BreakRaven

This is quite possibly my favorite volume so far. I mean, it has everything - pretty much every character I've been missing reappeared, (with a few exceptions, but you couldn't cram everyone into one volume or it would be a serious mess. Um, even messier than things already are, I mean), there were tons of explosions (and one of the best battle scenes ever), and just everything in general was one-hundred-percent perfect. 

And best of all, no Hohenheim! Yaaay! He didn't even appear in a flashback or anything. I'll probably suffer later when he comes back twice as much to make up for this, but for now I'm thrilled.

I'm not sure about Kimbley's ending. It seemed just a tiny bit under-emphasized. He was an awesome and important character for a while, you know? And then poof, he's dead, good-bye Kimbley. And the weird part is, I'm actually convinced that he's dead, even though I didn't see a body. With me, that never happens.

Envy's end, on the other hand, was perfect. I loved it. Nothing else I can say.

Al is amazing. How does he manage to be so sweet and so scary and so wickedly awesome all at once? It's really not fair.

And Riza is also so, so perfect. I love her so much.

And Eddie. Eh, I still have to say he's my favorite. I can't help it.

And Roy. I can't really describe how much I adore the guy.

And Olivia, good grief. You ever meet a fictional character who comes late to the story, and when you realize how much you adore them, your main complaint is, "Why on earth didn't they appear sooner?! Now I only have [this much time] to read about them, when if they'd appeared at the beginning I could have had it all!" 

She's like that. And so is Mei. And Ling. And Miles.

Also, are Selim and Sloth the creepiest nasties ever? Because I think they are. And I have a long list of nasties. 

My brother is disdainful of the fact that I've been reading a lot of manga lately; he thinks it's childish. I keep describing FMA scenes to him, and he just scoffs and doesn't believe me because, you know, "it's a picture book".

Dude, if I had read this stuff when I was a child, I'd have been scarred for life. Seriously, no way. I'd have nightmares every night. Keep Selim and Sloth and Envy and all the rest of them out of reach of children, okay?

And look at that cover! It's so beautiful I can't even . . .