Hell yes, Riza's alive! Now if nothing else happens to her, and Edward and Ling can survive everything, I'll be a happy camper. c:

I'm not a fan of Royai at all, but I admit that the hugging scene was heartwarming. Of course, this new fight really gets rid of the feeling and replaces it with worry. D:

Thanks so much, can't wait for the full chapter!

Thank you so much for the scans and the translations! I'm so glad to finally have these preview pages because for days, I've been checking the forum every 5 minutes to see if there are any spoilers instead of properly doing my hw...

It looks like we have another awesome chapter coming!! And, as a Royai fan, I've had that idiotic smile on my face since I saw the first page!

RAWs please come soon!!!

Maybe Black Hayate will save the day?... again!

Thanks everyone for the scans and quick translation.

After constantly saying that Riza was going to be fine after ch. 100, it's nice to be vindicated by ch. 101.

Looks great and it was great seeing both Wrath and Pride back, as I had a feeling that those two were going to show up there.

Time to bring on the RAWs.

I see the former raw downloads were from

http://www.raw-paradise.com/

and

http://mangahelpers.com/downloads/?lang=jp

Lets watch them @_@

Yes, yes, I'm refreshing these sites all the time *o*
I hope we will see this little title somwhere - FMA 101 - and we could DL it soon~

O:

awesome chapter is awesome. Thanks to all who brought us teh epic \o/

Everyone's going crazy over the "hug". It's a hug and she was almost killed!!!

Now if he kissed her or hugged her when she was fine then well, that would be different.

But I understand the Royai-craze.

Given the context, I think Bradley is talking about Roy. He was supposed to be the last human sacrifice, after all.

In order to finish the first page's translation, I'll copy what is already done. Hope the translator doesn't mind. ^^U
Riza: My gaze... You did get it very well.
Mustang: Because it's been a long partnership!

So i suppose Riza begged Mustang with her gaze "don't open the gate!". Or maybe it was yet another epic secret code. XD

Thank you for translating this spot.
Now I have to kiss you O3O

Thank you Kaori Ayanami ^^

That just adds more Royai awesomeness!

No problem, i'm forgot that part, thanks a lot for complement
Yeah, i was thinking Roy is a sacrifice but want to confirm and wait for Al, maeby is in front of gate ...hope that's good...
i have to go out but return later, nice to meet you

Kaori Ayanami: From Mexico? can speak spanish? i'm from M too

Thanks Kasumisty and Feithh and Kaori Ayanami.

I hope I won't offend anyone by saying this but it just occurred to me that FMA is more like a shoujo than shounen judging by it's fan's genders. In this topic (but in others also) number of female users greatly exceed male ones. 27:6 to be more precise (although it could differ a bit since some users don't have their gender specified). So if we took data from this thread only then about 80% FMA fans are females .

But I digress. It appears that this chapter will be even better than previous one, although Riza survived (which was obvious). I don't understand though what's so special about Mustang hugging Riza, to me the best part of the chapter (so far) was the scene where Bradley nailed Roy to the floor :].

OMFGOMFGOMFG
I want to know if she screams roy or colonel
i want to know what he says to her when he hugs her
i Want to GOD BLESS YOU FOR THE PICS ;A;

ALL YOUR AWESOME PEOPLE
ohgod ROYAI OVERDOSE (so THAT'S how an overdose feels, i start to understand why it happens so often 8D)

@Feithh: ¡Compatriotaaa! T^T


No problem at all. But it really depends on the website. In McAnime, a Spanish speakers' community, there are a lot of Full Metal male fans.

Bring them to us =D

Wouldn't be the first one. Kenshin the Wanderer was nicknamed "The Shojô of the Jump" in the beginning because Watsuki received a lot of letters from fans, and those fans were majorily girls.

Lol, im in there and i didn't notice that xDDD

awww thanks for the pages and the traslating I can't stop squealing yay yay!

Remember the theory that Bradley would save the day??? LMAO

I can't wait til we get a full raw of this!

She screams Colonel.

As for the scene when he hugs her:

Roy: I'm sorry... Thank-you
Riza: Colonel... I'm sorry
Roy: (Can't make out one of the kanji)! Rest!

I'm so happy that Riza's alive! I can't wait to read the whole chapter!

Thank you, Sci-Fi and Kasumisty for bringing us the preview pages, and Feithh and Kaori Ayanami for the translations! And, welcome to our board, Feithh!!

Here is to supplement what Feithh and Kaori Ayanami have kindly posted.


Riza is all right - part 1

Riza: "Ah........."
------------------------
Roy: "Lieutenant!!"
May: "I stopped the bleeding for now." "We should get her to a doctor who can take care of the rest."
------------------------
Roy: "Sorry..." "Thank you...!!"
-----------------------
Riza: "Colonel........" "I am sorry..."
Roy: "Don't speak!" "Rest yourself!"
----------------------
Riza: "Thank you for catching..." "My eye signal."
----------------------
Roy: "(I could catch your signal) Because we have been known each other for a long time,"


Riza is all right- part 2

Roy: "And besides, you were glaring at me as if saying..."
SFX: (May) Stop glaring that hard, or your wound would open up again!"
-----------------------
Roy: "As if saying, 'Dare you perform the human transformation, and I will shoot and kill you.'"
-----------------------
SFX: (Super soldier's body) Thud
-----------------------
Darius (NOTE: was this his name? ): "Phew."
-----------------------
Roy: "Thank you, everybody," "You have saved us."
Darius: "Nah, don't mention it."
-----------------------
May: <realized something> "Oh!"


Bradley shows up also - part 1

Bradley: "I thought, if you see the one you care about great deal were dying in front of you, you would choose to perform the human transformation without any hesitation."
-----------------------
Roy: "I might have done that if it were me before."

(NOTE: I'll check syntax for this page later.. XD)


Bradley shows up also - part 2
Roy: "But now, I have people with me," "Who can stop me from choosing the wrong path, and show me the right way."
..................................
Bradley: "......................" "Haha..........."
-----------------------
Bradley: "I thought humans were pitiful creatures who would not know how to learn and evolve," "Yet, I see in you a human who could learn and transform self in such a short time."
-----------------------
Bradley: "Humans, indeed they are, to my great irritation..."

(Go on to the next page)
Bradley: "the creatures that are hard to predict and manipulate."
-----------------------
May: "!"
-----------------------
May: "....................."
Scar: "What's wrong?"
-----------------------
May: "Underneath here........" "That one is right below us!"
-----------------------
Goldtooth: "!"


Bradley attacks - part 1

SFX: (Bradley) Bolt
-----------------------
Roy: "Please guard the Lieutenant!"
SFX: Snap
----------------------
(Cant' read the SFX because the scan is cut off at the bottom)

(Go on to the next page)

(Cant' read the SFX because the scan is cut off at the top)
-----------------------
SFX: (Bradley) Thomp
-----------------------
Roy: "Agh"


Bradley attacks - part 2
Roy: "Ahhhhhhh"
-----------------------
Riza: "Colonel!!"
-----------------------
SFX: (The eye appears)
Darius: "Whoa!"
-----------------------
Goldtooth: "Ha..."
----------------------
Goldtooth: "Well... well done, Bradley!!"
----------------------
Goldtooth: "Indeed you are someone I raised and created..."


the Fifth human sacrifice

Selim: "We got the Fifth one."
-----------------------
Bradley: "This is the last one."
-----------------------
SFX: Bang
-----------------------
SFX: (dog) Arf Arf



And, that's it for my quick translation of the preview pages. I got to go now, but I will come back later and check them through again. All my usual disclaimers.... these are piecemeal translations, and would likely to be edited once we see the whole chapter, etc.... applies.



OT: Whoa, that's right, this is my 15,000th post!! How fitting!!
Thanks, Michiyo- for catching it!! Otherwise, I would have missed it. ^^

Ya know, Tombow, I promised to kiss the translator O3O

Thanks for the translation, Tombow!
And congrats on your 15000th post! ^^

Seriously now... thanks Tombow!

(That sounds even more Royai <3)

Thank you so much Tombow! ^^

Now I'm even more curious about the chapter!!

THANKS everyone for preview pages and translations! Just a few pages opf the chapter and its amazing as always xD, I can't imagine how much can happend in the full chapter *_*~~

Thank you, Tombow~!

Oh, god, I want the RAW sooo much right now! I really want to see what happens before Riza is saved. I'm assuming the "eye-signal" also appears. There wasn't really an obvious moment in 100 that they're referring to...

Well, maybe this:

http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/100/44/

But does that really seem like an eye signal?

GAH!

Thanks so much Tombow!!!!!!

I think we will see the eye signal in this chapter.
I imagine it being awesome =D Injured Hawkeye is staring bullets in Roy!

Thank you people, who brought the preview pages and the translations for us.
You are all great ^^
This chapter has everything to be awesome, like the other ones before.
As a royai fan, I loved the hug thing, but I have to agree with who said that Bradley vs Roy is the biggest thing in this preview.
(I'm also a great fan of King Bradley XD)
I can't wait for the raw. I hope it shows up soon!

Thank you a great time, Tombow! You're amazing, as well as the others who translated this piece, I wouldn't be able to read the scans even in english. Anxious to find out what's going on on other levels but a huge sigh of relief goes with it.

BTW - why do they say Roy is the fifth one if he hasn't opened the gate yet?

Havoc was almost killed in Ch.38 and Mustang didn't go huggin' him. XD

If you've read other comments from Japanese-aware people, a hugs display VERY strong emotion and are not given out lightly. Notice the lack of hugs in FMA? XD

So, being Royai shippers (including myself), we see this as a very big thing.

Yeah... that, and we're all just crazy. Crazy Royai fans! :3 I did love the hug very much, but I went more crazy over the fact that OMG SHE'S OKAY!

Oh, that was an anti-climatic finish to my month/beginning of the month. But she's alive, fans got their moment, Bradley, Pride and May and chimera friends are back. Cant go wrong there.

I'm guessing the last page of spoilers is actually one of the last pages of the chapter, and Ed and Al appear earlier on pages we havent seen yet. This scene seems fitting for another cliffhanger.


And not sure if I'm the only one who noticed, but has anyone else linked the Roy-getting-pinned scene with the whole Jesus-on-the-cross-sacrifice thing? No? Kind of like when Father melts Greed on the cross shapeed slab. Just saying.

@zonkiethegreat
This is true, anyone would act like that in the given situation. I'm not saying this as a Royai fan, just a fan of the manga in general; Arakawa doesnt draw intimate scenes like this very often, actually I dont think I've seen a serious hug in this manga ever. I skipped about 50 chapters though, dont kill me. So something like this is rare and the fact that Arakawa has chosen to show the two hugging (or Roy hugging Riza's limp body sounds like a more fitting description) of all people, means something... especially to the fans. =]

I admit, I melted a bit too. But, the pages before she was healed would a thousand times more intense so I cant wait to see those. Thanks Kasumisty for the pages and Tombow for the translation. Funny how these things are just found "by accident".

Of course that, in terms of the story, the most important thing is Bradley and Roy at the portal! No doubt about it, but I do feel a little offended to people saying something like a romance does not belong in FMA 'because it's a shounen'.
FMA is a very mature type of story where everything has their place, even romance, since Arakawa makes all her story be surrondend by all types of relationships. It gives life to her characters and trueness to the story.

I don't even see FMA as a typical shounen! It's much richer and deeper than a regular shounen, and the amount of both female and male fans show that: I'm the editor of the biggest FMA portal in Brazil and I'm also the only girl in the staff.

So, though I enjoy the action just the same as the other FMA fans, I also get happy to see, first, that my favorite character did not die and, second, that she also showed a little about the relationship of both, which is also been proven to be very important to the story of FMA. And that's equally as nice as having action, in my opinion.

jhysadfhgkjsghjmadsajgajhfdjkshgfksajh

So much for not reading the spoilers. I resisted clicking on this thread for a grand total of ten minutes before caving in. Surprises are good but my obsession is greater

I'm really glad to see Hawkeye is alright. I knew she would be, but it's nice to see it confirmed.

Yay Bradley's back already. I guess he did make Mustang open the Gate after all.

Pride makes his long awaited return. I wonder what he's going to do.

Mustang getting his hands impaled looked painful. Poor guy keeps getting stabbed.

Mustang hugging Hawkeye made me melt into fangirly goo. I'm such a sap sometimes

Was that Black Hayate at the end? It looked more like Den's muzzle to me, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

XD

I've been staying away from the forum due to a cold and having to be able to keep my mind on work with the holiday season rapidly approaching, and on my day off there are preview pages and a translation already!

Thanks for providing the pages, Kasumisty and the translation Tombow, and I send Armstrongesque hugs to you!

hmmmmmmmmm
am i alone in wishing that Roy will open the gate. It might be disater to every one, but deep down i want to see him open the gate. i am diapointed that mai was oh so conviently there to heal Riza but i wont lie that little sell out to get Roy huggin Riza made it all worth it.

I want to know how the "have the 5th" if it seams soooo hard to make him open the door, in fact something must happend....ahahhaha



We like action but that is common in fma and it's what keeps as here as the trueness of characters and story 8D

As we can see, FMA is a shonen manga : we have high-action, humorous plots, camaraderie... and go on exploring. The emotional moments are common in shounen don't become purists! xD (well, in shonens they tend to be "ridiculous", *rollseyes*). And if we decide to say it's shoujo because many girls read it...well I think it a shame...... isn't it somehow (weird anology this one of mine, so forgive me) like watching an action movie??? They share in their deeps many points! And don't try to tell me that feelings are left aside in Action movies.
Arakawa puts all very light, like little blinks, don't moar , see them if you like, or ignore them, that won't change your life, ahahaha.

ETA: I will park and post the translation of this chapter here for now.

*Page numbers are assigned by me and interim.
*Click on the page # for the page-by-page view (courtesy of Causmicfire)



Cover of this month's YoungGanGan mag with FMA


Page 1

SFX: Glonk Glonk (Note: This is the same noise always used by Arakawa for the underground pipe that's leading to Father's lair.)
-----------------------
SFX: (air bubble) Pop
-----------------------
SFX: Bang
-----------------------
SFX: Emerge
-----------------------
SFX: Drip
-----------------------
Caption on the side: King Bradley....!! Is this guy immortal?!


Chapter title pages (page 2-3)

Chapter 101: "The Fifth Human Sacrifice"

Caption: He has been waiting, there, alone.........


Page 4

Sig: "Izumi!!"
-----------------------
Sig: "Izumi, where are you?!"
-----------------------
Olivier: "Izumi Curtis has..."
Alex: "Disappeared......."
-----------------------
Olivier: "Did the command center receive any information on this?!"
Communication soldier: "Aye, sir!" "This is Armstrong's company," "Is anyone still there at the command center?!"
Caption on the side: Izumi Curtis has disappeared!!


Page 5

Sig: "......................!!"
-----------------------
Olivier: "Alex, do you have any insights on what just happened?
Alex: "Hmmm..."
-----------------------
Alex: "The Elric brothers have told me before,"
-----------------------
Alex: "That... when they performed the human transformation, they got dragged into the Gate of Truth by black hands."
-----------------------
Olivier: "What is that 'Gate of Truth'?!"
Alex: "I hear only the ones who had seen it would know."
Soldier at the other end of the radio communication: ".........blah blah.........."
-----------------------
Communication soldier: "Yes.............."
-----------------------
Communication soldier: "Major General," "The command center is still intact, and there are no changes there. But..."


Page 6

Communication soldier: "Captain Buccaneer at the front gate, along with several other soldiers under his command," "....Have died in a battle against King Bradley."
-----------------------
Communication soldier: "It's been reported that they have collaborated with the ones from Xing nation for the attack on Bradley, and were able to bring a mortal injury to King Bradley, and shoved him into the moat."
-----------------------
Bradley's brass officer: ".......No way....."
-----------------------
Bradley's brass officer: "No, no, no way!!" "There is no way that Kind Bradley would die that easily!!"



Page 7

Bradley's brass officer: "That one is not even huma..."
SFX: (Olivier shutting him up) Bonk
-----------------------
Olivier: "How about the front gate?"
Communication soldier: "It is still under our guard!"
-----------------------
Communication soldier: "A homunculus called Greed became the ally to our forces at the gate, and decimated the Central soldiers who were sent for taking the front gate!"
Bradley's brass officer: "No way... no way..." "There is no way that a homunculus would become an ally to those fools..."
------------------------
Communication soldier: "As ordered, the gate has not been opened!"
------------------------
Communication soldier: "They say," "Captain Buccaneer smiled as he passed away."


Page 8

Olivier: "I see."
-----------------------
Olivier: "If he died smiling," "Then we shouldn't cry over his passing away."
-----------------------
Olivier: "Let's forge ahead."


Page 9

Olivier: "Let's move on, Mr. Sig." "We have to find your Mrs also."
-----------------------
Roy: "Lieutenant!!"


Page 10

Roy: "Lieutenant, stay with me!!"
-----------------------
Roy: "Can you hear my voice?!"
-----------------------
Roy: "Please answer me!! Lieutenant!!"
-----------------------
Goldtooth: "Have you made up your mind for us, Mustang?"
-----------------------
SFX: Strain
Roy: "You, BASTARD."
SFX: Strain Strain


Page 11

Roy: "Lieutenant, answer me!!"
SFX: Drag
-----------------------
SFX: Thud
-----------------------
Roy: "Lieutenant!!"
SFX: (Riza) Huff Huff Huff
-----------------------
Goldtooth: "Well,"
SFX: (Goldtooth, as in a manner of parent hurrying a child) Clap Clap
Goldthooth: "Let's hurry and perform the human transmutation, shall we?!"
-----------------------
Goldthooth: "Whom are you going to transmute?" "Your family? Your friend?""Or, you lover?"
-----------------------
Goldthooth: "Or, transmute this woman, if she dies?" "That's fine also."


Page 12

Riza: "I am not going to die..."
-----------------------
Riza: "You see, I have a standing order...." "That prohibit me from dying."
-----------------------
Goldthooth: "If us humans were able to obtain immortal bodies like that easily, then we could have had all ceased our struggle for getting the immortality long time ago."
-----------------------
Goldthooth: "Well, what will it be?" "Mustang?"
-----------------------
Goldthooth: "A woman who is precious to you is dying." "If we don't tend to her she would quickly bleed to death."
-----------------------
Goldthooth: "However......"


Page 13

Goldthooth: "I happen to be a doctor who can perform the Medical Alchemy," "And, I even have a Philosopher's Stone."
----------------------
Goldtooth: "Well then, what do you choose to do?"
----------------------
Goldtooth: "Oh?" "She became quiet."
----------------------
Goldtooth: "She might have already died?"
----------------------
Roy: "...........!!!"
Riza: ".......Colonel......"


Page 14

Riza: "You do not need to perform human transmutation."
-----------------------
Goldthooth: "You WILL perform it, won't you," "Mustang?"
-----------------------
SFX: (Riza) Huff, Huff, Huff
-----------------------
SFX: (Riza) Huff, Huff, Huff


Page 15

SFX: (Riza, while signaling about the ceiling to Roy with her eye) Huff, Huff, Huff, Huff, Huff
-----------------------
Roy: ".............I understand."


Page 16

Goldtooth: "Oh! Will you perform the alchemy for us?"
-----------------------
Roy: "I understand, Lieutenant."
-----------------------
Roy: "And, I will not perform human transmutation."






==========================

QUOTE (paca @ Nov 7 2009, 09:40 PM)

I want to know how the "have the 5th" if it seams soooo hard to make him open the door, in fact something must happend....ahahhaha

Yeah, that page is a little puzzling part. Yet, Selim and Bradley clearly say they got the Fifth one. I'm sure we will find out more when we see the whole chapter. ^^


As for FMA being the right mixture of shounen and shoujo (and to me, more ^^) that's how & why I like FMA. If FMA were like, say, Dragon Ball, I probably wouldn't be here. XD

Oh, and you're welcome, everyone. ^^

The thing with genres is that they can often restrict the possibilities to what will suit the genre, and not the story itself. Actually I dont like to think of FMA as a shounen manga but just a... well, a manga.


And so like, why does Dr. Goldtooth have weird goo around his neck? Did anyone see that? He's like disintegrating.

Why do I get the feeling that Roy had another intervention?

I don't know if a Bradley-Roy battle is going to occur. Remember, this already happened in Anime1 and we know Arakawa doesn't intend to repeat things (Just like she denied readers a final battle between Scar and Kimbley; it already had been done). Also remember that Arakawa had her ending before she started the series...and yet she allowed Bones to have Roy destroy Bradley in the first adaptation! That says something.

So what is Bradley actually doing? It's possible to assume he's going to Father to stop him from making the Day of Promise. He wants to save his wife. He might have made plans to have her removed from the country, only to have it interrupted by the train explosion and the major coup. So, what about his rampage and stabbing Roy to the pentagram? Well, the guy is in a hurry, not to mention ruthless.

SSooooo this chapter has already been released???? I wonder how long til the RAW is out??? At least I have less anxiety about whether or not Riza will live or die. Now all I can worry about is ROY!!! MY POOR ROY!!!

I forget that "hugs" are a big deal in Japan. I don't think Roy hugged Havoc when he was almost killed, because he was busy trying to STAY ALIVE after being mortally wounded by Lust! LOL

But HEY after so many years you crazy crazy Royai fans deserve a little something!

Whoever mentioned about there being more "girls" on here. SO??? YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THE LADIES???

Just kidding!

What can I say??? FMA is amazing, everything about it is just too awesome to ignore. And I could write a whole dissertation on why it is awesome and why women love it. Hey Arakawa is a girl...err..woman.

HIGH FIVE FOR THE LADIES!

Oh yeah, and the male characters *cough* Roy...*cough*....are pretty smoking (no pun intended) hot too.

Wow, another cliffhanger that turned into, "Lol, no, nothing really happened."

How quaint.

Those were my thoughts exactly.

Cliffhanger? What cliffhanger?
Obviously she's not going to kill off Riza. *nods*

I believe in the inner romantic that all women have, and therefore I believe that Arakawa sensei, in writing FMA, has actually developed the perfect hybrid of shojo and shounen.

I think what sets FMA apart is, well not only the character development (in comparison to say, eg, Bleach) but INTERESTING battles (eg Bleach again: Ichigo: OK let's play whoever has the most powerups wins!) and most importantly, an ultimately moving storyline that does not take 5 chapters for one battle, does not neatly fall into arcs that have absolutely no connection to each other in any way, and well, I really can't pin it on one thing I guess ^^;

This chappie: OMG HUG. And: I would laugh my head off if Mustang landed to see Ed sticking out of Homunculus's body Hohenheim style. No idea why.

There was one other post mentioning this, but for a non-religious manga, it sure has a lot of religious connotations. Mustang pinned down by his hands, the martyr and sacrifice for the rest of the world: Jesus style.

Thankyou Kazumisty for previews, Tombow for translations!

Also, where the hell did Mei come from anyway?? (is not paying attention to other chapters lol)

I had a little bit of that too.... But more than anything, I'm just relieved. Still.... I really did expect Riza to die.

I was thinking this too, and I am a somewhat-rapid Royai shipper.

I mean, that was like the middle/end of the chapter, so there is still more to come and maybe our thinking will change. But it seems like whenever Hawkeye is in like OMG SHE'S GONNA DIE situations, or other serious scenarios, it's quickly resolved as 'LOL, JK, nothing really happened' in the beginning of the next chapter.

- Cliffhanger: Gluttony standing behind Hawkeye with Mustang frantic to save her
-Next Chapter: Like, three pages of Fuery coming in and then Mustang, and wasn't made out to be a big deal

-Cliffhanger: Hawkeye discovers Selim's identity
-Next Chapter: "K, just don't say anything or you'll die. Thx, cya l8r."

-Cliffhanger: Hawkeye's neck slit
-Next Chapter: ...in the end, getting healed by MAY CHANG (damn, I hate her) and..that's it.

Like I said there is still like 30+ pages, but if the beginning with Mustang's original reaction and stuff is really lame and short with a sudden interruption by May Chang and gang, I will be extremely pissed. Because this has been hinted at since Ch.39, all throughout the series. If this was all Arakawa was going to do, she should have just killed her.

And Arakawa seems to pull this card ALL THE TIME.

1) When things go bad, have a r@ndom character(s) charge in and save the day, and

2) If it looks like Hawkeye is going to die, pull a 'JK' card and have her be almost perfectly fine. =.=;

EDIT: That was a bit of an overreaction, srry. Blowing a gasket about stuff before the entire chapter is out, before the series is done = extremely stupid. Sorry about that, I really am. I'll just keep the post up because I don't usually delete posts....

Thank you for the previews and translations! This just made my day
I was just thinking a couple of days ago that Mustang might hug Riza out of relief if she survives.

So Bradley literally makes Mustang open the gate, by pinning his hands to a transmutation circle?

LOL, I totally agree. But for me, that's just one of the many reasons why I like FMA. Arakawa isn't afraid to touch on spirituality and symbolism now and then (like when Ed half-prays while Winry's delivering the baby in Rush Valley, or when Ling observes his clappy-alchemy is like a "prayer to God" when they try to get out of Gluttony). Or course I could be biased, since I'm a pastor's kid... But one of my pet peeves is when a story becomes "allergic" to stuff like that. I don't like preachy-religious-type stories, but I don't like allergic-to-anything-remotely-religious-type stories either. It's nice to have some balance and explore both sides; that way every audience can find meaning in it.

Anywho...RIZA LIVETH!!! And thus there was much rejoicing, and the Royai shippers feasted upon the Royai goodness and reveled in the glorious canonness of their OTP. And the EdWin shippers looked on and shared in the celebration (for most EdWin/Royai fans are pro-canon pairings in general), and they began to wonder when the Almighty Cow of Awesomeness would grace them in turn with another blessed moment for their own OTP. One EdWin shipper by the name of Dearheart quickly grew impatient and discontent because of the EdWin manga drought, and thus had to console herself by rewatching certain Brotherhood episodes over and over, writing fan fiction, oggling fan art and eating chocolate.

Well, I don't want it to seem like I'm being too crticial of Arakawa- she's one of the finest manga authors out there today. I just refuse to orgasm at every little thing she does just because she's generally a good writer. The writing isn't flawless, and where I think there are flaws, I'll point them out.

Still, these are just preview pages. I find that Arakawa is somewhat difficult to predict, so perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised. She's done it before. (Just not lately...)