![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
*flappy hands*
... so apparently I stopped reading the FMA manga right before things got good, eh?
I just mainlined vols. 6-10 tonight (up to the latest one the library had in stock), and
OMG OMG THE FIGHT WITH LUST WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS WAS SO AWESOME *_*
It's pretty rare for me to ship a couple who aren't an established couple in canon, but ever since the beginning of the series I've shipped Riza/Roy liek whoa (though my adoration is firmly rooted in their comrades-in-arms bond, and if they never do anything but save each other's lives for the rest of the series, I'll be a happy camper). The original anime gave me a bunch of happy little crumbs, but the manga is giving me GOLD.
The only part that fell a little flat for me was Riza giving up and deciding to die when she thought Roy was dead (and he was right to chew her out for that afterwards) but other than that, all I really have right now is SQUEE! FLAIL! SQUAIL! Code names and trust and worry and SHE'S dead and then HE'S dead and stabbings and explosions and PRESUMED DEAD WITH NOT-SO-DEAD LAST-MINUTE RESCUES I LOVE IT SO!
... oh, and I guess there was something in there about Ed, too, but I was distracted. XD
(I actually love all the characters in FMA, even most of the bad guys -- and was so delighted that Havoc and Maria survived, though I saw the Maria thing coming from pretty much the moment of her "death", and the Elrics and Winry will never not be adorable ... but OMG, pretty much the entirety of the fight between the Sins and Roy and his people in vols 9 & 10 mashed down my fan buttons SO HARD.)
I shall be off to get subsequent volumes as soon as I can! Please, please do not spoil me beyond vol. 10, which I think is about ep. 20 of Brotherhood (not that I've been looking up episode guides or anything XD ... though with one eye squeezed shut to avoid spoilers). FMA is a series that I really, really want to read unspoiled, because I love those "OMFGWTFBBQ" moments that Arakawa does so well.
Edit: Also, does anyone know of any good Riza gen or Riza/Roy (actually, Riza/anyone, come to think of it) that's not spoilery for post-vol. 10(ish) of the manga? Anything from the original animeverse (i.e. not Brotherhood) is also fine; I've seen all of that. I'm afraid to look up fic or vids for fear of spoilers, but I want more Riza like burning! (So to speak...)
I just mainlined vols. 6-10 tonight (up to the latest one the library had in stock), and
OMG OMG THE FIGHT WITH LUST WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS WAS SO AWESOME *_*
It's pretty rare for me to ship a couple who aren't an established couple in canon, but ever since the beginning of the series I've shipped Riza/Roy liek whoa (though my adoration is firmly rooted in their comrades-in-arms bond, and if they never do anything but save each other's lives for the rest of the series, I'll be a happy camper). The original anime gave me a bunch of happy little crumbs, but the manga is giving me GOLD.
The only part that fell a little flat for me was Riza giving up and deciding to die when she thought Roy was dead (and he was right to chew her out for that afterwards) but other than that, all I really have right now is SQUEE! FLAIL! SQUAIL! Code names and trust and worry and SHE'S dead and then HE'S dead and stabbings and explosions and PRESUMED DEAD WITH NOT-SO-DEAD LAST-MINUTE RESCUES I LOVE IT SO!
... oh, and I guess there was something in there about Ed, too, but I was distracted. XD
(I actually love all the characters in FMA, even most of the bad guys -- and was so delighted that Havoc and Maria survived, though I saw the Maria thing coming from pretty much the moment of her "death", and the Elrics and Winry will never not be adorable ... but OMG, pretty much the entirety of the fight between the Sins and Roy and his people in vols 9 & 10 mashed down my fan buttons SO HARD.)
I shall be off to get subsequent volumes as soon as I can! Please, please do not spoil me beyond vol. 10, which I think is about ep. 20 of Brotherhood (not that I've been looking up episode guides or anything XD ... though with one eye squeezed shut to avoid spoilers). FMA is a series that I really, really want to read unspoiled, because I love those "OMFGWTFBBQ" moments that Arakawa does so well.
Edit: Also, does anyone know of any good Riza gen or Riza/Roy (actually, Riza/anyone, come to think of it) that's not spoilery for post-vol. 10(ish) of the manga? Anything from the original animeverse (i.e. not Brotherhood) is also fine; I've seen all of that. I'm afraid to look up fic or vids for fear of spoilers, but I want more Riza like burning! (So to speak...)
no subject
The only problem that I'm having right now with the official Viz translations is that they're going for a YA audience, which means that there are some occasions (especially in the fight scenes) when it's very obvious that they're being considerably more vulgar than what the translation is supplying, which is usually along the lines of "Hey, you!" XD
Sorry I can't help you out with fic or anything - I haven't really felt up to dealing with fandom yet, not with so much canon to digest. But if you find stuff, I'd love recs, I think.
*nods* It's really more canon that I want right now, anyway. *makes grabby hands* Come to think of it, I started writing a Riza & Roy genfic back when I was into the show before; perhaps I should find that and finish it. (It was her daily unofficial notes on the goings-on around the office, or something like that ...)
The characters are just so wonderful! This is one of these series where I feel like I should be into the angst of the main characters more than I am, but find myself gravitating towards the supporting ones instead. It's not that I don't love the Elrics; it's just that for some reason, Roy's bunch of ridiculously loyal military folks are the ones that really mash my buttons down. But I love everyone enough that I really don't feel like complaining when the scene changes to a different group. (Admittedly, the situation at the end of vol. 10, with Ed going off to Xing by himself, is making me go "... wait", because Ed and Al apart is just not right! *makes woeful sounds*)
Roy and Riza are just so awesome; I love the mutual respect, and how she protects him, and is able to yell at him when he's being an idiot. I adore how she's as badass as he is in her own way, despite not having alchemist abilities -- which I think is really part of the draw for me, because I adore characters who are relatively underpowered in a group of high-powered individuals ... the "normals" in the midst of the weirdness XD).
The two of them kinda get me the same way that Murphy and Harry do in the Dresden books.
One problem with loving the characters so much is that Arakawa does kill people (... oh, Hughes ;_; ...) and nobody, except probably Ed and Al, is really safe until the end. I enjoy the delicious edge-of-my-seat tension, but I'm almost afraid to cling to Riza too tightly, not knowing if she'll make it.
Oh, the fight with Lust is EPIC - Roy is as badass as badass can be, and especially following his moment freaking out about Havoc (ordering people not to die!!) and then Riza freaking out about him and. Awwwwwww~!
*nods vigorously* And ripping Lust's heart out to heal Havoc, OMFG ...! (Well, to try to heal him anyway. Way to fail, Roy! But you get A+ for effort ....)
And yes to what you said about the brutality of the fight scenes! The manga-ka doesn't ever really let you forget that Roy's way of killing people is really gruesome, and that he used it on humans during the war. It's heartbreaking but I like that it isn't backgrounded or glossed over, even when he's going after a being like Lust.
FMA really took the angst and ran with it (ran a whole marathon, dragging your heart over broken glass for half the way), but in the manga - sure, the angst is there, but there's a lot of other things, too.
Hee! Excellent point. :D And I loved the anime too, but I definitely see what you mean about the manga being less, well, soul-crushing. XD