| Kazuki goes to see Papillon at his secret laboratory to propose a plan to deal with Victor; "If it works", he says, "everyone will be saved"! The collateral for the help will be their upcoming duel; Papillon agrees. The battle with Victor is not going well for the Alchemic Regiment, and Kazuki and the white Kakugane may be their last hope. Tokiko and Kazuki have gone to the summer festival; she notices that he is surprisingly cheerful and calm, considering the gravity of the decision he must make. A helicopter from the regiment comes to pick them up; Kazuki makes a cryptic remark to Mahiro that "this time we'll probably be parting for a while longer". At Newton Apple, Alexandria briefs him on how the newly complete white Kakugane can be used to cancel out the effects of a black one. She asks if he has decided how to use it--he has. By combining the arms alchemy of other warriors with his own Buster Baron, the General has managed to hold Victor at bay. As their helicopter nears the battle site, Tokiko asks Kazuki if there is another option besides sparing either Victor or himself. "There isn't" he says--"but I'm going to create one!"... |
The way events are building to a climax may be corny, but it's good corny, i.e., thrilling and melodramatic in a pleasing way. There's an undeniable coolness about the show at this point--at least I thought so--so that whether it makes sense or not, I'm able to suspend disbelief and just enjoy it. Again, I'm reminded of s-CRY-ed more than FMA. The clever, plausible plan Kazuki has come up with is intriguing; or, given that it's alchemy we're dealing with here, just crazy enough to work. I had a grin on my face as the episode moved to a climax. At one point I couldn't help wondering if this might be the concluding episode of the entire series (since a number of series haven't consisted of a full 13 or 26 episodes recently), but that couldn't be, because we still have the conflict between Kazuki and Papillon to resolve. The way the episode ended was weird--I don't know what to make of it, it's sort of like the plot has painted itself into a corner. Still, I can't wait to see what happens next. Finally, when Kazuki and Tokiko were about to kiss I knew something would interupt them, but when it did, I cracked up laughing anyhow!
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