Episode 56: The Return of the Führer (2009 series)

The Return of the Führer
Series	Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Episode number	56
Japan airdate	May 9, 2010
U.S.A. airdate	May 13, 2010 (online stream)
Run time	0:24:30
Language	Japanese/English
Subtitles	English
Navigation
Preceded by	The Adults' Way of Life
Followed by	Eternal Leave

Central’s forces fight with renewed vigor following Bradley’s return, and the Führer himself enters the battle. His first opponent is an armored tank. His second foe is even tougher.

Full Synopsis

In the past, Hohenheim is seen traveling through the desert mumbling about how he wants to talk to someone and wants to tell that person that they are not alone before collapsing from exhaustion. He is found by some men who recognize that he is from the west due to his blonde hair and believe him to be dead until Hohenheim shows signs that he is still alive. After giving him water, the leader of the group reveals they are merchants from Xing. Carrying him, they ask what he was trying to do. All Hohenheim could mumble is that he has no place to go after running away from Xerxes, and that he couldn't stop him, apologizing to someone named Sergence. Back in the present, Hohenheim mentions Sergence was a master carpenter and the other people they used to know from Xerxes explain that it is their souls who are now invading Father's body and are working with him to defeat Father. Father is surprised by this and refuses to believe it, and Hohenheim admits he had trouble with these souls at first before conversing with them thanks to the undying body that Father gave him. After Hohenheim explains he has conversed with all 536,329 souls inside him, the souls in Father's body create a spike through Father's head. Though Father breaks it, Hohenheim says they are going to break his flask and end Father's life forever as more spikes emerge from various parts of Father's body. Hohenheim says that once Father's container is destroyed, the flask will be too and he will turn to dust. However, to Hohenheim's surprise, Father absorbs the spike and then a discards his container, revealing a new form that resembles his old flask form. Hohenhiem is surprised Father can do this, and Father explains that they aren't the only ones who evolved over the years. He then creates a giant Eye in the ceiling explaining he will become the perfect being.

Above ground, Wrath (King Bradley) prepares his frontal assault, saying there is no point using a back entrance to enter his own castle. Deflecting the Briggs Tank gunfire with his sword, Wrath charges for the tank. The Briggs soldiers operating the tank quickly back up the tank out of fear, but Bradley pursues them and kills the other Briggs soldiers in the way. Bradley eventually slashes the tires with his sword and then throws the grenade he has inside the tank, destroying it and killing the Briggs soldiers inside. Facing Buccaneer and a few soldiers in the courtyard, he easily cuts Buccaneer and destroys his Crocodile-model automail arm when Buccaneer tries a second attack. Wrath orders Falman to open the gate for him, but a crying Falman holds him at gunpoint, apologizing to Mustang that he may die sooner than expected. Buccaneer, having tied the chains of his automail arm to his left hand, tells Falman that he should not try to show courage while crying like that and that he can never be as manly as him because he can still fight despite his wounds. Wrath says that this is foolhardiness, but a voice cuts in agreeing that nothing good can come of giving in to fear in the heat of the moment.

The new player turns out to be Greed, who admits he can't leave these people high and dry to get killed. Outside on the streets, the Briggs soldiers are having difficulty, as the Central soldier's morale has increased since Bradley's return and they must hold the line. A separate unit of Central's soldiers arrives at the radio station; the radio show manager announces the news to Mrs. Bradley that her husband has returned, causing her to cry from being happy that he is still alive. Upon hearing that Bradley is sweeping up the Briggs soldiers, Breda says, to Ross's disappointment, that they'll have to pin the blame on Briggs to protect Mustang. Breda says that it is fortunate the Führer is still alive, and that Major General Armstrong is likely the leader of the uprising. Ross leaves the room and meets with Fuery in the hallway to discuss their disappointment in Führer's survival and the fact that they have no choice but to paint Maj. General Armstrong as the villain. As the two are getting ready to deal with the troops outside the radio station, knowing that while their announcement has bought them some time, they'll be crushed once Bradley takes full command.

Wrath and Greed talk, and Wrath is surprised that Greed has not fled. Greed transforms his arms and says he wants Wrath's life as well. Greed then jumps straight to the ground, with Buccaneer wondering who he is. When questioned about how he survived the train wreck, Wrath responds that his Ultimate Eye is sharper than that: he calculated what he had to do and timed his jumps among the debris to survive. Wrath also admits that his body is not quite like it used to be. Falman recognizes Greed as Ling Yao, and Greed reverts back to Ling for a moment to thank Falman for letting him stay at his apartment a while back. Wishing to repay the favor, Ling reverts back to Greed and says that both of them have a personal hated against Wrath. Charging forward, the two exchange blows, and all Falman can do is watch. Greed reveals that due to Ling's knowledge of Wrath's fighting style, he'll try to fight Wrath in his blind spot. Removing his eye patch, Wrath charges forward, taking the upper hand with speedy strikes while Greed dodges and blocks. A few Briggs soldiers attempt to help despite Greed's warning not to, but Wrath cuts them all down. Buccaneer then attacks, but Wrath stabs him through the stomach and badly injures him. Wrath dodges Buccaneer's next attack, and Buccaneer reveals this was his plan so Bradley can no longer use his sword. Greed is both angry and impressed with this stunt and thanks Buccaneer as he charges forward, but Wrath secures two knives from the corpse of a Briggs soldier to counter the attack. Admitting he is not used to these weapons, Wrath gets ready as an angry Greed charges again.

Down below at the main gate's entrance, more troops led by a man named Gamelan arrive. Learning what is happening and seeing through binoculars Greed fighting the Führer, Gamelan plans to overrun Briggs's troops and save the Führer. With Greed too busy to help, Falman takes it upon himself to order that the wounded Buccaneer be moved to a safe place and that machine guns be moved to the main gate's entrance to keep the Central reinforcements from reaching the gate. This allows them to pin down the reinforcements in the process. Gamelan tries to have a message sent to open the main gate, but that is not possible due to the Mannequin Soldiers. Before Gamelan can inquire what they are talking about, a few colored smoke bombs go off, and Gamelan and his men are knocked out by the man behind the smoke bombs - Fu. Dodging friendly fire, Fu charges in and attacks Wrath, damaging his knives before jumping back to where Greed is. Greed thanks him, but Fu makes it clear he was protecting Master Ling's body, which he only found due to Greed's sickening Qi emerging from it. Fu asks who their opponent is and Greed responds that it is King Bradley. Fu is surprised by this and proudly states that this is the first time he has seen him. However, he quickly becomes angry, realizing he is the same person who took away the arm of his granddaughter, Lan Fan.

Episode Notes

• This episode is adapted from content in Chapter 97: The Two Philosophers and Chapter 98: Greed Without Limits.
• The Transmutation Circle that appears in the background of this episode's title card is the Five-Point Human Transmutation circle in the palace at Xerxes.
• In this episode, the part in the story played by Storch in the manga is instead played by an officer named Gamelan of the 3rd Sovereign Battalion.
• The anime includes actual flashbacks of many of the Xerxians Hohenheim refers back to, whereas in the manga they were all alluded to in text only.