I'm going first

Right in the feels. :(

Man these stories get crazy at times. Winy and Ed are reunited in a wonderfully violent way, Van Hohenheim realizes he was a terrible father, Gluttony is wonderfully creepy (all the Homunculi are), more and more people are learning the truth and picking sides. It just keeps building and building. Only a few more volumes left!

AHHHH!

Spoilers etc:

Chapter 84: Shadow of the Pursuer



Well... that's a thing. Aren't they teenagers?



Heh. I love her reaction though!

Chapter 85: The Empty Box

I'm going first

Right in the feels. :(



Major General Armstrong is an odd one...



Oh Van Hohenheim.

Also as a random note, Ed makes clothes seemingly without effort. How do any industries survive with alchemists around? I guess there aren’t that many of them? I guess you'd need skilled alchemists willing to make clothes for a living?

Chapter 86: Servant of Darkness



Gluttony is my favorite. Not as a good person (heh), but just as a fascinating character. He's not deep, but he's so wonderfully creepy.

Chapter 87: An Oath Made in the Underground



Speaking of creepy... how did Selim remain hidden so long? I guess people just don't look for things that they don't expect to see?



That was a fun twist.

Also: Flash bangs against Pride's shadow arms is BRILLIANT! And PRIDE ATE GLUTTONY. Oh my. Each time I think I know the worst that could happen... ( )

I don't think I have mentioned how much I enjoy Arakawa's silly humorous interjections throughout the series. No matter how heavy or action-filled events are, someone will always take a moment to say something or do something that is just so dumb in the moment that you need to laugh. I always look forward to the little gag strips thrown into the Extras section at the end of the book too. ( )

Fun installment. We're getting to the point in the series (only 6 books left!) where everything is coming to a crisis. And all of the players—including ones I don't remember as well—are showing up again. ( )

In Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 21 by Hiromu Arakawa, Ed and Al are reunited but something is wrong with Al. He's not in control of himself! Al has hidden people before inside his armor but never a homunculus! This time, though, Pride (pesky Selim Bradley) has taken control. He may be the smallest but he's certainly one of the most powerful of the homunculi.

Selim, we learn, draws his power from the shadows. Like the vashta nerada of Doctor Who, Selim's shadow is deadly. Fighting him, though, takes an opposite approach — turning off all lights to there can be no shadow, rather than turning on all lights. I found that piece of strategy the most interesting part of the fight.

This volume is the start of the final battle. Although I've enjoyed, loved, obsessed over this series, multi volume fight scenes can get tedious. In this case, the battle with Selim was interesting and different. But if he returns, the future battles won't hold the same sway over me. ( )

The good guys have regrouped, they have fitted the pieces of the puzzle together and they have developed a plan to beat the homunculii and their father, they have also made a very bold first move going on the offensive finally to try and end this war swiftly and with minimum losses on their side. Action is finally happening in this volume and things are starting to look dire. Both sides have unexpected aces up their sleeves and both have a few more tricks left in them. The good guys target? King Bradley. The bad guys target? Alphonse!

Edward and Winry also are drawn side by side for the first time in a while and it is to find that Ed has grown a great deal. I loved reading those panels and watching the two of them interact one last time before the battle. The journey that started with Ed and Al trying to get their bodies back has changed a great deal and taken a back seat with their attempts to save Amestris. The brothers are both growing up as they are putting others first before their own concerns even as Al's body deteriorates and Ed is running out of tricks to try and keep them both alive.

I'm looking forward to what is going to happen next. So much is at risk right now and we have had the rug pulled out from under us often enough to know that people can and will get hurt and be killed in this series. There are no guarantees. ( )