manga: Fullmetal Alchemist ch 99

[meganbmoore]

Woes!  The Olivia/Izumi teamup is over!  This is cause for sorrow.

Otherwise, in this chapter:  Action!  Lots and lots of action.  In complete honesty, I think Arakawa is good with action scenes, but that they aren't necessarily her strong suit.  That would be characterization, plot, and, to a lesser degree, relationships.  I kinda prefer those anyway.

Lan Fan's grandfather dies!  Rather epically.  Lan Fan stoically watches from a rooftop.  Presumably to maintain cover so she can later get epic revenge/save the day/someting.  Otherwise, I may be forced to be irked at the manga, which is not usual for me.  ling and Greed, apparently, can switch at will now.  Or maybe just if Ling is desperate enough.

Speaking of annoyed, i as prepared to do so when Hawkeye's rifle was knocked away, but then Arakawa reminded us that this isn't the anime this is Hawkeye, and so there are more.

Everything seems to be in place for the Grand Finale (which will presumably be more than on chapter away) as the capital has been turned into a philosopher's caircle, and the alchemists to be sacrificed are gathered.  Interestingly, this includes Ed, but not Mustang.