And so the fated day is almost upon us. Well, for us, the audience, but our beloved characters must wait until springtime. Episode 45 begins with a rousing sparring match between Greed and Wrath – quite epic, if I must say. The previous installment left off with Greed discovering his previous memories had not been erased, and so he comes to Wrath for answers, barging in on a quiet evening at home. When he nearly loses his head, Greed decides to retreat before he can be defeated a second time; thus, bringing the episode to the Armstrong family household.

Olivier is attempting to convince her father to hand over the mansion and retire somewhere outside of the country, Xing, perhaps. However, Alex has been promised the estate and a fight ensues between which sibling will claim the family assets. The scene is hilarious. Watching Olivier kicking her brother’s behind gives the episode a bit of comedy in the otherwise impending doom looming over the plot. When Alex finally gives up, he comes to realize the reason behind his sister’s actions: to get their family as far away from Amestris as possible. She knows just as well as he does that it is not safe for them there.

Back where the boys, Mustang and Ran Fan had taken refuge in a small cabin on the outskirts of Central, Ed has brought the Chimera. He is certain that is where Al would be, and yet, it is still in the same state; ruined and completely abandoned. Fortunately, their journey there was not a complete loss. They run into Greed who his now an outcast, having cut all ties with the Homunculus after his attack on Wrath. Ed sees a potential advantage in this and asks Greed to join him. The homunculus refuses, claiming that “the entire world belongs to me”. When Ed chases him down, he agrees to work for Greed and the two become allies.

What comes next is a game of telephone. Back at Briggs, it seems the war between them and Drachma has yet to cease. The assumption is put to rest when Izumi shows up, kicking ass and taking names. She has learned from her husband, who was contacted by Al and Hoenheim, that the ‘Fated Day’ is upon them. The message is furtively passed on to Miles and Buccaneer who inform Falman about the information. Falman passes word onto Grumman who then passes it on to Hawkeye; Hawkeye to Havoc and the latter to Mustang in none other than a pack of cigarettes.

This episode was done rather well in terms of wrapping things up. Now that everyone is in the know, we can progress from there. Unfortunately, the action was brief during the fight between Wrath and Greed, but the way in which they compiled a glimpse of all the characters in the ending sequence was interesting.

One thing I’d like to mention is that we are very close to catching up. Only 20-ish chapters are left before the anime catches up to the manga, and there are only monthly releases of the print version. This means either the manga is coming to an end very soon or the anime will be going on hiatus after those remaining episodes. To our knowledge, there are 63 known episodes, but that cannot be confirmed. Just keep an eye out!

We will definitely keep you guys informed.