Episode 5: The Man with the Mechanical Arm (2003 series)

At the train station (still in Ed's flashback), Edward calls Roy Mustang to inform about their expected arrival at Central. On hearing of there being an earlier train, he decides to test their luck and orders the brothers to ‘get on it or go home’, forcing the brothers to run towards the train. It is revealed a military General Hakuro is on board the train, taking a family vacation. Hughes is shown to be tying up the military line talking nonsensical to Mustang; waiting for confirmation the line isn’t being tapped.

Falman panics at the appearance of Al in a suit of armor, however through Hughes who conveys the message to Mustang, he learns that it’s ‘okay’. On going to check on Edward, Falman gets attacked by two bandits. In other places, the bandits take charge of the train, holding the General and the train passenger’s hostage. The bandits are revealed to working for the ‘People's Eastern Revolution Front’, headed by a man called ‘Bald’ who has a mechanical arm. They want their captured leader to be traded for the General and the train passengers. Two of the bandits approach Al, due to his appearance. The brothers overpower them and decide to handle the situation. They manage to overpower all the extremists with a little help from Hughes and Ed is forced to battle Bald, the one with an auto-mail arm that looks like a gun. Ed destroys his arm and Al beats him up.

At Central station, Bald on seeing Mustang tries to attack him, but is burnt by Roy’s flame attack, he then reveals himself to be the Flame Alchemist. Ed furious, rightly guesses the reasons for being forced to take the earlier train as Mustang knew what would happen. To his surprise he learns that due to him helping and handling the situation, an exception has been made and he can now take the alchemy exam to be a state alchemist. Ed, unaware that under normal circumstances he wouldn’t be allowed to take the exam, then realizes he has been ‘played’ but has gained something out of it. The episode ends with them being thanked by a little girl they saved on the train.

Episode Notes

 * In the English dub version of this episode, the subtitle incorrectly states Riza Hawkeye's Rank as Major, when she is actually a Second Lieutenant.
 * The episode is adapted from content in Chapter 4: Battle on the Train.
 * The only noteworthy changes from the manga chapter this episode was adapted from is that Maes Hughes, along with Vato Falman, are also aboard the train in the anime, while they were both absent in the original manga. Also, Bald's capture in the anime was used to make Edward eligible for the State Alchemy exam, while in the manga he was already a State Alchemist.