapter will be out when I'm abroad... ARGH!
My despair apart, I guess it's going to be yet another EPIC chapter... thanks DistantBlue for the info!

But amestris_star, you're always a broad.

*rimshot*

I'm really looking forward to seeing the continuation of Hohenheim's confrontation with Father. I still say Hohenheim has a plan of his own.

@penguintruth: In fact I'm generally always at Amestris, but this time I have to go out of the country for a week >D I'm on a secret mission for the Mustang-tachi.

Hm, I will not be home when the chapter is released, either. =/ Of course, when I'm excited for it.

REMINDER:

Guys, I don't think we need every member reporting his/her whereabouts on or around July 10th on this thread.
If you have discussions on the content of chapter 96, then please post, if not, please don't turn this thread into a spam chat thread.




OT:
Personally, I'm kind of curious that we have fewer "serious" chapter content discussions for this chapter, compared to chapter 95 or some other previous chapters, as I think this chapter contains some very interesting stuff. (I would like to write longer post on this chapter's content, once I get less busy and able to catch up with everything. ^^)

I kind of wonder ... do everyone understands what's going on in this chapter, panel by panel?? (Or, probably you all do, but not as much interested compared to some other chapters because it's not about Roy, Riza, Ed, or Winry?? ) Just being curious. ^^

Oh, I liked this chapter much better than the past few, mostly because there were a lot of things I disagreed about with the way Arakawa handled Envy's exit from the story, but also because not only was their the amazing fight with Sloth, but between Hohenheim and Father.

I think, though, it was a lot more straight-forward than the previous chapters. Aside from speculating on what will happen between Hohenheim and Father, there's not much else to address about it.

Yeah, I think penguintruth's got it down. I don't think this chapter had too many "OMG" revealing moments, while chapter 95 had a lot of debate over Envy's suicide. We can basically just make predictions for the next chapter

Thank you DistantBlue for the information about chapter 97. I thought that Hohenhiem had Father trapped. But now I am wondering what kind of plan Father has up his sleeve. I wonder if both Hohenhiem and Father can predict what the other is going to do. I mean they are the same person right?

July 10 it comes out. WOW! I am already excited. I really enjoyed this chapter. So I am anxious for the next one.

@penguintruth and kkg22104 - Yeah, that makes sense. ^^ I mean, compared to how Envy died, Sloth's death was less dramatic, and much less "controversial," I guess.. Sloth didn't get much "panel time," didn't get much character development IMO, and he mostly dug tunnels, got frozen, got thawed out, dug more tunnels, then killed over and over by Alex and others, and wimped out. RIP Sloth.



@FMAobsessed - Nooooo. Father imitated the physical appearance of Hohenheim, and they both have Philosopher's Stone inside that were created from the same "incident" (so there might be some connections there,) but otherwise I think they are two distinct persons and independent of each other. Having said that, they were friends at one point, and knew each other, so they might be able to predict, to a point, and in fact I'm guessing that Hohenheim can predict and knows what Father is up to, but I have a feeling that Father is not quite grasping what Hohenheim is about to do.. We'll see..

And, speaking of, now that we finally see Father and Hohenheim "side by side," I'm enjoying seeing the contrast between the two in this chapter. It's sort of like, "oh gosh, it took us so long to get here, but I can finally see (though it's still vague in many parts) Arakawa-sensei's design for this story" .. kind of way. ^^

I sort of liked Sloth's more quiet, dignified death (if you can call being too lazy to continue to exist "dignified"). I mean, he's sort of the powerhouse of the homunculi, so he doesn't need to have any sort of dramatic demise.

I'm going to have to replace my signature soon, because nearly all the homunculi are gone!

@penguintruth: It's a cool sig though

Sloth actually had an important job: he dug the tunnel under Amestris. After that...was he supposed to guard Father? And then he was defeated by the Armstrongs and Shig. He never seemed to be that important to because, as Tombow said, he didn't get many panels.

Those who have already read further chapters are also welcome to join the discussions, but please do not post any future chapter content on this thread.

This thread is Spoiler Party thread for chapter 96 content, meaning, posters do not have to use Spoiler tags while posting about chapter 96 content on this thread.


For the reading reference, please send a PM to A Pierrot's Aria and ask for "Reading Reference Assistance for week 91."
(For more detailed explanation on this, please read Tombow's post here.)

Thank you, A Pierrot’s Aria, for all your help!! ^^

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