Hayate no Gotoku!! - 20

Hayate the Combat Butler "2nd Season" Ep. 20
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 20

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Father Radiostar tells Hayate that the reason he hasn't left for the afterlife is that he still has unfinished business (regrets) on Earth that need to be resolved. That regret centers around the fact that he was never able to flirt with a "maid-san," something Hayate doesn't think it becoming of a man of God. After hearing more, Hayate decides that Maria needs to be protected from this perverted priest and so consults Isumi, who specializes in sending ghosts and youkai packing. Isumi agrees to help ans says that the best way to accomplish the Father's request is to let him occupy someone's body. Hayate realizes they mean him, but considering what Father Radiostar might do to Maria, Hayate reject this idea.

After Father Radiostar throws a bit of a tantrum, Isumi agrees to wear a maid costume but it isn't enough as he feels Isumi doesn't have the spirit of a maid. Hayate consults with Nagi who immediately calls Wataru over. After Isumi is safely hidden where she can overhear, Nagi has Wataru define the spirit of a maid-san character. After he is done, Isumi comes out to Wataru's shock and horror. Now Isumi believes Wataru to be a maid maniac and he flees. However, armed with this information, Isumi and Hayate head to a field where Father Radiostar awaits. Unfortunately for Isumi, as she tries to show of the spirit of a maid by twirling, she falls on her face, revealing the "clumsy maid" aspect.

Now that Wataru has the idea of a maid in his head, he tries to get Saki to twirl for him but she refuses, sensing his perverted notion. Meanwhile, Hayate and Isumi head to Sakuya's house where she agrees to help them. As it happens, she has hired a new part-time maid who worked at her maid cafe. This maid, Haru, is summoned and she perfectly reflects the concept of the ideal maid-san. Suitably impressed, Hayate and Isumi along with Sakuya and Haru head to Nagi's mansion and are greeted by Maria, who seems to know what is going on but cannot get noticed for being a maid.

As the group walks down the hall, Hayate notes that Haru addresses him as "Ayasaki-kun" even though they weren't formally introduced. She also seems to know him. Father Radiostar tells Hayate that Haru is really up there on the maid scale, having spent a lot of time watching video footage of Isumi's fall in the maid costume. To solve Isumi's tripping problem, Haru recommends a shorter maid skirt. She also instructs Isumi in the art of the fake smile that will fool 80% of the people. Hayate, Father Radiostar and Sakuya watch this training with Sakuya finding it all very funny.

With Father Radiostar satisfied with what he's seen, everyone heads outside to send him off. However, when he says that his request was simply an April Fool's joke and that there's no way he'd leave after having only one regret completed, Isumi snaps and grabs an ofuda to send him on his way to the afterlife anyway. Father Radiostar flees and ends up getting Hayate caught up in the chase. Attempting to flee the power of a thrown ofuda slip, Hayate breaks a mansion window and as punishment is forced by Maria to clean up the mess while wearing a maid costume. Meanwhile, Haru leaves and changes into her school uniform where we see this is actually Haruko, the Student Council secretary. She's keeping her life as a maid quite and as she walks home, she's met by Hina, who walks home with her.

Thoughts/Review: Oh, my sides are hurting! *lol* This was a very funny episode and very possibly the best use of the Father Radiostar character yet. ^_^ He really drove things well with his "maid-san" desire. Having Isumi be the girl to take the roll of "maid-san" worked quite well as well. The physical comedy aspects as well as the comedy centering around the maid fetish all worked quite well right down to Wataru suddenly deciding Saki should give a twirl for him. I'm going to guess the writers kept pretty close to the manga but no matter what, kudo's to the writers on this episode.

I think this is the second time we've seen Isumi out of the traditional Japanese clothing. Heh!heh! She sure is a cutie, eh? ^_^

Speaking of Isumi, I couldn't help but think that the music playing toward the end of the episode when Isumi gave chase to Father Radiostar should have been the song "Yakety Sax," which most of us westerners would recognize as the chase theme music from The Benny Hill Show. That would have made the moment even funnier for me, but the Japanese may not be aware of that song or there could have been a cost issue with obtaining the rights to use said song. Still, normal music used in this episode worked but "Yakety Sax" would have ruled. ^_^

I was surprised to see that Haru is in fact Haruko. They made her so beautiful as the maid-san, obviously for purposes of having her fulfill the role of Isumi's teacher of being the perfect maid-type. What's amusing is how Haruko is a maid after school but during school, it is almost like she's in disguise with her glasses and all. *lol*

So a really funny and fun episode that I ended up watching a 2nd time rather than write this review. ^_^;

Hayate no Gotoku!! - 19

Hayate the Combat Butler "2nd Season" Ep. 19
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 19

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It is spring break and Nagi is a bit frustrated that Hayate and Maria are allowing her to sleep in until noon even though that's what she wanted and they couldn't wake her earlier if they tried. Thinking about how she spends her days, she decides to be a better human and so when Hayate accidentally breaks his cell phone, she decides to go with him to Shinjuku to purchase a new one. The experience is a new one for her since she mostly shops online (without paying attention to prices) and she finds the ¥1-million prices for various high-end electronics to be very cheap.

Despite her attempt at being a new human, she's soon bored while Hayate fills out the paperwork for the new cell phone. Hayate notices this and tells her to go ahead and look around. She gets lost but decides it is Hayate that is lost and so goes to the lost child section where the attendant assumes Nagi is the lost child despite her protests. While she waits for Hayate to come, there are three punk kids in the lost-and-found room who after losing to Nagi at the Hayate no Gotoku card game, they address her as "boss" (taichou - lit. "commanding officer"). It is in very pleased state that Hayate finds Nagi, who's immediately embarrassed by this. Returning home, Hayate teases her by addressing her as "boss" despite Nagi's protests.

Sakuya comes by and informs Hayate that her birthday is April 3. As such, she wants him to remember this because she's wants a good laugh for her birthday. She's also hit Wataru up with the same request. Hayate consults with Nagi who decides to use the "Sunday Box" (four boxes that phonetically spell out "Sunday" in Katakana -- スンデー) after selecting Maria as their comedy target. Hayate picks the "Su" character. Nagi lifts the box and reveals a harisen. Sakuya shows up and she and Nagi convince Hayate to go forward with the comedy plan on Maria.

As Maria and Hayate clean a room together, Nagi and Sakuya observe from the doorway while Hayate looks for a comedy opening to use the harisen. Hearing Maria hum a tune from an old anime, he ends up not going for a gag and honestly asks her where she picked up the song. Naturally, it was some anime Nagi watched and as the tension builds, Maria sees a broken window and says something that gives Hayate his comedy opening to use the harisen. Unfortunately he trips and ends up face-planting into Maria's chest, leading Nagi to whack him with a long-handled hammer (from an anime series I believe). Sakuya has a great laugh and thanks Hayate for this but reminds him that he has to make her laugh like that on her birthday. Meanwhile, Nagi begins instructing Isumi and Wataru on the fine art of Japanese physical comedy to Sakuya's amusement.

Thoughts/Review: It is at times like this that I wish I were current with the manga, but the Hayate no Gotoku manga series is one I've only been following via the Viz releases and not from Japan. Having the "Hayate no Gotoku" card game in this episode made me wonder a great deal. While it is true that this is a exclusive to the anime, I did find out that Nagi did have a battle card game in the manga, so changing the name of the game to advertise the Hayate one is not a problem to me (and is funny because the episode makes fun of itself for doing so).

If you haven't read the manga, you may remember episode 42 from the first series which told of the game whereby one chose a box and lifting the box revealed a frog that looked like Keroro from Keroro Gunsou. That part of that story was lifted from the final chapter of volume 12 of the manga. That gives you an idea of how the first series cherry picked things out because this current episode is from the second chapter of volume 13. I mention this because of story flow. Had the first series not interfered, the "Hanamura Box" (as it is called in the manga) joke would have had a stronger double-punch and there would be more of a reason for Nagi to use this method again (because she'd just used it before). I often complained that the first series didn't flow that well where the manga does. Now, we have the decisions of the production team for the first series causing flow bumps in this current anime and that's a shame.

Getting to the specifics of this episode, I rather enjoyed the battle card game parody as well as the little punks submitting to Nagi as well as her attitude. *lol* The story gets tougher when it comes to the physical comedy bits because it is so rooted in Japanese puns and culture. That aside, it was still a lot of fun especially since Sakuya is the driving force convincing Hayate to make a comedy whack attempt on Maria with a harisen. I'm told the jokes are somewhat modified in the anime from the manga, but the core of the jokes are the same so that's fine. I liked the comedy training bit at the end too with Wataru failing to be able to whack Isumi due to his feelings for her.

So a really fun episode to be had here. ^_^ I'm really glad this second series is sticking to the manga and it is sad the first series' shadow still lingers though.

Negima! Chapter 263 SPOILER Images

Negima! 263 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 263 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 263 SPOILER Images as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


As expected, Chachamaru gets her pactio and Natsumi tries out her artifact. ^_^

Before I forget -- no chapter next week.

Edit: This appeared earlier in the evening and it is no spoiler image, but I couldn't help but get a laugh at this drawing by an unidentified artist of Negi and Chachamaru. "Wa" indeed. ^_^

Negima! Manga Vol 29 Ch 262 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 29 Chapter 262 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 262

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Chachamaru is thinking about her conversation with Eva regarding souls and pactios when she sees Natsumi, who's feeling a lot of angst and lack of confidence. Natsumi and Chachamaru talk, leading Chachamaru to confess that she too has angst but being a robot, she doesn't know if her feelings are real or not. The conversation makes Natsumi feel better, but when Kotaro arrives, Natsumi flees. Negi comes up and offers to wind Chachamaru for her.

Meanwhile, Kotaro chases Natsumi, not understanding why she's running nor why she suddenly claims to hate him. He finally catches her and she is crying, upset over his words. When she hears Kotaro remark on how he doesn't understand how Negi can have kissed so many girls, Natsumi remembers that Kotaro is only 10. She makes him take the pill to return to his normal age and then quizzes him on his opinion of several girls including Mei, Ayaka, Yue, Kaede, Kugimi, and "Chizu-nee." Chizuru scores the highest so when Natsumi asks about herself, Kotaro doesn't give her a low score as he realizes this will only make things worse. Instead, he says he loves Natsumi because she's the closest thing he has to family, reflecting on how Natsumi, Chizuru, and Ayaka took him in.

Now with resolve and conviction, Kotaro vows to protect Natsumi and so with Chamo's magic circle, Natsumi kisses Kotaro and they form a pactio. After their kiss, Natsumi confesses her feelings for Kotaro before realizing what she has done. After stuffing Chamo in Kotaro's mouth, she flees again, upset with herself for letting that slip out.

Thoughts/Review: Again, we have verification that Eva does not have a true pactio with Chachamaru, but rather a "Doll Contract" -- whatever that is. If I had to guess, it would be tied in with Eva's doll master ability. I still believe that Eva has a true pactio with Chachazero based not only on the artifact Chachazero has, but also that Chachazero's ability to move on her own is tied with Eva's power. The more power Eva has, the stronger Chachazero is.

It isn't surprising that Chachamaru has concerns though. She's had them for ages though being a robot is what has allowed her to mostly hide her angst.

I guess Akamatsu-sensei's remark about "not sweating the details" may refer to Kotaro getting a pactio when in fact he was established as a warrior type (ala Jack Rakan) and that he uses ki to fight with ofuda slips for magical spells (as seen in the Kyoto arc). In addition to the marketing aspects of a new pactio card, Akamatsu-sensei now having Kotaro be a Magister Magi gave him a vehicle whereby he could logically advance the Kotaro-Natsumi romantic story thread. That does buy Akamatsu-sensei some Brownie points with me. ^_^

I liked how Akamatsu-sensei had Kotaro come up with a way to get into the pactio idea. Until he thought about how Natsumi is like family to him, he really didn't want to make a pactio. Remembering how well Natsumi (and Chizuru) treated him was a nice touch. In return, it was sweet seeing how Natsumi confessed to Kotaro without even realizing it initially. Of course he is only 10 but he won't be 10 forever. ^_~

I rather enjoyed Kotaro's assessment of some of the girls. Having Yue's stock go up in his book made me smile because her stock has gone up with me as well. ^_^

The laugh of the chapter -- Chamo getting stuffed into Kotaro's mouth by Natsumi! *lol* I still laugh thinking about it. The second laugh is the image of Chizuru with the two negi stalks. *lol*

So a fun and interesting chapter on two fronts. I think it is fair to say that the next pactio is Chachamaru. After that, I'm told that Akamatsu-sensei will again advance the serious story again so there must be plans in store for Natsumi and Ku Fei in the forthcoming story as well as Chachamaru (assuming she too gets a pactio). Oh, and lets not forget about Setsuna's new pactio either as I'm guessing she scored a new artifact. As to Natsumi's artifact, I look forward to learning more about it.

Gakuen Alice Manga Volume 8

Gakuen Alice Volume 8 <--BUY FROM AMAZON!


SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Yuka sees her daughter in the cell and under the guise of treating Mikan roughly (Mikan doesn't know this is her mother), slips Mikan a vial which Mikan assumes is to cure Hotaru. Though Mikan doesn't know why this woman has done this, she knows she has to escape and cons her skeleton guard to escape her cell and she rushes to the control room where her comrades are being held. Using her Nullification Alice helps some but eventually Mikan is caught. When Yuka is ordered to take Natsume's Alice, Mikan prevents it and shuts down the other Alice's as well.

Yuka makes a choice and stabs Mihara, who'd been using his Alice to slowly petrify Mikan's friends. Yuka instructs those who've been petrified to lick the blood in order to be cured. Mihara is furious but there's nothing he can do and with the base's self destruct now activated, the Z people have to flee as to Mikan and her friends, though Mikan wonders why Yuka is helping her. As the base begins to fall apart, Mikan loses the vial for Hotaru which Pengy retrieves but at the cost of his own existence. With that, a tearful Mikan is helped back through the transportation corridor back to the academy.

Once back, Mikan cries for the loss of Pengy and for the fact that she was unable to get Tobita's Alice back. As such, she vows to herself to become stronger in order to protect others.

Meanwhile, Narumi-sensei finds Yuka (his former senpai) and Shiki. Narumi inquires about the children and Narumi states they should have escaped. She acknowledges that she met Mikan and we see a bit of their relationship in high school. Narumi wants the Alices Yuka stole from the children plus something she took from him so many years ago. Even though she was leaving the academy to carry one "sensei's" dream back then, she made Narumi promise to stay at the academy and protect the children. He doesn't know so Yuka leaves a small pouch and departs with Shiki. Inside, Narumi finds the Alice stones that were created when Yuka stole the three student's Alices.

Mikan and classmates are going to see Hotaru when they see Tobita and learn his Alice has come back to him. Hotaru arrives in a car and is reunited with Mikan. Elsewhere, plans are being made by powers on campus to deal with Natsume and Narumi.

Finally, it is nearly Christmas and time for a visit to Central Town. Since recent events caused people to miss Natsume's birthday, Mikan decides to get him something and soon others are in on the act as well, resulting in a surprise birthday party and a contest over who gave the best present.

Thoughts/Review: I realized something with this volume that had kinda been bothering me in some previous volumes but more so starting in volume 7 and certainly continuing into volume 8. Higuchi-sensei is rather sparse when it comes to backgrounds and setting art. She does it a bit but often during these action sequences, all of that is lost and in this flurry of action and dialog, it is easy to lose perspective on things. I think about Negima! and how all action over there is very easy to follow because we have our points of reference with the background art or with a change of perspective to show just how the characters are against each other. Higuchi-sensei's lack of this does not make for a good action anime or story. Her art style is good for lighter moments or even moments of exposition.

I mention this because Mikan's attempts to free her friends and the action that goes on after this becomes quite chaotic and I couldn't understand why. Then it dawned on me as I read volume 23 of Negima! Going back through volume 8 again of Gakuen Alice, it became clear to me as I saw how the Pengy segment of the story was done -- Higuchi-sensei was forced to draw more than just characters with the floor collapsing and the efforts to rescue Pengy completely depending on that additional art for perspective.

With that out of the way, lets go to the story.

Mikan continues to be a spitfire. I can't help but like her determination even if it sometimes stretched credulity a bit. Her power of nullification's use in this volume really gives light to why her ability would be considered a threat. After all, with proper training, Mikan could prevent everyone in a room from using their Alices.

I have to say that I was a little bit surprised that Yuka was revealed to the audience as being Mikan's mother. I think it was pretty clear to us, but for some reason, I didn't expect the answer to be given, even if Mikan has no clue. I wonder what Mikan will say once she realizes that Yuka is her mother. Mikan is pretty smart, enough so that she understood Yuka was helping her even while pretending to be harsh with her.

Higuchi-sensei remarked on how she'd like to be able to do a story about Narumi and Yuka in the past. I wouldn't mind seeing that so maybe sometime down the road, we'll get to see it.

Poor Pengy. 'Nuff said.

I liked the end with Mikan's gift and Natsume's thoughts about it. It is pretty clear that despite everything, Mikan sees that Natsume cares for her and she cares for him back in that innocent, grade school manner. It will be interesting to see where Higuchi-sensei takes this relationship of theirs.

So despite some chaos during the final showdown with Z due to sparce background art, I still enjoyed this manga volume a fair amount, especially with Yuka being confirmed as Mikan's mother. I look forward to reading more. ^_^

You're Under Arrest! Full Throttle - 20

Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Episode 20
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル Episode 20
You're Under Arrest anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A high school girl dies while attempting to cross the street before she had the green light to do so.

Miyuki is at a class reunion so Yoriko takes the opportunity to tease Nakajima about her absence. After Yoriko and Natsumi go on patrol, they briefly talk about the accident. That evening, Natsumi walks to the place were the girl died and a diary from the girl falls out of a tree, having been launched there when she was struck by the truck. Natsumi takes the diary home and reads it. It is the diary of the girl who died (though Natsumi doesn't know it) and covers her falling in love with a boy she saw on the trail -- Sudou-san. However, the diary ends just when the girl states she's going to confess to the boy.

Natsumi is reflecting on love and finds no one has said anything about a missing diary. Natsumi has a thought that this diary might belongs to the girl who and using the police computers, looks the girl up. Natsumi decides that she wants to meet the boy that the girl talked about and so arranges to be on the train that the diary says Sudou-san is on. She uses the drawing in the diary to find the boy, who appears to be looking for someone. He goes from car to car and Natsumi follows until he gets to a group of his fellow students. Overhearing their conversation, Natsumi realizes the boy had feelings for the girl although he knew nothing about her. Natsumi is saddened because his friends try to assure him that the girl will be there tomorrow but she knows better.

Yoriko has followed Natsumi and thinks that Natsumi fell in love with a high school boy. So that evening, Natsumi tells Yoriko the truth and says she turned the diary to the Lost and Found division. Yoriko wonders if it is OK to keep the boy in the dark about the truth. Natsumi says that the boy may have regrets and be sad, so she will say nothing. They are at the same spot where the girl died and Yoriko sees her, though Natsumi does not. Yoriko insists that the girl was there, but Natsumi doesn't believe her and decides they should go home, where Natsumi may clean their apartment to surprise Miyuki.

Thoughts/Review: Hmph. So, Shouji is reduced to a mere general mention (and not by name) by being lumped into a "Natsumi has dated guys before" category. The writers do throw out a bone for keeping Shouji out of this series -- Natsumi wants to be single. *_* Then they do an episode where Natsumi is without Miyuki and thinks of love and romance. Whatever. I was so hoping for at the very least, a flashback of Shouji but no such luck.

Speaking of no luck, the Nakajima-Miyuki thing is weary too. Initially, I thought the episode might be about Nakajima heading to where Miyuki was staying for her reunion but it turns out that was just filler, though filler on the theme of, "I haven't confessed my feelings yet." *_* Whatever. I already know this series won't resolve that issue and I haven't even seen the last episodes yet, nor have I read anything about them. Total fail on the part of the production team.

Still, I will say that this episode is a sad one considering that most of it was showing how this girl fell in love with a boy and never acted on it and now she's dead while the boy is left to wonder what the heck happened to her.

Not much else to say here. It isn't a bad episode but it isn't what I want either. I'll forge ahead as I'm able.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 248 Manga Review

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 39 Chapter 248

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Keiichi is concerned about going through the gate, leading chibi-Hild to inform him and the others that the gate is opened for six hours and there's no guarantee it will reopen. She goes through the painful process of extracting a crystal from her body -- 1/1000th of 1/1000th of her original body. With it, she makes a necklace and hands it to Keiichi to wear since she cannot enter the gate herself. This will be their trump card and chibi-Hild instructs Keiichi not to use it until he gets close to Hagall.

After Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld transform their clothing into their goddess uniforms, an irritated Peorth and Lind arrive. Lind immediately attacks chibi-Hild, who manages to stop Lind's poleaxe though is partially driven into the ground as a result. Chibi-Hild is irritated by Lind's attack as she wants her to listen first, but Lind is not interested in listening to the Daimakaicho's excuses.

Thoughts/Review: The lost chapter.

Hmmm...in chapter 249, it seemed that a lot more stuff went on since the city was partially destroyed and there were all kinds of things happening, including an Asian dragon rampaging, all of which needed to be cleaned up. So I guess the implication is that while chibi-Hild worked with Keiichi and company, her former minions under Hagall's directive are wreaking havoc on Earth and that's what needs cleaning up.

The only thing chapter 248 did was establish Peorth and Lind's arrival; Belldandy's, Urd's, and Skuld's change of clothing; and the crystal sub-sub-form of Hild. So in the 15-pages of manga, not a whole lot happened.

I will say that I did enjoy Hild's teasing of Urd, both in Urd's concern over Hild's well being after the crystal extraction as well as in Urd not being able to subdivide herself as Hild can.

By my reckoning, chapter 251 is the next one I need to read, assuming I can score a copy.

More Negima! 262 SPOILER Images

A late-addition 2nd batch of (small) images from Negima chapter 262.

Ooo! An Eva-Chachamaru discussion flashback. ^_^

First batch of spoiler images can be found --> HERE!

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 20

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 20
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 20

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: At the grave of Ed's mother, Ed's father Hohenheim speaks with the angry Ed and asks why he burned down the family house. He rejects Ed's excuse that the burning of the house was to prove his determination to move forward, but in fact was a means of running away from his human transmutation attempt. Ed storms away angrily. That night, Hohenheim looks in on his sleeping son and reaches out to him but does nothing else. Ed is awake and gets up to overhear a conversation between Hohenheim and Pinako in which Hohenheim asks if it really was Trisha that Ed and Al transmuted. Since she didn't pay attention to the hair color of the body nor the eye color, she realizes that Hohenheim is suggesting Ed and Al didn't bring their mother back at all, even if in grotesque form.

Back in Central, Al reveals to Ling, Winry, and Lan Fan how his soul was attached to the armor. Ling is excited at the prospect of being immortal, so Al has to correct him based on what he learned from Barry the Chopper -- the soul being placed in something not its original body will eventually reject the transplant; it is only a matter of time. Winry gets angry with Ling's happy attitude about this subject and leaves for her room. Al joins her and she remembers Al after he became a suit of armor and asks if Al's original body can truly be returned.

In Resembool, Hohenheim gets permission to take the only photograph showing him, Trisha, and the boys together, then leaves and gives a warning to Pinako to leave as something bad is going to happen to this country. She dismisses the warning, citing how often bad things happen and tells Hohenheim to come back more often to eat. As he walks away, Hohenheim reflects on how he'll never again eat a meal from Pinako as Ed observes Hohenheim leave from his bedroom.

Ed and Pinako head to the ruins of Ed's former home as a storm builds up. Ed is determined to dig up the remains of the body he and Al transmuted to determine once and for all if it is his mother or not. Despite throwing up a few times and the pounding rain, Ed unearths the body and with Pinako's help, recovers the remains. Ed is able to determine that this is not his mother's body and Pinako figures it to possibly be a male body. Ed makes a call to Izumi and asks her about her own attempt to transmute her child back to life before revealing what he knows.

Sometime later, Ed and Pinako visit the graves of Winry's parents and Trisha when Pinako remembers she forgot to give Trisha's last message to Hohenheim. As such, she relays the message about a promise not kept to Ed, who's not keen on seeing his father again to relay the message. Ed returns to Central where he's worried about Al chastising him for going off alone when he finds Al's damaged state. After kicking Ling and Lan Fan out, Ed and Al exchange information on what each other has learned as Ed repairs Al's body.

Ed verifies that indeed Al's true soul was taken from "Truth" and attached to the armor and figures that Al's body can also be restored. Al remembers being inside the body that they transmuted for a short time before Ed affixed Al's soul to the armor, the transmuted body rejecting the foreign soul. Izumi calls and verifies that the child she attempted to transmute was not her child and to Ed's surprise, she thanks him. Izumi is then held by her husband, relieved that she didn't kill her child twice.

With renewed determination, Ed and Al talk and get back to work on recovering Al's body.

Thoughts/Review: This turned out to be another surprising episode. So, neither Ed and Al nor Izumi actually brought their loved ones back to life, even if for a short time in grotesque form and with a terrible price. Instead, they transmuted what? A homunculus of sorts? Someone else? I'm a bit fuzzy here but I did find it very interesting that Ed's father seemed to know the truth of what happened.

Speaking of Hohenheim, I wonder what brought him back to Resembool. Was it to ultimately warn Pinako about this vague danger that is coming? And just what sort of thing is about to happen to Resembool? Also, is Hohenheim older than he appears since I'd like to say the one photo shows a young Pinako with Hohenheim looking about the same age. What was Trisha's promise to Hohenheim that she couldn't keep?

So, a lot of questions from me but not a lot of speculation comes to mind because there are too many possibilities. *lol* Still, I have to say that this series is very good and I like being surprised. ^_^