“The Military Festival” begins with the soldiers of the Amestris Army debating who would win if Ed and Mustang ever fought. That’s them Just like anime fans argue about which of their favorite characters are the strongestand you will get an answer soon.
To satisfy the crew’s curiosity, Ed and Mustang are given the task of organizing a public fight for the men. The opponents’ mutual friend, Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, acts as the announcer. Ed spends most of the fight running from Mustang’s explosive, finger-snapping flame alchemy, while Roy – who wins easily – shares some battlefield wisdom. (“An angry soldier fights blindly,” he warns the choleric Ed.)
Ed briefly gains the upper hand when he creates a decoy and cuts open Mustang’s right “igniter” glove – only for Mustang to reveal that his left glove also has a flame alchemy transmutation circle. Victory: Mustang. A comically injured Ed ends up being carried away on a stretcher by Al, but Mustang is the real loser as he has to clean up the destroyed battlefield. The chapter ends with Hughes back at headquarters, sipping tea and dropping a final piece of wisdom: “A soldier should know when to retreat.”
“Fullmetal vs Flame” faithfully adapts the fight, both the action and the farce. Both this chapter and this episode use a “Gilligan Cut” as Mustang claims that leader Bradley will not allow this fight under any circumstances – then an immediate transition to him happily approving of it.
When Hughes introduces Roy and then Ed to the crowd, both are booed – Mustang because other soldiers resent him for quickly moving up the ranks (and stealing many of their girlfriends in the process), Ed because the soldiers have no respect for a little teenager have, even one who is an alchemy prodigy. When Ed runs away from Mustang’s firebombs, the anime accompanies the scene not with a dramatic battle tune, but with Benny Hill-style slapstick music.
To round out the running time, “Fullmetal vs Flame” adds two more bonus comedy chapters. The episode’s B-plot, about Sergeant Fuery trying to find a home for a stray dog, comes from the chapter “Dog of the Military,” the origin story of Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye’s dog Black Hayate (Japanese for “Hurricane.” “). The result is one of the episode’s most famous (and funniest) scenes, in which the cold mustang attacks Hayate and exuberantly declares, “I love dogs!”
This isn’t Mustang’s only goofy moment in the episode. He also states that once he is leader of Amestris, he will mandate that all female officers wear “little miniskirts!” This earns him an eye roll from Hawkeye and the undying loyalty of Lieutenant Havoc.
Bone
This is an adaptation of a non-canonical four-panel chapter (“Omake”), “The Ambitious Alchemist.” The joke is that Mustang’s sacred goal in reforming the country is to change the military dress code in favor of the lecherous, and that is the high ideal that makes his team so loyal to him.
Namely media
Yes, “Fullmetal vs Flame” is a little funnier, but that’s not it Only a gag episode. The series uses the episode to bridge storylines and further advance the characterizations of Ed and Roy.
