salvidida · 6 months ago
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Everything about Scar's treatment in Brotherhood sucks so bad, but there was something specific that has been bothering me for awhile. I hadn't been able to quite put my finger on what it was since watching FMAB for the first time recently (as a lifelong 03 fan). So I rewatched FMA 03 again and it finally clicked what it was that further upsets me about Brotherhood regarding Scar, besides the more obvious imperialist propaganda and racism:
The Elric's relationship to him.
Now obviously Ed's racism towards Scar in Brotherhood is pointed out frequently enough, but it doesn't stop there. It's the way that Brohood Ed is incapable and fully resistant to ever bridging that gap besides a deeply uneasy allyship-of-convenience. Al is also fully distant from Scar, besides their mutual antagonism in the earlier arc. And nothing more is really explored here between these characters.
And I didn't realize how much I valued the way 03's Scar, Ed, and Al contrast, overlap, mirror, battle, and support one another. Their fates and goals are inseparable. Alchemy's impact on the Elrics' lives is reflected with Scar's life and his brother's, as well as their familial relationship to their own brothers; many point out the similarities between 03 Scar and Al, with some noting how Ed and Scar's brother match each other. And the way the Elrics here are more able to engage with the harsh realities that inform Scar's choices and actions versus that of their place as Amestrians, and for Ed as an active member of the military who, despite wanting to cling to his principle of never taking a life, at times can see Scar's point of view and even, with reticence, sympathize with him (Al even more so).
There are layers to the relationship across these three characters. The tension and humanity that arises is a driving force in revealing the dialectics of this show. It's to the point that Al and even at times Ed defend Scar when talking with other characters towards the end of the show, and they even ultimately owe their lives to him (the philosopher stone and grand arcanum that allowed both Ed and Al to live, and for Al to regain his body). And the bond between the Elrics help Scar to forgive his brother, to speak aloud that he loves him in his final moments, before triumphantly accomplishing his goal against the Amestrian military, saving the remaining Liorans, and saving Al from becoming Kimbly's final bomb.
And there are other moments, such as Scar helping Al in Lab 5, telling him he sees his unmistakable humanity after Al helps him save Ishbalan refugees. Scar attempting to help Ed in Lab 5 after he refuses to sacrifice the prisoners for the Philosopher Stone, because he sees the humanity in Ed too, the humanity that can resist merely being a ruthless military dog and scientist. The way Scar treats Al almost like a little brother of his own, and when he mentions that Ed and his older brother share the same kind eyes- said at a time when Scar still harbours ill feelings for his brother's taboos and his sacrifice; which becomes all the more poignant when he forgives his brother before creating a Stone passed down to the Elrics. Scar mentions having sworn off specifically targetting state alchemists post-Lab 5, and this feels like his way of sparing the Elrics of his wrath, even as he holds fast to fighting against an oppressive system with necessary violence. The material here is rich for analysis and appreciation! It doesn't settle on more digestible, black-and-white character archetypes and plot conveniences.
There's a reason why the final outro for 03, where it flashes across four deceased characters who mattered to the Elrics, includes Scar. The man is in the ranks of Trisha, Nina, and Hughes! This isn't a mistake, the writers are intentionally showing the indelible impacts of these people who they cared about.
But with FMAB, it's exceptionally flat here and entirely derogatory. Ed hates Scar, and the narrative treats him as wholly right to do so. Scar needs to repent and reform to the side of his genociders, and never shall these characters interact or converse beyond putting a stop to Father. Scar was nothing more than a vehicle to reach his murdered brother's alchemic research, and an example to be made of any radical who so much as raises a finger against the State. All three of these characters want nothing to do with each other, and that's about as far as we get with them. In Scar's own words, he's nothing more than the 'ooze' (the poison) that arises from military conquest, and by the end of the show it's clear that, even with Scar saving the entire country that destroyed his life, to the Elrics, he will always be that 'ooze'.
In Brotherhood Scar committed what the Elrics clearly considers to be the ultimate sin: he killed Winry's parents, and no matter the circumstances surrounding that event, no matter what else changes, no matter which mass murderers, monsters, and genociders the Elrics can sympathize with, humanize, befriend, and forgive, Scar will never be anything more than an unforgivable murderer. The best everyone gets here is moving on and living seperate lives. Nothing more.
The fact that Ed openly wishes he could beat the shit out of Scar, he verbalizes as such while Winry patches him up and Miles lectures him about the value of reforming the military regime to include more racialized people for its imperialist complex. And the big mercy Ed in this moment offers to Scar is... Not kicking the shit out of him after all.
The juxtaposition between these adaptations, the cold hatred of FMAB versus the entangled, poetic antagonism and comradery of FMA 03 makes experiencing the former anime so depressing. Until watching Broho it never dawned on me just how much I truly appreciated the complexities between Scar and the Elrics in 03. Finding Scar's Earth counterpart at the end of Shambala wasn't just a fun cameo: it feels like a road that leads back to an ally.
At least now I have something I can more consciously enjoy whenever I revisit 03, while articulating yet another reason why I can't stand Broho.
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xviicprc · 4 years ago
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🌻
People are so mean to FMA 03. It doesn't deserve it!!!
Don't get me wrong FMA:B is a grest show but it shouldn't be treated as "the Only FMA anime that exists, ignore the other one"
FMA 03 was a great introduction to anime for many people!!!
And it actually handled a lot of the serious moments even better than FMAB (*cough* Rose's belief being shattered while she stands on the ruins of the Chruch/symbolism of her faith *cough* The brother's failed Human transmutatiom is more horrific and gruesome, selling better the idea of a tabboo gone wrong *cough* Nina spend more episodes with the brothers tricking you into thinking she was gonna be a recuring character and was a surrogate little sister *cough* the emotional scene between Ed and Al where both almost die at the hands of Scar doesn't have All hitting Edd with comical sounds *cough* Actually having a great first episode)
Stop being so mean to it just because "it doesnt adapt the manga hyrr hurr dur"
Arakawa Herself said to enjoy the show for what differences it has from the source material!!!!!!!!! She worked on the anime seires as well for it to have her aproval!!!
Also there was no manga left to adapt for them! What? You wanted them to wait 10 years for Arakawa to finish???
(Also I dont like the colors in FMA:B a lot :/ they look washed out and I KNOW its a stylistic choice meant to imitate Hiromu Arakawa's oil paintings of FMA but.... Egh, Edd looks too light blonde to me?? The backgrounds are... Okay i guess. The colors don't catch my eye, and seem dull)
TBH maybe I will be hanged for this but FMA:B only gets good when it starts adapting the episodes the 03 series couldn't adapt
Also. FMAB (aside from the opening and ending songs) didn’t have such a memorable OST like FMA 03 "BROTHERS" IS SO fucking GOOD I CRY EVEYTIM-
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homunculusalphonse · 3 years ago
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me: y'know FMA 03 is good-
someone: OH BUT BROTHERHOOD IS BETTER. IT ACTUALLY FOLLOWS THE MANGA UNLIKE STINKY 2003
me:
me: siiiiiiiiiigh
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dragontamer05 · 4 years ago
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Alright so here are my initial thoughts on the first handful of episodes of 03 FMA
Despite so many things getting shuffled and changed around, it’s not the worst thing they could do and can live with it- the anime after does want to be it’s own thing from the Manga and not the first time that animes had diverted from Manga.
However there is one grave Sin I cannot defend and puts a great black mark on the series so early on.
They had Ed KILL someone. I don’t care if it was in self defense or for what reason, because that is probably the most ooc thing you you could do for him.
Not killing is literally Ed’s whole thing. He does not want to kill. And never once in Brotherhood or the manga does he ever kill someone - technically not even Father right at the end.
Yet here we are like I wanna say the 4th or so episode they have him straight up kill a man.
__
Making Ed kill would be like the same as suddenly having Aang from Avatar kill someone (Yes I know Ed isn’t quite a pacifist like Aang but they both have the same ideals they will not take the life of another person)
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zetalial · 5 years ago
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Alphonse is an overly trusting idiot
(and I love him for it)
Hey there! Alphonse is one of my favourite characters in FMA. He’s nice and as much a prodigy as his brother - but when it comes to people, he can be really naive and idiotic. (Bear in mind that he is really a kid though.)
This is mostly about 03 Alphonse where his trusting nature is both a strength and a flaw. He’s trusting in BH as well, I think, but I don’t think we see him get into as much trouble because of it. (I mean, there was that time when he spent all night in the dark with Pride, who was banging his helmet in a constant methodical pattern the whole time before realising something was wrong.)
Want some examples? Okay! At the start of episode 10, Ed and Al are playing poker and Ed is blatantly cheating. Al doesn’t suspect his devious brother at all until the cards literally fall out of his sleeve.
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Apparently he just thought he was being unlucky. 
Later in this episode, even though Clara/Psyren has already lied to them once, he still believes she has good intentions for stealing stuff. He believes her made-up story every single time. Ed only believes her the first time.
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Yeah, he’s irritated at his brother for helping to arrest her. (Gosh, Ed spends so much of that episode eating.)
An episode later, the brother are in Xenotime and Ed is angry that a pair of brothers have stolen their identities and as a result the entire town thinks they’re a pair of liars and threw them out of what was probably the inn.
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Unsurprisingly, Ed is angry. Al, meanwhile, doesn’t hold any sort of grudge at all and tries to be nice and befriend the younger brother, Fletcher, while calling his brother a hothead. (Like Ed’s reaction is the unreasonable one or something.) This works out for Al as the Tringham’s are not really a bad sort and they start working together. Al also convinces Fletcher to stand up to his brother. 
Moving away from the early fillerish episodes, how about that time when Al meets Scar? Scar has already tried to kill he and his brother once. Al’s armour was completely wrecked. But when he meets up with Scar outside the fifth Lab, he is nice and attempts to befriend Scar, asking about his past and such. Nevermind that Scar has told him that he still intends to kill Ed.
Well, I guess Scar did help to defeat his opponent that Al was struggling against-
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Oh right. Al also listens to Barry the Chopper and allows the crazed serial killer to convince him that he might not be real. That all his memories are fake. He gets caught up in his emotions and stops listening to logic and this leads to a terrible fallout with his brother. Helping Scar paid off at least as he helps him fight some mercenaries and Scar decides to help and defend the other Ishvalans, ending his crusade against State Alchemists.
Al’s awesome trusting nature also helps him to befriend Marta, as he helps to keep her safe even against her wishes when she and Greed have kidnapped him.
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This pays off later when he meets up with Marta again and she gives them a ride. 
Though it’s not all so good as he also tries to stop Marta from killing Kimblee because he doesn’t want her to take revenge for betraying Greed. His efforts aren’t enough to save her this time though as she can’t resist trying to kill the Fuhrer and Marta ends up dead.  
As for Kimblee? He turns Alphonse into a bomb and Scar has to give up his arm to save Al’s life. (Kimblee is killed by Scar)
Next, the brothers run into Hohenheim and Ed wants nothing to do with him while Al isn’t angry at his father for abandoning them at all. He even sides against Edward. Ed seems incredibly hurt by this.
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Gosh, couldn’t Al have pretended to be irritated for five minutes to support Ed before forgiving his dad? Ed’s feelings are hardly unreasonable. Anyway, this means he can spend the night with his dad and get to know him a little. 
Then Al gets a call from Shou Tucker of all people and decides to learn about the Philosopher’s stone from him. He goes behind Ed’s back to do this. Al is somehow surprised when this backfires as Tucker uses him and a piece of his Philosophers stone. 
Finally, there’s Al’s reaction to Sloth. Ed is not inclined to trust her as he realises she’s not their mother and means them harm. He tells Al as much. Al still wants to trust her though.
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He even throws her weakness away and shoves Ed to the ground. Sloth proceeds to manipulate and control Al (she literally hides inside his body) while trying to kill Ed. 
Yeah, so in almost every one of these instances, Al ends up fighting or arguing with his brother. Only some of the time does this work out for them. There’s actually only one incident I can think of where Al isn’t incredibly naive and trusting. And that’s against Wrath. This is probably one of the times where it might have been good if Alphonse had been less aggressive as Wrath isn’t actually a bad sort. Edward was already being sufficiently wary and untrusting towards Wrath. The two of them end up handling the situation really badly given its Envy of all people that acts kind and earns Wrath’s trust. It’s because he has Ed’s limbs - that’s like the one thing Al can’t accept because he feels guilty about it.
The Elrics actually complement each other really well. Al’s trusting nature gets people to open up towards them while Ed is more rational. Ed, for instance, realises something is off about Tucker long before Al, who only understands what Tucker’s done to Nina when it’s revealed. Al’s basically the naive, trusting brother while Ed is the one who has to be responsible. Err, Ed can be pretty reckless and emotional as well, it’s just that he’s more cynical and less prone to trusting killers and liars.
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ruinsofxerxes · 7 years ago
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So I really need to share this.. I finished Brotherhood and 2003. Brotherhood's ending felt... too optimistic and 2003's felt way too somber. I enjoyed them both as different works of art, howver I feel as though Brotherhood was slightly better. But how would I fix the ending? Hohenheim offered to sacrifice himself.. and ed giving up alchemy felt... eh. What if Ed sacrificed himself? That would have been better? I don't know.
Ain’t no need to fix something that is perfect no siree I’ll defend brohood’s ending to my dying breath i swear on my death bed my last words are gonna be “damn arakawa did THAT”
nah but really it’s ok to be underwhelmed(?) with the endings if that’s what you feel, tho I’d like to discuss why I do enjoy brohood’s ending most (i mean personal preferences aside because i do love horribly angsty and dark series that have sugary sweet endings lol)
Ed giving up his alchemy was actually a good thing, although I definitely was super disappoint and kind of.....grieving it when I first saw it. But it shows Ed’s excellent character development! Ed was super arrogant in the beginning and as a child because of his alchemy. That’s why he brought up the whole Icarus myth with Rose, he thought he could play god, that he was indestructible because of his alchemy. Even after the failed transmutation, some of that arrogance still lingers, which is pretty noticeable when he talks down to Rose a bit, though it gets knocked down quite a bit later on after he realizes he can’t help Nina, and as the series progresses, he realizes not everything can be fixed with alchemy, and that alchemy isn’t all that there is, he’s always been a simple human, and it was in the end that he realized he didn’t need it to fix all his problems because he had such a good loving support system, which is where his whole speech to Truth came from. Great character arc tbh!
Hoho sacrificing himself for Al definitely would have been a good solution, it would have been the easiest option, but Ed refused because he couldn’t use another human life like that. Even though Hoho puts up a good argument (he’s been alive four hundred plus years, he’s al’s dad, he wants to make up for all those years he was absent) but Al literally says (in episode 16 I believe???) that he doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt or killed to get his body back. Ed knows this and I think if Ed had allowed Hoho to sacrifice himself for Al, it seriously would have hurt Al since that wasn’t what he wanted, he would have felt awful and guilty and Ed didn’t want to do that to either of them
aND LASTLY Ed definitely shouldn’t have/wouldn’t have sacrificed himself (I mean he did in 03 but, like, two totally different series ASDFGHJK) anyway, idk if you’ve read the manga but it’s actually explained why Ed didn’t sacrifice himself for Al. Because he knew what it was like to lose the last of your family, since that’s what happened to him after the failed transmutation. He thought he was alone, and it was the worst thing ever, and so he refused to put Al through that too. 
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ASDFGHJK SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG. IDK. I just really loved how Arakawa wrote the ending, I think it was a perfect way to end it, but that’s just me, I’m pretty bias considering how far up fma’s ass i am
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ladyloveandjustice · 7 years ago
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FMA...03, for the anime ask, please.
do you WANT to set this blog on fire
okay fine
haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite
don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation
(like maybe you’ll like it! but i didn’t so i’m not ever gonna rec it)
fav characters: still Winry! Which was fucking painful let me tell you.least fav characters: God it’s hard to pick between Ed and Roy. But I occasionally felt sorry for Ed, so I’ll go with Roy. It takes a special kind of asshole to chain the girl whose parents you killed up and then not even acknowledge her when you explained why you did it and never bother to apologize. And yet the narrative had even the girl he did that to sing his praises, because my god did whoever wrote 03 wanna suck his dick. fav relationship: Winry and Sheskafav moment: A tie between when Winry stole that tractor and Winry and Sheska superspiesheadcanons/theories: Shortly after Shamballa, Winry realized she was better off without Ed and Al and felt an enormous amount of relief they weren’t constantly fucking her over anymore. Then she married Sheska.unpopular opinion: I mean. Hating the thing is clearly unpopular. this blog knows.how’d you find it: I watched it on Netflix a while after getting into the manga and FMAB. I knew from what I’d read of the plot chances of me liking it were low, but  figured I owed it a shot. Honestly I kinda wanna go back in time and tell myself “no” or at least “okay but never talk about it again after you finish your liveblog”.random thoughts: Honestly I still hate it, but I don’t know why I ever thought I needed to get into arguments to defend my hatred of it or prove it’s objectively worse about female characters or race issues or whatever. I wasn’t ever gonna do that. The arguments made for both versions being about even there (or even preferring 03 on the race front) are…valid. I don’t agree, but they are valid, and I guess it does have to do with what perspective you approach it from, and the manga definitely has its flaws.
(03 is weaker from a narrative and characterization standpoint from my perspective too tho and I stand by that) (but it’s okay if you don’t think so! it’s okay if you like it! You do you and I’ll do me! And i really do see that there are a lot of things to love about it just…i don’t love those things! so you go, you love those things super hard and I’ll love other things super hard!)
 So y’know, like what you like, i’ll like what I like. I never ever want to get in a debate about social justice issues + fullmetal alchemist again. That ship has sailed, and for many parts, it was a debate I overstepped myself in (and also one I could never fully understand anyway, because Arakawa comes from a different cultural perspective than ANY of us, which complicates things). That kinda thing is tricky. 
I think it was a valuable learning experience for me- now I try not to take fandom too seriously and instead focus on having fun and talking about what I want to see more of. It’s much better to celebrate what you like than dwell on what you hate. That’s good advice in general. I’m old and tired now and I’m just gonna be me. That doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop talking about issues that are important, like representation in media or if something bothers me- but it’s best not to get too deep down that rabbit hole and to take a step back. Life’s too short. Remember nuance. Nothing is perfect. it’s just the internet. etc.
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prettywitchiusaka · 7 years ago
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I think I have a theory on why FMA Brotherhood has eclipsed FMA 03 in popularity since its initial airing.
One of the reasons I fell in love with original FMA was its morally ambiguous worldview; that the world is not as black and white as people make it out to be, and that you have to learn to live with it. That the world is unfair and imperfect, but that life is still worth living and fighting for (shown in particular with the theme of Equivalent Exchange and how it doesn’t really exist). This is shown in how it chooses to portray its cast;
Roy Mustang is a good man who genuinely cares for his country and the people he calls his friends, but he’s also kind of an asshole and while guilt ridden and haunted by his war criminal past, he knows he can never undo what he’s done and never denies it.
Izumi Curtis is a kind woman who loves people (children in particular) and loves the Elrics like her own, but she’s also ill tempered and it’s hard to defend some of her more violent actions towards Ed and Al as anything other than abuse( and no, I don’t mean her teaching when I say that).
Scar is vengeful, hypocritical and a murderer, but he fully understands this and is easy to sympathize with the more you learn about him, and the terrible conditions his people live in.
Even Ed is not immune to this. He’s kind hearted, intelligent, and easy to root for and sympathize with. But he’s also temperamental, hypocritical, prone fits of denial and vengeance, and tends to think with his emotions first and his head second a lot of the time. He doesn’t understand that his actions have consequences that affect other people or that the world doesn’t cater to his worldview alone, and ends up learning that lessons the hard way. First with Al, then with Liore.
But I don’t think people accept that anymore. Given our current political climate, and the fact that people can’t accept uncomfortable truths, I think it’s safe to say that people seem to shirk that type of narrative in favour of a more black and white worldview.
Most of what I know about Brotherhood suggests to me that it is more a story of Good vs. Evil, more black and white. And while that’s not wrong, it seems like people tend to favour that more nowadays.
So when you consider that, it’s really not surprising that one version of the story was swept under the rug to be forgotten and judged harshly (and unfairly) by the other side of fandom.
But that’s just my own theory. Let me know what you guys think.
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zetalial · 5 years ago
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03 Ed’s character development
So in my last post I started rambling in the tags and eh I figured I’d write it out in a separate post. (And as per usual it turned out way longer than I intended...) Enjoy this little post about Ed’s character development in FMA 03.
Okay, early on we see him getting into trouble and then solving problems and Ed is really confident and happy with big smiles. He takes great joy in outsmarting people or defeating people with his awesome alchemy skills. He gets moody at times - he doesn’t like being part of the military - but he is proud to be the alchemist for the people.
The first glance at him after the timeskip when he’s 15 has him talking to a taxi-driver about his lovely reputation and he’s visibly happy and gloating. (The wind gets taken out of him with a remark about his height though.) Now, he is sensitive to people’s suffering and wants to help others when he can - stuff like Nina still weighs on him. But mostly, he’s doing his own thing and thinks he’s awesome. (See Liore, Yousewell and the fullmetal versus flame episode.)
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Al’s a little more humble and caring about others while Ed is less interested in other people’s problems - he generally wants to help only when he begins to care about them or if it’s really about proving himself. (In episode 10, the Phantom Thief, his problem with Clara wasn’t that she was a thief, it was because she was a thief using alchemy. He’s particularly opposed to the misuse of alchemy and actually helps her when he thinks she’s trying to help the town. Then when she’s tricked him, Ed wants to defeat her because she got the better of him and he hates that.) 
Over the series, this arrogant attitude gets deconstructed. It starts with Marcoh, when Ed tracks him down and doesn’t care too much about his story about his Ishval and how the Stones he made were misused. He just wants the stone for his own goals - restoring him and Al - and doesn’t really care too much about the wider world. Then Marcoh gets taken by the military and Ed suddenly feels bad because he realises his actions caused this and he steps in to defend Marcoh from Scar. Complete with a flashback to Nina. (Separate post on this here)
So next, Ed finds out that the Philosopher’s stone is made from human lives and he starts to give up because pursuing their own goals would mean hurting others. It’s another huge challenge to his worldview. (Here’s a separate post I made on it.)
Then Lab 5 and he finds out the homunculi have been behind things and they’ve been secretly manipulating him and his brother all this time, leaving a trail to the stone to lure them in. Now Ed can no longer pretend that it’s their own quest independent of anything else. They’ve been controlled all this time and didn’t know it. Tucker is still alive. Barry the chopper is still alive. Ed hates being tricked and outsmarted and he’s really shaken by it all. 
Meanwhile, you’ve got Al interacting with Scar. Originally Scar is just a bad guy to Ed and now they’re learning more about Scar and his sympathetic motivations and it’s not so black and white. Early villains tended to be framed as generically evil. 
So Ed finds he’s more connected to the world than he’d like to be. He can’t just be selfishly pursuing his own goals with no care for his effect on the world. He learns about how the homunculi were created with Izumi and then he meets Greed. Greed’s just a bad guy to Ed. Then Ed kills him and Greed reveals he let Al go, that he’s been manipulated all his life and that he’s not such a bad guy. Ed has to deal with the fact that he’s taken a life and he has to try and move on. 
Early episodes had Ed really happy and proud with defeating the bad guy and saving the day. (Nina and Barry the chopper are sort of exceptions but even then the bad guys were so clearly evil and he could at least take some sort of satisfaction from defeating them. Until lab 5...) These episodes show the opposite, Ed feels terrible for what he’s accomplished. There is no satisfaction here.  
So the next couple episodes have some more of his assumptions challenged. His interactions with Ishvalans in episode 36 reveal that he’s been affected by propaganda more than he’d like and he confronts a bit of his own internalised racism (the show doesn’t really delve into the subject but it does touch on it a little.) Ed is starting to rethink his assumptions and his worldview. He makes this nice statement about how you can’t always trust what you’ve been told and you have to come to your own truths about the world. Martel informs him how the Ishval war wasn’t a single inciting incident based on different worldviews but an active insidious campaign by the military to start a war. What he’s been told before has been more lies and military propaganda which he’d never questioned.
Then the truth about Liore is revealed and Ed is now confronted with the fact that his actions didn’t help like he thought. He couldn’t solve their problems. All he did was cause worse problems even though it wasn’t his intention. All he can do is collapse in horror at the graves, realising that he was never the clever hero defeating the bad guy. His actions really had huge devastating consequences outside himself. 
And he also faces Sloth, who he’d been in denial about for ages. Now he accepts that she’s his creation and his responsibility and he can no longer run from her. So he prepares, going to Risembool to get her weakness. 
Lust has been his enemy for a long time and she’s done some terrible things. Yet she offers to work with him against his enemies. She wants his help and I like her line about how if he gives her what she wants and makes her human then they wouldn’t be enemies anymore. It’s like, these characters are more complex than mere bad guys and helping her would be the best move even though she’s never shown any remorse for the things she’s done. There’s no point to antagonising her now. (I’m probably not explaining it that well but I find this scene really powerful.) Meanwhile, Sloth is intent on being their enemy to the end and it’s necessary to go as far as killing her.
Ed’s fight to defeat her is every bit as clever and awesome as any of his earlier schemes and he’s aiming for the ending he got. (Whereas he was shocked by his own actions against Greed.) But there’s no happiness in victory here. Only bitter sadness. He’s beginning to understand the homunculi and that they’re not monsters - they’re tragedies. 
At this point they have the stone and Ed could be trying to get his and his brother’s body back. I think it might well have been possible. Early Ed probably would have tried to do just that. But now Ed’s not thinking of his own goals he’s thinking of the greater world outside of his own dreams. His conversation with Mustang in Episode 48, Goodbye, discusses this. Mustang’s throwing away his dream of becoming Fuhrer to defeat the corrupt Military while Ed goes after the Homunculi’s master who’s been pulling all the strings and starting wars. War is not a far-off thing that doesn’t concern him as he believed in early episodes. 
So we don’t see much of his cocky smile anymore. Ed learns he’s not as clever as he thinks he is and that his enemies aren’t as simple as he once thought and that the world effects him and he effects the world, whether he likes it or not. That’s some of his character development throughout the series. 
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We may not get so many big grins but we do still get some nice smiles from him at times. He’s grows more thoughtful about the world and more caring about others. He’s calmer and less arrogant and better at forgiving others for their mistakes, (like he’s able to forgive his father for all the terrible stuff he’s done upon seeing how he’s trying to be better). He’s still restless, and very attached to Al and can’t let go of his principle of equivalency entirely and this leads to his final sacrifice and then continuing researching relentlessly in the new world - he doesn’t become a perfect person or anything. But I adore his character growth.
Ed’s my favourite character in FMA and I absolutely love his character journey in 03. I hope this helps to explain why.
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