Episode 29, "The Untainted Child"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: The Elric brothers and Izumi don't know what to make of the mysterious boy who appeared on the island, who is capable of using alchemy without circles. They take him back to Izumi's home, where he's fed. During the night, Ed and Al visit the boy in his room, but he reacts badly to their curiosity and fuses with his bed until Izumi can calm him down. Meanwhile, Sheska confronts Roy about his lack of action on Hughes' death. Ed thinks the child might be a homunculus, but remembers homunculi normally can't use alchemy. Edward recounts what happened to when he performed human transmutation, having seen the Truth at the Gate and thinks he saw the child there. Izumi goes off to "check something", but Ed and Al can't stay away from the child, who appears to have the arm Ed sacrificed to the Gate. On Yock Island, Izumi comes upon a familar place.
Comments:
Is he The Scrappy? Is he the Woobie? Is he some sort of TV Tropes term I can't think of at the moment? Who knows. But child Wrath (oops, spoiler! Like you haven't already seen this show) seems to provoke something within the fan community. Usually irritation. With me, it's a mix of irritation and sympathy. Sort of like Quess Paraya or Katz Kobayashi, or any number of Gundam brats. I feel bad for this kid, really, even if he is sort of annoying. I mean, he is an abandoned child, after all. He's been living alone on an island for years, had to raise himself to where he is.
It's strange how the fact that he can do alchemy bothers the brothers and Izumi less than the fact that he can do it without circles, with just a touch. We'll get into why (I guess) later, but they seem more interested in whether or not he's a homunculus, who've been established as being unable to use alchemy (although technically they're using it every time they heal up).
An interesting thing to note about this episode is that when Edward is seeing the "truth", there are flashes to pictures of real life things, photographs (one of a Nazi zeppelin) and paintings, and even a flash of Hohenheim leaving. The devil's in the details, they say. I just wish they dropped a few more hints along the way.
Overal Score:
3.5 out of 5
