Elric Brothers - Various FMA:B openings & endings
(Source: soldieress, via euglassia--watsonia)
i’ll just leave this here
i think this image effectively sums up their relationship
(Source: johnsddave, via strange-and-amazing)
I hated it when Ed and Al got separated in Brotherhood and the manga, in the middle and in the end, even though it wasn’t permanent. Throughout the whole series pretty much all they had was each other, and that was such an important part of the story. To have them just nonchalantly go their separate ways made me so sad.
But in the manga/Brotherhood, it’s such a big part of their development. They realized that they were not all the other had and that they were not alone in this world. They realized they had family and things more important than one another. They evolved and grew and became individual people who could support themselves on their own
By the middle of the manga, they realized that keeping each other safe would only happen through not being near one another because Ed was a fugitive, so it wasn’t exactly “nonchalant.” And they were separated not by their own accord before that, but because of a greater need to save people. They tried to reunite, but Ed was wrong about where his brother would be, and there isn’t any time for him to stop everything and hunt him down. When he finally finds Winry again, Ed shows actual upset and hardship with it when he first goes to run for the train, but stops because he realizes it would only put the entire mission in danger. He’s not happy by any means and it’s a hard time for them, but he does it because the world and the people in matter more than their love for one another, which is a mature and adult realization for them to come to.
By the end, their mission is over. They have made so many friends, learned to be independent, and grown into mature people who can be away from their family. I don’t know if the OP has siblings they’ve been super close to or even relied on fully, but by the time you grow up, that dependency shouldn’t be the same as it was when you were 11 and 12. It shouldn’t be the same as when you were 14 and 16. By the time you’re grown and able to take care of yourself, you can still be the best of friends, but you should not have separation be the worst thing that can happen to you.
This is realistic and necessary character development for them both. It was hardly brought about nonchalantly. It was hardly something that was seen as easy at first. Their dependency was not as important a part of the story as fans seem to think it was or as important as it was in 2003. What was important to the story was these two lonely brothers who thought that all they had was each other grew up and realized that they had so much more.
That’s why Ed says “Who needs alchemy when I have them?” Not “Who needs alchemy when I have Al?”
Exactly. All of this. I loved that they were separated for a while- it was integral to their character development and see them grow as people. Yes, their bond as brothers is amazing but they were kids who became codependent on each other. And codependency is usually not very healthy, because your life CAN’T revolve around one person. They needed to grow up and understand that you can love someone, care for them, without needing to be attached at the hip.
That’s why one of my favourite scenes is when Winry tells Ed that Al is at the train station; Ed starts running for the door but then he stops and realizes that there’s more important things than seeing his brother right now. Then later they decide to travel around the world separately, reunite and combine their alchemy research. I mean, one of the major points of the series was the Ed and Al realizing that they didn’t need to be alone in everything.
(via transmutes)
I also thought this was pretty significant because of Al’s character and the dub and Funimation’s subs kinda mucked it up by not realizing this
basically Al’s using a rude form of “you” here- especially since he’s using it on his own, it would pretty much be the rough equivalent to yelling “you bastard”. The thing is, as far as I’ve noticed, this is the only time Al ever uses rude language. This is in significant contrast to Ed, who of course uses rude language like every other word, is even described as “a little brat who swears a lot”. Al is just super polite to everyone though. Even like, people he’s fighting. But he loses it here.
The fact that this is the only time he ever speaks like this is an apt demonstration of how completely frightened and desperate and angry he is that this man is about to kill his brother. All he can do is scream his rage and hatred because he is helpless to stop what’s happening. He might be yelling at both Ed and Scar here. He is probably furious beyond belief at Ed for not running, for forcing him to watch this. And maybe, at this moment, this sweet little boy hates Scar more than anyone he’s ever met for trying to take away what’s left of his family.
Everything we see, everyone we meet is caught up in a great unseen flow. But it’s bigger than that. It’s the entire world. The entire universe even. And compared to something as big as that, Al, you and I are tiny, not even the size of ants. We’re only one small part within a much greater flow. Nothing more than a fraction of the whole. But by putting all of those ones together you get one great all. The flow of this universe follows laws of such magnitude that you and I can’t even imagine them.
- Edward Elric
(via transmutes)
Another AWESOME rockin’ song Brotherhood song I found an actualy translation to! \Adorable brothers singing about awful stuff that happened to them. Title translates to “Red Moon”
TRANSLATION
Together:
Is this an unfulfilled dream or reality?
Leaving behind only innocent thoughts
Ed:
Suddenly…I destroyed everything
Al:
Suddenly, my vision became distorted*
Together:
It was the first time we knew what pain was**
After that, we had to shoulder our sins
Ed:
Then, I burnt everything
Al:
We can never turn back anymore
Together:
We were truly afraid, but we still had to stand up
We were unable to go to the other side of the Gate
It’s not as if we aren’t uncertain, but we still have to step forward
As we remember our unerasable mistakes
Without looking back
Ed:
The clock’s hand informs me that the night has come
Together:
Even as the sighs of regret continue to build up
We cannot see the future or our dreams
Despite that, the both of us exchanged vows
And became as strong as many wishes we had
The bright morning sun also embraces hope
As we get our bodies up, we walk forward
Together with the daybreak
—-
*I like how this demonstrates who’s the more melodramatic one here so effectively. “SUDDENLY I DESTROYED EVERYTHING!!!!” “Suddenly…uh, it was kinda hard to see?”
** no it wasn’t what are you guys talking about your dad left and your mom died that’s why you even did this remember
(Source: garmmy.wordpress.com)
That’s the right answer, Alchemist.
Man I forgot about this scene because it was cut out of Brotherhood but WOW ED YOU’RE RIDICULOUS and you make the cutest faces. Talking about getting Al’s body back.
Al: Our problem is how to open the portal.
Ed: Yep!
Al: We could do it if we pay the proper toll…
Ed (stares at his hand)
Al: YOU’RE THINKING WHAT’S ANOTHER LIMB OR TWO AREN’T YOU.
YOU CAN’T DO THAT. WE PROMISED EACH OTHER WE’D BOTH GET OUT ORIGINAL BODIES BACK.
Ed: I…I know! You’re right! We made a promise.
ED JUST CAUSUALLY CONSIDERING MAYBE JUST CUTTING OFF REMAINING LIMBS yep that totally won’t be bad i did it once right AND AL IS LIKE “NO. NO. NO STOP IT NO NOT HAPPENING WHAT IS WRONG WTH YOU.”
I find the weird kind of line Ed and Al have to walk with each other really interesting. Like, Ed harbors all this guilt over what happened to Al, so Ed doesn’t really have any intention of getting his fleshy arms and legs back, it’s really not even a thing to him compared with seeing his brother trapped in a body that can’t feel. This scene shows he would be totally okay with being even MORE automail’d up if it meant helping Al.
But it’s really important to Al that the mission be about Ed too. At the same time that Ed feels so bad that Al is in this situation and he’s responsible, Al feels terrible about what happened to Ed too. Even though automail isn’t really that terrible to live with compared to what Al has to deal with, Al feels bad that Ed did this thing all for him and went through all this pain for him. He feels how immense that was, and how much love motivated that. So he’s convinced that he has to make it up by getting Ed restored too, because that’s the only thing that will make it okay. So whenever Ed tries to make it about Al, Al’s like “NOPE NOPE WE’RE GETTING YOU BACK TOO RIGHT” and Ed’s like “oh okay”.
And that’s how come Ed always says “We need to get our bodies back” because even though he doesn’t really understand, he knows it’s important to Al to say it like that, that he PROMISED Al they would do that. And he respects his brother so much that he will always keep his promises to them, even if he doesn’t get it, even if he doesn’t want to. It’s like how he wouldn’t kill himself to save Al because he knows Al said “I don’t want that” and that’s that, it would be a betrayal of his brother to go against his wishes. But whenever Al’s NOT around, he always phrases it like “yeah, I need to get my brother’s body’s back” because that’s what’s actually important to him.
Which is why I think it was really significant for Al that he was able to give Ed his arm back. The moral wasn’t that disabilities are awful things that need to be reversed, because obviously Ed still has his leg gone and that’s okay, but it was what it meant to Al. It meant that he got to show he’d do the same for Ed, repay his brother, to protect him for once. Being able to give Ed back what Ed gave up for him allowed Al to make peace with what happened and not feel that guilt anymore, and then Ed was able to get Al back. They both worked together to reach a point where they no longer had to feel like they weren’t hurting each other anymore, and that’s why the ending is so well thought out and works so well.
I really like the dynamic here, because even though we see a lot of brotherly relationships in a lot of series, there’s that really important camaraderie here that I never really articulated and you did it really well?
For example, in most animes/mangas where the main characters are in a familial relationship, the be-all end-all sacrifice is death. Yeah, both Ed and Al would die for each other, but it goes farther than that. They would survive for each other, because neither would ever want to be alone because dude, that’s really scary to them. And wow wow wow, that’s a really important to any kind of relationship, especially one like theirs, where basically they need each other more than they need the sacrifice.
But yeah, you actually said it really well. I love this.
I think that’s a great way to put it. Being willing to survive for someone is often so much harder than being willing to die for them, and I think that’s one of the manga gets across, and what really makes it the best sibling relationship I’ve seen so far in fiction.
(via flaxdragons)
