師匠 was looking less than completely healthy, to be fair, but for him to abruptly drop dead right at that moment really feels like died for no other reason than that particular moment was just the most dramatic moment that it could have happened. (Also, was Roy completely unaware of 師匠’s objections to the military before he signed up?)
The flashback in the second half of the chapter is framed as Hawkeye telling Ed about the war, but it immediately opens with a scene that Hawkeye wasn’t there to witness, and almost certainly could not have heard about from someone else later. Though I guess the panelling also implies that it’s Scar reminiscing here too…
On the last page of the chapter, Viz for some reason translated 殲滅戦 as “prison camp”. Was… was this deliberate censorship, or was someone just not payting attention? Also, 殲 is quite some kanji. Twenty-one strokes.
Got really confused with the rant on top of p. 28 and had to read it three times to realise that it was both brothers speaking and not Scar contradicting himself
Today I noticed for the first time that Hughes’ letter from home spells his wife’s name as “Glacier”.
It’s ok. If it’s state-sanctioned, it’s not a war crime, it’s “the highest and best use of our military”. Making Amestris great again, and all that.
He’s made a couple of brief cameos - most notably in volume 4 chapter 13, but this is his first active role.
Also, a fun fact: Basque Gran, who made a brief cameo in the last pages of last week’s chapter, and who will play a more significant role in the next (he’s the big guy with the dark skin and the magnificent moustache), actually made his first chronologial appearence in the anime, as one of Scar’s victims.
殲滅戦 shows up in this chapter as well, and this time it’s translated as just “campaign” both times it gets used… which could be for space reasons. If it’s censorship, it feels a bit weird to censor the words when all the pictures are right there.
Evil empires don’t usually use the word “genocide” for their own actions. “Extermination” makes for better PR. “We’re destroying the vermin” sort of thing.
I think I’m forgetting half of the fact as we go I’ll try to reread the whole volume next weekend.
I definitely almost forgot what they are up to in real time/previous volume. We’re in the middle of nightmare right now.
Also I thought モスキトー would be something small but it’s a bomber (well, still not large, but!).
The text on Gran’s gauntlets is “Visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapitem”, which comes from an alchemical symbol in a text by M. Daniel Stolzius von Stoltzenberg, an alchemical scholar in the Paracelsus tradition, and translates literally to “See the insides of earth through that which shall be right, you will find the secret stone”, figuratively meaning “Discover the innermost essence of earth in a correct manner and you will find the Philosopher’s Stone”. For some reason, it’s written in the manga art with the last three words in front of the first four, though. Dunno about the bracelets - looks like some kinda weird combination of katakana and runes.
Heh, love that アイサー. “Aye, sir!”,
Meanwhile, 殲滅戦 rendered as “killing” this chapter, though there was one 殲滅 that was translated as “extermination”.
In this context, it’s a person’s name - remember that members of the Amestris military are all named after various bits of military equipment.
Those two’s relationship…
And we didn’t get the full info about the tattoo again!!!
I wasn’t even sure if 大佐 had agreed to destroy it (well, looked like it, buuuut), but then after assistants’ talk about スリーサイズ in omake went to check last frame of vol.14:
Imagine tattooing your research on your own daughter’s back, though.
Fun fact, there actually was a live-action version, and… none of the actors Arakawa-sensei nominates are in it. Al is portrayed by CG, though. And the actor playing Ed is named “Yamada” too.
Even in the main chapters, he kinda calls to mind the line from the Revenge of the Sith opening crawl - “There are heroes on both sides”. Though in this analogy, it’s Amestris who are the proto-Empire.
