Episode 02

Synopsis: Cornello does indeed have what appears to be the Philosopher's Stone, but he'd rather kill Ed and Al than hand it over. Can they defeat him (and reveal his fraud) before he's able to pull it off?

Full Review

Opening Movement (and edit)
The opening is moved to the beginning of the episode, instead of after the first scene. Also, the title card has been removed (in the original "Ready, Steady, Go" it had the title laid over blue sky), and replaced with the same title card from last week.

Title Change
The title card is still in the correct spot (after the first scene; originally it went right after the OP, which was after the first scene). However, the original title of "Condemned Body" was changed to "Body of the Sanctioned."

Dialogue Change
Nowhere in the original is 'alchemy on human souls' ever mentioned. Through 51 episodes. It's forbidden to try to create (or recreate, as the case generally is) a human being (aka bring someone back from the dead). No one ever mentions their souls.

Massive Dialogue Addition
I'm not gonna go through everything that got added, but there's not nearly as much dialogue in the original as there is in the dubbed scene... of course, we all know how companies enjoy adding dialogue, because silence = evil.

Dialogue Change
Slight... originally Cornello called the Elrics 'amateur', not 'heretic'. I thought we'd made it clear last episode that Ed doesn't agree with their 'religion'?

Dialogue Change
Well, if Cornello's gonna change his insults of Ed, I guess Ed needs to change his insults as well... however, it's not an insult in the dub. Originally, Ed called Cornello 'Baldy.' In the dub he calls him 'holy man'.

Dialogue Removal
Apparently, calling him a 'holy man' was insult enough for Ed. They cut out him calling Cornello a 'third-rate' (which refers back to him calling Ed an 'amateur'). 

Dialogue Addition
Rose never mentions Ed when she's in the room with 'Cain'.

Dialogue Change
In the dub, the citizens are told to stay in their houses. In the original, they're told to capture Ed and Al... guess they do a better job of listening in the original.

Dialogue Addition
Gasps of awe were changed to comments such as "you wanna call him a phony now" and the like.

Dialogue Addition
Cornello never says that Ed is useless without the watch. I think they just added it 'cuz the Japanese line took longer to say.

Visual Change
Apparently, pasting the logo onto the screen was too much work, so the eyecatch has been removed.

Dialogue Change
Cornello never mentioned Rose going against him in the original. She simply stumbled upon information she shouldn't have (the stone).

Dialogue Addition
The "how did you survive the statues" conversation doesn't take place in the original.

Dialogue Addition
While Ed does comment on the fact that Cornello can't bring people back from the dead, he never comments on himself. I mean, come on... even if the guy COULD resurrect people, do you think he'd resurrect someone he murdered?

Dialogue Change
Instead of Ed's "I don't get my skills from a pocket watch" comment from the dub, he comments that their ranks are different (referring back to Ed's 'third-rate' comment, removed from the dub).

Dialogue Change
In the original, Ed tells Cornello that he'll show him "the true punishment of God." In the dub, he says that they both "can't stand doubters."

Dialogue Addition
Where Ed says "Here's the real hammer of God," there's originally silence (but we all know, silence = bad).

Not an Edit, but an Inflection Change
Yes, Rose was mad at Ed, but she's angry through her whole tirade in the dub. In the original, except for the two times she yelled, she seemed more lost.

Dialogue Addition
The changing of "Long live Cornello" was not in the original.  In the original, after Lust's line, there is only the wonderful music that is Brat'ya (Brothers). This is my favorite track from the entire series. Too bad it's not played as often in the 2nd half of the series as in the first.

Name Change
Resembool is now the official name of their village. I prefer Rizenbul much better (although every fansubber translated it differently.

Ending Change
The dub's ending is only 30 seconds long. Why they cut out the other 40 seconds, I don't know.

Preview Change
The end of the preview was cut short. After the scene of Ed running on the hill, it originally had the clip of Ed and Al making the doll for Winry (the start of it). Sponsor info was said over this, which is probably why it was cut (however, in later episodes, important info is given in this extra part of the preview, so I hope they don't take it out).

Final Thoughts
Overall, I think this episode was done much better than the first. However, this does not raise my expectations of the rest of the series.

All thoughts and text on this page is (C) Marie Morse, all rights reserved.