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Even today in the real world, laboratories test their experimental drugs or vaccines on animals before testing on humans. No wonder it's the same in the FMA universe. Especially since the story takes place in a time similar to the beginning of the twentieth century ^^ . It's terrible but in the other hand, it saved so many lives...
the world is not black and white there are more to it...just like that there is no good guy bad guy,every good has bad in it and every bad has good in it basically yin and yang..u cant just keep trying to find a jesus like character and simp for it,even jesus did some questionable stuff
Fun fact in the manga in any chapter that a character dies, on the last page of that chapter is a drawing of that character’s soul rising to heaven. Iirc the only exception is Tucker who is sent to hell instead
@@the0black0bullet No, its like every single full metal alchemist video, someone has to repeat this 'easter egg'. Literally, everyone. Even since the 2003 version.
What's interesting to me is the original version was darker. Never got talked about. Brotherhood comes out and all of a sudden everyone is a Full Metal Alchemist fan and holds this moment in high regard.
As for why Tucker would be interested in animal hybrids: In ancient history, chimera were something that alchemists dreamed of making. Chimera show up in greek mythology, and being able to make one yourself would put you on the same level as a god. For the military, it's more the fact that the concept can be weaponized. A sentient manbeast that can follow orders, and is more powerful than a human.
[Spoilers] I think what makes it even sadder is the fact that in a few episodes, we start seeing other Chimeras that are actually well-made. They still have sentience and clear speech, can swap between "human" and chimera forms, and even continue to grow bonds and have feelings. Tucker was just mediocre as fuck
@@aidinexmachina4232 nothing suggests Tucker was mediocre in that sense. even the brothers loved his libray and research and info. thought he was a smart guy. if he had gotten to do more than 2 tests to make chimeras with the humans he could of gotten really strong.
@@aidinexmachina4232 I don't think that the point of Tucker's research was man-beast chimera, but pure beast, that is sentient to take orders. Obviously, he lied to get his certification.
Body horror? That ain't shit. I'll take a monster dog body but keep my mind and individuality a million years before I'd give them up to keep my human body.
So here's a little fact: if I recall correctly in the Japanese version and the manga Scar says "two souls" instead of "two human souls". He was telling God that Nina and Alexander were going to heaven, as it is canonically stated that Shou Tucker went to hell
@laurainathunderstorm I noticed that too, I wanted Shou Tucker to go to hell for what he did to his family. Shou Tucker was a crazy lunatic that created Chimeras from combining humans with animals to create a Chimera that could talk.
This episode is a rite of passage, you are now one of us One of the things about FMA and FMAB is that they take you places you didn't even know an anime could go, not all of them would be places you want to go, but it's still a worthy journey
The previous episode and this one are the contrast of the two extremes, the previous one was about the danger of blindly following faith, where the two brothers made a statement about how they believe only in science and that science is the only way to go forward and understand the world, and this episode shows that blind faith in science and its experimental ways can be as dangerous as blind faith. Also scar character is the contrast of Ed character (religion VS science) I like your reactions and looking forward to see your reaction to the rest of the show!
yeah kinda, although it is more complex than that. Obviously the priest was an impostor and Scar uses religions partly to justify his deeds. Also Ed is still al man of science up to the very end, but not in a way to show it "wins". Also I take issue with "faith" in science. That indicates that it is just as valid an option. Science is a tool to try to understand the world we can experience with out senses (and even in ways we can not, we can for example not detect radioactivity or electromagnetism with organs we have, however, certain animals for example can) and also being able to manipulate it, if you have understood it at first. Alchemy is a sort of esoteric proto-science in that people wanted to try to make gold out of lesser metals, what obviously does not make sense, but from the mere making stuff, breaking it apart and seeing how it works and what it is built of, there was also a way more philosophical sense about it: By trying to understand things and build them back up, you increase your knowledge, your craft, you mature, you might find (maybe even some sort of spiritual) enlightenment. Obviously from a science point, most Alchemy is totally moot from our standpoint of today, but it was more a holistic thing I think. At the end of the day, empirical science does just help you describe and understand and do things, not how you should behave yourself or what is ethic and what is not, if you should do a certain thing or not. If you look at shit just mathematically, that may make you objective, but also totally a-moralic. Lets say you had to sacrifice thousands to same hundreds or millions of people in the future from that generated knowledge. Would you do that? Science can not answer that and it is also not its task. And that is the crux: Science needs morals and ethics. And they are almost never black and white, such as topics as IVF, abortion. Whose life or will is more worth? That of the potential child or the mother? Is it ok to endanger one person to make live for another person potentially better? How about kids with genetic diseases? Shouldn't we use tools to cure them, put them out of their misery? But if we open that box, can we prohibit or be sure these same techniques will not used in a eugenic way in the future and so on. There are almost always two sides to a lot of things. Atomic energy would be another: (relatively) Clean, reliable energy source for millions or weapons of mass destructions? It again is a matter of who uses it in what way. You can use a hammer to build a house, a shelter for needy people or to bash peoples heads in. You can use fire to cook to warm, but also to destroy and hurt and burn.
@@Luemm3l Good points but a wall of text, so let me tldr for others who come here: Science is not ethics. We need ethics. Be good. ---end of tldr--- @OP Just remember folks: religion is not enemies with science. People just make a false dichotomy out of the topic to divide people using groupthink. There's more diversity of thought than just this. Scar is also not a figure "of" religion. He is just a revenge-bent man who happens to have a religious background (monk). Ed is also not a figure "of" science per se. He is just a redemption-bent man, who happens to have a "(pseudo)scientific" background (alchemist). They are parallels of people trying to correct something in the world- only coming from different backgrounds.
@@jephilologistcorrect Even the Founders of Science (Ibn al Haytham) were Muslims Founder of Chemistry also Muslim Al-chemy is an arabic word. The Al was dropped for the romans/westerners
Actually, what Scar did to Nina and Alexander was giving them release. it’s not mentioned at the anime but in the manga it’s mentioned that they’re in so much pain. Killing them was a mercy. Another thing is that the fucked up Tucker was confirmed to be in hell in the manga while Nina & Alexander were shown going to heaven.
I've always thought it was heavily implied by the first chimera Tucker made and what it said. There are very few circumstances that sentiment is ever said in.
A little fact- There was an error in the translation of Japanese to English in the dub- After killing Shou Tucker and the Alexander/Nina chimera, Scar said "God, two souls have been returned to you", not "two human souls". He wasn't asking God to provide salvation for Nina and Shou, he was asking God to bring salvation for Nina and Alexander.
@@Akio92 I know, right? You don't see Scar praying for the state alchemists that he kills, as he considers it punishment for their sins (massacring his people), but him killing the Alexander/Nina chimera was purely an act of mercy, as the chimera was sorta a failure and was in a constant state of pain. I heard that in some version of FMA, one of the things the chimera said to Edward was "Why does it hurt to live?", making it a similar case to the one of Nina's mom, who was in so much pain after being transmuted into a chimera that she wanted to die, and then refused to eat until she got her wish.
I'm not sure it was a translation "error", rather an unfortunate side effect of the nature of dubbing; the sentence had to fit into the allotted amount of time and animations, so a word had to be added to get the timing right--- This is a common, but inescapable problem with dubbing: sometimes the dialogue has to be padded or abbreviated to fit into the animations. I suppose he could've said "two mortal souls" or "two innocent souls" or something like that, but I don't envy the translators who have to make the dialogue work and be as close to it's original meaning as possible. Subtitles have a similar problem, that they often have to be simplified in order to convey the meaning in as few words as possible, so the audience don't have to read a wall of text every time a character speaks. Neither dubbing or subbing is 100% accurate, the translators do the best they can, and some are more talented than others, but I often feel the difficulty of their job is severely underestimated by some people. And some people take an unreasonably amount of pleasure from nitpicking translation inaccuracies in subtitles or dubbing (not you specifically, just in general).
This is great episode, I just don't like how they make Shou Tucker too Suspicious of a character.. in the 2003 version, they didn't give much hint that he's a heartless person..
agreed, I mostly prefer Brotherhood because I abhor the 2003 anime ending, but there are certain things 2003 did much better, and making Tucker look innocent until the reveal was definitely one of them because it hits much harder (not to mention the custom credits sequence for that episode featuring Nina and Alexander)
I think most of the early episodes are done better in the original, because they rush through these storylines and gloss over some of the nuance to get to the new stuff. I understand why they did it, but it really holds Brotherhood back from being as great as it could be.
@@Zeik56 A good deal of this series seems to be based around people having seen the original by how confused most new people seem to be. I remember thinking that FMA must have just seemed much better as a kid because Brotherhood was rushed and goofy, then I went back to rewatch and realized that it just starts much better.
Also when I saw the chimera I just assumed it was only Alexander that was used to be transmuted, it was hard to believe for me that he transmuted his daughter also
This episode is science without conscience and the last episode is religion without conscience. It shows that corruption can creep into either and people will try to use them to justify their actions. Sadly, experimentation on humans has happened throughout history and justified much in the way Tucker does here. This anime is pretty deep and gets dark at times but that's part of what makes it amazing.
@@johnmclawson3982 Religion gives people hope and purpose and comfort in the unknown and unknowable. Science is not an alternative to religion and religion is not an alternative to science. If they’re opposed to each other you either have the wrong religion or you’re attempting to use science as a substitute for theology. If science is a means to understand the natural world religion is a belief that the unknowable world has purpose and that the natural world is profound they should never be at odds that would be like saying a musician can’t invoke subjective feelings because a mathematician can measure a song definitively with numbers or that music can’t be calculated with numbers because it evokes emotions.
@@johnmclawson3982 Alchemy IS chemistry though...Alchemy is what science was called in the early days of scientific research. The fact that alchemists dabbled in forbidden research is exactly what led to modern science. Alchemy and science are one and the same historically. Alchemy is just the starting point of what we call modern science as philosophy is the true starting point of science in general. As for religion, even though I personally am not a religious person, I can't say that religion is without merit or that it is unnecessary in human society. Religion is the way that was used since ancient times to educate the people. Religion was the way that the "nobles", meaning the people that had power and could educate themselves, used to pass moral codes and ethics to the populous and bind together their societies. An example of this is the early medieval Christian church. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the "Barbarian" kingdoms were at constant wars amongst themselves. There was no centralized government, no standing army, no law or order. The many warbands and mercenaries used by the petty feudal lords when not used to attack one another acted as bandits and thieves and obeyed no one and did whatever they wanted. So, in order to pacify them since no one could actually find all of them and kill them, the church decided to send out missionaries and spread the good word playing on the religious insecurities of the people. What did they do? They created the knightly code of honor and made sure that all fighting men knew that this code of conduct was the one preferred by God and if they didn't obey the code of chivalry and the rules of war, then they would be sent straight to Hell. Yeah, that code of chivalry you listen about, it was written by the Catholic Church before the Schism, meaning it was agreed to by the united Church of Christianity and was practiced all over Europe including the Eastern Roman Empire. It was the Roman Catholic Church that created the code of Chivalry as a prototype of the rules of war because it was necessary. The people of the time were super religious because it was a time of strife and uncertainty and you weren't expected to live past the age of 40. So, religion offered hope and comfort. So, when the priest told them that they have to start behaving or they will go to Hell, well, they listened. So no, both institutions have offered a lot in human society and both have a reason for existing. What is presented here is just what happens when those two are misused and are taken to the extreme. Control and ethics are always necessary or else we end up with Tucker.
Shou Tucker. The single most notorious anime character of all time in all of anime history. Everyone has heard of him and literally everyone hates him.
What's messed up is Tucker got Nina that dog likely with the thought he would one day use them both for his certification. It wasn't just on a whim, it was premeditated.
@@ShankX10 actually we don’t know that for sure, in the OG fma Tucker explains that he never had a reason to make a chimera other than his own curiosity, and finances were never the reason. He’s a sick man.
Man, he had the most immediate understanding of the situation I’ve ever seen, and the most fitting immediate reaction. The moment he caught a glimpse, he was like, “Wait, is that his-that FUCK!” I loved it.
As to why chimera research, I have 3 possible reasons 1. It's the closest thing to creating new life. You're manipulating and changing a creature to something new. 2. Military applications. A physically enhanced animal that can be imbued with speech might also be imbued with human like intellect which would make a scary soldier. 3. Medical advancements. Diseases or injury treatments made possible with alchemy version of genetic modification
honestly its MUCH worse in the first anime, as it was about 4 episodes between meeting nina and... this happening... just made the whole thing more tragic and horrifying for the viewer as youd known them for that much longer
This is one of the earliest cases of "Oh fuck, that episode" in an anime for me. Sorry you had to suffer like the rest of us, but I hope it doesn't stop you wanting to continue. It's an amazing show.
I was sad when this episode came out, but personally I felt like the 1st FMA series hit me more in the feels. I think it was due to Al trying to comfort Ed and just hearing him weep over the body of Nina and Alexander.
This episode is a perfect example of what complicates the relationship between FMA and FMA:B. Because Brotherhood is undoubtedly the far superior show on the whole, but I think when it comes to the beginning of each series, the original FMA does a MUCH better job of telling the start of the story. The added humor and rushed nature of Brotherhood during these early stories negatively impact the emotional punch of these moments. Tucker in Brotherhood is suspicious from the beginning, even if you don’t think he’ll go this far. So when he does cross the line, the only surprise is how dark the show is willing to get. But in the original series, the show introduces Tucker, Nina, and Alexander an episode earlier, and Tucker is framed as a mentor. When he eventually turns that corner, it’s a far deeper betrayal because he is very much an ally to our heroes. We’re also more emotionally connected to Nina, and so her ultimate fate is even more of a tragedy. Because many one episode arcs in Brotherhood are given more time to breathe in the original series (since Brotherhood understandably wants to get to the new content ASAP) it builds a stronger foundation. Another example of the original show having a stronger impact is with Hughes and his story, which I think is much stronger and more impactful in the original series over Brotherhood. Brotherhood does end up being the far superior show, but I think FMA is given a bit of a bad rap in the community unfairly. They have very different tones and priorities early on, and obviously deviate completely by the end, but I think they work very well as companion stories. I mean, I think the original still stands out as better than most anime that are made today, it’s just unfortunate for it that Brotherhood is one of the GOATs, so it looks really bad in comparison.
...oh my...I did NOT expect to see you two reacting to this episode, knowing that you probably haven’t seen the original FMA. I am SO sorry...this was easily the saddest episode of any anime I’ve ever seen...but be ready. This was the saddest, but there’s so much more coming. But, there’s also a LOT of happy, too. Welcome to the emotional log floor. X.x;
when nina/alexander slowly make their way to her dead dad and you just see this anguish in their eyes for the very person that turned them into that. its just such a painful scenario to experience because to her thats still daddy even though he's a filthy piece of shit. Scar might have done the right thing.
Oh yeah, this show is dark...lol. Despite it's playful humor, you're going down a dark road with this anime. FMAB is probably my 3rd favorite anime of all time after Cowboy Bebop and Attack on Titan. Make sure to watch for end credit scenes in episodes.
God this episode was the heaviest punch to the soul I've ever experienced from a television show. In the Japanese version, the chimera just says "ed-ward oni chan"
I'm someone who actually prefers the firsts FMA series, and this episode is one of the reasons why. The pacing in the 2003 FMA was handled better (their relationship to Tucker and his daughter was over 2 episodes). In Brotherhood, I get the feeling that they wanted to finish the earlier half faster in order to get to the newer story arcs.
I’m pretty sure they were. When Brotherhood first came out it was only a few years since the 03 anime ended. It would make sense to have a different first episode to show audiences this would be different from the original anime. They likely hurried to get passed material the 03 series did to get to new stuff to keep people hooked.
14:25 the big difference is, they both were willing to do it but just didn't know the cost or that it would fail. Tucker did it to someone else in order to save his own ass, first his wife and then his own child. He knew what he was doing.
FMA Brotherhood has been my favorite anime series for a long time. This episode is a big example of why. It's not afraid to go to dark places, but in a way that makes you understand the story and emotion, and not for the gore of it. Really liked your reactions, can't wait for you to react more to the series.
Welcome to FMAB! There’s a reason it’s lovingly referred to as Feel Metal Alchemist. This is definitely the darkest moment in the series, but it’s not the last emotional one, not by a long shot.
The first time I watched this episode I almost changed my mind about watching the show ..... Really was hard to watch for an anime...think that's what makes it so good
Thinking about how Nina really loved and cared for her father and was so happy that she will get to play and have fun with her father got me fcked up.. both her and Alexander are innocent 😭 they really didn’t deserve that
Is the first time i see you guys react like this. And yes this is a very dark episode, it's even more powerfull in the first version because of the music the drawing and also they made more episodes with the bond between the brothers and nina
Oh holy crap you're doing Brotherhood and you just got to *this* episode. Excuse me while I go back to see your episode one reaction. So glad you're watching this, even if it means being traumatized by this episode.
