Makoto Inoue

Do not read this book unless you've at least made it through volume 4 of the manga, episode 10 of FMA: Brotherhood, or episode 25 of the first FMA anime.

Edward and Alphonse are training with Izumi in Dublith when they spot a book, The Evolution of the Body by Balerea Dell, in an old photograph. The book was banned, and all copies of it should have been destroyed, but the brothers decide to travel to the town of Lambsear in the hope that the bookstore and that particular book are still there. It might contain a clue that could lead them to the Philosopher's Stone, or information relating to successful human transmutation. Meanwhile, there have been a bunch of chimera attacks in the area, and Roy Mustang has been tasked with investigating and putting a stop to them.

Man, this was kind of weird to read right after the fourth book and its "Roy, Armstrong, and Hughes go on a trip and end up doing chores for children" story. This fifth book very clearly takes place after Hughes' death.

Of all the Fullmetal Alchemist light novels, this was probably the best, despite the almost B-movie monster ridiculousness at the end. It had heavy ties with one of the more emotionally impactful events in the series' timeline, the Ishbalan massacre, and dealt with more serious issues than I expected, considering what the last few FMA light novels had been like.

When Ed and Al found the bookstore, it was being run by the wife of the son of the original owner. She and her husband had taken in Kip, the son of an Ishbalan couple, when he was just a baby - he'd become separated from his parents during the chaos of the Ishbalan massacre. Shelley had come to think of Kip as her own son, and Kip thought of her and her husband, Luon, as his parents, but Luon was determined to reunite him with his birth parents. Kip was caught between worlds - he looked like an Ishbalan and had a few Ishbalan friends, but he'd been raised by Amestrisian parents and didn't have the gut level hatred of state alchemists that most Ishbalan survivors had.

I correctly guessed some of the ways Edward and Alphonse's part of the story would overlap with Roy's, but not all. While the revelations were good and had decent emotional impact, it was all a bit too similar to things that happened in the original manga. It took me a bit, but I finally realized that the reason why Luon and Kip gave me such a sense of deja vu was because they reminded me of a couple pairs of characters in the manga.

The whole "augmented blood" thing was so-so, and the one character's plans had holes you could drive a bus through. Also, the monster at the end wasn't so much horrifying as just ridiculous.

Well, I've now read all of the FMA light novels, or at least all of the ones that were translated into English. I'm pretty sure they all had slight typos and errors, and the writing was never more than serviceable, but overall I'm glad I read them. One of these days I need to reread (and actually finish!) the manga.

Extras:

One full-color illustration, several black and white illustrations throughout, an afterword by Makoto Inoue (who now has a Java Sparrow in addition to a chipmunk), and an afterword by Hiromu Arakawa with a four-panel comic featuring a scene from the book and a sketch of Roy.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (more)

This book is divided into two stories, "Under the Faraway Sky" and "Roy's Holiday." I'll discuss them separately.

"Under the Faraway Sky"

Edward and Alphonse Elric have now been traveling on their own for a year. Edward ends up with a cold, forcing them to stop at a nearby town for a while. The local doctor is busy, so the person he sends to give Edward a checkup is his assistant, who turns out to be Edward's best childhood friend back at Resembool, Pitt. It's a shock - when they were growing up, Pitt was just as much of a troublemaker as Edward, but now he's mature and pursuing a career he's interested in and that clearly helps people. It makes Edward a little jealous.

These light novels are of course all filler, but this story felt particularly filler-like, with its introduction of Edward's childhood best friend, who was somehow inseparable from him and yet never previously mentioned in any incarnation of the series and who would never be mentioned again. It made it really hard to care any time they talked about their fun days back at Resembool.

I spent the whole story thinking that there would be a big revelation about Pitt's reason for apprenticing himself to a doctor in a town he hadn't previously had any connection to, something more than "his dad researched medicinal herbs so he was sort of continuing the family business." However, this was more about Pitt and Edward accepting the choices they'd made and not comparing themselves to people who'd chosen other paths. For Edward, it was also about realizing that he didn't have to completely leave his past behind - that it wouldn't hurt to occasionally stop by Resembool and see people like Winry, even if his automail didn't need repairing.

This story was just a big pile of "meh" for me, combined with slight annoyance at Pitt's very existence.

"Roy's Holiday"

Roy is given orders to temporarily change places with a commanding officer at a tiny post practically in the middle of nowhere. He grumbles about it, but in reality he views it like a vacation...until he actually gets there and realizes how undisciplined and badly trained his new subordinates are. Then his vacation morphs into a mountain of work, until Hughes and Armstrong make a detour to see him after a nearby investigation of theirs fails to pan out. Hughes and Armstrong drag Roy away, swearing that they have a great view to show him, which results in a semi-terrifying hike that forces them to stop at a village that wasn't on their map. Oddly enough, the village is populated only by children.

The table of contents called this "Roy's Holiday," while the title is listed just before the story as "Roy's Vacation." It's one of several examples that illustrate this story's need for better editing and attention to detail, which is a shame, considering that this was the better of the two stories in the volume.

It was fairly obvious what was going on with this little village, and the length of time it took Roy to figure it out made him look a bit stupid. Still, it was nice to see him try to help out with chores, and I was amused at how proud he was of the one task he was actually able to do well. Meanwhile, Hughes and Armstrong had no trouble at all fitting in and being useful.

Another so-so story, but at least better than the first one. This could have made a decent filler episode in the original anime series.

Extras:

One full-color illustration of Hughes, Armstrong, and Roy (the image of Hughes holding both a knife and pictures of his daughter makes my heart squeeze, ugh), a few black and white illustrations throughout, an afterword by Makoto Inoue (who apparently has a pet chipmunk), and an afterword by Hiromu Arakawa that includes a four-panel comic and a sketch of what appears to be Winry, Edward, and Alphonse as adults.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (more)

Edward and Alphonse Elric are essentially forced to do a bit of work for Colonel Mustang in this one. Mustang is super busy but has also been tasked with monitoring a little town called Wisteria and writing up a report, so he delegates the Wisteria report to Edward.

Wisteria turns out to be a mysterious place. Everyone seems to think it's a desert utopia, the kind of place no one ever leaves. The only people allowed in are those who have nowhere else to go. Raygen, the alchemist who founded the town, explains that it operates under the law of equivalent exchange. As long as everyone works and contributes, they'll have a place to stay and food to eat. The harder jobs, like mining gemstones that are later sold outside Wisteria, pay better, but there's also easier work available in the local tavern and elsewhere around town. It seems perfect, until Edward investigates a little more.

This book had a decent message and was basically an argument for Universal Basic Income, health care for all, etc. It was about as subtle as a sledgehammer, though, and even then it didn't quite go far enough. Yes, Wisteria had several weak, elderly, and/or frail people who couldn't do their "fair share," but I was surprised that Inoue didn't underscore the message by having one of the town's top earners, maybe Neil, injure himself on the job and experience a sudden fall from grace.

I might have liked this more if it hadn't felt so much like I'd already read it. Raygen, Wisteria, and Ruby reminded me a lot of Father Cornello, Reole/Liore, and Rose. Since that was one of the earliest storylines in the series, it surprised me that neither Ed nor Al were reminded of any of it themselves. True, Wisteria's secret was different than Reole/Liore's, but it was the same basic setup, a miraculously wonderful town controlled by a charismatic leader who wasn't as kind as he appeared to be. Both Ruby and Rose were tied to their respective charismatic leaders by their painful pasts.

I did like that Inoue paid a bit more attention to Alphonse than usual. Wisteria and its citizens prompted Alphonse to think more deeply about his goals and his feelings about his new body vs. his old one. And I really enjoyed the conversation Ed and Al had about any feelings of guilt Ed might still be carrying around. It reminded me that these two are probably my top favorite manga/anime siblings.

Translation-wise, either I just wasn't in the right mood or this one was a bit stiffer than the previous two.

This didn't really offer anything new and didn't work as well for me as the previous two novels, but it was still relatively decent.

Extras:

A handful of black-and-white illustrations, one full-color illustration, an author afterword, and a short afterword by Hiromu Arakawa, complete with a couple sketches.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (more)